If you want a quiet life, you should make yourself a t-shirt. Why? Well, I guarantee that Freshers get asked the same three questions relentlessly for the first week of their University life, and then sporadically for the remainder of the term. The first question "What's your name?". Seems harmless enough, I know. After 14 pints in Derwent Bar on your first night, however, no one is likely to remember. They will probably call you names of everybody else in your block /corridor before they finally arrive triumphantly at yours. It isn't worth the hassle, it really isn't. The second question "Where are you from?". Perhaps the most revealing question of all. Announcing that I was from Newcastle-upon-Tyne seemed to confuse most of my first year housemates. They were all from 'down south', you see, and their geography north of Norfolk was a trifle hazy to say the least. Newcastle, one of them thought, was south of York. Some had never even heard of Newcastle. The third question "What are you studying?". People will be running round, frantically trying to find people on their own course. One of my housemates was studying mathematics, and all of us on the first day had broken his heart by announcing that we were studying arts subjects. Yet, he was pinning his hopes on the one room in the house that was not yet occupied. When the mystery student arrived the next day, all of my housemates fears evaporated as he discovered that the latest addition was indeed embarking on a mathematics degree. It can be very awkward to answer these questions, in the fear that you may not be doing a subject that anyone else is doing, or that you live in a part of the country that they thought was only part of some distant mythical legend, like Newcastle. My solution? Make a t-shirt. On this t-shirt, write your name, your home town and your course. Make a t-shirt, avoid the embarrassment and the constant questions. I wish I had.
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