So, you’ve done it.

The car has been unloaded. Your parents have finally stopped asking whether you’re absolutely sure you have enough towels. Your bedroom contains approximately seventeen boxes, one suspiciously firm mattress and a collection of kitchen equipment you’re not entirely sure how to use.

Then the door closes.

You officially live here now.

Your first week in university halls can be brilliant, chaotic, exciting, awkward and slightly overwhelming, sometimes all before lunchtime.

For lots of students, it’s also the first time they’ve lived away from home. Suddenly you’re responsible for feeding yourself, washing your clothes, managing your money and sharing a kitchen with a group of people you met approximately 14 minutes ago.

Don’t panic.

Here’s the Loomz survival guide to your first week living in university halls, including some of the things nobody really explains before you arrive.

1. First job: say hello to your flatmates

Yes, it might feel awkward.

Do it anyway.

When you arrive, resist the temptation to unpack everything, shut your bedroom door and emerge three days later.

If people are in the kitchen, introduce yourself. If another student is moving boxes down the corridor, say hello.

Remember: almost everyone is doing this for the first time.

They may look incredibly confident. They may already appear to have made six friends and organised a night out.

Inside, there's a reasonable chance they're thinking:

"What am I supposed to say to these people?"

You don't need an amazing opening line.

"Hi, I'm Sam. What are you studying?"

Congratulations. Conversation achieved.

And don't worry if you don't immediately discover your future best friend. Some students become lifelong friends with their first-year flatmates. Others simply get along perfectly well for a year.

Both are absolutely fine.

2. Create the flat WhatsApp group

Do this early.

It will rapidly become the command centre of your new household.

Initially:

"Anyone fancy going to the Freshers' Fair?"

Within several weeks:

"Whose washing is in machine 4?"

"Anyone need anything from Aldi?"

"WHO HAS MY CHEESE?"

"Is the Wi-Fi down for everyone?"

A group chat makes organising things considerably easier and means you don't have to knock on seven bedroom doors every time you need to ask something.

3. Sort out the kitchen before territorial disputes begin

Your shared kitchen can become the social heart of your flat.

It can also become the location of The Great Fridge Shelf Dispute of 2026.

When everyone has arrived, spend five minutes working out who is using which:

• fridge shelf
• freezer drawer/space
• food cupboard
• storage area

Don't just assume.

Six students arriving with six parents who have each bought enough frozen food to survive a three-month siege can fill a university freezer remarkably quickly.

So on your first food shop, don't go mad with chilled and frozen food until you know how much storage you've actually got.

Cupboard staples are usually much easier to accommodate.

Pasta isn't going to start a territorial dispute.

Frozen pizza might.

4. Establish some basic flat rules

Nobody wants a formal AGM on their first evening.

You don't need minutes, a chairperson and a PowerPoint presentation.

But a few basic agreements can prevent arguments later.

Things worth discussing include:

Bins: Who takes them out, or is it simply whoever notices they're full?

Washing up: Are dishes washed immediately or can they sit for a while?

Shared items: Is washing-up liquid communal? What about bin bags, kitchen roll, salt, cooking oil?

Guests: Are you all comfortable with people being brought back to the flat?

Noise: Particularly late at night.

Cleaning: What happens with the shared kitchen and bathrooms?

The easiest rule is simply:

Don't behave in a way that would annoy you if somebody else did it.

It's surprisingly effective.

5. Learn the golden rule of the student kitchen

Clean up after yourself.

That means wiping the hob when you've covered it in tomato sauce.

It means putting food back in the fridge.

It means emptying the bin occasionally.

And it means that your saucepan has not been "soaking" since Tuesday.

Sharing a kitchen requires compromise. You may want to cook precisely when three other people do. Someone may leave crumbs everywhere. Someone will almost certainly possess a mug that they guard as though it were a priceless family heirloom.

Be considerate and most problems never become problems.

6. Find out how everything in your halls actually works

This isn't exciting.

Do it anyway.

During your first couple of days, work out:

• Where are the bins and recycling?
• Where is the laundry?
• How do you pay for the washing machines?
• Where do parcels get delivered?
• How do you report something that's broken?
• Who do you contact outside normal hours?
• Where is reception?
• How does building access work?
• What are the rules about guests?
• What are the quiet hours?
• What happens if you lose your key/card?
• Where are the fire exits and assembly points?

Save useful accommodation numbers in your phone.

Because 11:47pm on a Sunday when you've locked yourself out isn't the ideal moment to start investigating how your halls' emergency support works.

7. Do one load of laundry before you desperately need one

If you've never operated a washing machine before, welcome to adulthood.

Find the laundry room during your first week and understand how it works.

Some university accommodation uses apps. Others use cards or online accounts. Your halls should provide instructions.

Then actually do a load.

Don't wait until you have:

0 clean T-shirts
0 clean towels
1 clean sock

...and a 9am lecture tomorrow.

Also, check the labels before washing everything together at maximum temperature.

Your favourite jumper entering the machine as an adult medium and emerging suitable for a teddy bear isn't the university experience you're looking for.

8. Locate your nearest supermarket

One of the most useful things you can do during your first couple of days is explore your neighbourhood.

Find:

Your nearest supermarket

Then find the cheaper supermarket.

They aren't necessarily the same place.

Also locate your nearest:

• pharmacy
• cashpoint/bank if you need one
• convenience shop
• takeaway
• bus stop/train station
• GP or health centre
• post office/parcel point if useful

You'll probably discover several of these while wandering around with your new flatmates anyway.

It's a surprisingly good way to get to know each other.

9. Learn the route to university BEFORE your first lecture

Your accommodation might be called University Something Halls.

That doesn't necessarily mean your lecture theatre is downstairs.

Universities can be enormous, spread across several campuses or scattered around a city.

Before teaching starts, physically find:

• your main teaching buildings
• library
• Students' Union
• student services
• campus shop
• somewhere to eat
• somewhere quiet to study

And if you need public transport, work out the route and approximate journey time.

Your first 9am lecture is stressful enough without discovering at 8:52am that the Economics Building is a 23-minute walk away

10. Learn about fire alarms — because you WILL hear one

Every hall has fire procedures. Read yours.

Find your nearest fire exit and know where you're expected to assemble.

Never interfere with smoke detectors or fire-safety equipment, and don't assume an alarm is "probably just someone burning toast".

Leave the building as instructed.

Because at some point you may find yourself standing outside in your pyjamas while somebody explains that their garlic bread got slightly ambitious.

Welcome to halls.

11. Noise is part of halls — but there are limits

Hundreds of students living together aren't going to produce monastery-like tranquillity.

During Freshers' Week especially, expect:

doors closing + music + people talking + parties + mysterious shouting outside at 2am.

Sometimes you'll be the person making the noise.

But there is a difference between reasonable student-halls noise and someone blasting music at 4am when everyone else is trying to sleep.

Check your accommodation's quiet-hours policy.

If somebody is regularly causing problems, start by speaking to them politely if you feel comfortable doing so.

If it continues, contact your accommodation or residential/security team.

Living in halls doesn't mean surrendering your right to sleep until June.

12. Make your bedroom feel like YOUR room

Your room might initially feel less like home and more like:

Generic Bedroom, Student Edition

Change that.

Bring or add things that make it feel familiar:

• photographs
• favourite bedding
• cushions
• a familiar blanket
• soft lighting
• plants
• posters
• storage
• desk accessories
• something completely pointless that simply makes you happy

Just check your accommodation rules before attaching anything to walls or furniture.

Having somewhere comfortable to retreat to matters more than you might expect, particularly during the first few weeks.

13. Accept that your mattress may not be magnificent

You have left the luxurious world of your bed at home.

University mattresses vary enormously.

If yours feels like you're sleeping directly on an archaeological artefact, a mattress topper or padded mattress protector can make a substantial difference, and is a must.

Also check the exact bed size before buying bedding.

Student accommodation doesn't universally use the same size beds, and discovering that your lovely new fitted sheet doesn't actually fit at 11pm on move-in day isn't ideal.

14. Learn about your flatmates before buying communal stuff

This is particularly important during the first week.

You don't necessarily need:

6 kettles.
5 toasters.
4 air fryers.
3 sandwich makers.

...in one kitchen.

See what's already provided by the accommodation and what everyone else has brought before buying shared equipment.

Then decide whether there are things the flat wants to buy together.

Just agree who actually owns it.

Future-you will appreciate this when everyone moves out and three people simultaneously claim ownership of the toaster.

15. Learn to cook five things

You don't need to become Gordon Ramsay.

But you should ideally be capable of producing a few meals that aren't cereal.

Learn several cheap, easy dishes you can make without thinking:

Pasta + sauce + vegetables

Stir-fry

Jacket potato + something

Rice + curry/chilli

Omelette

That's enough to get started.

Cooking together can also be one of the easiest ways to socialise with your flatmates.

And if you're completely hopeless?

Tell them.

There's a decent chance someone in your flat loves cooking and would happily show you.

Your contribution can be washing up.

16. Be careful with your money during Freshers' Week

Your bank balance can look unusually healthy when your maintenance loan arrives.

Do not be fooled.

That money has a job.

Before spending heavily, work out:

Money available – rent – essential costs = what you actually have to live on.

Then divide that across the weeks until your next payment.

Freshers' Week can be expensive because lots of costs arrive simultaneously:

• society memberships
• event tickets
• drinks
• taxis
• takeaways
• food
• things you forgot to bring
• course supplies

Enjoy yourself.

Just don't accidentally live like a Premier League footballer for seven days and then discover you have £17.42 to survive until Christmas.

17. Don't feel obliged to attend EVERYTHING

Freshers' Week can produce industrial quantities of FOMO.

There is always something happening somewhere.

Party.

Club night.

Society event.

Pub crawl.

Flat party.

Quiz.

Another party.

Someone you've known for four hours insisting "EVERYONE is going."

You are allowed to say no.

You don't have to drink.

You don't have to go clubbing.

And you certainly don't have to attend seven consecutive nights out because you're worried everyone will become best friends without you.

There will be many, many more nights out.

If you're exhausted, stay in.

18. But don't spend the entire week hiding in your room either

There's a balance.

Your first week is one of the easiest times you'll ever have to start conversations because almost everybody is actively looking to meet people.

Go to some Welcome Week events.

Visit the Freshers' Fair.

Try a society.

Sit in the kitchen for a while.

Suggest getting a takeaway.

Play cards.

Ask whether anyone wants to explore campus.

You don't have to transform into the world's most extroverted human.

Sometimes you simply need to be present.

19. Don't assume your first friends will be your forever friends

This one is important.

Freshers' Week can create the impression that everyone has immediately assembled their friendship group for the next three years.

They haven't.

The people you meet during your first few days might become your closest friends.

Or you might barely know them by Christmas.

You'll meet people through:

• your course
• halls
• societies
• sports
• jobs
• mutual friends
• nights out
• volunteering
• completely random circumstances

So don't panic if you haven't found your people during Week One.

There is no friendship deadline.

20. Deal with flat problems while they're still small

At some point, somebody will annoy somebody.

That's what happens when a group of unrelated adults share a kitchen.

Maybe someone constantly leaves washing-up.

Perhaps someone's using other people's food.

Maybe one person thinks Wednesday at 3am is the ideal time for drum and bass.

Don't immediately declare war via passive-aggressive Post-it notes.

Talk.

If something bothers you, raise it politely and early.

A quick:

"Guys, can we try to keep the kitchen clear after cooking?"

is much easier than waiting six weeks until everyone is furious.

If a problem becomes serious or can't be resolved, speak to your halls/residential support team. That's part of what they're there for.

21. Homesickness doesn't mean you've made the wrong decision

You can be excited about university and miss home.

Both things can be true.

You might miss your family.

Your friends.

Your pets.

Your own bed.

Someone else cooking dinner.

Or simply being somewhere where you know how everything works.

Your first few days contain an enormous amount of change.

Call home. Message your friends. Take some downtime.

But also try to keep engaging with your new surroundings rather than retreating completely into your old life.

As university starts becoming familiar, halls often begin feeling considerably more like home.

Your First-Week Halls Checklist

By the end of your first week, ideally you've:

☐ Introduced yourself to your flatmates
☐ Created a flat group chat
☐ Claimed your fridge/freezer/cupboard space
☐ Found the laundry room
☐ Successfully washed something
☐ Found the bins and recycling
☐ Worked out how parcels are delivered
☐ Saved your halls/reception contact details
☐ Read the fire and security information
☐ Found your nearest supermarket
☐ Located a cheaper supermarket
☐ Worked out your route to lectures
☐ Found the library and Students' Union
☐ Worked out a basic weekly budget
☐ Cooked at least one actual meal
☐ Attended at least one Welcome/Freshers' event
☐ Looked at the societies on offer
☐ Made your bedroom feel a bit more like home
☐ Had at least one conversation with someone new
☐ Remembered to call whoever dropped you off and confirm you're still alive

That last one may save you approximately 14 missed calls.

The most important thing: give yourself time

Your first week living in university halls probably won't look like it does in films, university brochures or somebody else's TikTok.

There may be brilliant moments.

There may also be awkward silences in the kitchen, terrible cooking, getting lost, missing home, questionable financial decisions and standing outside at midnight during a fire alarm wearing Crocs.

That's the norm.

You don't need to have university life mastered in seven days.

Week One is about figuring things out.

Learn where things are. Meet some people. Work out how your new home operates. Feed yourself. Keep an eye on your money. Get some sleep.

And enjoy it.

Because surprisingly quickly, the strange building you arrived at surrounded by boxes starts feeling like your halls, your flat and your university.

And then someone steals your milk.

Welcome to student life.