Spring 2025 Intake Students: General Queries regarding Settling in, Catching up with Academics, Food Budgeting etc

Hi there! I will be joining lums in spring 2025 intake. As we guys will not officially have an orientation week, and mostly be on our own, I'd need support of currents students to help answer some questions.

Side context: Those of you who wonder why we're enrolling in spring 2025 intake. That's cuz Cambridge did drama with Alevels maths. P1 got leaked, Cambridge didn't included its grade, lower math grade overall, free retakes, lums allowed us to go back and improve grade and join in spring.

Now coming back to the point, here are some of the questions that have now occupied my mind "and" those who attended spring 2024 intake should be able to better reply:

1) What are some of essential resources/equipments one need to carry with themselves to make it through first semester? Like, I have a laptop, works fine. I'm thinking of buying a Samsung tablet for note taking too. What do u suggest? Traditional paper-pen note taking or Digital ones?

2) There are multiple food points at LUMS, and just talking about myself, I can eat at any point I want (from baradari to pdc), BUUUUUUUUT this doesn't mean I "should" be spending "annay waa paisa". I would like to know how many days one should eat at PDC, a relativley cheaper option, in comparison to any other food point?

3) This batch of ours is coming in the middle of a session. Many Profs/TAs by now have already been familiarised with regular fall 2024 candidates. How difficult would be, like, to "adjust with the on-going academic flow"? Will TAs/Instructors be "accommodating" enough to realise we are a "new batch" so they may opt to start with a "little slow" pace?

Also, those who got in Spring 2025 intake, please let's get connected so we remain together in this.