Surviving Orientation Week: Your Starter Guide

You're standing in front of the university building, your class schedule on your phone, a backpack on your shoulders, and absolutely no idea where you're supposed to go. Welcome to orientation week. The most exciting, chaotic, and important week of your studies — and yes, that's not an exaggeration. Because the people you meet this week will very likely be your friends for the next three to five years.

No pressure then. Here's your guide to making the most of it — without completely burning yourself out.

Day 1: Survive and Orientate

The first day isn't about immediately finding your lifelong best friend. It's about settling in. Figure out where your lecture halls are. Where the cafeteria is. Where to get coffee. The basics. Once you've got that, you're already ahead of half your classmates who are still hunting for buildings on day three.

The campus tour on day one: take it. Even if you think you can find everything on your own. It's not about the tour — it's about the people walking next to you. "Also a freshman?" is the easiest conversation opener in the world, and it works every single time.

The student council stand is your first port of call. The student council is made up of students from higher semesters who look after the newcomers. They know the best professors, the easiest electives, and the best pubs. And they organize most of the orientation week events. Go over, introduce yourself briefly, ask what's happening this week. Takes three minutes and gets you a full event calendar.

Student Council Events: Required, Not Optional

The student council typically organizes three to five events during orientation week. Pub crawl, game night, group breakfast, campus rally, sometimes a barbecue. Go to all of them. Every single one. Even if you're tired. Even if you're introverted. Even if you think "pub crawls aren't really my thing."

The reason: these are the exact events where the friendships that define your studies are formed. Not in lectures — you mostly sit there silently next to strangers. But on the third beer of the pub crawl, when someone turns out to love the same TV show as you. At game night, when your team loses together and laughs about it afterwards. At breakfast the next morning, when everyone sits there hungover, nursing cafeteria coffee.

Student council events are the structured framework you need as a freshman. You don't have to muster the courage to approach random strangers on campus. You just show up — and the social context does the rest.

Small Talk Tips That Actually Work

"Where are you from?" is the classic — and yes, it works. Not because the answer is so fascinating, but because the question sends a signal: I'm open to conversation. And during orientation week, that's worth more than any clever opener.

Even better than questions about hometowns are shared problems. "Do you also have no idea where the seminar room is?" "How long have you been waiting for coffee?" "Is the cafeteria food always like this?" Shared problems create instant connection — because they form a mini-alliance. You against the system. That's the foundation of every good friendship: getting through something together, even if it's just the first week at a new university.

But the most important tip isn't what you say — it's what you do: don't sit alone. Sounds obvious, but it gets ignored constantly. When you walk into the lecture hall and someone is sitting alone — sit next to them. In the cafeteria: don't take the empty table, ask if you can join. At the coffee machine: don't stare at your phone, smile at the person next to you. Every interaction counts.

The Social Media Trap

During orientation week, something predictable happens: everyone exchanges Instagram handles. By the end of the week, you have 40 new followers — and no real connection with any of them. That's the social media trap: you collect digital contacts and think you've built a social network. In reality, you have 40 profiles whose Stories you'll silently scroll past starting next week.

Instagram followers aren't the same as friends. A follow is the minimum level of social connection — and often the maximum, when nothing else follows. Better: exchange numbers with the people you actually talked to. Text them that same evening: "Great meeting you. Down for the cafeteria next week?" That's a concrete next step. A follow isn't.

This doesn't mean social media is useless. Your year's WhatsApp group for your degree program is worth its weight in gold — for logistics, study groups, and making plans. But never mistake digital visibility for real friendships.

After Orientation Week: Keep the Momentum

Orientation week is the beginning, not the end. Most freshman friendships survive the first week — but not the first month. The reason: once routine sets in, many people stop actively maintaining contacts. You see each other in lectures, but you don't actively make plans anymore.

University sports are the best hack against letting connections go cold. Sign up for a weekly class. Volleyball, climbing, dancing, martial arts — whatever. You meet the same people regularly, you share a common interest, and after practice, you often grab food together. These are the relationships that last.

Joining the student council is the turbo option. If you get involved, you're automatically part of a close-knit group. You organize events for other students, meet people from higher semesters, and build a network that extends far beyond your own degree program. And it looks good on your resume too.

Establish regular meetups: every Wednesday cafeteria, every Friday after-work drinks, every Sunday brunch. It sounds like routine — and that's exactly the point. Routine creates reliability, and reliability is the foundation of every friendship. When your friends know you're at the cafeteria every Wednesday at noon, they start showing up automatically.

Your Secret Advantage: S'Up

Orientation week is overwhelming. Hundreds of new faces, dozens of events, and you're trying to keep track of it all. WhatsApp groups are exploding, Instagram Stories are flying by, and by the end you don't know what's happening when or where. This is exactly where S'Up helps.

The app shows you all events in your university city at a glance. Student council party on Thursday, pub crawl on Friday, brunch on Sunday — everything in one place, without scrolling through five group chats. You see which of your contacts are going, and can RSVP with a single tap. No "Who's coming?", no "Where was it again?", no "Send me the link."

But the real advantage comes after orientation week. When the initial excitement fades and you realize you need to actively do something to meet people, S'Up shows you new events near you every day. From university sports to house parties, from study group meetups to concerts — always with the social context of which friends are going.

Orientation week gives you a head start. What you make of it is decided in the weeks that follow. Stay curious, stay open, say yes more than no. And when you don't know what to do some evening: open S'Up, see what's happening, and go. The best stories start with the sentence "I honestly had no idea what to expect."