MARGIE'S FRESHERS GUIDE : PART 1 THE CHECKLIST

So before I get into why you came to read this blog, congratulations on getting into university! These next few years will be life-changing and to help you transition seamlessly, I decided to make a fresher’s guide. If you didn’t already know, you, a new university student, the “fresh meat” are referred to as a “fresher”. As I am now old, tired meat on the verge of practically spoiling (I’m in the final year of a five-year degree) I think I have enough wisdom and have made enough mistakes to advise you on what to do and what not to do. But this is all this is, advice. Don’t take my word as gospel, different things work for different people and you’re going to take some time to figure things out. And UWI knows this, that’s why your first-year GPA does NOT contribute to your overall degree GPA (except for us med students because they hate us. Also not sure if this applies to other universities in Jamaica). The point is these are exciting times filled with change that can be both fun-filled and terrifying, I hope you stick around for all parts of this series, and I hope you find it helpful. 

 

THE CHECKLIST

 Let it be known that I tend to over pack because I like to be prepared and I don’t like borrowing from people so this list is very very exhaustive. You may have to tweak it for your room size (or just be creative with storage like me) and here we go!

Kitchen

• 4 dishcloths

• Dish drainer (preferably covered)

• 3 plates

• Bowl

• Big pot

• Small pot

• Dutch pot

• Frying pan

• Seasoning bowl

• Food storage containers

• Food cover

• Cooking spoons

• Paring knife

• Chopping knife

• 5 spoons

• 5 forks

• 5 butter knives

• 2 drinking cups/glasses

• 2 mugs

• Can opener

• Collander

• Grater

• Portable thermos/coffee cup

• Ziplock bags

• Cling wrap

• Aluminium foil

• Water bottle

• Britta water filter jug (with filter replacements)/ Big refillable water jug

• Kettle

• Ice tray ( preferably covered)

• Seasoning container

• Container for flour

• Container for sugar

• Container for rice

• Dish sponge

• Scouring sponge

• Jay cloth (disposable cloth)

• Handtowel

• Dishwashing liquid

• Axion/Irex

Bedroom

• 3 sets of twin XL sheets with pillowcase

• Blanket

• Desk lamp

• Rubbish bin

• Pillow

• Curtain

• Curtain rod/curtain rod string

• Shoe holder (preferably hanging to save on limited floor space)

• 3 towels

• 3 rags

• 3 face towels

• Two large storage containers

• Command hooks

• Double-sided sticky tape

• Mini storage containers for cosmetics

• Full-length mirror

• Small desk mirror

• Desk organizer

• Fan

• Iron

• Ironing board 

• Dirty clothes basket/hamper

• Rug for room

• Rug for outside door

• Mini fridge (if permitted by Hal of Residence)

• Seat cushion for desk chair

• Hangers 

• Speakers

Bathroom/Toiletries/Cosmetics

• Shower caddy

• Shower curtain with hooks (Hall dependent)

• Bathroom rugs/mats and toothbrush holder (Hall dependent)

• Soap dish

• Soap

• Robe

• Toothbrush

• Floss

• Toothpaste

• Mouthwash

• Shower cap

• Hair bonnet/durag

• Cotton bus/Cutip

• Nail clip

• Shampoo

• Conditioner

• Hand soap

• Razors/Nair

• Pantyliner 

• Pads

• Makeup

• Lotion

• Sunscreen

• Deodorant

• Baby wipes/feminine wipes

• Toilet tissue

• Makeup wipes

• Makeup remover

• Lip balm/chapstick

• Scrunchies

• Hair products- gel, hair oil, hair moisturizer etc.

Laundry/Cleaning supplies

• Lysol/disinfectant spray

• Fabuloso/ Disinfectant liquid

• Bleach

• Laundry detergent/ Fab

• Blue soap

• Dryer sheets

• Downy scent beads

• Laundry bag

• Clothes pin

• 1 large wash pan

• 1 small wash pan/basin

• Broom

• Mop

• Bucket

• Dustpan

• Laundry brush

• Garbage bags (big and small)

• Glade or air wick scented plugin

• Panty line

Clothes

• T shirts

• Hoodie

• Yard clothes

• Going out/dressy shirts

• Party outfits

• Nice dress/suit

• Work outfit

• Work out clothes

• Sneakers

• Yard slippers/Crocs

• Shower slippers

• Heels/dress shoes

• Underwear

• Bra

• Pyjamas

• Merina

• Handbag

• Purse/wallet

School supplies/stationery 

• Pens

• Pencils

• Highlighters

• Eraser

• Ruler

• Fine tip markers

• Permanent markers

• Coloured pencils

• Stapler

• Duct tape

• Thumb tacks

• Whiteboard/cork board

• School bag

• Pencil case

Room decorations

• Black cartridge paper (to block out lights from slats above door)

• String lights

• LED strip lights

• Tapestry

• Cute pillows

• Teddy bears

• Pictures/ photo frames

Important documents

• Passport

• Driver’s license

• Birth certificate

• TRN

• NIS

• Debit/Credit cards

• National ID/ Voter’s ID

• Immunization card

• COVID Vaccine certificate

Miscellaneous

• Bug spray e.g. Bagon

• Insect repellent

• Vape mat

• Mosquito destroyer

• Mosquito zapper

• Farco ants powder

• Ear buds

• Noise cancelling headphones

• Mini portable fan

• Laptop

• 2 Extension cords(one long one and another with multiple outlets)

• Umbrella

• Power bank

Where to buy stuff

• Shein  (Highly recommend)

• Azan's crossroads (Highly recommend)

• Lotos clock tower (Highly recommend)

• PriceSmart

• Rapid tru Valu

• Super Valu home center- Liguanea

• General Foods (upstairs) - Liguanea

• Bascho - Downtown (Highly recommend)

• Woolworth - Half way tree

• Fontana- Barbican and Waterloo

A few points to note

• I said preferably covered for the dish drainer and ice tray because unfortunately, whether because of not-so-clean flatmates or otherwise, some places do have bugs. You do not want them crawling on your clean dishes. You also do not want somebody’s bloody meat water dripping on the ice you’re trying to set.

• This is also the reason so many bugs spray etc are on the list. Again, I’m not saying that you are going to have them, but you might. 

• Be mindful of the size of the dish drainer you get as counter space can be limited. Alternatively, you can keep your dish drainer in your room. 

• The highly recommended places usually have a good variety of things you need for relatively cheap.

• Some things on the list are gender specific, if they don’t apply to you please ignore them.

And that’s the end! Please comment and share with your friends if you found this helpful and look out for part two! Here is the link to a google docs so that you can print off the checklist as well. Click Here for a tour of my room so you can get an idea of the space (at Rex Nettleford Hall atleast) and things I have in there etc.