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All the things it’s totally ok to admit to about student life

Vanessa Tobias

Careers Commentator

Being a student is pretty rad. You’re finally unsupervised in the world. You get to chill with like-minded people in your classes and chances are you’re living with people who share the same love of bad decisions and mid-week drinking as you do. 

Hey, you might even get the chance to live out your lifelong dream of eating a whole cake to yourself or not showering for a week, if that floats your goat. Because, why not? Who’s going to stop you? Get down with your bad self. Or your dirty self. Whatever you think is letting you live your best life.

And you get to do all this while studying for your dream career and hopefully actually achieving your degree one day. Life’s pretty sweet, you guys.

However, even though you’re killing it like a rockstar, sometimes things aren’t always what you expected. Sometimes student life isn’t as easy as you thought it would be. And that’s perfectly cool too. Here are all the things it’s totally ok to admit about student life.

We are homesick  

So uni time came and you noped out of your hometown before the writing on your acceptance letter was dry. See you later high school mean girls, that made Regina George look like Mother Theresa. Good riddance everybody who saw you trip over sideways into a wall, whilst trying to talk to your high school crush.

BYE Felicia to your parents who were overprotective and strict as shit. And laters to your brother who used to hack your Facebook, embarrass you in front of your friends and be a total twerp in general.

Now you’re actually here it might be nice to see a familiar face. And nothing fixes a hangover like your Mum’s Sunday roast. And you know what? Tom was reasonably amusing when he wasn’t driving you to Google "how to sedate your little brother, permanently." From your other sister’s computer, of course, it’s not amateur hour.

Hey, it’s okay to admit you get homesick sometimes, it doesn’t make you any less cool of a student (that Justin Bieber poster on your wall does, though). This is probably one of the biggest moves you’ve made. Adapting to it takes time. In the meantime, there's always Facetime, even if you only take that opportunity to remind your pet dog, George, that 13/10 time he is a good boy.

Facetime with dog

We haven't found ourselves yet  

University is supposed to be the time where you find all your people's people. You discover who you're supposed to be in life and what your calling is. Even if that's a pink fairy armadillo herder in Argentina or worse – an accountant, or something equally as horrifying. 

So what if in reality, its 11 am on a Tuesday morning. You’re knee deep in a Riverdale Marathon, drinking cheap goon. And you’ve used a coupon to order a Dominos pizza with directions to come straight to your room, because you can’t cope with the outside world right now. 

Look you’ll get there eventually, or you won’t. But you’ve got a hell of a lot of living to do well past your uni years, so don’t sweat whatever path you’re on at the moment.

Girl with polaroids

It’s a lot harder than we thought  

So you’re casually studying your undergraduate degree, whilst holding down a part-time job that pays poorly, while simultaneously coping with dorm life. No worries. We could do it in our sleep. 

That’s if we ever got any freakin' sleep, because our dorm mate snores like a freight train. There are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. And your body is a temple and is not used to being fed absolute rubbish because grocery shopping is so much more expensive than the Aldi ads had you prepared to believe.

Whether it’s your first or your last year, student life is challenging. Sometimes it will push you to your absolute limits. It’s ok to admit it's hard.  If it ever gets too much, make sure you take the time to vent, have a passion pop party (just me?) with your besties, and forgive yourself if you’re not achieving as much as you thought you would at this stage.

Student looks stressed

Our behaviour isn't always um... respectful.  

If you hit university straight out of high school chances are you’re young. You're set free in a new city away from the boundaries and restrictions you faced at home. And it's possible you could go a little crazy with the freedom of it all. I’m talking mid-day drinking, house-trashing and generally acting like a slob.

Most of the time you will grow out of this phase, get your life together and work out strategies to pretend to be an adult, like the rest of us. Or become super rich so you can still do all the same shiz and not worry about the consequences, cos you'll just buy a new house, or car, or face, or whatever. Either way, it’s a win-win I say.

Student playing and slipped

People still aren't lining up to date us  

I’m not saying I expected to open the gates of uni and automatically become 150% more attractive, charismatic and better at life. It would have been nice, but I’m a realist. So I was only expecting my looks to improve and be scouted by a model agency on my first day and would work on the charisma thing later on.

Turns out, in reality, the last person I tried to flirt with was a total disaster. I panicked and proceeded to show them my best velociraptor impression. Now, they seem to think I need help while walking (which I'm totally ok with by the way) and speak very slowly to me in public.

So what if your dating game's still weak and you're as awkward as a Kardashian at a flea market. You're at uni. You don't have time for a social life let alone a relationship, so what's the rush anyway?

Kid shooing

via GIPHY