Catch instax™ this freshers' week at Freshers Festival in Glasgow, London and Manchester

New city, new flat, a corridor full of people who don't know a single thing about you yet. Freshers' week moves fast. One minute you're dragging a suitcase up three flights of stairs, the next it's October and the whole week has blurred into a group chat nobody reads back.

So this year we're coming to find you. instax™ is teaming up with Jessops at Freshers Festival, with stops in Glasgow, London and Manchester, and there's a students-only night at FUJIFILM House of Photography in London a couple of weeks after that.

Tickets are free (for the freshers festival) and you'll need to register in advance, so grab yours now for Glasgow on 12 September, London on 19 September or Manchester on 26 September. Full details are in the table further down.

If instax™ is new to you, the short story is instant prints. You take a photo, a print comes out, and you've got something to keep or to give to whoever you've just met. Which is fairly useful in a week built almost entirely on meeting people.

No pressure, no hard sell. Just come over, say hi, and see what we're about.

What's happening

You'll find us with Jessops at all three stops, so come over and say hi.

Get your photo taken against our backdrop, disco balls and all, and walk away with an instax SQUARE™ print in your hand. Something to keep, or to hand to whoever you dragged along with you.

Jessops are running a basketball challenge alongside us, which is exactly what it sounds like. Shoot some hoops, scan the QR code to sign up, and you're in the prize draw. There's an instax mini Evo™ to win at each of the three dates, picked at random from everyone who signed up on the day.

There'll be instax™ to buy at exclusive show prices, with a few show-only deals we'll share closer to the time. Plus instax™ and Jessops freebies and merch to pick up while you're there.

Never used an instax™ camera or printer before? Even better. There's someone standing right there to answer the obvious questions, and nobody’s keeping score.

Where to find us during freshers' week

Freshers’ week runs well into October. Four dates, three Freshers Festival stops and one night of our own, all of them ticketed in advance. 

The first three are Freshers Festival dates. They're free, each city runs as its own event with its own ticket, and everything sits in one place on the Freshers Festival tickets hub if you'd rather browse before you commit.

The 1 October date is different. That's Student Event, our own students-only night in London, and it's a paid ticket. More on that below.

Freshers Festival is open to more than first years

The name puts a lot of people off, so let's clear that up.

Freshers Festival isn't tied to one campus or one students' union. It's a city-wide thing, so anyone aged 17 or over in further or higher education in that city can come along. Second years, final years, postgrads, college students, people on a foundation year, people who transferred and are doing university freshers' week for a second time. All are welcome.

Handy if you want something beyond your own campus fair, or if you've already done the circuit twice and fancy meeting people who aren't on your course. It's also why the brand line-up tends to be bigger than any single students' union could pull together.

Freshers Festival's line-up covers brands, food, live entertainment, competitions and discounts, plus a lot of people in exactly the same boat as you. It's free to attend and registering takes about a minute, so it's worth grabbing a ticket now while you're thinking about it.

There's a students-only night in London too

This one is separate from the Freshers Festival dates, and it's the big one. We're taking over the whole of FUJIFILM House of Photography for a single evening, students only, and the entire building is yours for a few hours.

There are two sessions on Thursday 1 October, 5:30pm to 7:30pm and 8:00pm to 10:00pm, at WC2E 9LH. You'll need a valid student ID or a UCAS email address to get in, so have one ready on the door. Each session has 100 tickets, so it's worth booking early rather than deciding on the day.

The Creator Cube is running an exclusive template made for the night, so the prints you leave with won't exist anywhere else. There's also a charm station, where you can customise your camera with gems and charms until it looks like nobody else's.

Everyone in the room gets 16% off across instax™, X Series and GFX that night instead of the usual 10%, plus bundle deals, 50% off printing and studio discounts. All of it valid on the night only. If you've been putting off restocking film or picking up an album, that's your window.

There's a DJ, drinks, goody bags on your way out, and a raffle with prizes worth £500.

Two ticket types to pick from:

•       General Admission, £8: one talk, shopping discounts on the night, and entry to the prize draw
•       Premium, £16: all of the above, plus a scheduled portfolio review, a VIP Touch and Try with the latest Fujifilm kit, and double prize draw entries

Tickets are here. One store, two sessions, 100 places each, and they do go.

A few freshers' week tips while we're here

Say yes early. Week one is the only stretch where everyone is equally new, so the awkwardness is evenly shared.

Write on your prints. A name, a city, the date, along the bottom of the print. Five seconds of effort, and it's the difference between remembering a night properly and squinting at a face in three years' time.

Then keep them where you'll actually see them. A slim album, a ledge above your desk, a magnetic board on the back of your door. Our uni décor ideas post has plenty more if your room is still looking a bit bare.

Bring a tote. You'll pick things up across the day and your arms fill faster than you'd think.

Take photos of the in-between stuff too. Your room before you've decorated it, the walk to your first lecture, the kitchen nobody has cleaned yet. Those are the ones you'll want later, and nobody ever thinks to take them at the time.

And pace yourself. Freshers' week rarely stops at a week, whatever the name suggests, so there's no need to do everything on day one.

Come and say hi

That's the lot. Glasgow on 12 September, London on 19 September, Manchester on 26 September, then the House of Photography night in London on 1 October.

Grab your free Freshers Festival ticket, find the stand, and come over even if it's only to ask what everything does. We'd much rather meet you than talk at you. Bring your flat, bring the person you sat next to in your first lecture, or come on your own. Plenty of people do, and everyone there is in the same position.

And if you want a browse before then, have a look at the full range of instax™ cameras.