This guide, although probably useless, is designed to help the average ToTSEan out when in University.
A lot of forums are full of retarded questions which I have seen like “do I take pyjamas to University?” and “how many frying pans do I need?”. Seriously, there are some retarded forums out there hence why this is an &T guide!
I will separate the list into areas, such as Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom etc just to make it easier to navigate, and highlight the reasons I added them in etc.
So, to kick things off let’s go with the kitchen!
- A thick bottom saucepan. Why thick bottom? Because you need decent quality cookware which won’t bend and fuck up given some Student abuse.
- A wooden spoon. A big one that serves all purposes. It comes in handy to mix up whatever, from cakes to instant mashed potato.
- A big, Tefal frying pan. A non-stick one will save your ass when you’re hungover or making a fry-up in a hurry.
- Plastic, microwavable jug. One that at least measures out 500ml as you can heat up baked beans or whatever in it. I used to eat cuppa soup out of mine. Jus’ saying.
- Fish slice.
- A multiple set of cutlery. You’re bound to lose something. 3 of each (fork, knife, spoon, with some teaspoons as well).
- Teabags/Coffee, milk and mugs. People like tea and coffee and it’s a good way to make sense.
- Sugar. To add to above.
- Seive/Collander.
- Measuring jug.
- Ziplock bags (for freezer stuff)
- Clingfilm, foil and baking paper.
- Food. Go for non-perishable for emergencies like tins of beans, rice, pasta etc, then freezer and fridge food. You will be sharing a house with people so will have (usually) 1 shelf/drawer in the freezer and fridge, so don’t buy too much in case it doesn’t fit. A few small frozen pizzas, some peas (multiple uses!) and some fresh fridge items. It all depends on what you like.
- Stock cubes. They can turn rice or whatever into an awesome flavoured dish. Get a few flavours (Ham, Beef, Vegetable etc)
Bedroom
- Posters. I don’t care what your regulations say, put them up and take them down when room inspections come around. I recommend white tac over blutac.
- Bathroom stuff, like a couple of towels, shower gel, shampoo, face wash, bog roll etc. You know how much you’ll go through? Take a few of each, and plenty of bog roll. Also a few flannels and a sponge. If you have en-suite then take some bleach.
- Bedding. This includes duvet (probably single), bed protector, a few pillows and numerous pillow covers as changing them regularly helps reduce acne and skin shittiness.
- Entertainment. This also counts for multiple extension plug sockets as your room will have 4 sockets max.
- Relevant books for your module. Doesn’t matter if you don’t use them, but they could come in handy and keep you from the Library a few times. Try to get into a schedule of wanting to read for a bit each day.
- Some leisurely books. I had Fear and Loathing, some Zombie ones etc. Just keeps you from going mental.
- External Hard Drive. 1TB is fine but it depends on your Torrenting and sharing capabilities.
- Laptop or Desktop? I’d go laptop and you can play mid-range games on it. Plus it takes up less space.
Personal washing stuff and clothing
- Bumper pack of Daz or Persil. You can wash your smalls in the sink and save a few quid on the launderette. Also some fabric softener?
- Enough undies and socks for 2 weeks. Just keep them in a box in the bottom of your wardrobe.
- A smart outfit if need be.
- Fancy dress. Honestly, just think of themes like Cowboy ‘n’ Western, Pirate, 80s, Rave etc. Unfortunately most of the sods you’ll go to an 80s night were born 1992 onwards.
- casuals for the days you don’t leave the house (trackie bottoms and hoodies)
- Some clothes in general. I’m not going to fag on you and tell you how to dress.
- Coins for the launderette.
- Razor/Shaving foam.
- Hair stuff and smellies.
Personal
- Condoms. Get them in bulk, cheap, on eBay.
- Porn collection on your computer.
- First Aid Kit. This would at a basic level include plasters, antiseptic cream, medicated talc, painkillers etc etc.
- Any medical correspondence/records as you will have to change to a new Doctor.
- Stash items. See my other thread for these.
- A “safe” place. I used to use my laptop carry briefcase (the default Toshiba one) to keep excess meds, graffiti and other bits in. Kept it under my bed so it seemed a good semi-stash place.
Scribing for lectures
- Decent ruled pad (you will get through about 3 of them per academic year and I go for the 200 page Pukka Pads as they are a dream to write on).
- A few biro pens.
- Pencil – in case you get bored and want to sketch stuff.
- A few different hilighters. They are a godsend – unless you’re HTS noob.
- An A1 flip-pad (the ones they have in school) to make huge-ass mindmaps. Helped me!
- Page markers and page dividers.
- A hardback ringbinder for each module you do.
- A4 folders to keep miscellaneous bills and correspondence.
- A good, sturdy bag. Backpack or messenger/courier style. Chances are you will also use it to lug your shopping back home, too, so bear other things in mind than just a notebook and pens.
- A list of your Lecturer/Tutors emails just in case.
- USB drive for giving a presentation. Size doesn’t matter as a .PPT or .DOC file is rarely over 3MB so get a size which suits you (remember you may also use it to transport files from yours to a mates computer).
- Ritalin.
Good programs to have installed on your Computer before you go and other bits and bobs
I say this as you may or may not have censorship at your University. This means access to Porn, any Torrent sites, or just anything slightly dodgy. Honestly, I was so pissed off that I couldn’t even access &T at one point.
Software.
- TOR bundle – a proxy of some sort helps.
- Antivirus. I’ll leave the choice up to you.
- nMap/ZenMap – scan your router and find open ports, or just have a nose around.
- Wireshark – just for the lulz.
- uTorrent – in case you can torrent. I used to use it at the pub nearby as my Uni blocked it…but then unblocked it and I got 6MB/ps
- Backtrack OS on another laptop also helps as you can find an encrypted network you can tap into to Torrent.
- TrueCrypt.
- Hamster and Ferret.
- A backup or synchronisation program. You need to back your work up every night as you will murder/suicide if you wake up one day and it’s gone.
- Dropbox. Also useful if your mates can torrent you a file and download via HTTP on a Uni network if you are unable to Torrent.
- Stealth webcam recorder in case you feel horny and have a chick over.
Hardware.
- Blank DVDs. You can never have enough.
- USB drive. The bigger storage the better.
- As mentioned before, a big-ass external HDD. I had 2x1TB ones I soon filled up.
- A cooling stand for your laptop…if you take a laptop.
- DVD/CD wallets, like the 100 slot ones. They save you a ton of space.
This is the sort of stuff I took to University with me and got through fine. Smaller things like drugs and contraband I will not list as it’s up to you to decide whether you will take responsibility for them or not. Although this list is probably far from complete, I will add to it as and when and make a note of it in the changelog below.
Version 1.0
11/8/2011
Discuss http://www.totse.info/bbs/showthread.php/18592-What-to-take-to-University
