Slide Rule said:
How would you compare the two? Do you think the college is worth it?
Well, circumstances are very different so I can't justly compare.
2003:
- Living with family in Western Sydney, studied at UTS
- Lived with family, comfortable at home
- Always good food, never feel lonely
- Laundry done for you =D
- Difficulties with travel (1+ hour each way)
- Less time for work (couldn't fit in a job) and social life (had to leave city by about 7/8 on weeknights)
- Siblings and other family responsibilities often post impediments to study
2004:
- Living at college, studying at UWA
- Living with randoms, you get on with most (not everyone)
- Food will never, ever, be like home
- Living across the road from uni and on a main transport artery (bus to city <10 minutes)
- I can wake up ten minutes before a class and be there on time
- Sometimes drunk people are loud and offensive, rather disruptive to sleep and study
- Great party atmosphere, if that's what you want
- More freedom to go/see/do what you want
- Doing your own laundry, though a nuisance, has a certain Zen factor about it
- No distractions except the ones you bring upon yourself (and drunken friends turning up at your door...)
I like college, because it's just a more convenient environment for me to study in. The food is crap but I can handle it, there's plenty of shelf space and if I don't want distractions I simply have to say "I'm busy, go away" - can't say no like that to parents and siblings.
However, I will not willingly spend a single day in college that I don't have to. I will be squeezing every free day I can into my trips back to Sydney. I miss my family, my friends and St Mary's Cathedral (which really feels like home).