Why Should You Join A Society?

by | Mar 4, 2022 | Postgraduate, Uncategorised, Undergraduate | 0 comments

Zsofi smiling at cameraWritten by Zsofi Kutasi

One of the greatest things that you could do after coming to university for the first time is to join a society.  Similar to other universities in the UK, The University of Manchester is also home to a wide variety of societies, starting from the societies of different nations to ones about some kind of sports, beliefs and much more mainstream ones involving hobbies or games just to mention a few. Thus, it is impossible not to find something for your liking. It does not just give you a sense of belonging, but it is allowing you to make new friends with similar interests and be able to participate in events and socials which makes your days in university much more enjoyable.

After coming to Manchester, I participated in many events which hosted and advertised different societies within the University called the Societies Fair. It is a great opportunity to get to know what different types of societies there are and ask questions from students that are already part of them. However, there are many more, so, understandably, they cannot be represented all in just one place!  As I am from Hungary I was aware from the start that there is a Hungarian society so I joined them immediately. I also knew that I wanted to play continue to play volleyball and the Societies Fair was the event where I found out that there is a Volleyball society! Lastly, I started to volunteer at a student-led zero waste shop, Want-Not-Waste-Not, where I could be part of another fantastic community.

Each society does a variety of events, some smaller and bigger ones, and some of them are more frequent than the other. In the case of the volleyball society, I have been mostly taking part in training every Saturday afternoon. However, those who are more skilled in this sport can also be part of competitive teams or play out in the fresh air whenever the weather allows it. The volunteering society is part of my weekly routine as I am doing shifts in the shop, but we are having socials every month and even organizing events where students outside of the community can attend as well. However, for me, the Hungarian society brings the most memories. We have weekly socials in the evening and have countless trips to nearby cities where we collaborate with other Hungarians.

All in all, being part of one or more societies is very important to experience more widely the life as a university student. You will make friends from your course or other disciplines, but sometimes there are things which you can’t always share with some people, such as a hobby or your national identity, and for that, societies provide an excellent opportunity. For me, being part of these communities made my 2 years so far very enjoyable and made it possible to make friends from the very start, so I am glad that decided to be part of them!

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