Living away from your family and the place you’ve always been comfortable with can be overwhelming, especially if it’s your first time to live on your own. It is definitely challenging, but there are ways to survive and get the most out of your dorm life!

Familiarity is key

Acquaint yourself with the dorm and its location. Does it have a kitchen? How about a laundry place? Does the place have stable wifi? Is there a curfew? Get to know the neighborhood market, convenience stores, hangout spots, church, etc. Being aware of these things will help you adjust once school starts. It will also save you lots of time and energy just by knowing the proximity of your dorm to your school. You can always check Edukasyon.ph to know more about the exact location of your school and plot your commute or errand runs accordingly.

Spend money and time wisely

Living on your own will, in a way, force you to budget your allowance and manage your time wisely. A pretty simple tip is to list the things you need to do for the day and break it down into segments- easy, average difficult or based on urgency- then strategize on how you’d accomplish each segment. When it comes to being wise about money, you can also list down the items you’ll spend on for the week and track your expenses. You can also suggest to buy groceries with your dorm mates and pool your budgets together for food and other essentials. It not only lessens your expenses, you also get to bond with your friends = a win-win situation! Being smart with your school allowance will get you extra savings while being smart with your time will help you accomplish things more efficiently.

Set alarms (even if your dorm is 20 paces from school)

Since you’ll be living on your own, this will also mean you’ll have to do things on your own. You now have to learn to wake up without your mom’s voice blasting from the kitchen area or living room which you have so been used to back home. And even if your dorm is a stone’s throw away from your school, better to still set an alarm so there’s no excuse to be late to or miss classes.

Dorm mates are like extended relatives

Let your dorm mates be an extension of your family during this phase of your student life. Living away from your hometown can be tough at times, but your roommates have the biggest potential to be your home away from home. The list of activities you can do together are endless- schedule weekly movie marathons, cook your favorite dishes, spend a day for general cleaning, finish schoolwork, or just talk about anything and everything on your spare time.

Me Time is a good time

Living the dorm life can also mean that you can spend some time alone just to relax or try new things. You can catch up on your must-watch TV series or favorite K-dramas, finish your leisure reading list, exercise at home, or even start cooking and experimenting with a recipe of your own. You can even make up for all the sleep you’ve missed during finals week!

Regardless of all these new and exciting experiences from living in a dorm, don’t forget that you can always go home every weekend or whenever your schedule’s free and just be with your family. Going back home will soon become one of the most simple yet most appreciated joys from living in a dorm. Not to mention the bonus of bringing back that supply of goodies from your parents like you’ve won a shopping or grocery spree!

Dorm life can be one of the biggest adjustments of one’s college life yet also one of the bravest decisions you’ll make. It will teach you the values of being independent, disciplined, and responsible. It’s definitely hard at first, but you will soon learn to stand on your feet while figuring out the beauty and surprises of life on your own.