I can’t stand the morning travels even up till now. While travelling to work is an improved one hour travelling time from going to NUS’s 2 hours travelling time, it’s still dreadfully painful. I chose to stay in Hall for all my tertiary years and I have never regretted my choice. Initially, the plan was for me to stay for a year to ease into tertiary life but somehow… the hall life just never stopped.

Staying away from home wasn’t easy at first because I had to do everything on my own. Here’s some of the takeaways I had from my “home away from home”:

1. Learning how to use the washing machine: It’s actually not that difficult because really, you just dump in your clothes with loads of washing powder. Do dump in enough so that your clothes don’t smell funky.

2. The trick to not so crumply clothes without ironing: Flick out your clothes immediately after washing and smooth out any creases/crinkles.

3. Dividing your wardrobe into half and doing early clothes planning: This is a skill I swear. I usually kind of plan out my wardrobe week ahead so that I can leave/bring certain items that I will need from/to hall/home. A lot of times, I find myself buying two of certain stuff so that I have one each at hall/home.

4. Magic clean is your best friend: Because this is the easiest and best way to clean your room. You need wet and dry wipes.

5. Buy your supplies from provision/Value dollar shops: They sell the cleaning supplies that you need in packs of three at very low costs! I checked out the Magic Clean at NTUC/Cold Storage outlets, sometimes they can go up to three times the price. Venus beauty in the heartlands sell the cheapest shampoo.

6. Buying groceries that are microwave-able with extended expiry dates: I used to throw groceries into my basket without checking for expiry dates. Now I check to see that they have a minimum three months life time and I discovered canned food. Did you know you can get curry chicken in a tin?

7. Your online shopping bill increases: Now that you have a new address to send your loots to without your parents knowing and no one keeps tabs on your laundry, it’s the perfect opportunity for your online fashionista to come out.

8. Everything late night: I had all the nearby eateries that open till late memorised – the locations, menu and opening hours. It’s important to know how to travel back late at night as well! The best way I’ve learnt is bus 33 from city hall/Bugis.

9. Being able to sleep through anything and everything: This includes when orientation camps go on and when the sun comes shining through your blinds and you hear the birds chirp.

10. Your piracy tendencies and drama whore levels up: With the super fast broadband in your room, I think you can find yourself being a pirate more and streaming a whole lot more drama serials