It can quickly become very frustrating to be stuck in a student room, firstly because a student room is rarely very spacious and secondly because you are in a new city! As a student, it is obvious that the overflowing desire to discover a new city in which we find ourselves in is our first concern! However, I found a list of things to do to avoid getting eaten up by frustration.
1. Settle in well
If you are lucky for one thing, it is because, compared to others students that might be in a rush on their arrival day, you will have two entire weeks to prepare yourself and to settle in correctly. In this way, you could store things in the most strategic places, to empty your suitcases and to see what you need now that you are alone in your new room. Depending on how you came to university, you are going to buy more supplies. I feel like if you came on an airplane or a train you will definitely need to buy more porducts which leads us to the number two.
2. Make lists of what you need to buy
I advise you to believe me on this point: making lists is really needed. I did not do it at first and on the first day I got in my room, I decided to only buy things I would need the most so it could arrive faster, and guess what… I bought a colander, but I forgot the pan… Trust me, making lists will save your life, especially when you see the number of things to buy, as for example, a pot for a toothbrush or bin bags.
3. Decorate your room, to make it home
We don’t realize the importance of appropriating a place. Once installed, you can sometimes feel a little sad and miss your home. If you want to avoid that, the best thing to do is to make your room your new home. Hang up photos, posters or maps, buy plants or create DIY…etc. The importance of feeling at home should not be underestimated. In addition, decorating a room is really fun; it allows you to be creative and it takes time so it is a positive thing to do to fight against the frustration to know that you are in a city which is waiting for you…
4. Catch up on your papers
No matter the reasons why you are in a new city, the fact that you just moved necessarily means that you have papers to do. As an example, I had papers about the Health center to fill in. I also had to inform myself on all the different societies or events offered by my university or effective information about my residence. I have to admit that doing this is not really fun, but at least you will have something to do other than starring out the window!
5. Catch up on your movies/tv shows
This one is the easiest to do (even though after a long time doing it you can get bored…). We all have a list of movies or tv shows that we said we were going to start but we actually never had time or enough motivation to; well now you do. You might spend a lot of time alone so be prepared… Furthermore, if you do not have any lists, you can do a marathon of your favorites tv shows or movies (Harry Potter, Gossip Girl, Hunger Games, Star Wars, Rocky Balboa, High School Musical…etc).
6. Facetime will become your best friend
No matter if you feel lonely easily or not, a call to a family member or a friend is always a pleasure. While you have a lot of time to waste, you should call everyone in your family to let them know that you are safe and happy to be in your new city! We all have grandparents, uncles, aunts or cousins that want to know how everything is, and let’s admit it sometimes in our everyday life, we do not have time to call them… Well, now you do, so take time to make them happy because when school starts, you will have hundreds of things to do or events to go.
7. Take this opportunity to become a Chef
We might have all thought at least one time “How am I going to do to cook everyday?” or “What am I going to cook now?”. It can be difficult to cook everyday even though you know how to. You will still need inspirations or ideas of what to eat and sometimes money will be a barrier to what you want to cook. What I suggest is to look at different recipes and at student tips on the internet: basically, everything that could help you manage money, food and good taste.
8. Become friends with your flatmates
I know how frustrating it can get, but if you are lucky you maybe have someone else with you on your flat or you know who is going to share it with you. If you are in the same flat, then you could get to know each other and create some special self isolating memories. If you know who is going to share it with you, you could also get to know them by social networks and help them by informing them on things they will need to bring or to buy.