1) This is what living by yourself is really like, not first yearÂ
Last year, I was lucky enough to live in Jack Martin, with my own bathroom, a spacious kitchen and a decent-sized room. At the time, I remember thinking the hardest thing about living away from home was having my mumâs dinner replaced with my own, mediocre cooking and needing to do/ pay for my own laundry.
Moving away from campus has been a true cultural shock. On campus, I was used to being in a state of constant warmth. No need to wrap up in layers or make several cups of tea. Well, guess what? Houses donât magically heat up (!), and heating can be very expensive. Youâll have to negotiate with your housemates when the heating should be on, deciding whether you prioritise a warm house or cheap(er) bills. This can often lead to disagreements, with at least one person suffering from the cold. My advice for those of a cold disposition is to buy a portable heaterâyou can find them for less than ÂŁ15 and it will avoid major feuds.
Showers also can be a cause of much grievance. Not heating up, constantly changing temperatures, too weak⊠you name it. Of course, there are the few lucky ones who are blessed with a fully functioning device. For a lot of us, though, several calls/emails to the landlord are likely to occur before this.
Like warmth, tumble dryers also arenât an intrinsic part of every home. If your house if of a cool climate like mine, you will most likely need to arrange your washes so that the clothes wonât be needed until at least two days after. Unfortunately, âI had no dry clothesâ will not land you an authorised absence.
What doesnât kill you makes you stronger though, right? These experiences are all unpleasant but learning to overcome them (and trust me, you will) will be extremely rewarding, leaving you feeling that little bit more prepared for adult life.
2) You canât just go out whatever day of the week (sorry)
This one is perhaps more pertinent to humanities students, whose contact hours are few and far between. Last year, going out was often a priority. Your timetable would be arranged according to when the good events were. No one went to a Thursday morning lecture, Wednesday was POP. If you were hung-over the next morning, you could quite easily spend the next day recovering in bed with the assurance that others in your seminar would be doing the same. Otherwise, you could roll out of bed ten minutes before your seminar, put on some trousers and just sit quietly, nodding and trying to keep your eyes open.Â
This is no longer an option when youâre living an hour away from the university and relying on the U1 to get to class. A 10 am start means an 8am alarm. Getting the morning bus hung-over will mean youâve already crashed by the time you get to uni, and with off-campus accommodation you can forget a power nap in-between class. Plus, your grades actually count this year, which gives seminars a whole new meaning. Unfortunately, this year your going-out pattern will have to accommodate to your university timetable. Morning start on Wednesday? No Tuesday smack for you.
On the upside, this will force you to find new ways of keeping your evenings occupied. A nice homemade dinner, a drink at the nearest pub, a movie/ games night with your flatmates– all are great alternatives to a night of purple-drinking and circle.Â
3) FOMO is sillyÂ
Of course, FOMO is a normal human sentiment and we all– children, students and adults– suffer from it from time to time. But it seems to hit particularly strong during first year, when EVERYONE appears to be going to EVERY event. With the constant refrains of âfirst year doesnât count, make the most of itâ, itâll be hard to listen to your inner voice reminding you of your sore throat/headache/ deadline. But after a year of often half-hearted trips to Leamington, youâll realise that there isnât really that much to miss out on. Not that going out isnât a lot of fun, but that itâs not worth sacrificing your health, sanity, or student account for. Thereâll be a similar if not identical event in a weekâs time.
In second year, youâll learn to leave the bubble both in physical and figurative terms. You donât have to be where everyone is, because not everyone is at the same place in the first place.
4) In friendships, quality not quantity matters
This point might seem obvious but it sometimes gets brushed over in freshers. There are so many different Facebook groups and chats, so many new societies, tours and balls, so many flatmates you havenât yet broken ties with. At first, youâll probably want to get to know as many people as possible. Youâll rarely ever feel lonely on campus, constantly bumping into people you knowâbe it at Rootes, the Health Centre, or Cannon Park. Thereâll always be something to do, someone to pre with or chat to in the kitchen.Â
In second year, things are different. Away from the bubble of campus, youâll learn to reach out more to people, to find those on who you can truly rely. Youâll see friendships become much stronger for this. You wonât just bump into acquaintances everywhere you go, youâll have to actually make plans, organize whenâs and howâs. Moreover, youâll most probably get closer to the people you live withâcooking together, sorting out housing issues together, cleaning up after a house-party together and witnessing each otherâs meltdowns.Â
5)You canât really write an essay the night beforeÂ
Or the night before that. In fact, youâll probably have to at least think about it weeks before. Essays will be longer, more demanding, and, most importantly, will actually count. Yes, starting an essay weeks before means work will be far more time consuming. But it also means that those strenuous, soul-crushing all-nighters wonât have to happen. Youâll learn to submit essays more than 10 minutes before the deadline. Trust me, actually getting sleep the night before that Tuesday deadline is definitely worth it.
6) No-one quite knows how to adult yet
Second year is a little bit terrifying. Youâre settled in now, your grades count and you are almost halfway through your degree. You are basically an âalmost adultâ. Youâll have to start seriously considering adult stuff, like internships and year in industry placements. Youâll have to actually think about the future. At times, it will seem like everyone has got their lives sorted, that all your friends are way ahead of the game and you are the only struggling to keep up. Do not be fooled. Everybodyâs scared, no one really knows what theyâre doing and youâre all just trying to get by. Focus on immersing yourself in the wonderful opportunities university offers before itâs over. Think about the future, do what you can, but donât let it take over your present wellbeing.
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