SOCIAL

EDITED BY LIV KESSLER

Coming to univertsity is always a bit of a shock. For many, it’s the rst time living alone and having to fend for ourselves. Here at e Beaver, we’ve compiled some of our best, and worst, advice on how to adult.

complement my window, and I wouldn’t have it any other way; for my friend, it was fancy curtains. A little goes a long way here.

Wall decorations: ere’s a bit more free reign here, but the important thing is: you need to have a plan! Adding extra posters here and there will end up a mess. Make it cohesive, and make sure everything on your wall serves a purpose. If you want to put photos up, make a collage. For posters, make sure they complement each other (again, in colour, theme, etc.).

Closet organisation: I’m not telling you to Marie-Kondo your closet, but I’m telling you to Marie-Kondo your closet. Less is more here. Closets easily become people’s repositories for things they don’t need, and clothes can get messy. Get rid of everything except the clothes (and other necessities) that belong there, and store them as compactly as possible. If you can move your closet, I’d suggest moving it opposite the foot of your bed.

And from there — you’re set. Add as little or as much more as you want. At the end of the day, it’s your safe haven. Don’t be a stranger, and make it yours (while following the guidelines of your signed tenancy agreement).

by AMBRE PLUTA

I must admit, the very rst thing I bought when I moved to London back in 2020 was a plant. Since then, I have somehow gained seven more. I believe that I am a good plant mom:, only one of my plants has died - a tragic incident caused by mealybugs, one of the houseplants’ worst enemies. Here are my tips on keeping your plants happy:

1. Get to know your plant. e very rst thing to do once you acquire a new plant is to check how much you are supposed to water it (every week, two weeks, or once a month), and how much sunlight it needs.

by ALAN NEMIROVSKI & illustrated by JAC WILLIAMS

Listen — I hear you. A lot of students can barely a ord the small rooms or ats they live in, let alone have enough money to splurge on fancy decorations. Still, that’s no excuse for your room, nay, your sanctuary, to be as rundown as the rest of your at. Don’t worry, though, I have your back. Here are my tried-and-true tips on how to spice up your room and make the vibes immaculate.

eme: e theme can be a colour, a mood, or a general aesthetic (grunge, cottage core, academia, and so on), but just keep something in mind that can tie your room together. It’ll also make your decorative purchases and rearrangement much easier, and less random.

Bed: Your headboard should never face your door. is one seems obvious, but worth mentioning nonetheless. Your bed should be as far from the door as possible, ideally facing one (or more) windows.

Desk and chair: Your desk should be directly parallel with or exactly perpendicular to the bed. No weird side angles, no matter how many corners your room has. And as close to the window as possible. We love windows.

Windows: Speaking of windows — they’re o en so neglected. If you have any money to spare for decorations, invest here. I have a single plant and a candle to

2. Drown your plant. Most of the time, watering a plant means drowning it so that the water properly in ltrates the soil and reaches the roots. However, keep in mind that overwatering is one of the rst causes of death for houseplants, so respect the watering schedule. Remember: if the soil is dry and crumbly, water your plant. If the soil is wet, wait a few days before watering.

3. Find a home for your plant. As it grows, or just as time goes by, o en check that your pot is big enough for the roots of your plant. ose roots might need a bigger home.

4. Let your plant breathe. Air out your room daily (I know, London pollution doesn’t really seem like the better option, but it is still relatively fresh air. So, open those windows!)

5. Give your plant some sunshine. Or, at least check that each plant is getting the sunlight it needs.

6. Help your plant stay healthy. If ever faced with mealybugs (tiny bugs that resemble white powder), separate the a ected plant from the rest of the plant babies, and wipe o all the bugs. Don’t miss any. en clean the leaves with cotton dipped in rubbing alcohol. Repeat for a week and keep the plant away from the others for two weeks.

7. Give your plant space. Try to keep your plants far enough from each other when they are in the same room (1 metre away), so that if a disease a ects one it won’t automatically infect them all.

I swear that taking care of plants is not that hard, and they always brighten up a room.

Good luck!

by MIA CHENG &

by FRANCESCA CORNO

Freshers’ u or COVID? You’ll probably never know. With the beginning of every year, there’s a cohort of eager, noisy and extremely unhygienic freshers ready to drink their guts out. Maybe that was you at the start of your last degree, last year, or just last month — either way, we sent out a survey on our Instagram story asking for the dumbest shit you’ve done during that fateful week. Here are some of the worst:

1. Burnt my tit making toast while I was hungover.

2. Got freshers u and kissed everybody I didn’t like - have fun losers.

3. Missed the club’s toilet and shat on the oor in front of it by accident.

4. Ate so many doritos a er multiple Long Island Ice Teas that I threw up orange onto my carpeted dorm oor.

5. Shagged a girl and found out she was my neighbor - she said she was going to her room the next morning and I heard her fucking door close an inch away from mine.

6. Pissed on the wall of the British Museum.

7. Called a bird by my ex-girlfriend’s name whilst doing it - she was into it though.

8. Tried to charge onto the pitch at a game because I was vibing too hard (fuck Manchester United) but I just got kicked out instead.

9. Tried to fart on my mate’s face a er 20 shots but I ended up shitting my pants.

10. A disposable a day for a month straight.

11. Bra clasp broke mid-song so I put plasters on my nipples and kept going.

12. Orgy.

Good memories. I can almost still smell the sweat and alcohol.