Dear Fresher – The truth about university from your older experienced “brother” – Part 2

22:31 SAVS 0 Comments

As was discussed in the previous article, university is not a force to be reckoned with, there are many academic challenges that chosen warriors have to overcome before they can finally be awarded that degree they have been dreaming about. But unfortunately for all you warriors the force does not only apply academically it also applies socially in forms of strict Res rules, unpredictable landlords and endless turn up temptations that throw you off your academic route. As a brave soldier you have to overcome all these obstacles and prevent them from keeping you from your main purpose which is to graduate as quickly as you can.

Living in Res works to your advantage if you are a dedicated student starting off in university, as most students are. It has a bit more rules than most outside places plus you get to meet more people in Res and adopt quicker to the university environment. Living at home is even better for your academic life but not really great for your social life since you will be expected to be at home most of the time like in high school. So my personal advice to freshers would be to try out Res for their first year experience and move out in their 2^nd or 3^rd year if they wish to do so.

Many mini battles happen when you live off campus, first things first you have to look for accommodation at the beginning of each year or semester which is a frustrating process because most of the good affordable places are taken earlier on by more ambitious students, so you have to fight your way to getting a place that is affordable and close to campus, that will at least have some wi-fi for you to be able to work on your assignments. If not, the place has to be at least close enough to campus so that you can walk to get some wi-fi, some lucky students manage to find a place nearby a resident area which allows them to pick up the Res’s  wi-fi connection. Sometimes it may be more difficult to find accommodation after a vacation when you are at home, especially if you live in a different town from your school because most landlords prefer that you go for viewing before they offer you a place to stay which then leaves you at a disadvantage to the students who live near the school. Leaving you with sloppy seconds for accommodation. These places are usually very expensive because landlords know that students are desperate during these last minute struggles, which makes them hike up the prices, which is a score for them financially.

Sometimes their places are not as great as what their ads make it seem, so it is to your advantage to go do some viewing before signing any lease. So beware false advertising oh gallant ones, sometimes the landlords may purposely leave out information and only tell it to you the day of signing the lease when there is no turning back, making you pay for expenses you did not think you would be paying for. So make sure you know what you are getting yourself into before signing a contract with a landlord. But it does not end there, once you enter the landlord’s web you may be trapped there until the lease expires. Some landlords act all cool and friendly towards you to draw you in but once you are in their web they change the rules of the game, next thing you are not allowed have overnight visitors at your place or may not play loud music in your room. It is usually better when the landlord lives at a different place because no one is there to check up on you guys. But in such cases the landlord usually pays one of the tenants to check up on tenants. So you may find that the rules you were trying to avoid in res are also found with landlords. Therefore, the best you could do is rent out a flat or a whole house if you could afford it and have all the privacy and freedom you would wish to have.

So get ready for the battle for your future braves ones and maintain that balance.

Much love,

Your Older Brother.