The social side of university and dentistry

You get a real flavour of what the social side of university is like in your first week, arguably the best week, and definitely the most mental, freshers week! It’s set up and run by the student’s union (so by students), with the primary aim of getting you to mingle with all the new people in your halls – the fresher’s crew are brilliant at this – as well as experience what Newcastle has to offer. This includes an array of daytime activities from paintballing and quad-biking, to cocktail making and beach trips. Then onto Newcastle’s incredible (and award winning) nightlife; there are a number of themed bar crawls ending in the city’s superclubs, and music performances in the newly refurbished union. Or if that’s not your scene, try the ‘grub crawls’, comedy gigs and cinema trips, and best of all, everything’s included in the price of the fresher’s wristband, it’s incredible value. If like me, you enjoyed it so much, you can volunteer to be one of the crew the following year, so you get to do it all again!

There are so many sport clubs for you to choose from, whether you’re a footballer trying out for the first team, or want to try something completely different like ultimate Frisbee. There are also hundreds of non-sporting related societies, such as the film society, the 20-minute society (a 20 minute heads up is given before a totally spontaneous event, sometimes even a holiday), and then, your course societies, which brings me to the ever-famous dentsoc.

I can’t stress how good dentsoc is, it’s the perfect way to let your hair down after a busy week on clinic, socialise with everyone on the course, and get involved in some wickedly funny events.

It really sets Newcastle apart from the other dental schools, and the ‘Crown and Bridge’ acts as its central hub. The ‘Crown and Bridge’ is our very own bar, situated next to the lecture theatres, and for a one off payment at the beginning of first year, around £90, gets you membership for life, and that includes your drinks! Roughly every 2 weeks there’s a dentsoc event, be it ‘blind date’ for valentines, the hilarious ‘hustings’ event (the dentsoc presidential candidates show their campaign videos, which are superb), the annual ball (your chance to dress to the nines), or even events out of the Toon, such as sports day, a weekend where all the dental schools converge on one city for a brilliant day of sports, followed by epic nights out.

Dentsoc really is the epitome of ‘work hard, play hard’!

Newcastle

Obviously when choosing your university, the city it’s in will play a massive part.

I had never actually been to Newcastle before I went for my dentistry interview, and I didn’t really know anything about it, other than how far away it was (I’m from Preston), but now I’ve been here 4 years, I can’t say a bad thing about it.

The thing I love most is the size of Newcastle, it’s got everything a massive city like Manchester or even London has to offer, fantastic shopping, an enormous range of restaurants, the best bars and clubs, yet it’s all conveniently located close by. Seriously, I could walk anywhere I wanted to, partly because the centre is so compact, and partly because the student areas, such as Jesmond, are essentially next to the city centre.

It’s also a staggeringly beautiful city, effectively blending the 19^th century architecture of places like ‘Grey Street’, which leads down from the ‘Monument’ in the heart of Newcastle, to the Quayside, a modern and vibrant part of the city with the famous ‘Millennium bridge’ and ‘The Sage’ concert hall just on the other side of the Tyne river.

Plus, public transport is fantastic around here, taxis are so popular and really cheap, there are a plethora of bus routes, and the metro (a scaled down version of London’s tube network) is a fantastic, cheap and safe way to get to the main areas. The local beaches, Tynemouth and Whitley bay, are beautiful places to visit for a day out (the metro can take you there), as well as Durham, only 15 minutes away on the train. Newcastle’s also bike friendly, I cycle everywhere, and my route into University is mainly along cycle paths and through a massive park.

I’ve been here for 4 years now and there are still hidden gems I’ve yet to visit, there is so much to do here, both day and night, you’ll never be bored, there really is something for everyone, and best of all, its cheap!