Touching story of a freshman living away from home for the first time

At the age of 18, I left my parents and siblings to start a new journey in the Capital. Before the day of school, I was extremely excited! In my imagination, the days ahead were filled with pink with freedom and independence. My life would no longer be under the daily control of my parents, I would be free to do what I liked, I would learn a lot of knowledge from university, I would have new friends, and even a beautiful student love.

I still remember that morning, the day I went to Hanoi with my father to complete the admission procedures. It was the first time I set foot in the capital, I felt happy, excited and a little overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle, dynamism and splendor of this place. Many great ideas quickly popped into my head. I would explore every corner of Hanoi, not missing a single place.

Admission day of new students of K13 Dai Nam University.

I quickly completed the admission procedures under the guidance of teachers and volunteers. After renting a room and buying some small things for me, my father hurriedly left because he still had a lot of unfinished work in the countryside.

The moment my father quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked at me with eyes full of love and expectation, my heart suddenly trembled. I had never felt so much love for my father and the pressure of studying as at that moment. When my father got into the car, when the car gradually disappeared from sight, I did not cry but tears ran down my cheeks. I told myself that I would study well and live well here even though I did not have any relatives by my side.

However… independent life away from home is not as rosy and simple as I thought.

In the first days away from home, I missed my parents and two younger siblings terribly. I missed the cozy family meals, the love and care of my parents, the "questioning" words that used to make me feel very uncomfortable every time I heard them, the pranks of my two younger siblings... And the most uncomfortable feeling was missing them but not being able to go home, missing them but not daring to pick up the phone to call. I was afraid that if I heard my parents' voices, I would not be able to control my emotions and burst into tears, making my parents worry.

The free and independent life that I longed for turned out to be not easy. I had to do everything myself, from shopping, cooking, washing, cleaning my room, and even waking up every morning to go to school. And the most “overwhelming” thing was learning how to manage my time and how to spend my money wisely. I had never experienced these things before because my parents were always there to worry, urge, and remind me. I was confused! I was bewildered!

When I was at home, every time I came home from school, there was delicious food and sweet soup waiting for me. I thought that when I went to college, I would be able to cook for myself and make delicious dishes like the handsome guys and pretty girls in Korean movies. However, the truth is that cooking is not simple. With my limited cooking skills, I could only make simple dishes such as: boiled vegetables, boiled eggs, fried eggs, roasted peanuts, fried tofu, boiled tofu... Every time I came home from school, I had to think hard about what to eat today. Sometimes when I found it too difficult, I would make a bowl of instant noodles or buy a piece of pork skin cake to eat quickly.

Most new students have a lot of free time because the first semester is quite easy and they don't have to do chores to help their parents like when they were at home. Me too. In addition to class time, I have a lot of free time to "sleep in", surf Facebook, watch movies, read romance novels... Before, at home, I didn't get to experience this feeling so at first I was quite excited. However, just a few days later, I felt bored with that "dead time", feeling guilty towards my parents and towards myself. I came to Hanoi to study at university. And I started thinking about learning how to manage my time. I sat at the table, took out a piece of paper and made a schedule for each activity of my day. In addition to class time, I took the opportunity to go to the library to study, which has ready-made documents and textbooks, is clean and cool, and helps save electricity; arrange and reallocate time for daily activities...

Although my parents send me enough money every month for food and living expenses, I will be in need if I do not spend wisely and reasonably. Sometimes I want to eat something delicious, drink a cup of milk tea with friends after school, buy a new pair of shoes, a new shirt, go to a friend's birthday party, hang out with friends... but I am afraid of running out of living expenses. So I have to give up. How to spend money wisely - a problem that is not easy for new students who have just arrived in Hanoi like me.

The life of a freshman away from home was quite hard and difficult at first. But after all that, I realized a lot of things. It turned out that I cared and appreciated my family more than I thought; it turned out that living independently away from home is not simple but it is not impossible; it turned out that as long as we are determined and have direction, we will be on the right path; it turned out that if we "struggle", we will find solutions to our problems; it turned out that student life has many difficulties and challenges, but there are countless interesting things waiting for me to discover...

And most importantly, I have a good learning environment to learn and grow; I have dedicated teachers who always love, care and are willing to help; I have new friends with the same starting point and goals... All of those things give me more energy and confidence to overcome the confusion every day and quickly get used to the new environment. I believe that at DNU, I will learn and experience to grow up every day.

>>> REGISTER FOR ADMISSION TO DAI NAM UNIVERSITY HERE .

Hoai Thuong - Pharmacy student 13-02