Friday, 23 March 2018

Adjusting to Student Life in 2018


Fun, friends, academic achievement. All of these things are waiting for you when you begin your years at university. Before you step out into this new phase of your life, take a moment to read this blog and consider some of the changes that will be made to your current way of life. Reading this blog may help you to prepare, and ultimately, get the most out of this university period. Even if you are already a student, some of what follows in this blog might be helpful to you.


1.) The Change: New accommodation and a new area - Moving away from home is a big change for anyone, and it is easy at first to feel as though this new area is difficult to adjust to. Not only that, but you will be living in a new place and be surrounded by a whole load of new people.

How to Cope: Familiarise yourself with your area and the people around you. If you do this, you will start to feel more comfortable with this change in scenery and will start to realise what the local area and its nearby towns can offer you. It can also mean plenty of enjoyable hours spent in the company of new friends exploring this unfamiliar environment. 


2.) The Change: Sharing a House or Living Alone - Slightly different to living with your family at home, sharing a student house requires the ability to make compromises and be much more mindful of others and the space they are sharing with you. Things like household chores, bathroom usage and noise levels will all need to be considered when you're living with other tenants. For those that opt for a studio, there's obviously less need for compromising. But as a result of you being on your own, the responsibility for chores and anything else related to the accommodation rest completely on your shoulders.

How to Cope: The best way to respond to this change is to chat with those around you and come to some agreement about who does what and when, as well as making sure that you are considerate of those you live with at all times. Sometimes doing this can just mean getting into good habits, like ensuring that you wash up and tidy up after yourself. Whether you will be living in house with other tenants or renting a studio, a little extra thought and effort is really all that's needed.



3.) The Change: Money - You've probably heard many times before about student life and money being a difficult combination, but it's still something that needs thinking about, as it is a challenging factor that makes up the student experience. Oftentimes, the student lifestyle is one that is characterised by a lack of financial comfort, and it may be that you discover this once you begin your time as a student, a discovery that may come as a shock after years spent living with your family.

How to Cope: To deal effectively with this change, a sound strategy to managing your finances is advisable. This could very well involve regular budgeting, perhaps on a monthly or weekly basis. At the very least, just ensuring that you are sensible with your money is key; prioritise the more necessary things, avoid large expenditures that aren't essential and aim to keep the more fun or frivolous purchases to a minimum. Putting a little money aside here and there would be a good idea too, as would taking advantage of any discounts and deals you see, especially those aimed specifically at students. 



4.) The Change: Cleaning & Maintaining Your Student Home - The reason this point is being mentioned is that making the leap from living at home with family to overseeing your student home is a significant one. It comes with new responsibilities and new demands that you may not have really had to deal with before, such as cleaning, tidying and ensuring that the property is maintained to the correct standard. These things can be time consuming and not exactly enjoyable.

How to Cope: Aside from the fact that simply putting in the time and effort is required to keep your accommodation clean, tidy and well-maintained, it's helpful to remember that the more regularly that the job is done, the less thorough the job will need to be each time it's done. As for maintaining the property, the lettings agency will usually be the people to contact if there is an issue that requires attention. The quicker you make it clear that there is a problem with your property, the greater chances are of an effective solution. And on the subject of cleaning, if you are living in a house shared with other tenants, you can easily share the duties, and maybe even introduce some sort of schedule so that these duties are completed on time and in a way that is evenly distributed between the members of the house. 



5.) The Change: Opportunities for socialising and the need for studying - As a student living away from home, you are pretty much in control of what goes on in your life on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, which is something of a shift from how things were before becoming a student. Handling all of the domestic, academic and social aspects of student life could be a challenge, especially as all of them are highly important in their own way.

How to Cope: Put simply, you will need to be sensible about how you manage your time. Maybe prioritise the things that have to be done, such as your university work. Then, of course, all of the time that remains can be utilised for socialising and the more fun activities that you want to take part in. 


Student Accommodation with Unihousing
For those of you out there looking ahead to student life and searching for first-rate student accommodation, or even current students out there wanting somewhere new to settle, Unihousing are the people to go to. Registered lettings agents based in Selly Oak, Unihousing offer a fine selection of Birmingham studios and houses that are equipped with excellent furnishings.Their Birmingham student accommodation also boasts great locations that enable you to reach local amenities and the fun of the City Centre as well as other Birmingham towns with no difficulty whatsoever. All available for very affordable prices, get in touch with Unihousing today to find the right student property for you.


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