2 May 2019

Moving in to University Accommodation | Study With New Zealand

Matthew Le
Bachelor's student

It’s Feb 21st, 2019. In just 3 days, I will be moving to my accommodation at the University of Auckland.

Honestly, at this moment, I am completely overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions: excitement, nervousness, homesickness and a whole lot of insecurities.

I am excited.

Like, super excited. Finally, after all those years of watching dozens of movies about the ‘university life’, this moment has finally come: moving into a new place, making new friends and most importantly, living that highly-anticipated ‘university life’ which everyone from high school has been talking about.

*Gosh.. I am already fired up just by writing this.

However, I am nervous at the same time.

To be honest, the idea of living in a completely new place with completely different people sounds a little nerve-wracking to me: How am I going to get used to this? What will my life be like? Am I going to make friends? Will I party all night long or be friends with the library?

I am already homesick although I haven’t even moved yet.

Looking around my room right at this moment, a lot of things that are here won’t be there in uni accommodation: there won’t be my super-comfy bed with a hole in the middle or the beautiful garden right by the windows. Oh, and there won’t be my older sister with me either - I will then have to pack my own lunch, close the windows at night and remember to call mom every weekend, by myself.

I am insecure. That’s common, right?

I am not cool enough; I speak broken English; I didn’t grow up in this country; I have social anxiety; people will think that I’m weird; etc.

It’s weird how I could feel all those emotions at the same time - does that make me even more weird?

Honestly, I don’t like this mixed-emotions feeling, at all. I am only 18 years old - how am I supposed to deal with all of these?

Wait, no… I am ALREADY 18 years old, I should be fully prepared for this. But… how come I’m not?

*Deep breathe*

It’s okay… I guess. It’s okay to not feel okay, sometimes. I think the trick is to remind yourself that: This is a big step into adulthood; this is the beginning of a whole new chapter. Thus, it’s okay to feel overwhelmed.

As a matter of fact, Live with it. Treasure this confusing, mixed-emotions feeling. Because this feeling is what makes the whole ‘moving in to uni accommodation’ experience unique, and hopefully unforgettable.

You will do just fine. I will do just fine :)

We will rock! Let’s do this.

- Matthew Le.

Tags:
Housing
Share this story
About the contributors
Matthew Le
Bachelor's student

Hey, I’m Matthew. Born and raised in Vietnam. I spent the last 2 years in high school here in New Zealand. And now, I’m an international student at the University of Auckland. I am turning 19 soon. And I don’t like that. So… I’ve decided to live the last few months of being 18 by the "Theory of YES". Saying YES to things that scare the heck out of me.