When you go to college you spend the first two years or so living on campus. While this is great for the first couple of years, living on campus has its drawbacks, such as cafeteria food and the cost. If you are lucky, you may get to spend the last year or two living off of campus. Whether by renting an apartment or by renting a house. Living off of campus can be pretty great. You actually feel like you can leave school stresses behind when you get to go home. Chances are you are also living off of campus with some of your very good friends, which will be cause of making some awesome memories. Plus, it is a LOT cheaper.
Although, living off of campus can be a blast, it can also be a struggle at times. This is the first time you are truly living on your own, so to speak. You don't have campus policies to follow, you don't have a cafeteria cooking all of your food, and you don't have
While apartment life is pretty great, it does come with its own set of struggles:
When living on campus you have to eat cafeteria food, which can be pretty nasty at times, so when you get to move off of campus and eat your own food, it can be a relief. However, this also brings me to the first struggle, cooking. I am not a very good cook, and having to cook my own food is sometimes a struggle because I cannot cook like my parents. I pretty much have my mom on speed dial so I can call her when I am about to prepare a meal, just so I know I am doing it right.
On campus we had laundry rooms that were always being used or always broken. When you live off of campus you may be lucky enough to get one to yourself in your apartment or house. Such is not the case for me. Some, if not most, apartment complex's have a laundry room with a couple washers and a couple of dryers. It is definitely a struggle when you have a sketch ass laundry room. The laundry room at my apartment is not a nice place to go. It is a spider-filled nightmare. Also, what is the point of having four washers and four dryers when, like, only two of each work? Also, please clean the place up a bit so i don't have to venture through spider webs and sketchiness.
On campus dorm facilities are usually kept up in terms of maintenance issues. All you have to do is email your RD and they're on it. However, while living in an apartment or house, you have to go through your renters. The first few days of living on your own are great, but after you get settled you start to notice all the stuff that is wrong with your apartment, such as a bathroom light that won't stay on because of the wiring, a dishwasher that's not screwed into the counter, the shower that stays hot for all of five minutes while showering...oh and a fridge that hasn't been working for a week. Good luck getting someone there to fix it before a week.
BILLS. Enough said really. While we do have to pay for college and living on campus and such, it is not as stressful as having to pay bills when living off of campus. You have your rent, you have your utilities, and you have your internet. There goes your check for the month. Living on your own really brings out the broke college student in all of us.
Even though there are struggles to living off of campus, it is still a journey that you will be thankful you had. I mean, this is a warm-up for when you are literally on your own, because college doesn't last forever!
