Smoke
This is not a pro-smoking article, I think we’re all pretty sewn up on the ‘is smoking cool argument’. Fags are expensive and I think I read somewhere that they’re bad for your health. In reality, the smoking rule during freshers only extends as far as carrying a lighter and using the smoking area as a fishing pond for conversation.
With all of the negative connotations that tobacco possesses, it is easily forgotten that a cigarette is the perfect length of time to make conversation, you can find out what others in your building are doing tonight and take a phone number, all without the rigmarole of a drawn out conversation; I’ve just borrowed a Rizla from you, I don’t need your life story (also, I’m not going to pay you back for the Rizla, sorry).