Last year during college, although it was during a pandemic many people still choose to live near their campus. I, on the other hand, stayed back home in Canoga Park and did my schooling from my childhood room. I also worked back home. Now this year I am living in an apartment near my school campus which is about one hour and half away from my hometown. A lot of things are very different especially with my class being in person while before they were online, or having a new job. Here are some of the differences I’ve experienced living at home versus living in an off-campus apartment.
- Having a roommate
This is a huge change in comparison to living with your family. I know, for me, my roommate is very different from the way my family is, so she tends to be much more quiet and keep to herself while my family is very loud and always barging into each others’ rooms. This was a little hard to adjust to at first since I knew that I couldn’t always pop into her room or hang out with her since we both have class and homework. Luckily I have been adjusting better these past couple of weeks.
- Cooking
I never really learned how to cook because my mom tended to do most of the cooking for the family so I was able to enjoy that and during my freshman year I lived in the dorms on campus so I was able to go to the dining halls and get food that was already cooked. . By living in the apartment now, I have to learn how to cook and make food that I actually enjoy. So far the most I have done is eggs, soup and pancakes. Breakfast is probably my speciality so I’ll learn how to make more of that by watching youtube videos.
- Going out a lot more
Back home I tended to only go out about 2-3 times a week while, now that I don’t live with my parents, I go out about 4-5 times a week. This means that I tend to be meeting new people all the time (which I love) as well as spending more money when I go out. A lot of the times when my friends and I spend time together, even to grab coffee, we spend at least like five dollars and so by the end of the month it accumulates to a much higher credit card bill.
I know that even though I get to have my own rules and have these cool advantages sometimes, I miss having my parents to scorn me or just eat their food. Although I am on campus most of the time, I try to visit my family at least once a month so that I don’t feel too homesick. These might be some of the changes you also deal with while transitioning from living at home to an off campus apartment or housing. If you need help on how to adjust maybe look up how other people when coped to see if you can do the same.