well... even ET could "Phone Home!!!" ("Home or Away? Where's best to live...")

Member Name: hugnluvable

Product:	"Home or Away? Where's best to live..."
Date:	18/03/01 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: theres always a phone and its a lesson for you and your parents cus you learn to look after yourself and it makes your parents realise that you arent a "little girl/boy" anymore

Disadvantages: well... domestic chores that you're Mum used to do etc!

Picture this... you arrive at your new home, all of your possessions have been packed out of your parent's car and all nicely placed in your room and suddenly it clicks! In exactly 2 minutes your parent's are going to leave you ON YOUR OWN!!! OH THE SHOCK!!! In your panic you grab hold of your Dad's leg so he drags you across the floor with you crying - "Daddy - don't leave me here! Don't leave me here! Aaarrgghh!"

In reality, however, this sorta scene doesn't happen, you kiss and hug your parents goodbye and see them drive into the distance. Before this your Mum and Dad will probably say things that'll embarrass you in front of who you'll be living with for the next year. Take for example my Dad who said to the blokes on my floor - "Look after her, make sure she's in bed before 9pm, tell me if she EVER gets up to anything!" oh oh and also "Look out for this girl… she'll drink all you blokes under the table" (well that night they wanted me to prove my father's words right - I DID! :-P)

Yep! You've guessed it - I live away from home in halls of residence and in fact I'm "president" of them next year when I'm in my Second Year. My advice is (if you have the choice) NOT to go straight into a house and have to live with a bunch of strangers in the first year. But to live in Halls of residence where you'll meet SO MANY MORE people, some you'll love and will be great friends with and others that you absolutely CANT STAND and run and hide behind a bin or something in a pathetic attempt to avoid them.

Living away from home can have its ups and downs as can living at home. Whilst I live away from home up in Hull my best friend lives at home and commutes into London, from Milton Keynes, when she needs to. So what I’ll do is compare between my friend’s situation and mine - to live at home or not to live at home – that is
the question?

Live at Home
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Right – the main thing is where the university is! Obviously if you live in Cornwall and you’ve decided to study at Edinburgh then YOU ARE NOT GOING TO COMMUTE every day (unless you love your mum’s cooking sooooo much!!!) Most of my uni friends who live at home live around 30 minutes away from the university, and it costs one of my course-mates £50 a week in petrol to commute from Grimsby to Hull everyday. My friend has a student railcard so she pays around £40 a week to get to London via the train. Neither of their parents ask for any money because in the end they’re probably paying the same amount as if they lived away from home (maybe a little less).

My best mate HATES living at home all the time and she wishes she could live away from home. Why? Well for a number of reasons;
1. It was rather awkward during fresher’s week. Whilst everyone was making friends, getting drunk, partying and socialising my poor friend had to go home and not take part in any nightlife. Now she stays in a friend’s room when they all have a night on the tiles, but she didn’t get quite the same experience as them during the 1st week. This also meant feeling like a bit of an outsider when it came to lectures etc, but now she’s friendly with others who live at home and know how she feels.
2. Its rather inconvenient getting home every night. If her lecture finishes at 6 then chances are she wont get home until about 8/9pm. This also means that she doesn’t get her work finished until late, although she does most of it in the library in between lectures and during the weekends.
3. She’s 19 now and HER PARENTS ARE DOING HER NUT! She also has to put up with her adolescent brother.

HOWEVER;
1. It is cheaper, and her Mum does all the domestic stuff for her like laundry etc – although she does help!
2. She has a permanent part ti
me job which she’s kept since she started sixth form!
3. Some of our friends haven’t gone to university so they’re still at home for her and it’s nice to see mates when they’re back for the weekend from uni.
4. She has her parents at her disposal when she needs to talk to them, get some money out of them or need their free “Taxi service”

Live Away From Home
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ok – Living away from home in my view is the best thing that you can do. Yes! I know you have to fend for yourselves, cook and clean after yourselves, basically look after yourselves without your parents but the truth is – some time in your life you are going to have to part with lovely Mummy and Daddy. But they are only just a phone call away and it is really good to have some QUALITY TIME without them! Usually contracts in halls are for during semester time only and so you’d be living at home during vacations. And unless you really don’t want to – you can go home frequently (or not so frequently) at weekends. Another bit of advice is when choosing a university is to have somewhere that’s not too far to come home sometimes but too far for you or your parents to keep on visiting and going home ALL THE TIME!

The main points about living away from home are;
1. NO PARENTS! You don’t have to tell them where you’re going, who you’re going with, what time you’ll be late, why you’re going etc etc ETC! WAHEY! I can hear you scream - but there are some people who have come from EXTREMELY sheltered lives and are “let loose” in a sense, away from their parents for the first time and abusing many of the advantages of studentdom, these people should be avoided as they can come across as very immature and selfish.
2. You learn so much more than a degree in Quantum Physics – or whatever you’re studying! You learn various social s
kills; you have to get along with your hall mates, if you aren’t catered for (advised advised!) you cook for yourself, you clean after yourself (but in halls there is a lovely lady called a cleaner who hoovers and dusts your room for you though!) you learn “lessons in life”(hey – cheesy - I know!
3. You meet so many more people in the halls than if you stayed at home. This is extremely important during fresher’s week when all you do is socialise!
4. You are so nearer to the university cus most halls are on, or near, campus (unless the university is across the road from you!)
5. You have a phone! So if you ever get homesick or miss you Mummy then she’s always at the end of a phone-line for you – and so are your friends.
6. When you do go home for the weekend or for your vacations you have a great time with your mates back home cus when you all go out its more a special occasion than when you used to go out all the time before you started university. You also get a load of attention off your parents and money if you need it. You get to appreciate everything you have at home with your parents and friends etc. But more importantly your parents get a shock to their system when they realise that you’ve have grown up and aren’t as dependant as you were when you were like 16!
7. Although your all time best friends are at home and you’ll always keep in touch with them you can get to meet some FANTASTIC friends up at uni. And I know a few people who have met their husbands and wives in university halls.

So there you have it! I would strongly advise to live away from home. My best friend is in her second year – getting a house with course-mates, and shall I tell you something funny? One of my hall-mate’s parents live only down the road from our halls and yet she chose to stay in halls away from home! (In fact she has the same postcode as she has had all her life!) I think she
realises what an experience she would be missing out on if she didn’t!

And the most important piece of advice if you do live away from home – PHONE YOUR MUM… she worries!

:-)
xxx

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