Living alone

Have you ever tried living alone? I don’t mean just staying one night home when the parents are away for the weekend, but really living alone; in your own apartment, with your own furniture, your own food and your own schedule.

 Frankly, I love it during the weeks: you can come and go as you want, don’t want to go to college this morning? Oh well, I’ll try again tomorrow. No one is nagging, telling you what to do, when to sleep, when to eat etc. Plus you can have friends over whenever, without having that nagging feeling that you have to restrain yourself because your mom is in the room next door.

This is where I envy people living on campus (we don’t have one): they have roommates or flatmates. At least they have some kind of company. I don’t know anyone in my building and no one outside of my school. And that’s where you start experiencing the downsides of living alone: you are all alone.

My apartment is small

During the week, it’s manageable: there are classes, homework, extra work, sports, hang out with friends etc. But when comes the weekend, that’s when I discover how small my apartment is and how alone I am. I just turn in circles like a lion in a cage: bathroom-bedroom, bedroom-bathroom. Hello? Is there anybody around here?

Where is everybody?

Personally, all of my friends leave on the weekends to go see their families, so there is no one to hang out with too much. I get bored and restless easily. I can’t do a whole day of TV, maybe just an afternoon. I don't want to go to the cinema alone... I feel lame.

I’m bored!!!!!

There isn’t much to do in my town or in my apartment. That’s when you whish your family was there. At least you’d be watching TV with someone else, and chatting. I do go to museums and all, but after a while, you've kinda done them all.

Mom?

You also discover the hard task of doing the dishes and what happens the day you say “I’ll do them tomorrow”. You know you won’t and it’ll just keep pilling up. There’s no one there to do the cleaning, or help do the cleaning, or the laundry, or the grocery shopping, or the cooking… And when you hear a creepy sound at night, you can’t tell yourself it’s your dad walking up the stairs…

Dress to impress… or not

I can burp, not wash my hair and stay in my pjs all day without anyone judging me or commenting. And eat however I want! Like a pig in front of the tv, or sprawled in my bed.

I’ve got to say that living alone is a nice experience, worth trying for a year or so. I like my space and stuff to be done my way, so I know it's going to be challenging to find someone to room with, without it turning into a fight. But living alone has made me more independent, I get to finally have my own daily routine and I enjoy staying with my family much more.

XXX