Living alone for the first time

If you’re moving away to university, this may be the first time you’ve ever lived alone. Though the idea of being completely independent can be exciting, it can also be very daunting. I hope this post will give you some peace of mind with your worries and gives some top tips of how to settle in well.

The big thing to remember is that some people will take longer to get used to the new way of living than others which is okay. Please don’t beat yourself up if you feel like it’s taking you more time to get settled. This is a big step in your life and often new things and big changes can be more of a struggle for some individuals. Not only this, but there will be others who are struggling that can hide it so well. If you feel like you’re looking at others like ‘I wish I could deal with change like that’, they may be feeling exactly the same as you. You can always share your thoughts with others and maybe they will relate and you can get through it together.

Not everything will come naturally when you first start out; whether that’s cooking or laundry or just a bit of everything. Everyone will be having struggles and the best thing to do is to help each other out, it’s also a great way to bond with your new found friends. There is always the option of just calling home, which I did a lot in my first year. I had so many random questions especially about cooking.

Home sickness is a thing. I’ll be honest I was so caught up in university life that I didn’t feel this at all until a few weeks in. If you feel this way, call your family, FaceTime your friends. Especially if all your home friends have moved away to their own university they may need that reassurance from you too but do remember they’ll be doing their own thing. Remember different people will settle in, in different ways so be patient with them if they are getting more involved at university. Find times you are both free and have a good catch up then.

Don’t stretch yourself too much. Don’t put pressure on yourself to do everything at once if that’s too much for you. If settling in means you live off oven food and beans on toast for the first few weeks, you do you while you’re getting yourself sorted. As you get used to the new way of life you can step things up and learn new things as you go.

No matter what be proud of yourself, it’s a very big step. Not only are you suddenly living on your own, you’re in a new city and you’re having to get used to the university lifestyle.

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Preparing for results day

If you are waiting for results day, I’m sure you are feeling apprehensive about tomorrow. It’s a scary but exciting time and you need to remember no matter what there are good things to come. Just remember, at this point there is nothing you can do to change these results and even though you are facing uncertainty, what happens will happen.

I know it my be difficult but try and get a good nights sleep. Even if you can’t sleep (I know I couldn’t), try and do something to relax, distract yourself. Please whatever you do don’t just sit around worrying, do something you enjoy, this time tomorrow you will know what results you have. Make sure when you wake up you have a good breakfast and have a breather, I know I checked track first thing but then got myself ready before going to school to pick up my results.

Dependant on what time your school releases results, you may be able to find out your uni’s decision on track before you get your results. This should give you an idea about your results but still go in with an open mind as you never know what the universities have chosen to accept or decline.

If all goes as planned and you get into your firm choice university, congratulations, you can go and enjoy yourself. I know with the situation it may be difficult to celebrate as normal as you can’t go out but there’s still many options you can do. Go for some drinks, have a little garden party with a couple of friends, there’s still ways of enjoying your success while keeping in line with the regulations. Do remember, you may be on cloud nine but others may not, still enjoy and be happy for yourself but do bare in mind how others may be feeling.

If you didn’t get your first choice, track will tell you if you got your insurance choice. You may feel slightly down about this but if you do remember there was a reason you chose that university as a back up. You’re off to university and you will have the most amazing time, embrace it.

If you unfortunately, don’t get into either your firm or insurance choice, remember you still have options. Take some time and think about what you want to do. You don’t want to make any rash decisions when you’re not thinking straight. If you do want to go to university, you can go through clearing, you’ll obviously want to do this when there are still places available so calm down and then have a look at what is to offer. You can go online, universities will have information about their clearing process on their websites. If you’re really not confident going into tomorrow you can check these out today just to prepare yourself. You never know, you may not need it but if you’re really worried it may relieve a bit of the stress ahead of tomorrow. Just remember whatever happens you will find something and you have so much to be proud of, you got through your A-levels which are extremely difficult.

I know of people who didn’t didn’t get into their first choice university who are now having the time of their life. It may seem upsetting on the day but in the future you’ll realise it was meant to happen.

If you get to results day and realise you really don’t want to university right now, there are options. If you got in but want to take a year out you may be able to defer your place, different universities will have different policies on this so check that out. If you didn’t get into the universities of your choice and want to take a year out, you can reapply next year and this time you’ll be going in with your results so will have more security of what is on offer to you. Taking a year out means you can have that extra time to work and save for university while taking a break from academics. Whatever you chose to do, do what works best for you.

I do hope this is all helpful and all I have left to say is good luck and whatever happens tomorrow, it will all work out in the end.