Hostelites & Life in Alien Cities

In the pursuit of higher education and a better-off future, many tend to shift homes to cities that initially are alien to them. Surrounded by new faces, an even unknown environment, and a different place to now head back to by the end of the day. While the change is owing to a much greater cause, settlement issues yet are what tend to creep in for a very long period of time that follows.

Stepping into a new city also means taking off on your independent living cycle. While the check and balances that you once had at home now are paused to an extent, there yet are a whole new set of responsibilities that fall upon your shoulders – ones that you never initially thought of in the first place.

Homes are Easy! Hostels Not So Much...

Homes are easy, you get food on the table and the room cleaned without even having to ask for either of them. Hostel life is an entirely different world. You need to manage your food supplies and also clear up the mess after yourself because there is none else who shall be doing that for you.

There are the little most of the things that tend to remind one of home, every now and then. While no place can ever truly be like home, it also is true that you begin making your peace with the new piece of land that you’re slowly getting accustomed to.

2 years down, I can yet not have video calls home. It is fine till when we talk over audio, just the mere sight of any one part of the house is enough for me to be pushed back to square one - Osama, Sophomore at Bahria University, Islamabad

Truncated Visits? ZERO Traveling?

Traveling can be a trouble at times as well for students and other hostelites. People tend to find comfort in traveling or at least stay long enough to scrap the exhaustion of travel and being away from home. It all seems quite indigenous, especially for the students traveling from places afar.

Being from Gilgit Baltistan, it is only that one annual trip I take home, to suffice myself for the entire year. To say that it is difficult, might be an understatement. - Imran, Student at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.

Despite trying to hide what staying away from happy instances and communal events feels like, the effect on the mental health of the students is bound to be there. One can never truly get over the fact of being away, no matter the amount of concealing he tries to showcase.

While the entire campus goes home for occasions like Eid, we are bound to stay in the hostels owing to the long travel time and added difficulties. True that we try our best to make it feel like home herein, there yet is this feeling of unfulfillingness that only comes when I know I’m in Gilgit. - Imran Continues...

The Love of Roommates

Despite all the difficulties and hard times that one faces while settling in, there also are times when you feel grateful for having your roommates around you, whom you know you can confide in by the end of the day. They say living with complete strangers can be troublesome, but over the course of time, those strangers tend to become the family you have away from home.

Snuggling into your beds and discussing your respective activities of the day, memorizing one another’s daily schedules, taking care of one another during sick days, and whatnot, they truly tend to become blessings in disguise, ones you never knew you’d grow this accustomed to.

My father passed away while I was confided in the hostel premises during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2021. The university strictly allowed emergency leaves only for those residing on campus, and it was intense turmoil making my way out for my father’s funeral, ending up not reaching on time either. - Fatima, Student at NUST College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Islamabad.

While moments of happiness can be passed away from home if need be, in situations of grief, there is nothing that can provide you with comfort apart from the walls of your own home. The feelings of living away from home are always mixed sort.

You can never grow too accustomed to what now is, and never drive too far from what once was. There always is the craving for home and also the attachment to the hostel life that you gradually adapt to thrive in. In short, while changes are part of life, it all comes down to your capacity of taking it in and accommodating yourself accordingly.

Special Thanks to Irtabat Nasir, a student of Mass Communication at NUST for helping gather real-life instances from hostelites.