As a medical student it is very likely that you will be staying in the hostel at some point in your life. The objective of this article is to familiarize you with MBBS hostel life in India.
Knowing what to expect at the hostel and familiarizing your self with the MBBS hostel life will make the home to hostel life transition much smoother for you. (If you haven’t yet checked out our article on Things you MUST know before starting medical school in India, you should read that first.)
Many of you might have to leave your homes to set foot in a different city. And even though it might be tough settling in a new city, once you get used to the MBBS Hostel life, you will cherish it all your life.
So here’s what you should know.
Choose your roommates wisely
Your room mates are going to stick around for at least a year if not more. A non cooperative room mate can make your MBBS hostel life hell.
Try sticking to birds of your own feather, so that you are privy to your comfort zone.
But don’t hesitate to try to be friends with whom you think you can never be friends. You never know what wild or nerdy side they can bring out in you.
Single room or sharing?
If your college allows for single rooms, opting for that can be a good option, well, because you’re the king there, live as clean or as dirty as you want.
But, if you are a people’s person and ready to put up with dramas and aren’t an overtly dramatic person yourself, you can opt for multiple roommates. They say, the more, the merrier. There’s no hard and fast rule. This is your personal choice.
Am I going to be ragged/ roasted?
Ragging is absolutely absent in most of the medical colleges in India today. However some hostels still have “ragging” in an very mild form which involves introduction sessions. These sessions are only a way to build rapport and get to know your batch mates and seniors (and start love lives with the newly arrived juniors of course.)
A friendly introduction session involves you introducing yourself to your seniors and batch mates. It is a good idea to attend these gatherings and get to know each other.
Be open to new experiences as they come to you in your MBBS hostel life as they will shape your personality
Note: Remember. If you are uncomfortable in a particular situation, leave! If anything seems to be getting physical or out of limits, leave! You do not have to stay there. Ragging is a punishable offence in India. Also, there is an anti-ragging helpline available on http://www.antiragging.in/
Is MBBS hostel life all about studying?
Being a medical student in India does have it’s fair share of study hour requirements. That doesn’t mean that it becomes the sole purpose of your life.
MBBS hostel life gives you ample time to work for your dreams other than being a doctor.
Want to be fit? Hit the gym, go cycle, run marathons. Want to dance? join some classes, shake a leg. Want to try music? Go for those guitar classes you always wished to go. Develop talents and hobbies, they go a long way in shaping your personality.
In the end, you won’t remember which chapter you studied or skipped, but these talents will surely make you stand out.
MBBS Hostel life is all about sharing
Sharing your cosmetics, your clothes, your food, your shoes (please don’t share undergarments and trimmers, that level of love is obnoxious).
The good part about this is you learn to live in less and also develop cordial relationships because ‘sharing is caring’ right?
What’s the food like in an MBBS hostel in India?
You have various food options, each of which is worse than the other. Well, this really depends on where you are doing your MBBS in India.
General consensus – the food sucks at hospital canteens in most places! especially if you are used to eating home food aka “maa ke haath ka khaana” (you may be laughing now, but you will crave this soon!
You can opt for a tiffin service (“dabba”) once you get to know the ins and outs of the city where you go.
And there is always the option of eating out and wasting all your money and fitness on it. Well, not really, you will end up sleeping in the best of moods after getting good food that is different from the daily routine (of course apart from the good mood you will also get a bigger belly and zero money at the end of the month, but you’ll learn to live with that, right?)
Learn how to manage being broke temporarily, another big lesson you will learn.
Don’t forget to explore the city when you’re living the MBBS hostel life.
Travel unknown streets, visit weird places, try different cuisines, you don’t know what fun you might be getting into and maybe create some wonderful (or painful) memories along the way. But in the end, you’ll enjoy it all.
Hostel politics? (Yes! that exists)
Try to live peacefully, but that is easier said than done, 5.5 years is a long time. You will be a party to multiple fights, there will be a lot of politics, but eventually with time, everything gets figured out.
You will find out who are your true friends during these times. It’s your Rachel-Monica moment, ‘Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You’ll love it’
To conclude…
Go out there, live it, make your own stories and then tell people and I can assure you when you come to visit your college back when you have a reunion, you’ll look at your hostel, maybe even visit your rooms and with tears of happiness say, “MBBS hostel days were the best days of my life.”
-Dr. Saad Ahmed
(The Indian Medical Student Team)
Tag all your hostel buddies. Do share your MBBS Hostel life experiences with us in the comments section below.
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