Living Away From Home

good luck with living away from home, just pray don't that you don't get sucky flatmates like me; one's a stuck-up overseas second year at another uni and the other is a stuck-up chinese girl (though all hong kong born kids tend to be like that to the overseas born ones here) ^^;;

if you download lots of stuff via the internet, make sure you do a load at home and transfer to your comp or burn to DVD since unis here usually either have a ton of ports blocked or monitor your connection and if they think you're hogging it, they cut it off for you completely.

when you move in, keep your door open (while you're in there of course) so people know you're there and can drop by to say hi, hang out in the main communal areas so you get to see who else lives in your block, try before hand to find other students attending the same uni/halls/course by using forums such as newstudent.org.

your student union will probably have some stuff during freshers' week about handling problem flatmates.

forgot to add: doing anything loud at odd hours is not a good idea, just remember some people are serious about their studying while at uni and some like to lie in way into the afternoon

as for sharing, you're just gonna have to ask, i've had friends experience their stuff being used without notice and one even had his toaster destroyed by someone from another block. though some unis have locks on their cupboards but you risk looking obnoxious if you use it, friends at my last uni used to get a big black marker and put their initials on all their food so anyone could easily tell whether someone was taking someone else's stuff.

you can also just give them advance notice, such as "i like to spend ages in the shower" or "i love to cook tons, so if anybody's too lazy just ask me for some food".

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Originally Posted by HightopNinja

This is wise advice..but if you want to have fun your freshman year, please do the opposite of everything Vivi has said(even if said in jest).

if you do the opposite, you'd end up stressing when it comes to the exams and if you've failed the coursework component you have to resit the year. i don't stay up late or drink but i still have fun with other activities such as sports, music, societies etc. the whole concept of university is to improve yourself and if you're living away, it's about discovering yourself in a way.

avoiding alcohol has its benefits, you save money. one student at cambridge told us the following:
- don't ever get a credit card while a student
- if you can survive on cheap pasta for 3-4 years, do it
- if you get pissed after one pint of beer, stay like that

There's nowhere I can't reach.