How have you found moving away from home and being independent?

Really wonderful to see all the very positive experiences here, and most of my uni friends also loved it, so I hope you have a wicked experience too OP if you move to uni (I see you still live at home with your parents).

I don't want to be a downer or anything but I may as well share my honest experience (and maybe some advice), as maybe some others can relate also (I lived independently for first and most of second year before moving in with gf). There were pros and cons but overall - while it was still a good learning experience for sure and I'd definitely recommend it - it wasn't very enjoyable for me personally.

I didn't really enjoy sharing a halls flat (and then a house) with people I didn't know well and wasn't close to; on that front I definitely could've made more effort to socialize and bond with them more (except for one guy in my flat in first year who became a very good friend), so I would really recommend you try to do so and don't keep to yourself too much. Most of my flatmates were international students and kept to themselves also but I was no better heh.

Secondly, the homesickness hit me personally pretty hard (I came from a big, very sociable family) and I especially missed my younger siblings, though it did get much better a bit later in the year, so my advice if you feel homesick is to talk to friends and such but do your best to stay positive, keep your mind off it with other things and stick it out until it blows over because most likely it will blow over. I was calling home every few days at first which, while it's god to stay in contact, probably wasn't doing me many favours. I was also visiting home every 2-3 weeks which was probably also a bit too much; when I scaled that down to just calling once every couple weeks and going home once a month or so I think that helped me sort of detach more and embrace uni life more.

Thirdly, the complete freedom lol. While that can obviously be a pro, you have to be careful with it and also self-disciplined and motivated else it's easy to slip into bad habits and not use it advantageously. To be blunt I wasn't great at taking care of myself - sleeping at reasonable times, cooking, making sure I got enough exercise etc. and it definitely impacted my wellbeing a bit. You have to look out for yourself, maybe sure you're trying to take care of the fundamental things and not pushing yourself too hard, and don't be afraid to reach out for help if you need it. Same with asking about things and how to do/operate things: I'm incredibly shy so stubbornly wouldn't ask about things that wouldn't saved me a lot of hassle.

Also, if you're on quite an intense course, it can be challenging to juggle all your work with the responsibilities of living alone and taking care of yourself. It might be trivial to some people but I'm naturally not very organized (at all) so had to make a conscious effort to balance and stay on top of things. So for that any kind of schedule and plan, making to-do lists, maybe having an accountability buddy friend, and also trying to balance work and play so you don't burn yourself out or fall too far behind.

The last part (cause I've rambled on long enough) is just effectively living on your own in a small room lol. If you're naturally introverted and homey it's very easy to fall into just staying in your room a lot of the time rather than going out and doing things, and that can be quite isolating and jarring staring at the same four walls all day. So again I'd encourage you to do what you can to not isolate yourself too much. In the flat just spending time in the kitchen and any other shared area you have, or if your halls has a common room, or just going for a walk, and then on a wider scale doing things like societies, going out with any friends you make etc.

Still it wasn't all bad at all and I don't want this post to sound too gloomy - I still got involved with things here and there, had a lot of fun times with friends I was very fortunate to make etc., and I hope you have an awesome time (:

/r/UniUK Thread