Living Off Campus
In order to get the most out of university, finding a balance between your personal and academic life is essential. As such, living off-campus gives you a good break between two different environments. However, with much freedom, comes much responsibility. Here are some of my tips for living on my own after coming to Canada.
Setting up automatic payment on your bills
While it is fun to live on your own and take charge of your time. Often, we can get overwhelmed, and forget about many repetitive events in life. Paying bills is one of the common ones.
My advice: spend a few hours to ensure you are setting up everything right the first time. You might have to call the service provider and wait for a while listening to some classic elevator music, but it can make your life easier in the long run.
Getting some essential furniture for your place:
Students are coming to Canada from across the world. As such, many of us pack light. If the place doesn’t have any furniture, I would recommend not buying too much furniture in one go, in case you change your mind when your lease is up.
Here are something I think it’s essential to have:
Humidifier
Winter often is very dry here, and not many of us can get used to it right away. I remember I would sneeze at night and get a would get a bloody nose. A silent humidifier would be best since it makes very little sound when working and you can sleep soundly and comfortably.
Broom
Perhaps it’s just my place, but the apartment gets dusty very quickly. I like to sweep the floor during my study break. It’s a good way to take a break and get up from the chair.
Buying groceries
Might not seem like a big deal when living with family, but it takes a while to get used to buying groceries on your own. I remember every Saturday, we would drive to Costco and buy a week of food. But living on your own, you might not need to buy everything all in one go. Sometimes, freshness beats the time you save buying groceries.