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Moving into your first student flat can seem both extremely exciting as well as slightly intimidating, whether you're moving straight out of your parents' place or from student halls.

The prospect of slumming it out with other people your age is something to look forward to, but you should ensure that you secure a flat in the most advantageous way possible, from choosing what kind of flatmates you want to live with, to which of the many broadband packages you should opt for to suit your needs the best.

Start looking early!

A critical error most students commit is failing to start their flat hunt early enough. You'll encounter these unfortunate individuals by the truckload at university. The last thing you want is to have to desperately choose from the last few remaining flats which, unsurprisingly, are not likely to be the best of the bunch.

The secret to snagging a good place quickly is to indulge in some high-intensity viewings. Instead of seeing one place every few days, try and fit in 5 to 6 viewings per day. This way, you'll be able to compare the flats you're seeing much better and come to a more informed decision, ultimately.

After you graduate from university, you will have a lot to think about and a lot to sort out. One of the many key things you will have to give some thought to is your financial situation. As a university graduate, it is now time to stand on your own two feet, which means looking at ways to get your financial situation off to a good start.

While you might not have had a huge amount of experience when it comes to finances - after all, for most students finances are pretty limited - the sooner you start planning the better. Some of the things that you will need to think about in order to start life in the real world on an even footing include:

Earning some money

In order to sort out your finances you actually need to have some finances to sort. This means getting a job sorted out so that you have some money coming in. You should avoid the mistake of waiting for the ideal job to come along, as you could be waiting for some time in the current economic climate. Instead, get yourself any job that pays a decent wage and start earning some money while you wait for the perfect job to come up.

The Best Festival Tents

If you've been to festivals before, you're more than likely to have suffered from the ‘wisdom' of a friend who claimed that you should save money on the tent for beer. After said beers, you return to your campsite, with the tent hanging off a tree and your belongings strewn across the grounds.

On the other hand, you could invest in a sturdy piece of gear that could last you several festivals - like the following:

• The Constellation DLX Cygnus is a perfect choice for you and your buddies. Set-up time clocks in at around 10 minutes and features a LED lighting system inside.
• The Vango AirBeam Genesis 300 is definitely a pricy investment, but a worthwhile one if you value your time. No poles, just inflatable tubes and it just takes 4 minutes to set up.
• The Antic White is the cheapest and fastest option in terms of setting up. It's customisable for your own designs if you want to make it stand out from the crowd, too.

Read on to find out how those who opt not to bother with a tent survive - you might find you're glad you don't share their apparent reckless attitude; not least when you consider how utterly unreliable the British weather can be. Staring up at the stars as you drift off is a nice idea, but what if you can't see for your eyes being filled up with rain?

The British media got very excited last week when rumours started going round that Kate Middleton had gone into labour. On Friday afternoon, Twitter was awash with claims she had moved to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, and, inevitably, blogs and national papers soon followed suit.

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It turned out that none of it was true, but it has led to fevered speculation about when the royal baby is due. The fact is that other than the royal family and a few doctors, no one really knows. Despite repeated attempts to find out from reporters, the couple and their spokespeople have remained tight-lipped.

However, there have been a few clues dropped. Earlier this year, whilst she was meeting the public, Kate let slip that she was due around "mid-July". This led many to guess that the baby was due this weekend just gone. Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, gave an even clearer indication yesterday though, revealing:

"We don't know what's going to happen. We're all waiting at the end of a telephone. I hope by the end of the week he or she will be there."

Chances are you've heard a few jokes and a few arguments over the last week about whether Andy Murray is Scottish or British. The old joke is that when he is losing, the English refer to him as Scottish, but when he is winning (like last weekend) he is most definitely British.

If you're not from Britain all the terminology and minor differences can get very confusing. Many other nationalities seem to use the terms ‘English' and ‘British' interchangeably- which is certainly not the case and can get you into a spot of bother.

Indeed, even the New York Times struggled with it this week, announcing Murray's win as one for England rather than Britain, despite the fact Murray is from Scotland: