Courtesy of Pixabay
It’s undeniably tough moving away from home for the first time. Some might argue that it’s even harder to move from somewhere like London to a city more than 4 times as big.
Toronto is a popular destination for students coming out of London and moving on to university. While Toronto is full of opportunities, XFM News spoke with students who moved from London in pursuit of their dreams and found that many students bite off more than they can chew and have trouble adjusting.
Bradley Ball is a film student at Humber who grew up in London. He says one of the most difficult parts of his adjustment was loneliness.
“It did take me time to adjust to living in Toronto, especially since I went there knowing nobody so I had no idea what to expect. I definitely sometimes lose focus on school, I lose focus on my ambitions and my dreams. It’s all just so I can focus on not being lonely, so it definitely takes time away from the things that I’d much rather be doing…”
Studies differ between saying that roughly 20% of people feel lonely, and saying that 3 in 4 people feel lonely, but nonetheless, loneliness has been a long-fought issue for many.
Joseph Pin is an engineering student at U of T who has also experienced feelings of loneliness, but with a silver lining,
“A bit. I know that I didn’t join residence, which a lot of my friends did, although I did have my brother here, so I was able to reach out to him if I ever needed to hang out with anybody,” said Pin.
Compounding with loneliness, Pin also mentioned a harsh reality,
“Probably just making sure everything was in order, you know, like stuff wouldn’t just appear. You think about in the bathroom; towels being there because you know, your mom cleans them and then folds them up and stuff like that, or having meals on the table. It’s just a matter of having the scheduling and everything that you took for granted before now not being there and being able to provide that.”
He went on to explain his living situation, an 8 by 9-foot room in a bug-infested condo in the heart of Chinatown.
“Depending on how much money people have coming out of high school, they might go to like pretty some pretty nice residences, but I think eventually people have to go out and get an apartment.
Courtesy of Pixabay
And that’s when they start having to realize that the rent is really high. The living is not so easy. You know, there’s gonna be a lot of negatives coming out of the bank account. You’re gonna be seeing some money leaving. So it’s a little bit of a shock and you kind of have to be prepared for it and then, you know, ease your way into it.”
Ball also experienced issues with independence when it comes to home life.
“The single hardest thing to adjust to for me would have had to been honestly like living in a house alone. So you cook all of your meals, clean everything that you’ve done, remember to do Certain chores for yourself, taking on a lot more responsibilities must have been the hardest thing for moving away,” he told XFM News.
He later went on to say that having roommates can give you an advantage. He’s living in a nice Etobicoke apartment and has been counteracting high rent costs by splitting rent for the apartment between 3 people.
Finally, Ball shared what he believes is his most valuable advice for adjusting to a new life as a student in a new city,
“I’d say be confident. That’s definitely one of the biggest things that confidence in who you are, be confident in yourself and, you know, go do what you set out to do in Toronto.”
It’s clear that it’s a tough adjustment to make, but the importance of preparation and confidence are paramount when starting over in a new place.
