Freshers' week: making friends on a new campus with the 500 m room

The first week at a new university is a strange mix. You're surrounded by thousands of people your age, most of them also new, most of them also looking for friends, and somehow it's still hard to start a conversation. CicadaChat's 500 m room makes the first step smaller. It's a chat with everyone within 500 m of you, which during freshers' week means the whole campus, the halls and the welcome fair, and nobody needs to swap numbers or find a group first. This article is about making friends on a new campus with the 500 m room: where to start, what to say, how to move from the public room to real friendships, and how to stay safe while you do.

Why the 500 m room works for freshers

Every new student has the same problem in week one: the people you'd get on with are out there, but you haven't met them yet. Course group chats are for your course. Halls chats are for your corridor. The 500 m room is for everyone near you, right now, which is a surprisingly good way to meet people outside those circles.

CicadaChat rooms are circles around you. The 500 m room is a kilometre across: on most campuses, that's the teaching buildings, the library, the students' union and the halls around them. You don't join it and you don't need an invitation. Open CicadaChat, allow location, tap the 500 m tab, and you're in. A guest account is created for you automatically, so you can start talking before you've decided whether to sign up.

Day one: asking for directions is a conversation

You don't know where anything is, and neither does anyone else who arrived this week. That's your opening. "First day here and I have no idea where the welcome fair is 😅" is a perfectly good first message. Someone who's been there a year will answer ("Sports hall behind the library, just follow the balloons"), and two other freshers will react with ❤️ because they were wondering too.

Good first messages are simple and practical:

• "Where do you get your student card photo taken?"
• "Is the canteen in the main building any good, or is there somewhere better?"
• "Anyone know where the international students' welcome is?"
• "Which bus goes to the big supermarket?"

Everyone who answers or reacts is someone you now have a tiny bit in common with.

Finding people to do things with

The real use of the room in freshers' week is turning "I'd like to go to that, but not on my own" into "a few of us are going". Post what you're doing and invite people along:

• "Anyone new looking for people to go to the quiz tonight? Student bar, 8pm."
• "Going to the climbing club taster at 4, anyone want to come?"
• "Heading into town for the freshers' market on Saturday morning, happy to show anyone the bus."
• "Is anyone else not really into clubbing? Board games in the union common room at 7."

You'll be surprised how often the answer is "Yes! I don't know anyone yet".

A screenshot of the 500 m room in freshers' week. A question about the welcome fair turns into plans for the quiz.

From the room to a real conversation

The public room is for starting conversations. When one takes off, move it somewhere quieter:

1. Tap the person's name on their message. A private chat opens, marked Private — only the two of you.
2. Agree the details there: where exactly to meet, what you look like, when you're leaving.
3. Meet somewhere busy and obvious: the entrance to the students' union, the bar, the welcome fair stand for the club you're both trying.

Private chats work for guests too, so you can do all of this before you've made an account.

Keeping the friends you make

By the end of freshers' week, you'll have met a lot of people once. To keep in touch with the ones you liked, CicadaChat has friends and private rooms. Both need a free account, because a guest account lives in one browser and can disappear if you clear it.

Creating your account

1. Tap your guest name: at the bottom of the menu, where it says Guest · tap to log in, or the round button at the top right on a phone.
2. In You're chatting as a guest, tap Create one next to New here?.
3. Fill in Create your CicadaChat account and tap Create account, or continue with Google.

Your account keeps your guest history and private chats, so the conversations you've already had come with you. The help article how to create a CicadaChat account and keep your guest chats goes through every field.

Adding friends

Friends in CicadaChat are mutual: you send a request and they accept. You can send one from the person's private chat, from the add-friend button next to their name in the People in range list, or by searching their username under Friends. Friends can see when you're online, but never where you are, not even roughly. The help article friend requests: adding, accepting, declining and removing friends covers each way.

A private room for your new group

Once a few of you are friends, one of you can create a private room: an invite-only chat for the group. In the menu, tap New next to Private rooms, give the room a name ("Tuesday quiz team", "Flat 4B", "Climbing newbies"), tick the friends to add and tap Create room. Only the room's owner can add people, and only from their own friends, so nobody gets pulled in by a stranger. A private room works from anywhere, so it keeps the group together when you're in different lectures, at home for the weekend or back for the next term.

If you don't live on campus

Commuting students often feel they miss out on freshers' week, because the halls are where a lot of friendships start. The 500 m room doesn't care where you sleep. While you're on campus, you're in it just like everyone else. Use the time between lectures: "Commuter here, anyone want to grab lunch before the 2pm lecture?" gets answers from the other commuters, who are looking for the same thing. Arrange things that fit your day, like lunch, a society taster or a coffee after the last lecture, rather than trying to keep up with late nights.

If you're an international student

Arriving from another country, you might have more practical questions than most, and fewer people to ask. The 500 m room is a good place for them: "Where's the nearest shop that sells Korean groceries?" "Which bank is easiest for international students to open an account with?" You'll often find someone from home, or someone who arrived last year and remembers the same confusion. CicadaChat shows messages exactly as they're written, so write in whichever language gets you the answer. Just remember that people who don't speak it will be reading too.

Staying safe while you meet people

Freshers' week is exciting, and it's also a week when a lot of people are away from home for the first time, surrounded by strangers. A few habits keep the 500 m room a good place:

• Keep your details for private chats. Your room number, your flat, your timetable and your plans to walk home alone don't belong in a room that everyone within 500 m can read.
• Meet in public places. Especially the first time. The students' union, a café, the welcome fair.
• Go with the group, leave with the group. If you meet people at the quiz, walk home with the people from your halls, not someone you met an hour ago.
• Trust your instincts. If a private chat makes you uncomfortable, stop replying.
• Remember what people see. A guest name like Cicada 123456, or the full name you choose if you make an account, and a distance rounded to the nearest 50 m. Never your coordinates.

If something serious happens, talk to your university's welfare or security team. They're there for exactly that.

Being the second-year who answers

If you've been on campus a year, the 500 m room in freshers' week is full of people asking things you know. Answering is a small kindness that makes a big difference to someone who's nervous and lost. "The good canteen is the one in the arts building." "The 22 bus goes to the big supermarket." "The climbing club taster is great, go." Remember what it was like.

Beyond freshers' week

The campus 500 m room doesn't stop being useful when the welcome fair packs up. It becomes the place for library hours, broken printers, moved lectures and free coffee. The article your campus in one room: the 500 m room at university covers the rest of the year.

A freshers' week, message by message

Monday, 10 am. You post "First day here and I have no idea where the welcome fair is 😅". Three answers in two minutes.

Monday, 2 pm. At the fair, someone in the room says the climbing club has free tasters all week. You go on Tuesday.

Tuesday, 6 pm. "Anyone new looking for people to go to the quiz tonight?" You say yes, and so do two others.

Tuesday, 11 pm. Your quiz team came fourth. You make accounts and add each other as friends.

Friday. One of you creates a private room called "Tuesday quiz team". It's still going in the spring.