Tips to Help You Adjust to Living Away from Home
When you move out of home for the first time, you’re bound to be overwhelmed by excitement. After all, you’re moving to start a new chapter in your life, start a great job or attend one of the country’s best institutions and experience freedom for the first time. But the reality can be quite different. The joy and exuberance of attending one of the best engineering colleges in Chennai is often tempered by the homesickness and nervousness about living in a new city. Getting used to a new city, adjusting to a new cuisine, language, and culture, all of this takes time. But to help you speed up the process, we’ve got some tips to help you. If you’re worried about how to adjust to living away from home or how to get settled in a new city, we’ve got some tips that could help you cope easier and make the process smooth.
Don’t fight your nostalgia
When you first move to a new city, you don’t need to feel pressured to forget everything about your hometown. Nostalgia is perfectly fine and if you use it smartly, you won’t actually fall into a pit of homesickness either! If you loved playing a sport in your hometown, why not try out for a time in your college or school in Chennai? Join the same hobby clubs or classes, ask your parents and grandparents for recipes of some of your favourite dishes. Use your nostalgia to replicate some of your life at home and you’ll find it’s a lot easier to create a routine and settle down in a new city.
Create New Habits
At the same time, you don’t need to feel like you have to do everything exactly the way you did at home. After all, Chennai is a whole new world. So, don’t be afraid to try new things and create some new habits that you can enjoy and practice. Create a routine for yourself around your class schedule, include some exercise and leisure activities and tailor it to match your needs. If there’s something you’ve always wanted to learn or try, this could be your chance to try it out. So don’t feel like you have to adhere to what your life was like at home, moving to Chennai can be an opportunity for you to reinvent yourself for the better.
Build a Network
Keep your old friends close, but keep your new ones closer. When you move to a new city, it’s important to set up a social support system for yourself by making new friends and connections. These people can end up guiding you through difficult times, helping you get settled in Chennai, or even become friends for life. And it’s not that difficult to make new friends and expand your social network. Start off by talking to your roommates and other hostel residents. Reach out to some classmates and introduce yourself. Or join some hobby classes or a gym to meet new people. Then you can start getting to know them better and have a network in your new city.
Explore
To be very honest, the best way to get to know Chennai is to explore its every nook and cranny. The more familiar you are with a place the more it feels like home. So, if you’re moving to the city to attend one of the top schools in Chennai, don’t restrict yourself to only the campus. Put on your walking shoes and explore the neighbourhood, find your local markets and talk to the locals too. And on weekends, go ahead and play the tourist and check out the different sites and tourist destinations that Chennai has to offer. The more familiar you get to the city, the less chance you have of feeling homesick.
And there you have it. These simple tips should help you fit right in when you move out of home. So, go ahead and try them out and good luck!
