After university: live/work at home, or live/work in new city with best friend?

About to finish university, where I had a pretty lacklustre experience. Between the pandemic and not really finding ‘my people’, it was pretty unfulfilling socially and quite a lonely time. My best friend from home has established a pretty good social/work life in the city where he is also finishing university, and he has invited me to live/work with him and his friends for a year before we do some travelling together the year after. At this point in my life I kind of want to just let loose a bit and have some fun whilst I’m still young and dumb (perhaps to make up for what I missed out on during my time at uni) before committing to my career path.

OPTION 1: Live at home with family, work for a bit and maybe travel for a bit.

Pros:
- I have a pretty solid social life in my home town (a fairly tight-knit group of friends from high-school)
- Living at home, I won’t be paying rent so would have more disposable income
- Would give me a chance to do some solo travel and volunteering (building up some experience that will be valuable for my career path). Although I may be able to do some of this the year after next anyway.

Cons:
- My hometown is my comfort zone, I feel like I should be breaking out of this and building up more self-confidence. As much as I like my family and my home, I always feel a bit uninspired and feel like I’m not having enough fun. Although
- My hometown friendship group are lovely, but are a bit unambitious socially. I kind of want to let loose a bit (especially after having a fairly lacklustre university experience) and sometimes it’s a struggle trying to organise fun things to do with these people.

OPTION 2: Live and work in a new city with my friend and a bunch of his friends.

Pros:
- Living with best friend and his friends in a fun new city.
- Chance to get out of my comfort zone and build up some self-confidence, living and working in a new city
- Chance to expand my social circle and let loose a bit. My friend and his friends are a bit more ‘fun-loving’ than my hometown friends (my friend is also part of my hometown social circle)
- The city is just over an hour away from home, so I would be able to go to and from pretty easily if I wanted to
- A bit more liberating than living at home with parents

Cons:
- Would have to pay for rent and bills, ultimately might not save up much money overall
- Would spend more time working
- This option is reliant on me having a good time with my best friend’s friends (who I haven’t got to know yet, although they do seem like my kind of people). There’s a risk I don’t fit in as seamlessly as I am imagining I will.

TL;DR

Option 1: Live/work at home for a year (comfort zone, solid social life, work for a bit, solo travel/volunteering for a bit, save up more money)

Option 2: Live/work in a new city with best friend + his friends for a year (build up self-confidence, expand social circle and meet new people, potentially more exciting social life, experience a new city)

Ultimately, my head says option 1 but my heart says option 2. Option 1 seems more sensible but option 2 seems more fun. My main motivation is just having a good time whilst I’m still young and building up a bit of self-confidence before I properly start my career.

Thanks for any advice :smile:

Reply 1

Studentlife04

I'd say option 2. you've got the rest of your life to work so you might as well have a good time whilst you can. You'll still build up experience at the same time (both career and life experience). You can always go back home if it doesn't work out.