If you thought moving into the dorm freshman year was an adjustment, think again. Moving into your first apartment is the real test as a new adult. These are a few real life lessons my first apartment taught me.
Studying Can Actually Get Harder
You are no longer a five minute walk from class or the library. Finding the perfect time and place to study just got 10 times harder than it was previously.The distance between your apartment and campus can make late night cram sessions at the library or even getting to class in the morning harder due to transportation issues at certain times of the day.
Dinner doesn't just magically appear
While living on your own, you can't run to the dining hall real fast before your night lab to grab dinner. Dinner is now a real struggle.You have to make sure your Walmart run resulted in a healthy balanced diet for the week, not just junk food and random impulse buys. You still have to actually cook dinner. While ordering pizza every night is easy. It gets expensive real fast.
Money doesn't grow on trees
When deciding to live off campus, it is helpful to figure out your monthly budget (i.e. how much money you have for rent and how close you want to live to campus). The closer you tend to live to campus, the more expense your rent can be. Monthly expenses tend to add up fast and next thing you know you're broke. After rent, electricity, Internet and groceries are bought and paid for, you just blew through most of your money.
You thought living in the dorms was #successfuladulting. The true test is surviving your first apartment.
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