Hi im 17 and leaving home to do a course at Leeds college of music, i'm staying in private halls of accomodation, i just wondered if anyone else is nervous about leaving home or am i being a baby!

I'm leaving to go to uni and I can't wait!!!

I'm looking forward to finally leaving home!!

i wish i had your confidence-im looking forward to it but i am scared-aren't u?

I'm a bit scared I guess, but I've met people who are going to do the same course so I know people!

What/Where u going?

I'm going to Bangor

I'm going to Hull and I'm not the slightest bit bothered! I want some proper independence! Not that I've not got it here but you know what I mean.

I spent a month in Brazil, and everyone rang their families every other night and got homesick and stuff.

I rang the day before we flew back to say what time we were landing! It's neevr bothered me!

Same when I went backpacking with rangers! I phoned on the last night saying what time the planes/trains back were!

I won't be homesick when I go away to uni, I'll be too excited!

Hull is a brilliant place or, at least, it was when I was there in the early 80s - it's probably changed beyond all recognition now. I was expecting it to be a bit of a dump but it wasn't like that at all and I loved it. The city is wonderful, the people are really friendly and welcoming and its one of the least expensive places in the country to live. There's so much to do, musical and otherwise - I even got addicted to Rugby League while I was there. It's quite easy to visit places like York and the surrounding countryside. Best of all, though, Hull is one of the few places where you can actually get proper fish and chips!

I won't be going till next year, but the thought of leaving home already scares me!

It didn't worry me in the slightest until I was left in a strange room in a strange town, with most of my worldly possessions crammed into a couple of suitcase and a cardboard box. Before then, my mum was more worried than I was.

How to deal? Unpack immediately so that it feels like home, then have a cup of tea, then prepare the ultimate student supper - a baked potato with cheese and baked beans Keeping busy also helps keep your mind off any loneliness or regrets you might have.

I don't think it's unusual to feel a bit apprehensive.

I felt only mildly anxious till I was on the train London-bound - then it hit me and I really wanted to run!

Andy - is there anyone else you know who is going? Have you been able to visit and see where you'll be living? I'm sure once you get there and start getting involved in all that's going on you will be fine.
Good luck - you'll probably have a great time.

As opposed to inproper ones?


Well when you put it like that...

I CANT WAIT TO LEAVE HOME!! but i have to wait another 4 years

I wasn't scared at all until I got to my flat and found no-one else was there yet! The best thing you can do (though it may be the hardest) is go and visit your neighbours. You might meet some lovely people that otherwise may escape you. I found a fiance!

I felt worse off when I came back from Brazil. I didn't like it that I'd wake up in the middle of the night and couldn't hear other people asleep! it made me feel really lonely!

I always find these discussions a bit strange. My parents lived in Holland when I was a boy, and so I went to boarding school, and basically left home at the age of 13! By the time I went to University I was totally used to it, it was just a way of life.

I literally and had no comprehension of how anyone could be homesick, although thinking back quite a few friends of mine were. They probably saw me as an unsympathetic little ******!

Looking back, I'm now really envious of people who had 'normal' teenage years, living at home, coming home from school at the end of they day and going out with their friends etc. This is all totally alien to me!!!!

I can't wait for the freedom of uni!

My brother's off to do his BMus at Huddersfield! I can't wait. I think he's all excited and nervous and scared all rolled into one! I'll be glad to see the back of him!

Huddersfield was my second choice! I liked it, it was good! Everyone was really friendly so he'll have great fun!

That's another thing that was a bit strange - my boarding school was actualy quite liberal in those days. Once we were in the 6th form, we could come and go pretty much as we liked, particularly at the weekends. In many was we had more freedom than 16 - 18 year olds living at home!

Getting back to the original poster who WAS feeling a bit nervous about leaving home...

I don't think it's a bad sign - it shows that you value your relationships and your environment. That's a great basis for building new friendships and enjoying your new surroundings! Plenty of my students look forward to visits home, but that doesn't stop them enjoying university life.

I love the suggestions to meet the neighbours and cook a meal for yourself in your new surroundings.

Why don't you start planning your new room now? Don't take everything from home, wait and buy some special things in your new neighbourhood. They'll be wonderful memories one day (she says, typing away at the kitset desk bought at the university in Japan I went to when I was 20, and which has somehow survived any number of moves!).

...one more point: Starting from zero has meant that I've made friends in Japan that I doubt I would ever have got close to in NZ. I would have never seen past the little differences, and I would have lost out on knowing some great people.

It's normal to feel homesick...I never thought I was the homesick type (I have as much emotion as a stone column ) until it was time for my family to say goodbye! It suddenly hit me then...I just wanted to run and jump back into the car!

It's a good idea to unpack first,make it feel like home so that you still feel you're in familiar surroundings although you are now in an alien town!

Admittedly, I don't have to worry about it till next year, but I'm also terrified at the concept of leaving home.

What scares me more though is having to cope with (most likely) living in quite a large city for the first time in my life. I'm always been in quite rural quiet areas, and am somewhat claustrophobic in crowds.

Still, I supose you just get used to it...

Tamsin, I grew up in a quiet rural area - then went to uni in Durham (possibly the smallest city EVER!) and THEN went to St Petersburg for 3 1/2 months! A city of 6 million plus people and a metro system that makes London Underground on a busy rush hour look positively civilised. Then to Ulyanovsk, a small(!) city of 1 million people. BUT - I survived! So don't worry... choose your uni carefully (there are plenty in small cities or in rural areas, and those in cities are sometimes on campuses which might suit you well) and even if you end up in a big city you will be fine!

I come from a rural area and I think it's going to be great

There are considerable advantages to living in or near a big city... Having Newcastle nearby rocked!

I can imagine Tamsin will spend a goodly amount of time up to her ears in flute and recorder music in the local sheetmusic shop...

Post deleted

Ah yes, I must admit I'm looking forward to getting myself into a decent music shop... not that that's a good thing, I have a nasty feeling it would be an unpleasant trigger for CMSD

no, CMSD is a GOOD thing.....

Of course!

Erm... What is CMSD?

Compulsive Music Shopping Disorder!

Want to join my society?!

I might later... can't pronounce it after the Stella Artois...

Drinking on duty - that's not allowed!
: )

shocking!

The advice I would give to anyone going to College/University for the first time and feeling a bit apprehensive is try and get into the Halls of Residence in the first year. If not, get lodgings near to the place. That way you feel involved in the activities right from day one. Most lectures are scattered around so you'll have a lot of free time so being around other students will help.
When I went to Swansea I made the big mistake of going into Digs at the start of my first year. I ended up living in a cold damp attic with an elderly Landlady and the only other tenant was a suicide-inducing council labourer. The area was also still under Urban rehabilitation from World War II bombing believe it or not? And this was in the 80's. Boy was I glad to move out of there and move in with other students.
Ironically, the thing that kept my spirits up was listening to Grieg's Piano Concerto incessantly on my old record Player. That Grand and majestic theme in A major at the finale of the 3rd Movement kept me going. It's amazing how music has the power to stir the soul in difficult times.
I'm sure you'll all have a great time but make sure you get involved in the Uni life and meet other students straight away.

Gae

hey, im leaving to go to leeds college of music this saturday.
just a bit of a late reply, i am really scared of leaving home
x

You'll be fine!

I've just seen my list of activities for freshers week, I'm so excited!

The first thing you'll realise shortly after starting is that actually you don't have to do all those activities if you don't want to - I spent two days being pushed around, then it twigged that I'm not at school anymore so I can do as little as I want Of course, if they're activities you enjoy, go for it; I just wasn't being dragged to a nightclub at midnight. Then again, I also wasn't 18 at the time so I had a good excuse

yeah a few of us took a few days to realise that, and then had a great time doing all sorts of non-boozing-and-making-fools-of-selves activities...

Of course, not that I would ever be critical of the JCR exec: when I was living in in the first year there were three people sharing one double room and some of the windows leaked. However, the JCR exec still had a double en-suite room to themselves each. Looking after the best interests of those living in college, I'm sure.

I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised at all if I told you I lived out in my 2nd and 3rd years....

Good grief, makes the worst of our lot look saintly by comparison!

Our JCR exec except for a blip one year were generally a good bunch.

I remember one humerous incident in a JCR meeting. The usual debate about printer credits started - students objected to having to pay 4p a sheet to print, saying that the money should come from somewhere else (that magical other place which always has money, I'm sure).

The official response from the head of the ITS was that "So long as students still had money to spend at the bar and on cigarettes she didn't why they couldn't afford 4p to print". Of course, the exec were disgusted; I found it hilarious .

Spending on drink really is the last thing most students cut back on - they'll eat 1 meal a day of economy beans on economy white bread so long as they can have a beer or 6 with it . Apparently, the average amount of student debt is roughly the same as the amount the average student spends on alcohol....

What College were you in YAP?

You may have posted it elsewhere. Did you see comment about Mary's JCR?

I go no saturday too!

4 days!

I was in Trevelyan. If the comment about Mary's was the one relating to a vending machine, then I saw it; otherwise, I didn't.

Stange to think of men in Trevs! Walked past it almsot every day, but only really went in a couple of times. Aiden's had a good bar in my day, possibly the best amongst the hill colleges.

Yes I was talking about vending macnines!

One of our brownie guiders is moving into Hull this weekend, and she's sharing a room! I didn't realise this was done... how erm... 'likely' is this at other univeristies?

Not likely as far as I know!

17 days to go!!!!!!!!!