Starting college in a strange land and not knowing a soul is stressful. The temptation to leave the campus straight after lectures and run home to daytime TV is very strong. But this doesn't make for a good long-term strategy and isn't a great way to make friends.

Nonetheless, enthusiastically introducing yourself left, right and centre and arranging coffee mornings may not be for you either, so for the first while at least it's easier to let someone else make your social arrangements.

One of the simplest ways to do this is to join a club or society.

"It's a great way of orientating yourself, especially if you're the only person from a community going to that particular college," says Paul Lee, clubs and societies development officer at the University of Limerick. "You can get to know people with a common interest in a very informal way.

"You're not being judged, you're there to have fun. It's easier to make friends, because unless you're very extroverted you're unlikely to start arranging to meet people for coffee after lectures."

All colleges have clubs and societies and most have a good range of sporting, music, academic and purely social clubs, from GAA and tae-kwon-do to Monty Python and jazz appreciation.

These groups will want to snare new members early on, so they usually make their pitches during freshers week. Clubs and societies generally charge a nominal fee of about £2 to join. Some require a bit of further investment, so you might require your own personal equipment for a climbing or equestrian club, but in most cases the costs aren't excessive. However, be aware that you'll probably be asked to get involved in fundraising activities at various stages during the year.

During freshers week, choose two or maybe three clubs or societies to join. If you go wild and join 20 different clubs you could end up spending the first term skulking around corridors trying to avoid zealous organisers to whom you made vast promises you never intended to keep.

Freshers week sometimes gives students the impression that clubs and societies are all about alcohol and general debauchery but, says Jennifer Healy, sports officer at Tralee IT, they have far more productive things to offer.

"There are lots of options for getting involved in clubs and societies and they're a great alternative to the drink culture, a great way of meeting new people and getting to know the town."

They also give you a great opportunity to try new activities. If you always shied away from sports because you were the last to be picked for school teams ,it's time to check out the alternatives to GAA and hockey.

"Not all sports are competitive, there are lots of recreational alternatives such as aerobics and judo. In freshers week people find there are plenty of activities to suit them," she says.

Special discounted events are on offer during the Tralee IT freshers week which starts on September 17th. Cinema nights, pitch and putt and bowling are organised specifically to allow first years to get to know each other. In Tralee IT, as in many colleges, freshers' week starts before the start of the academic term. Students may therefore be tempted to skip it, but if you do you're missing out on lot, Healy says.

"You get a huge amount of information about college during freshers week so it's really beneficial to attend. If you just start off the term and go straight into academic work you'll get a lot of information about your course-work but you'll have missed out on all the stuff about college life, the social aspect and about the town itself."

If you start out thinking that joining a club is going to waste time that should be spent on study, then you're missing out on a big part of college life, says Conor Power in the clubs and societies office in Waterford IT. "College is about more than just study - sporting and social life is important. Clubs and societies give you an outlet outside study. They're a focal point for your college life and they take the strain out of college."

It's healthy to choose a club that has nothing to do with your course; it allows you to forget about work for a while and meet a different group of people who have similar extra-curricular interests to your own. However, many courses will have their own society, which you may also like to join. This is a good way to meet people on your course outside an academic setting. It can also give you a broader view of the academic side - often in first year the subjects can be quite boring and can leave you wondering if you've chosen the right course, so talking to the older students and getting involved in activities associated with your subject as a whole can give you a clearer view of what it's all about.

'The Business Society has 2,000 members and is the biggest in the college," says Power. "They have a ball every year and a business enterprise week, which was opened by Mary Harney."

Your club or society can also offer opportunities for travel and adventure, he says. The business society has organised trips to Barcelona and the music society choir recently travelled to Prague.

The number of people working excessive hours in part-time jobs hasn't affected the numbers joining clubs, but it has had an impact on people's willingness to get involved in organisation and general running of clubs, he says.

"Getting a secretary or a chairman for a society can be difficult, as can getting volunteers to get involved in coaching teams. These are the people who keep things going but because of the pressures of work and study they're harder to find. It's important to get involved in your club to make sure it survives."