All the weird things Sheffield students do without even realising they’re weird

Sheffield. A place known for it’s massive hills, the Arctic Monkeys and the oldest football ground in the world. However, us students do some pretty random shit, so here’s everything you need to know before coming here.

Going for a full curry meal at 3am after a night out

If you haven’t experienced a Balti King, you haven’t lived. There aren’t many other restaurants where you could rock up at 3am, dressed in a ridiculous fancy dress outfit, order a chicken tikka masala and have nobody bat an eyelid. However, in Broomhill, this is something of a norm.

Balti King 4eva

Wearing school uniform to a club

Genuinely, if you’re coming to Sheffield in September, don’t throw away your old school tie just yet. It really is the norm that every Wednesday night, people don a white shirt, school tie and jeans or school skirt and head into the depths of Corp.

Drinking multi-coloured pints and trying to complete a rainbow challenge

Stick with us here. So it’s something of tradition in Sheffield to head to the infamous corp and order a ‘blue pint’. This will be sickly sweet cocktail of vodka and blue WKD. If you manage one of these, it’s only right you should then get a ‘green pint’, and then an ‘orange pint’, and a ‘purple pint’, and a ‘clear pint’. Once you’ve completed the challenge, you probably won’t be able to walk, will be vomiting everywhere and won’t remember anything, but nonetheless you will be the champion of corp.

Not buying a gym membership because walking up those hills counts as cardio

Trust us, by the end of the first time, you’ll have calves the size of Chris Hoy’s. Be it trekking up to Endcliffe and Ranmoor, or climbing up Conduit Road everyday, you will not need a gym membership. Also, in the winter, you’ll feel like you’re in an episode of Game of Thrones when the snow is pelting down and the wind almost blows you over.

Hilling me softly

Going to Sean Bean’s nephew’s chip shop

Honestly, Sheffield royalty really do own a chip shop in Broomhill. If you’re very lucky, you can get a voucher in first year from “Sean Bean and family – enjoy a portion of chips on us”.

Drinking a cocktail that’s basically the leftover milk at the end of Coco-pops with added alcohol

Do you love a good breakfast? A big fan of cereal? Often think on a night out “I really fancy some coco-pop milk with an alcohol twist”? Well worry not, as Sheffield has this very creation on offer. West Street Live offers a “choco milk” drink that you can’t not try.

Having the Peak District literally right outside but never actually going

You’ll probably have been planning to go to the Peak District since freshers, but you’ll probably never arrange to go until at least third year when you panic about completing your Sheffield bucket list.

Going for a night out at the SU

When you tell people your fave nights out are at the student’s union, they’ll often give you a weird look and presume you’re a bit weird, but some of the best nights out in Sheffield are held at the university’s union. If you like house music, there’s The Tuesday Club, for sports teams there’s ‘Roar’ and on a Saturday night there’s ‘Pop-tarts’, which basically plays all the absolute banging tunes from the past 50 years.

Being overly proud that your face is on the wall of a takeaway

Obviously, coming to uni in Sheffield, the main aim is getting a degree, but equally important is trying to get your face on the wall of Aslan’s.

Being silently livid that the bus fares have increased by 20p

If you’ve been at Sheffield long enough, you’ll remember the days when you could hop on the bus, show your student card, give the driver a £1 coin. Well, sadly all that has changed now and it’s basically daylight robbery. You’ll now have to dig around in your wallets for an extra 20p, and it’s perfectly alright to sit on the bus silently livid at this 20 per cent increase.

Leaving the house in shorts and a T-shirt, only to find it’s hailing/snowing/tipping it down 20 minutes later

The struggle is real, people. You wake up, open the curtains to find it’s a boiling hot day, the sun shining, people eating ice creams. However, don’t be fooled and always take a pack-a-mac anywhere you go.

It was literally 30*C five minutes ago

Fearing for your life every time you get in the Arts Tower Paternostar

In first year, you’ll probably look at the big old third years and think, “one day, I’ll be like them. Look how seamlessly they get on that big spinny machine”. Do not be fooled. Third years are like swans in that on the outside they’re very calm and serene, but on the inside their hearts are beating at 100 miles per hour. That paternostar is terrifying, and don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise.

You’re going to the top of this in a lift that doesn’t have a door.