Hi there, I'm Luna.
I'm a bit like an AI, except instead of making pictures of people with 16 fingers, I can help you find the perfect course and uni.
Would you like some help in your search?
Toying with the idea of moving away from home? Here are a few things to convince you to take the leap of faith and study in an unfamiliar city.
1. You won’t get this chance again
Moving to a new city for university is somewhat of a ‘once in a lifetime’ deal. Ok, you can move or travel at any point in your life, but right now there are fewer risks and responsibilities to consider. You have more freedom than you’ve ever had in the past and more than you’ll have in the future.
For a start, your student finance, loans and grants means you’ll have the money to do it in the first place. You don’t have to think about mortgages, job security or providing for a family. Moving to a new city is never going to be as easy and exciting as it is now.
2. It’s a fresh start
After being a school pupil for around 14 years, moving to university is a necessary fresh start. And moving to an entirely new city will really make it feel like it’s a new beginning.
You get to start over, carve a new identity and leave your past behind. Your new university friends don’t need to know about all the embarrassing things you’ve done. You can properly shut the door on old relationships and reinvent yourself completely if you want.
3. You make true friendships
A lot of the friends you have before moving to university will be childhood friends - people you’ve known forever and people you hang out with just because you’ve always just hung out with them.
When you move to a brand new location, you’ll find that the friendships you make will feel deeper and more important. As you’ve grown up and developed as a person, you know what you want and don’t want from friends and you have the opportunity to be selective about your connections, rather than being close to someone due to a sense of long-term obligation.
4. You gain independence
This is the big one and probably the most important part of moving to another city. The sense of unfamiliarity and the fear of being alone will really force your character to strengthen and you’ll become so much more self-reliant because of it.
Having to do things on your own, even simple things like laundry, booking dentist appointments and washing your dishes, will really make you grow up and it will feel incredibly rewarding when you realise you can stand on your own two feet.
5. You become more adaptable
When you move to a brand new city, you relinquish control and become very adaptable. It’s a brand new environment and with no idea what to expect, you’re forced to just go with the flow.
Again, this is immensely character building and learning to live with fear and anxiety, rather than become paralysed by it, will help you deal with stress - which is very important at university.
6. You’ll appreciate home more
When you settle into your university accommodation and get yourself a routine, you'll start to appreciate home. When you cook for yourself, you’ll be reminded of how good your mum’s food is. When you fall asleep at night, you’ll remember how comfortable your bed at home is and when Christmas swings around you’ll feel so nostalgic that you’ll be desperate to just come home and sit by the tree.
Even if you’re the kind of person who yearns for adventure and the opportunity to fly the nest and leave home behind, time away really does make you appreciate what’s waiting for you when you get back.
Lana Richardson is the blog editor at UniBaggage.com, the No.1 Student Shipping Company.
