Student Life Vs Grad Life

July is the month of graduations and it's hard to believe that I graduated three years ago! My life along with all of my friends who graduated has changed quite signifincantly so I thought I'd sum up some of the biggest changes you might be experience if you have recently graduated or are about to.

Bed time routine 

Student - Going to bed between 12am and 3am most nights, often binge watching tv shows or films and waking up about 11 or 12 is a pretty standard occurrence for most students.

Grad -  Going to bed anywhere between 9.30pm -11pm  once you have a full time job becomes the norm. Netflix binge watching will most likely happen on a weekend and you can forget those sweet day time naps you got to enjoy as a student.

What you drink 

Student - The key is to get wasted as cheaply as possible so most people end up drinking  £3 3litre bottles of cider.

Grad - You'll likely start drinking cocktails, prosecco, nice spirits, nice wines and craft beers. What better way to spend that hard earned cash than on delicious booze?!

What you eat

Student - Endless pasta bakes, beans on toast, super noodles and pizza. Sound familiar?
I've basically just described my fresher year diet. It's probably the reason why I have a gluten intolerance now...

Grad - It's very likely  you'll introduce things like quinoa, avocados, chia seeds, smoked salmon, kale, sweet potatoes... I didn't even know some of these things existed when I was a student!

Nights out

Student - Going out as late as possible to the club that sells £1 shots. Usually nights out happen from Sunday - Thursday. Only rich grown ups go out on weekends. You'll take embarassing selfies with your friends and you'll get fried chicken and cheesy chips on your way home.

Grad - You'll become a weekend warrior. You'll go out a lot earlier and probably come back a lot earlier too. You'll go to nice bars and even treat yourself to cocktails and prosecco. You'll most likely stop going to clubs. You'll take embarassing selfies with your friends and get friend chicken and cheesy chips on your way home - some things never change.

Photo cred : Matt McCormick

Nights In

Student - A film and a £3 pizza from around the corner, surrounded with all your housemates and neighbours.

Grad - Most weeknights will be spent with Netflix and chill. When you have friends over you'll share a spread of cheeses, smoked meats and delicious wines.

Eating Out

Student - You'll eat out whenever your parents come to town or if you just got your student loan. Usually somewhere that's got some kind of an offer on.

Grad - You'll probably eat out at least twice a month in a combination of different restaurants.

Living Situation

Student - You'll live in a flat share and then move into a house with lots of people. You'll likely move every year, and live out of your bedroom. The shared living areas will be covered in left over take away boxes and beer cans and anything nice that you leave will probably get broken. You'll have a cleaning rota than no one will ever stick to. You'll have a lot of house parties. When things break your landlord will fix it...eventually. If you leave your door unlocked there's a high chance that your room will end up looking like the picture below.

Despite all of this, living with your uni friends will be some of the best fun you'll ever have.

Grad - You'll probably move into a much smaller house or apartment with a couple of friends or even your boyfriend/girlfriend. Your living room will now contain cute ornaments, flowers and even scented candles. It will be much cleaner, homelier and quieter. Anything that breaks you'll have to fix yourself / pay for someone to do it. 

Holidays

Student - You'll probably go inter railing around Europe and stay in hostels for under £10 a night and count your pennies along the way. You'll have an amazing time

Grad - You'll forget that hostels exist and stay in hotels or air bnb apartments. It's likely that you'll go further away too. You'll eat more meals than you should. You'll have an amazing time.

Stress Levels

Student - At the start of every semester you'll be super chilled and laid back and by the end you'll probably be pulling all nighters and having mini mental breakdowns which will involve a lot of tears and chocolate. Sometimes you might spend practically days in the library at the time.

Grad - This will slightly differ depending on what you choose do but generally speaking from 5.30pm onwards you won't have a care in the world, but you'll be too tired to do much. Sucks I know.

Now if you're one of those people who has just graduated or is about to then congratulations, your hard work has paid off!
Your life will change quite a lot but you'll never forget the amazing memories that you made at university and even though you might not look forward to the 9 -5.00 lifestyle, it does have it's pros and cons. Just enjoy it and have fun along the way whatever you decide to do!

** This post is a generalisation of university /graduate life and all the above apply to me and many of my friends if your experience of uni/ grad life is different please share it in the comments!**

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

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