For many first-year students, the University may be their first experience living away from home for an extended period of time. It is a definite break from home. In my point of view this is the best thing that you can do. I know you have to fend for yourself, cook and clean after yourself, basically look after yourself 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. The first few weeks can be a lonely period. There may be concerns about forming friendship. When new students look around, it may seem that everyone else is self-confident and socially successful! The reality is that everyone is having the same concerns.


Increased personal freedom can feel both wonderful and frightening. Students can come and go as they choose with no one to “hassle” them. The strange environment with new kinds of procedures and new people can create the sense of being on an emotional roller coaster. This is normal and to be expected. You meet so many more people in the halls than if you stayed at home. The main points about living away from home are:

NO PARENTS! You don’t have to tell them where you’re going, who you’re going with, what time you’ll be coming, why you’re going etc. etc.

You learn various social skills; you have to get along with your roommates Living with them can present special, sometimes intense, problems. Negotiating respect of personal property, personal space, sleep, and relaxation needs, can be a complex task. The complexity increases when roommates are of different backgrounds with very different values. It is unrealistic to expect that roommates will be best friends. Meaningful, new relationships should not be expected to develop overnight. It took a great deal of time to develop intimacy in high school friendships; the same will be true of intimacy in university friendships.

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.