Congratulations! You’re going to university.
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The first thing to deal with for most people is avoiding homesickness, and managing to throw yourself into the uni lifestyle. You’ve had a long eighteen years to get used to living with your family at home, and being thrown into a house or flat with several complete strangers is definitely one of the most difficult things about adjusting to university life.
The positive thing is though, that most people end up being friends for life with who they live with at uni. You spend so much time together that even if you’d never normally be friends with them, anything can happen at uni!
The best way to break the ice is immediately going out and doing something together. A trip to the local shop is always easy; it’ll give you a chance to get to know where you’re living, and everyone is bound to have forgotten to bring something they need. Whether your milk has overheated on the car journey, or you’ve brought the wrong lightbulb for your desk lamp, just suggest you all go together and it’ll make conversation so much easier.
Getting over the homesickness is slightly harder, and it’s not only you who’ll be feeling it. Everyone at uni will feel a little sad for leaving home, but your parents will be suffering too! This is why you’re bound to receive messages every day for several weeks checking up on you, but just remember it’s because they miss you too.
Don’t forget about your mum and dad, and often talking to them can make you feel better. Keep them in the loop about all your new friends and what activities you’ve decided to try out. If they hear you’re having fun, it’ll help to put their minds at ease. Plus, if you know everything is going well back home you won’t feel the need to miss it so much.
Another trick is to surround yourself with home comforts. Don’t leave your teddy bear behind because you’re afraid of what people may think, and instead of buying new pillows, bring your pillows from your bed at home. This will make your bed smell of home and it can really be the little anecdotes like that which help get you through.
Uni really is the best experience you can possibly have, and enthusiasm for the lifestyle will make it so much easier to enjoy. Take it from someone who’s been there, you’ll be a lot more upset when you have to leave than you were when you arrived on that first day of freshers.
