This week The Christchurch Press ran an extract from my book in the ‘Good Living’ section. In the extract, I talk about my first day on campus – namely, the fact that it didn’t go that well. I get lost, feel stupid, and go home feeling like a bit of a wannabe. I fail my very first assignment: looking and feeling like a relaxed, on-to-it uni student.

As this year’s clutch of new students make their first tentative steps on campus, a lot of them will feel the same way that I did. They’ll be the ones who don’t know anyone else there, who are totally knew to the whole uni thing, and who aren’t good with directions at the best of times. Like me, they’ll probably go home and have a few doubts about their enrolment. They’ll return with a map and gradually chip away at it until they can get to and fro between all the necessary areas without looking like a new kid.

Other students, though, won’t have a problem. They will be the sort of people who are blessed with strong navigational skills, who have a safe set of friends to explore with, and who are used to big buildings and loads of people.

All students are different – that’s one of the joys of being at uni. No matter how you feel on your first day at campus, keep in mind that in a few weeks this huge new place will be your new neighbourhood. In time, you’ll know those lecture theatres, offices and courtyards as well as you knew the suburb you grew up in. So, before your lectures kick off, head to campus and spend a day exploring your new territory.