Every back-to-campus list tells you to bring a notebook and a water bottle. You already know that. Here is the list built around the things that actually go wrong in the first fortnight.
1. Your student card — the thing you need six times a day
Library gate, printer, canteen, lab door, gym, bus. It comes out of the bag constantly, which is exactly why it ends up in a coat pocket, then in the wash.
An ID cardholder strap worn crossbody keeps it at hip height and reachable without stopping. Worn round the neck it swings and hits every reader from the wrong angle. We compared the two in the ID cardholder guide.
2. A charging cable you have not lost yet
Campus outlets are contested territory and the good seats near a socket go early. Keep a cable in the bag permanently rather than moving one from home each morning.
Our charging cables are original Apple cables wrapped in colour, which solves the other campus problem: telling yours apart when three of you plug in at the same table.
3. Wired earphones — yes, wired
Wireless is fine until the battery dies during a two-hour lecture recording. Wired earphones need no charge, will not disconnect mid-seminar, and cannot be left in a lecture hall in a case that looks like everyone else's.
See Apple earphones, and if you are deciding between connector types, USB-C vs Lightning EarPods covers which one your phone takes.
4. Somewhere for your phone that is not your hand
Between buildings, carrying a coffee, a laptop bag and a phone, something gets dropped. A crossbody phone strap takes one item out of your hands permanently. It also means the phone is not on the library table when you go to the printer.
5. The small things that prevent bad days
- A spare hair tie and a pen. Someone will always need one. It is a cheap way to meet people.
- A tote folded flat. For the unplanned shop, the library haul, the gym kit you did not plan to bring.
- Painkillers and plasters. New shoes plus a campus you do not know yet equals blisters in week one.
What to leave out
The heavy laptop if the lecture is theory. The full pencil case. Three notebooks when one will do. Campus bags get heavy because nothing ever comes out of them — do a Friday clear-out and it stays manageable.
The short version
Card on a strap, cable that lives in the bag, wired earphones as backup, phone off your hands. That covers the four things that actually go wrong.
Browse cardholder straps and gifts under €20 for the friend starting the same week. Free shipping over €150.
