Living Away From Home

So I'm going to University in September, and I'll be staying in the dorms there.

I've never lived away from home before and I was wondering if anyone has any advice for me on how to deal with living with other people/sharing facilities etc

:1zhelp:

How ya doing, buddy?

people are nasty shitbags SO GET READY

As far as sharing space with other people, I lived with some nasty brothers so I was relatively prepared for that. If you're attached to your folks, that'll take some adjusting... but the main thing, I think, would have to be dealing with the shift in responsibility. Even living in a dormitory leaves you with a lot more than you probably have to deal with at home (laundry, buying food, etc.).

Oh, yeah. Then there's the booze and sex.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I found that it helps to try to get to know as many of the people you will be living with/around the best you can because it really does make the whole experiance more enjoyable.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Though it goes without saying, try and save all the money you can so that you don't need to call your parents for cash too often. Don't be a penny pincher, but don't go and buy the most expensive brand of whatever you're looking at, either. You don't want to end up maxing out your credit cards and killing your credit rating for several years.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I want to live off-campus for my second year, but I just thought of these things that are making me reluctant.

Hidden and not-so-hidden Expenses:

Cable
Hydro
Electricity
Internet (vital!)
bring a comp if you don't want to walk/travel to campus each time you need one
Laundromat/lug a washer + dryer
Groceries
Nail Clippers
Freedom (you'd need the bestest of best friends to be able to do the stuff you are used to doing only in the privacy of your home)
Toilet Paper

I was speaking idiomatically.

Here are some items to add to your packing list. What you do with them is business all your own.

Talking Blanky
Talking Toaster
Talking Vacuum
Axe Body Spray

Prepare to meet jerks, bitches, dumbfucks, and losers. Just try to be better than the rest. Best wishes.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

All you have to remember in that it'll be awesome and there won't be any stinky parents telling you want to do! It'll be fun just relax! ^^

FELIPE NO

My cousin went to uni last year, apparantly he had alot of trouble with people nicking his food out of the fridge that his gran sent him and stuff. =/ guess some people just can't be trusted. I cant see it being to bad as long as you get in a dorm with some nice people. They are probably just as worried about you as you are about them. so... meh =)

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Oh, oh. Don't do drugs. Nothing heavy, at least. That's the quickest way to land face first in life. Stay with the all naturals. Shrooms and MJ, if that. And most importantly, don't confuse your 'drug buddies' with your 'friends'. Even more importantly, don't use drugs. If you have any questions regarding drugs that you'd like to use, consult me before making your purchase. And don't use them.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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".

Most amazing jew boots

I always say expect the worse and prepare for it. You're gonna meet a lot of cool people, along with some straight up assholes. Cross your fingers for a roommate who respects you and your things and doesn't steal from you. And if your dorm has a public fridge... your shit will be eaten!

That brings me to tell a funny event that happened at my dorm. Some dude's brownies and food kept being eaten by a mysterious person. So the dude and his roommates devised a plan to bake up a special batch of brownies, full of laxatives, loogies, and warm human dookie goodness. After they baked the brownies , they set it in the fridge. And luckily enough, someone seemed to enjoy the brownies. I didn't see this all myself, but they had it documented on tape for everyone to see.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

That's pretty mean.

What university was this at?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Not so much a "university" .. Academy of Art College in SF. Now under the name of Academy of Art University.

I was speaking idiomatically.

EEEEEEW! That's nasty!! You've scared me straight out of considering offcampus life *retch*.

How about moving in with friends? That's certainly more reliable than mixing and matching with total strangers who you might dislike very much, and you're always going to be within close proximity of the campus anyways.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Make sure you actually enjoy living around the area, but if you don't, you'll get really annoyed really fast and you won't like it anymore. I know myself, and because of my brother, hes in a university dorm-room, sharing a room with two retards who just drink and do nothing while my brother studies all day. Make sure your place is clean because you don't want it to smell like crap afterwawrds, or have bugs crawling around or anything.

FELIPE NO

The best thing I was told when I first moved to university was in regards to making new friends, and feeling weird talking to new people... the most important thing to remember is that

EVERYBODY IS IN THE SAME SITUATION AS YOU.

For the most part, they're all away from home, and away from all of thier friends. Go out and make some friends - they're what's going to get you through post-secondary education.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Here are the three things both my roomate and I wished we'd known before starting school:

- Emptying the Trash Prevents Bug Infestations; even if the dorms are very clean and don't look like there are bugs to be infected with
- You are allowed to irritate your roomate; I was so nervous about annoying my roomate that I pretty much avoided her for two months, did homework in the library rather than keep her up, and did not play music off my headphones. It made her think I didn't like her. Eventually I couldn't stand all the work that went into not annoying her, and she got more annoyed because she was convinced I hated her and decided to hate me back, and I prematurely requested a room change. I wish I hadn't done that.
- You are Not allowed to irritate your roomate; my boyfriends roomate stays up all night playing World of Warcraft, then sleeps all day and skips classes. My boyfriend is a straight A honours student, but the ridiculous hours killed his sleep and now he's struggling to survive to the end of the quarter. He is, however, too proud to request a room change.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

One word can really sum up typical dorm life: cramped.

On campus space is valuable and limited, and they will not hesitate to cram you into something the size of a utility closet--with two other people.

First and foremost, plan on spending most of your time outside of your dorm room. Its good to get out and about on campus. Find the student union. Find the 'main street' in town. Find the good places to pick up a 3 am late night meal when you are cramming for the test tomorrow or are trying to finish off that paper last minute. Tour the surrounding area; find out where things are and what's fun to do. Cinemas, pool-halls, diners, arcades, cafés, bars (if you got the age or the fake I.D.). A lot of places will give discounts if you have your Student ID card.

Get a stand fan or a window box fan. Ventilation in dormitories can be unreliable at best, especially in the days closer to summertime. A window box fan can help ventilate the odors and keep things cool.

Get a bath robe and bath tote to carry your toiletries. Chances are, you are going to have to use a shared bathing facility located at one end of the dorm, and marching down the hall half naked with just a towel while trying to carry all your shit is a pain in the ass.

Collapsable laundry totes are damn convenient. Space is a premium in a dorm room, but you still need something to carry all your stinky dirty laundry down to the laundromat. Stock up on quarters, and be very wary about leaving your laundry unattended in the laundromat.

Its been mentioned, but I can't stress enough: empty the trash cans often. I had a roommate who would refuse to do this, filling his trash can with food and refuse and then starting another pile next to the full can rather than emptying it. He left a full can in the room over winter break--the resulting odor upon return was horrid.

Student meal plans suck. 'nuff said.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Geez, all these horror stories make me glad I am not in college O.o However my fiancé is attending a small University... she has to deal with the shit heads on a regular basis.

My suggestion is to meet some people who you like and can deal with, stay away from the shitbags. They tend to rub off on anyone or thing they are around.

How ya doing, buddy?

Dorm living is like living on an airplane: everybody gets recycled air and you're constantly bumping elbows with other people.

It's not too bad, depending on the school (with regards to partying, etc). Usually it's the irritating fuckwads above or below you that you need to worry about, because they're either jumping around at 1am or bumping music below you at 2:30am. And of course, you may end up hating your roomie. I got lucky, because my roommate and I are really compatible. Does your school offer roommate matching programs? Those are incredibly helpful.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I've actually preferred oncampus living because it not only puts me close to everything, but a lot of stuff like utilities and internet isn't really an issue I have to worry about. There's just one payment for housing (and meal plan if you have one) that covers the 'rent' and utilities and whatnot, which could be done either all at once at the start of the semester or in increments over time. Works nicely for me.

As for the people, yeah that can sometimes be hard. I've seen the garbage in our apartment turn into a game of Jenga before, and the fact that it's winter semester here is probably the only reason I haven't found ants or roaches in it yet. It's better to bring up issues or expectations with your roommates right off the bat, rather than let it cook as the garbage piles up or mold gathers in the fridge or TP runs out. And not bringing it up is the mistake I've made. :/

I was speaking idiomatically.

Mother was eager to buy a house so I currently live off-campus and have 3 roommates, as opposed to no roommates last year.

I liked it more when I was living alone, let me tell you that much. A lot more freedom, and being the neat freak that I am, there was never any cleaning to do, really, until the roommates came along. I miss living alone.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Well seeing as you're going to be going to a UK Uni, it's more than likely you will not be sharing a room. I don't know any uni's in UK that do that =\.

But yeh, another thing to remember, the first 2 - 4 weeks are what may be considered as the honey moon period, everyone is friendly as everyone wants to make new friends After that people tend to become a bit more closed off

Another tip, I recomend you get to your halls on the day that most of the moving is done, so that way you and your flatmates can all go out and have a nice drink. I think that helped in our flat, as when the last person arived a day late, she was practically left out and we just called her "C" (her room letter ) amongst ourselves. Mind you she didn't help things by not socialising much with us either ¬_¬

But yeh, all of you try to go out on the first night and go to a decent place to have a drink get to know each other better. Then go out the night after that, again as a whole group, and get wasted and all try to come back home together. Might have an ammusing night ^^ and chances are, meet loads of new people

FELIPE NO

Just out of curiousity, how's life going to be for the people in college that don't drink? Are you going to be missing out on being friends with many people, or do the people that drink not care about whether you drink or not?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I'm in a situation like you are. I've never lived outside of my parent's home, I went to college at Penn State Abington(the commuter friendly campus) and I just got offered a job to teach English in japan next year.

Not only will I be going through culture shock, but also I'll be going through responsibility overload.

I mean, I live with the rents, but I still take care of myself for the most part. I do the laundry, clean the house, do anything related to electronics, etc, but my only bills are my car insurance and credit card. I've never had to furnish anything, and if I did, it would be the folding table my computer is on, and the little a/v rack next to my tv..I never do the shopping, I don't worry about bills, etc.

It's going to be tough, but what the hell? Its always a story you can tell your kids.

Jam it back in, in the dark.