Starting University is daunting and to make it worse- there is no way around it. Some call it ‘being independent’ or ‘going solo’ , whatever it is called it does mean that you are officially on your own. Your parents may have been bad but nothing can beat the petrifying cooker or the scary washing machine which makes those monstrous noises. I may have backpacked across the globe and had a gap year but that was temporary. I knew that at the end of the day I would soon be home enjoying home cooking and fighting with my brother. However, Higher Education is pretty much for good.
The sheer amount of cooking is completely overwhelming to me. I am finally understanding that University skills entail laundry-doing which leads me to questions such as how will I not shrink my clothes? Which colours should not be washed together? What about home luxuries? I was lucky enough to be brought up by parents who love to bake, and the idea that I will no longer be returning home to fresh flapjacks or rocky road might not be devastating but it is certainly regretful, and it won’t make the changeover any easier.
Let’s not even mention grocery shopping! Do I go to Sainsburys or Tescos or Waitrose? Food shopping is a particular problem, having to choose what I want to eat for the next week seems like planning too far ahead to me, and when I finally make it to the checkout everything always turns out to be far more expensive than I expected.
With all of this information coming at me I was left in a spin which made me realise that there are actually thousands of first timers about to head into the same process. After weeks of research, hours of reading and endless facebook chats with graduates I am now about to share my secrets with Scriptoeris. Sam Stern has literally saved me with his cookbooks designed for youngsters ‘Student Cookbook’ and the ‘Teen Survival Cookbook’. As far as laundry goes, whites need to be separated with darks and colours whilst tights should be washed in a sink and lace should have its own laundry time.
From one friend who has just graduated I was told that students who kept a note of everything they spent tended to save money and spend less than the ones who didn’t. It sounds daunting and a drag, but really it only involves starting a new document on your lap top and filling in your various purchases. Or you can always have a piggy bank and fill it every so often with change, it may not make you millions but it could help you to buy those monthly magazines without guilt.
I can honestly say that it’s a throw in the deep end approach will soften the scare. Despite a fellow Scriptoeris writer telling me that she survived two flat fires I’m not that worried, instead I am going to put on my big girl shoes and define the decade.