As people have now applied for their places at their chosen Universities with some already gaining their places I thought I would offer my advice as someone who has spent the last three years as a student. Firstly, this applies to those who move away from home to study and are moving out for the first time. I feel like we have this idea that moving away and out of the family home initially results in the thoughts of "yesss freedom" and "Dobby is a free elf" which, I'm not saying isn't the case but the true reality is that it's far more daunting than you think. About half an hour after moving in to the accommodation and attempting to make awkward ''hello's" to your flat mates you are suddenly hit with the sense of "oh, crap, I am alone and now I live with 5 strangers." Thoughts of the fact you have to actually 'adult' come creeping in, the fact that you now have to pay for your own food, go food shopping, wash and dry clothes, iron, clean up, basically all the things you took for granted at home. Now you may think that this new sense of freedom is going to be fantastic and it of course can be, you can go on a night out and come back whenever without waking up to your parents breathing down your neck the next morning whilst you are suffering from what feels like the worlds worst hangover. Then there's the realisation you are most likely in a new place and don't want to leave your flat in fear of never finding you way back home again. On the other hand, this soon becomes a lot easier to deal with than I expected as you soon settle in to living life away from home. In terms of flat mates my advice here is to try, it might sound stupid but try and get to know each other even if you don't end up getting on in my opinion as long as you make the effort in the beginning there is nothing that you can do if personalities clash or people don't come out their rooms. Your new sense of freedom doesn't come with the pain having to budget your money, seen some nice clothes you want? Forget it, you need to eat tonight! Talking of food, there is the pain of food shopping. It took me 3 years to not hate doing my own food shopping, some people love it but I just found it stressful whilst under a strict budget. Trust me on this one the freezer is your best friend, bread out of date? Freezer. Fresh meat? Freezer. Made too much food? Freezer. You may think you can eat what you but that's only if you can actually afford it. One of the biggest hyped up events at University is the social element. It's painted in an idyllic way that you enter Uni life with the full expectation that this will be your gateway to having a massive friendship group and having the best time of your life within the first 2 days of being at Uni... well for some people this isn't the case. Fresher's consists of going with your flat as they're the only people you know and everyone you might have met you were far too drunk to remember their names and your new prospective friend you simply never see again. Stop in your tracks, a good solid friendship group takes time with many nights in and out, do not go in with the same expectation I had because I was left disappointing when I was two days and questioning why I wasn't sat with my flat up talking about our lives before Uni till 4am. In addition to this, I thought Uni was literally one big drinking fest and that every single student was out every single night... well I was totally wrong there too. We are not out all the time, more than the average person but not every night. One because you're simply too poor to do that and two you're probably napping and actually miss the night out. Missing home?! ''No I won't miss home I'll be fine!'' Wrong, again. Oh, you will miss the family, despite how annoying you may have found them when you lived there, you will miss the company. Even though you live with these new people you are still very much on your own and trust me you will miss the beauty of a roast dinner. Then there's the beauty of lectures, which basically consist of sitting in what resembles a cinema whilst someone teaches you the content you need to know all by a PowerPoint presentation that they probably skip too fast before you've even made any notes that you may need for your end of year exams, and then you have seminars and tutorials, which are probably the closest you will ever come to your familiar classroom at Sixth Form or college. Not nearly as fun as you think they may be because you're probably nursing a hangover in 90% of them. Also say bye, bye to help on your assignments, trust me the days of being given a structure are simply over, and the days of waffling your essays are long gone, oh and don't forget the pure hell of having to read for anything you produce and the biggest ache of all... referencing. Another thing has to be the idea that 1st year is a breeze, and then it only gets hard when you become a third year. Well, I would say out the three years the first is the easiest, but second year for me was hard as my deadlines were always so close together. Third year, I thought was going to be sheer hell when in reality it was hard, but organise your time effectively and it will make your life easier in every single way. I hope this helps people who were planning on beginning there first year with the same expectations that I had. Always, have fun and enjoy your Uni experience whatever it may turn out to be.
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