Should you give societies a chance?

by IFP student Camila Bena Mejia

For many of us, Bristol was totally unknown before moving here. I didn’t know anything about British culture apart from the famous ‘bland’ food and great music like the Beatles. I was on the other side of the world away from my home, and my ‘to do’ list included learning how to cook, making friends, and going to class. To learn how to cook I bought a cookbook – an easy solution; to go to class I simply learned to wake up on time (I still struggle with it some days). But to make friends there isn’t a guide.

If I were to write a guide, my first piece of advice would be: choose university accommodation. This was a big step in the right direction towards adapting to the UK and meeting people. My flatmates were my first friends; they taught me great things about British culture and shared never-ending stories about how fun the UK is. Staying up until 3am laughing in the kitchen was great, but I wasn’t getting to know other students or Bristol. I still felt like an outsider and needed to create my own experiences and memories of this new place.

Getting to know Bristol and other students was easier through university events. I really recommend everyone to attend the welcome fair as I met most of my closest friends thanks to this event. This is where societies were truly introduced to me and I decided I was going to try most of them right there and then. I went to the acapella society, but sadly I found out I don’t really know how to sing. Still it was fun and I had a good laugh with the others, who thought a good voice wasn’t needed to join. Then I tried Bollywood dancing with my flatmate; since she is from India she really wanted me to go with her. Once again it wasn’t the right fit for me, but I had a great time and I still attend the Hindu society events like Diwali, which was a beautiful celebration with amazing food. Even though trying those out was fun I wanted to find something that aligned more with me. I joined the Mexican society (I’m Mexican), and this really showed me the warmth that speaking in your own language, even for a short period of time, can give you. Out of this I built some truly great friendships with Spanish speaking people from all around North and South America.

On the other hand, I was still craving a society that aligned with me not only because of my nationality. I’ve had an interest in philosophy and literature since secondary school, but I felt self-conscious about how unknowledgeable I might appear if I joined a society on these topics. Despite this fear, I tried the philosophy society and even though I didn’t understand 50 percent of the words, and everyone seemed one thought away from becoming David Hume, I really enjoyed it, and I learned things that helped me with my units on the foundation programme. It expanded my horizons by giving me more tools, books, articles and conversations that helped me understand the content of my classes (beyond the endless amount of Blackboard links). But more importantly, I made friends who shared this interest as well as new perspectives with me. I also joined the comparative literature society; each month we vote for a book and at the end of the month we meet and discuss it. This made me remember the love I had for reading and it being an event gave me the motivation to actually read and engage with the book. 

Based on these experiences, I just wanted to share this tiny bit of advice to future IFP students: I understand how unsettling it is to be away from home and I know societies at first seem like a tedious and useless activity to add to your already full calendar, but they are much more than that. They help you find who you are in Bristol apart from an ‘international student’. I’m not saying you should fill your calendar and join every society that remotely aligns with you but at least give one a chance! I am sure you won’t regret it.