Starting uni? Here’s my advice
by Anna Robinson
The weeks before I moved to university passed in a blur of purchasing inessential ‘essentials’ . I displaced my anxieties about moving to a new city by buying unnecessary stuff (did I really need three different bottle openers? that mattress topper?), and I decided that my success in a new environment was directly correlated to the beauty of my mug collection. There is something to be said about making your room cosy, yes. But feeling at home in a new city takes a lot more than having the perfect bath mat. Feeling at home requires being in the know about the best places to take your friends when you want to let your hair down, or where to go for the perfect coffee. I wish I could travel back to fresher-me, knock those scented candles out of her hand and give her Bimble app instead.
Bimble helps you feel at home even if you’re somewhere new. The app is a key to all the intel on all the best little places: you can cut out the need to ever visit a chain, and instead head straight to the places that make up the rich individual texture of a city. If I’m honest I’m a little bit haunted by the idea that had I discovered ‘PanPan’ (my favourite Asian Street Food restaurant) at the beginning of my first term, rather than right at the end, I could have consumed about a dozen more of their Thai Green curries. Their food can soothe almost anything, from heartache to hangovers.
Bimble, most importantly, lets me save recommendations. My first few weeks in my new home, I was inundated with suggestions from well-meaning students, which were almost instantly lost. Spoken recs evaporated from my memory, typed notes were subsumed by other reminders, and screenshots were bound to be obscured by the masses of blurry night out photos and close ups of relevant sections of library books. With this app I can keep all my favourite places in one designated location and browse for the perfect little place for each occasion.
If my parents come to visit and I’m in the midst of an essay crisis, I can send them off with a link to one of my Bimble lists and still feel like a good host, even though I’ve spent most of our ‘quality family time’ at a desk piecing together an essay on Medieval patriarchy. Bimble provides all the details anyone could need, so I can write in peace knowing my parents have directions, phone numbers, opening times, and aren’t scratching their heads somewhere in Summertown.
Had I known in my first year that ‘The Nosebag’ might help soothe any homesickness, with its homely cooking and generous portions, I might have adjusted to Oxford even faster. It’s full of warmth and makes you feel as if you have been swept off the busy central street below. To this day it’s still a favourite retreat of mine for coffee and homemade cake when I need to reset a jumbled and stressed mind.
Had I known that ‘Kazbar’ serves some of the best sangria in the city, I would have weaned myself off drinking warm vodka lemonade in a cramped student room all the sooner. The interior design of a fellow fresher’s room has nothing on Kazbar’s vibrant colours, hanging silks and fairy lights. The atmosphere glows, and it feels like a little bit of somewhere abroad. I remember coming to Kazbar for a drink on a rainy February weekday with some friends. I think we all arrived in a bad mood. It soon turned into one of my favourite nights, with its sunset ambience and well-priced cocktail inventions. That night I scientifically concluded: it is impossible to be sad in Kazbar.
I could go on about my favourite spots in Oxford. Now that I’ve collected my happy-places, it is truly a home. Had Bimble been around when I was starting uni, I could have found those places all a little sooner, but now I can look forward to all the discoveries a new term with Bimble will bring. For any new students apprehensive about starting university: don’t get caught up in crises over duvet covers. Download Bimble and start finding those little places that will bring you joy. Find my top tips here: bimble.com/lists/6573037482672128
