Home away from home
As colleges begin a new academic year, students who face a major transition are those who will be moving away from home to live in a hostel.
Yet the initial hurdles are far from insurmountable. Though it takes awhile to adapt to a new lifestyle, once you settle in, teens agree it’s all fun.
Karthik D, who moved to Delhi to study, talks about how he ‘eventually’ fit in. “The first time I entered my hostel, I thought I’d just take my bags and go back home. But luckily, the guys on my corridor were a lot of fun and cajoled me out of my misery. They would stay in my room till late at night so that I wouldn’t rant and we would go out at every opportunity for lunches and dinners. Soon, things were fine,” he smiles.
Roommates aside, youngsters who join hostels after school together with friends, say they find it easier to adjust.
Ashwini R, who joined a hostel with two friends for her undergraduate years, agrees and points out that you don’t feel those initial bouts of loneliness when you have your buddies around. The hostel is a place where you feel new and in the beginning you are a bit homesick. Fortunately for me, I never experienced this because my friends from school were my roommates. It was almost like staying over for a class reunion party, it didn’t feel at all like moving away from home. It helped me cope so much better with hostel life. Then, of course, there are the senior-junior interaction sessions and dinners and movies, all of which help you bond!”
Another way to adapt to hostel life is to find friends with similar interests and to take an active part in the social gatherings.
Food and pampering are the way to a hosteller’s heart, thinks Swathi N, who moved to Bengaluru recently to study.
“The first thing I did when I came to the hostel was to find someone on the same wavelength as me. And soon, I did find a few. We binge on cheesecake together and talk about random stuff. Sometimes, I’ve seen hostelites get bored and experiment with make-up. However, down the line, we all just magically connect and then we have fun all the time!” she grins.
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