I joined my Master’s degree course last November. Due to the Covid situation, our classes started in online mode which was no less than a boon for an introvert like me. However, the day that I feared the most in my life came in March when we were summoned to join the campus! I was very nervous to stay at a hostel for the first time in my life!
So the day finally came when I left the home with all the anxiousness and a procrastinating mind. I reached the university at night and had to share a big common room with an unknown guy who was also waiting to get a room in the morning! I slept like anything after a tiresome journey! My social anxieties started fading away a bit after I was allotted the same room with my classmate. I shared a room with him for the first semester.
The first semester was a little challenging both physically and mentally. Especially when I had the most extroverted roommate ever! On the positive side, we made some good memories together. I started becoming internally stronger than ever in this new way of life. Learning to do all the chores by myself gave me a personal sense of satisfaction. Washing all the clothes that you kept for the weekend is a bittersweet feeling which is very difficult to express in words! The first semester ended with a change in room and roommate, too!
When the second semester started, the thing that changed inside me this time was that I was very less bothered about what kind of roommate I would get! I started getting used to the hostel life, which was quite contrary to my introvertedness. Though coincidentally, getting a hardly speaking and studious type of roommate worked charms for me! Even though beginning of our journey in the same room started with a bit of awkwardness and a lot of formalities, we became very friendly soon enough!
There are many positives and negatives of living at the hostel. Complaining about the worst food ever in the mess but eating it silently all the time is a thing that many students would be able to relate to! Budgeting is an important skill that one must learn while living in a hostel as we always feel like eating outside because it’s just too tempting! There are many other things that make us feel down at the hostel along with the always-down WiFi! But on the positive side, we also learn how to deal with situations that demand the best out of us even when we’re not in our comfort zone. And not to forget the sorts of mischievous things that we get to experience which would never have been possible to experience at home! 🙂
Overall, I feel neither happy nor sad but just satisfied that I got to experience the one-of-a-kind life experience at the hostel which I wish every student experiences! (With a disclaimer that it comes with a lot of unsolicited traumas along with good experiences!) Now that I’m at home for the holidays during my third semester, I am low-key thinking about going back to the hostel soon!
Happy Holidays!