I expected it to be like in Friends or How I Met Your Mother. Maybe some of it is just as comical, but the shows did not prepare me for how hard it actually is. I am 20- years- old and I just moved into an apartment with three other girls. It is a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but it is also more work and responsibility than I realized. Am I actually living like they do on TV? No, absolutely not but I am living like an amusing, embarrassing, but exciting YouTube vlog that you can't stop watching no matter how bad it gets.
The first night of living in your new home away from home is the most exciting but also the most challenging. My friends and I were excited to cook out first meal together and have a cute family dinner. Sounds good in theory, right? Well, it started out simple. Boil the water to make pasta and throw some frozen chicken in the oven. Not too long into getting started, we realized we had less than we thought in terms of supplies—no lid for the pot, only one tiny pan for the chicken, and no utensils to distribute the salad with. Sounds easy enough to get creative and solve those problems, and it was. But then… a mouse was spotted running across the kitchen floor. We all went running, screaming at the top of our lungs. Night one was off to a difficult start. That cute family dinner ended up taking place on our front porch because we were too afraid to go back into the kitchen.
Once we finished eating and went back inside we realized the WIFI was not working—so much for our first movie night together. Earlier that day we had stayed home waiting for it to be set up. The technician was 4 hours late so we had to stay in all day waiting for him. At around 9:30 pm we decided to call Verizon and try to fix it. After being on the phone for 45 minutes the problem was finally resolved. It had been a long day.
Feeling defeated, I wanted to cry and go home to my parents, but honestly, I had no time. It was the first night in this new place and I was determined to make it a success—I couldn't give up that easily and I definitely could not admit that I wanted to quit on my first day.
So living with your friends may be as fun as Friends or HIMYM shows us but is it as simple? No.
Food doesn't just show up in the house, it's not always clean unless you put in the work, and things don't just work perfectly. Days are corky and unpredictable. Eating leftovers for a week straight is real. Not wanting to use your AC because you don't want to pay a high electric bill is serious. Living on your own is challenging. But the excitement and independence make it worth it.
So, Mom and Dad, I think you prepped me well for this. I was overwhelmed that first week but my friends and I got it down. Life isn't a TV show (even though I wish it was) but its fun when you're going through it with your friends. So even when things get to be a lot or seem scary, push through it. As cliché as it sounds, nothing is easy at first but if you keep trying to give it a chance, things will get better.
