Societies

When I joined university I hadn't even begun to think about joining new societies or taking up a new hobby/sport, I was so engrossed in other things that I didn't make the time to find out more about the 200+ societies which were at my university, and as a result, I missed out. Societies, sports and groups are really worth checking out. Not only do they allow you to take up something which you may have not tried before but they also allow you to meet new people, make new friends and keep yourself busy. All things which are pretty important in freshers.

Birmingham's Guild of Students is pretty fancy, eh?

One of the easiest ways to find out about new societies is to go to a society fair, a lot of universities host these in the student union as a way for you two get in touch with societies, and a way for societies to get in touch with you. Go along and have a look at all the stalls, if there's something in particular that takes your interest leave your email address with them or sign up straight away! 

You can also often find out about societies online, usually on the student union's website. This might be a good idea to do before you go to the fair, so you can get a rough idea of which stalls to visit before you get there because it might be fairly busy.

Some societies require an initial joining fee, some are free, keep that in mind when you do join any societies. In addition to this, the sessions that you might attend as part of this society may also cost money, and usually with sports you have to pay for kit or facilities, but if it's something you're really interested in it's worth it. However, if it is something that you probably won't ever attend but you're just signing up for the sake of it, you may want to rethink that. Some sports and societies will run taster sessions and it might be a good idea to go to one of these before handing over a large, or small, chunk of your student budget!

If you're at the University of Birmingham the societies fair is on Thursday (today) and Friday of this week, 11am-4pm in marquee behind the Guild of Students. If you're at another university have fun picking a new hobby!