Moving out of the Dorm Room into Your Own Place

So, you’ve got the first year of university under your belt. You’ve spent 8 months in ‘solitary confinement’ in your dorm room; venturing out to the MOD for meals, and exploring the beaches and bistros of Victoria with a mask on, hiding whenever a stray COVID germ floated your way.

Enough! I want freedom!

So, using a variety of social media (UVic Off Campus, Facebook Marketplace, used Victoria) you start searching for a room, a house, or maybe a condo!

Check out UVic off-campus housing resources or the webinar on finding housing in Greater Victoria.

So, now you have to think about roommates unless you’re independently wealthy, and since I am a stereotypical broke university student, my criteria only consists of a bed.

With luck, your mom might be retired and she might be perusing the ads some afternoon and find you and your friends the perfect place (that’s what happened to me) but without a mother who spoils you, you may have to deal with many emails, traipsing around to look at rooms, sending out ‘resumes’ to convince people that YOU are the best person for that room… and if you are too far away to get a tour, possibly even renting site unseen.

Living with a group of diverse people is a lesson in compromise, community-building and conscientiousness.

Thinking of compromises like when is ‘quiet time’ in your home? What about who takes out the garbage? And cleans the toilet? And when are you doing your laundry? And your dishes?

These things really need to be discussed up front and agreed upon (that’s where the compromise comes in). If you move to a house with other renters already established, then you will probably not get to be part of making those decisions, however if you and a group of friends find a place together you really need to get these questions answered.

Ideas? PINTEREST, of course!

You can find several ‘room-mate agreements’ online which you can adapt. (These also include money issues like various shared items such as laundry soap, dish detergent, etc.)

The ‘C’s continue!

You will need good communication with your house-mates; be open to constructive criticism and be conscientious of their needs as well as your own.

I’m certainly looking forward to a new year with new learning, experiences, and adventures with my friends who are my new roommates!

See you on campus!