Living at Home

You save money on rent and get to live with your family in an area you already know.  You don’t need to update your contact details with services like the bank, or find a new doctor or dentist. t’s easier to stay in touch with school friends and keep up with hobbies and clubs you joined before your studies. And, of course,  you can enjoy home comforts like sleeping in your own bed, eating home cooked meals and spending time with family and pets.

One of the big differences between moving out to study and staying home is how independent you’ll need to be, discussing with your family the boundaries you wish to set and your hopes for your university life can help.
It’s easy to feel like you’re missing out on the full university experience when you’re living at home, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can still make the most of freshers’ week, meet new people, join clubs and societies, use campus facilities, and more.

Living in halls usually means you’ll be surrounded by fellow students, so it’s hard not to meet new people, whereas if you live at home you may need to make time to meet new friends. You’ll struggle to build relationships if you head home immediately after lectures, so spend some time getting to know people on your course and exploring the clubs on offer at your uni.   Here are some top tips:

• Join a society – Meet people with similar interests to you or discover a new hobby
• Make friends with people on your course – Build a study group or group chat at the start of term to make it easy to reach out to others about coursework and lectures
• Use social media – Join freshers’ groups or course groups on WhatsApp and engage. Add people from your course as friends, and follow your school or department social media accounts
• Take advantage of freshers’ week – Meet societies at freshers’ fair, speak to people on your course, join the gym, sign up for social events across the week (including drinking and non-drinking options)
• Talk to people – Lots of people are nervous about making friends when they start uni so don’t worry if this includes you – try starting a conversation with a course friend or asking someone where they’re from
• Get to know people – Chatting online, meeting up before or after lectures, building a study group, or suggesting days out together. If you live nearby and know the local area, suggest a trip and show some friends the sights and your highlights.

You’ll travel to university on most weekdays depending on your timetable, so it makes sense to use this time effectively. Once you’ve planned your commute you’ll know how long it takes you to travel to uni every day.

There are various things you can do during your commute such as the following:

• Study – Do your required reading or revise your lecture notes
• Listen to a podcast – Explore subjects that relate to your degree, discover something new or listen to something fun to get you ready for the day
• Listen to an audiobook – This is great if you struggle to read in crowded places or like to watch where you’re going during your journey
• Be social – Travel with someone else or phone a friend or relative
• Learn something new – Use Duolingo to learn a language or download a brain training app to challenge yourself each day