Since starting university, I have joined or tried out many societies and have found these to be the perfect way to destress from university work. I would start off by recommending to anyone, whether you are a fresher or a final year student, to try out new societies, as they are honestly the best way to make friends. I have just finished my second year at university and as I go into my final year, I am excited to carry on my busy schedule as a member of multiple clubs.

Fencing Club

Starting off with sports clubs, after looking around the freshers fair when I first joined, I decided to join the Fencing Club to learn a new skill. This has been a great society to be a member of because there are coaches to train you from a complete beginner and there are beginner competition opportunities further into the year. This gave me a new opportunity to develop a new sport and to even compete to help learn the rules of fencing. I have had a great time in Dublin competing against other universities.

^{Visit the Fencing Club's Instagram page}

Wakeboarding Club

On top of fencing, in first year I decided to join the Wakeboarding Club. As a water sports instructor myself I had done wakeboarding before, however the practice every week with coaches teaching me to do special tricks has been very useful. Throughout the summer there are lots of competitions for the Wakeboarding Club with a trip to Lithuania for a European competition being the highlight of them all. It is always great fun to pop down to Let’s Go Hydro on a Wednesday afternoon to try out different tricks on the cable park and everyone in the society is always willing to help you master a new flip.

^{Check out the club's upcoming social events here}

Equestrian Club

As well as wakeboarding on a Wednesday, I also attend the Equestrian Club for horse riding lessons. Occasionally the club runs polo lessons and rides along the beach which are lovely ways to unwind throughout the sunnier months. The club offers lessons for different abilities as well as a lift share system to get to the stables which, for someone from England without a car in Belfast like me, is very useful.

^{Picture courtesy NI Tourist Board}

Trampoline Club

This year, I picked up another new sport too which is trampolining. Every Friday when I would go to fencing, I would see the trampoliners in the hall next to us bouncing really high and doing lots of cool flips and so I decided to join. The Trampoline Club has become my favourite society for the social aspect given the amazing job the social secretaries do each year to run funny socials each week, such as anything but a cup, charity Halloween costume bounce, with my favourite being the bouncy ball which was a formal for all trampolining societies in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

^{Visit the club's Instagram page for updates}

The people at trampolining are all fun people who do social events every day of the week and have been welcoming to me as a new joiner, whether it be picnics in Botanic Gardens on random evenings or trips to Let’s Go Hydro. I am very glad I joined this year and would highly encourage others to do so.

Lacrosse

As well as trampolining, this year I have been attending Lacrosse every Monday evening which is always the perfect way to start my week. We have a few matches on a couple of Saturdays throughout the year which we train for on Mondays. The club tends to organise dinners and pub socials after training at the Jeggy Nettle as it is right by our training ground. This is a lovely way to get to know everyone to have a nice drink and chat together after a training night.

Non-sports societies

Other non-sport related societies that are good to join include the wine and cheese society for a nice way to meet new people at ‘speed friending’ events, as well as the debate society which is good fun yet still academic. The snow sport society is always a popular one due to the ski trip and the snowball afterwards to reflect on the fun things that happened during the trip. It is best to sign up at freshers for this because it gives you priority to book onto the ski trip which always sells out almost instantly.

Last year, I joined the CU (Christian Union) which is the biggest CU out of any university in the UK. The CU is a good way to stay connected to your faith whilst at university but also to meet others who want to talk about it too. They host fun residentials throughout the year and nice hangout weekends at the beach for example. It meets every Monday night and usually has roughly 350 people turn up every week.

^{The Snowball is a popular event in the Snow Sports Society's social calendar}

Sailing Club

My top two university societies are without a doubt the Sailing and the Airsquadron society. Starting off with the sailing club, I thoroughly enjoy spending my Saturdays on a boat floating around with my friends at Ballyhome. It is a great way to get out of Belfast and out of the house at the weekend. To be in the fresh air either practising race styles, teaching people to sail, learning how to sail or just catching up with friends on the powerboats, they are all perfect ways to spend your Saturday. We usually have a BBQ or go to the pub after a nice afternoon in the sun sailing around on the sea.

^{Visit the club's Instagram page for updates}

The best part about the club is the sail week every summer. This is hosted by NUCO and is a week on a yacht in the Mediterranean with friends. Usually around 50 people go on this trip (so almost the whole society) meaning that we have a fleet of 5 boats as Queen’s sailing club. Other universities come on the same trip and so we all end up making great friends partying with them at all of the harbours. Every summer I always look forward to sail week and clear my calendar at the start of the year specifically for that week.

Airsquadron Society

Airsquadron is a society where you can learn how to fly which is something I never thought I would find myself doing at university. They have 6 trips a year which are all always amazing trips for adventure training. This year, we went to Berlin on a culture trip, to Italy for rock climbing, to Greenland for a 2-week walking expedition, Malta for a history trip and to France for a ski trip. There are other adventure training opportunities such as a week of mountain biking, hiking, kayaking and rock climbing in the Mournes. 

^{Find out more about NIUAS}

The Airsquardron is my top society because by going on all of these trips, you get to know everyone really well and the opportunities it offers are incredible and so different to any other society. We meet every Wednesday night but you can book to go flying any day of the week. I usually attend my morning lectures then get the transport to the airfield to fly and then land and come back in time for my late afternoon lectures. We have lots of formals throughout the year which are always a nice way to celebrate with everyone whilst being all dressed up.

If I have any advice for anyone at university, it is that joining a society will make your university experience 10 times better as years down the line you won’t be reflecting on what you got up to in your lectures, but instead will be thinking about the fun you had doing lots of activities. These are my experiences with societies but Queen’s has so many to try out, so you might as well get stuck into as many as you want!

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Charlotte Jennings  Politics and International Relations | Undergraduate Student | London, England I'm a Politics and International Relations student in my second year at Queen's. I am from London and currently live in student housing but lived in Elms BT9 last year. I love to be a busy person and am a member of multiple societies and teams at Queen's. I am also undertaking a charitable project at Queen's called the Zambia project where we host fundraisers in order to collect money and aid for our missionary trip to Zambia. In my spare time I teach water sports in Bangor and so far I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Belfast even though it is very different to London. I would highly recommend the university to anyone as I have had the best experience here so far and have fallen in love with this country.