Real story of hostel life at University


Lesson 22 


University Hostel Life 

What is a University Hostel? 

A university hostel is a residential building in which students, male or female students, hailing from distant corners of the nation or the world stay who enroll themselves in some degree course in the university for few years.


Who Stays in a University Hostel? 

The students whose parents or guardians are either poverty-stricken or can just make both ends meet or who are in between jobs, and are unable to afford renting rooms outside the university decide to reside in a university hostel.


Advantages of Hostel Life

Residing in a hostel is a learning in itself. Students living a hostel life are exposed to independence, discipline, mutual cooperation and multicultural environment.


Independence

As they have to wake up, make the bed, keep everything spick and span, get ready for school by themselves, they have to be independent, and can't expect all this to be done by others, while all this is done by mother or elder sister at home.  


Discipline

As breakfast, lunch, dinner, classes, games all has to be done in a fixed time, students have to lead a disciplined and regulated life being a resident of a university hostel. 


Mutual Cooperation

Students living in a hostel maintain and share mutual cooperation and interest, as they pay a special attention to the cleaning up of the hostel and maintaining silence in it.


Multicultural Environment  

Hostelers enjoy a multicultural environment, because the students staying there in the hostel hail from different parts of the country who carry their own culture, belief and lifestyle with them.


Disadvantages of Hostel Life

Apart from the benefits, living in a hostel can be disaster. If a hosteler gets a bad company, he /she may fall into numberless evils. As there are many students who live together in a hostel, the chance of violence is very high, and inability to concentrate on studies is present there. Sometimes juniors go through ragging.


Conclusion

Overall, hostel life, if one keeps oneself away from a bad company, is an amazing life which gives many opportunities to students for social, mental and emotional development, and teaches them to be independent, responsible and respectful to others.


Words to Learn (Learn more words on Daily Routine) 

1. Residential→ Rooms in which people stay 

2. Nation→ Country

3. To stay→ To remain in a place for spending night

4. Guardian→ Protector 

5. Unable→ Not able 

Synonym→ Unfit 

Antonym→ Able 

6. To afford→ To have enough money 

7. To rent →To pay money for some room 

8. To decide→ To come to a resolution or fix to do something 

Synonym→ To determine

Antonym→ To dither 

9. To reside→ To stay in some room 

10. Advantages→ Benefits

Synonym→ Profits 

Antonym→ Disadvantages 

11. Independence→ the state in which one doesn't depend on others

Synonym→ Self-reliance

Antonym→ Dependence

12. Discipline→ Some certain rules 

13. Mutual→ Done together by each of two persons

14. Cooperation→ Working together

15. Multicultural→ Relating to several cultures 

16. Environment→ Surroundings 

17. Independent→ A person who doesn't depend on others

18. To expect→ To regard someone as likely to do something

19. Elder→ A person older than the other (of greater age ) 

20. To regulate→ To supervise something

21. Resident→ A person who stays in a place 

22. To maintain→ To cause something to continue

Synonym→ To continue

Antonym→ To discontinue

23. To share→ To have or use as others 

24. Special→ Better than usual

25. Attention→ Notice

26. Silence→ The state of being silent

27. Hosteler→ A person who lives in a hostel

28. To enjoy→ To like 

29. To carry→ To bring with 

30. Culture→ Customs and social behavior of a group of people 

31. Lifestyle→ Way of life 

32. Disaster→ A natural catastrophe that causes a great damage

Synonym→ Calamity

Antonym→ Blessing 

33. Violence→ Behavior intended to hurt someone

Synonym→ Brutality

Antonym→ kindness

34. To concentrate→ To place focus on something

35. Junior→ A student is junior if he/ she is in the third year, and if he/ she is in the fourth year, then they are seniors.

36. Ragging→ The humiliation of junior students by seniors 

37. Overall→ On the whole or generally

38. Opportunity→ The chance to do something

39. Social→ Relating to society 

Synonym→ Communal

Antonym→ Individual

40. Emotional→ Relating to emotions 

Synonym→ Spiritual

Antonym→ Material


Idioms and Phrases to Learn (Learn more idioms and phrases here) 

1. To hail from distant corners of the nation→ To come from distant places of the country

2. To enroll oneself in some degree course→ To formally register  

3. To be poverty-stricken→ To be very poor, to be impoverished

4. To make both ends meet→ To earn just enough money

5. To be in between jobs→ To be jobless or unemployed

6. To be exposed to→ To bring someone into contact with something

7. To wake up→ To get up or rise from bed 

8. To make the bed→ To arrange the bed 

9. To keep everything spick and span→ To keep everything neat and clean

10. To lead a disciplined and regulated life→ To live following some certain rules 

11. To share mutual cooperation or interest→ To work together or have common interest

12. To pay a special attention to something→ To be very attentive to something

13. To enjoy a multicultural environment→ To be in an environment where people have different cultures 

14. To get or catch a bad company→ To befriend a bad guy 

15. To fall into evils→ To start doing bad things

16. Juniors go through ragging→ Juniors face or experience ragging. (Ragging is the abuse or humiliation of new students by senior students.)


Exercise 1

Can you recall the synonyms and antonyms of the following words

1. Emotional

2. Social

3. Violence

4. Disaster

5. Independence


Answer keys 1:- 

(Synonyms) 

1. Spiritual

2. Communal

3. Brutality

4. Calamity

5. Self-reliance


Answer keys 2:- 

(Antonyms) 

1. Material

2. Individual

3. Kindness

4. Blessing

5. Dependence


Exercise 2

Do you understand the following phrases and idioms? 

1. To make both ends meet

2. To be in between jobs

3. To keep everything spick and span 


Answer keys:- 

1. To have or earn just enough money

2. To be jobless or unemployed

3. To keep everything neat and clean