What Did Students Learn In Hostel Life?

Rule number one of living in a hostel is to leave behind the fussy, picky, spoilt brat that you were at home because this is a place where Darwin’s laws apply. It is the survival of the fittest.

 

Never mind if you have never stepped out of your comfort zone before, never mind if you have led a sheltered, protected life until now, never mind if you had an army of maids at home, who even made your bed. It’s time to let go of all that and learn to adapt quickly!

 

If you want to survive, you have to learn to eat anything that is edible. Too bad if you did not like potato sabzi (an Indian dish) because that was a daily must, and bad if you did not like brinjal because you’d have to stay hungry.

 

Too bad if you could not identify the shapeless vegetable disguised with plenty of oil and spice, you just ate it and soon used to it. This skill to be able to eat anything that is edible in times of a crisis, without complaining is something every hostile acquires in no time at all. It is a life skill that stays and comes in handy even now.

 

Putting up with shared toilets and bathrooms, queuing up bleary-eyed for basic amenities every day makes a disciplined person out of the most reluctant, easy-going person.

 

Basic survival skills are tested. Fight or flight? Well, you fight back the tears, pull yourself together, and gear up for a daily struggle as you realize that living in a hostel is no flight of fantasy!

 

Learning To Live With All Kinds of People:

Being thrown in with hundreds of teenage boys from various backgrounds, with different habits and varied temperaments, but all working to become a part of the same profession is an eye-opener.

 

You realize there are people in the world other than yourself who have grown up differently, think differently, and live differently. You learn to accept, tolerate, ignore what is unacceptable, and take it all in your stride patiently.

 

While you cannot be friends with everybody, you learn to still live with people who may not be on the same wavelength as you. Your own attitude towards people undergoes a sea of change as you get to know the real personalities behind the facades.

 

You learn never to judge a book by its cover. The best friends I have made in my hostel had nothing in common with me, and yet we connected as humans.

 

Friends For Life:

Hostel living lifts the masks, bares the soul, and reveals the true you. Hostel friends know you, the person, with all your little oddities, your habits, good or otherwise, if you snore or not, if you stay up late or get up early, if you keep the room clean or are a slob, how many times you brush your teeth, how often you change your bedsheets.

 

There you are with all your human imperfections. If your friend has seen you at your worst and still likes you in spite of everything, you have made a friend of life. Hostel friends form a brotherhood that is cherished and valued for a lifetime. The bond that forms is based on memories of a shared, common past.

 

Looking After Yourself:

Living without family to protect and care for you is the toughest part of hostel living. Fending for you becomes the number one priority. In your own way, you acquire armor to protect you. Invisible spikes grow on your persona, ready to attack if anyone threatens your existence.

 

It’s true; hostel life instills in you the toughness to combat various situations, the strength to get you through hard times, and a steely determination to survive against the odds. It imparts an education that no books contain.

 

It is hands-on training in looking after yourself in times of illness, being mentally tough when ragged during the early years, coping with being away from your loved ones, and building a support system of hostel friends who will help you to overcome hurdles during your stay in the hostel.

 

Sharing:

In a hostel, you learn to part with your beloved possessions. Slippers, clothes, soaps, mugs – all become the property of your roommates too. There is fun in lending and borrowing clothes, and sharing accessories with your hostel mates.

 

The jar of homemade pickles given by your mother, which is meant to last for 6 months, only lasts for 6 days thanks to your appreciative, ever-hungry hostel friends who do full justice to her culinary skills! Besides material things, you also share your thoughts, open up and discuss crushes, and just about everything under the sun.

 

Money Management:

Money suddenly matters more than ever. When you live with your parents, you know they will bail you out when you run out of pocket money. But in a hostel, you are on your own, with no ‘Bank of Mummy and Papa’ to finance you, midweek.

 

You value the money you have been given. Even small change is carefully counted and safely stored away. You learn to look after your valuables. Even if you lend a friend money, you learn to take back every penny after careful counting. You learn to live within a budget.

 

Discovering Yourself:

Living in a hostel surprises you with the discovery of your strengths and weaknesses. You discover facts about your personality that never existed like how much fun you can be, and how tough you really are when pushed to the limits.

 

How angry you can get, how fierce you can be, how to mean you can be when the situation demands it, and just how competitive you can be when making a beeline for the bathrooms on the morning of an exam.

 

You shed your inhibitions and realize that you can dance and sing better than anyone else (or so you think). You forget what shyness means after endless rounds of ragging, which is an inevitable part of hostel life in the early months.

 

Living It Up And Having Fun:

Hostel life is all about fun, freedom, and friends. Partying in the hostel takes on a different dimension. Without spending any money, hostel guys know how to have a blast. Singing, dancing, drumming on overturned buckets, sharing jokes and laughing into the night, feasting on whatever is available (including Maggi noodles, which by the way is the gourmet food of all host elite) is what makes hostel parties what they are.

 

What have you learned from your hostel life?

Hostel life is fun-filled and memorable. Anyone who has spent a few years in a hostel would agree with me.

 

SHARING AND HELPING OTHERS!

 

DEALING WITH YOUR OWN PROBLEMS!

 

FRIENDS BECOME FAMILY

 

GAR KA KHANA

 

Adjustment -Many of us are intolerant. I suggest you go and live in a hostel for a while. Hostel life teaches people to adjust to different people and to a whole new environment.

 

These Are All Things I Experience:

 

I miss many more unforgettable moments of my life & my cute friend

 

What are the best experiences of hostel life?

I, myself, was in a hostel for four years and I have many sweet memories of the place. Words can't define completely those four years of my life that were spent in my hostel. And those were the best days of my life; I Will cherish the memories forever. These are the following points that I have experienced,

 

Tearful first day-night at the hostel

Meeting new people and making new Friends

Roommates from different streams

Scary nit before fresher’s party

Learn to manage expenses and money management

Made friends for life

Days without breakfast

Small occasion and event is celebrated with utmost excitement and pleasure

Gallery flooded with snaps and videos

Single plate to feed 10-15 people

That "RIGHT TO VOTE" moment for Hostel Council Election

Weird feeling when some of our roommates started talking at midnight while sleeping

Missing moms pamper during sick

Everyone will become a detective officer when a friend comes from home town

"Dance and Movie screening"-Perfect Combo to pass the Saturday night

That “No replacement found (BREAD & JAM)” menu for Sunday breakfast

No one competes with the student who is running for the first hour of class

The best time passed if the boys and girls hostel is nearby

What they will speak?? This question will arise for every Singles while seeing committed people talking on the phone mid-night for hours with that 0 dB voice.

Fighting for silly things with friends and forgetting that incident after getting up from sleep the next day

Mouths open wide like anacondas and water runs from the eyes with every yawn while standing in a queue to get bathing and washing clothes

Getting scolded by mess staff for taking extra Ice creams and snack

12 AM Birthday bumps and whole day celebration

The epic fail moment when we wanted to cook something

Gang war and fight

Students become professors the day before the exam

Funny moment when treating our friend as a traitor when he tops the exam

Never-ending talks with that worst hostel chips

Rooms become parliament while discussing IVs and Outing

Writing an apology letter for attendance proxy, coming late to the hostel, etc.

Kicking our friend for snoozing the alarm

The happy moment when some of our friends say, from tomorrow "I will study whatever they teach for the day"

Every day morning will start with searching for our belongings like toothbrushes, slippers

Sleeping in the same room with dozen people

After a year senior’s room is our room

Sleepless nights for placement preparation

Sleep till you get bored" dialogue in last semester

Hostel day fun

Finally the hell night before the last day at the hostel

Waving BYE with a heavy heart