The start of the new year is here and it brings with it plenty of gorgeous freshers. It’s always nice to have someone to accompany you to the fresher’s ball, so how exactly should you go about it, while avoiding being renamed ‘stalker’?

Firstly, get to know them. This doesn’t mean you need to know his childhood teddy bear’s name, but it’s important to know that your personalities click, before you commit to a whole evening in each other’s company.

There’s no harm in flirting. Don’t make it too obvious. For instance, a playful flutter of the eyelashes is fine, but be careful not to cross over to manic blinking; and laughing at their jokes is perfect, until you find yourself laughing at a series of utterly unfunny comments. Student Savvy offers expert tips to flirting.

Be yourself! If somebody likes you, it is important that they like you for you. It may be easy enough to pretend to be the ideal partner whilst getting the date, but imagine keeping up the act for the entire night.

Don’t be too desperate. If it’s not going too well, give up! It is not the end of the world. The worst thing you can do is keep fighting a losing battle. The result? You become known as ‘the crazy stalking weirdo’; perhaps not the best nickname to be landed with in freshers’ week.  Can’t tell? Here’s a guide to tell if they fancy you back!

So now that you know what it takes to get a date, all you have to do is try it! And ladies, it’s not always up to the guys to ask – they love a girl to take control.

If you get the answer you want, try not to literally jump for joy, screaming “Yesssssssss!”. It’s not too late for them to change their mind; a simple, “Cool, it’ll be fun”, will do the trick. Just make sure you don’t commit the 3 most common disasters in dating!

Flickr image taken from mrhayata’s photostream