100%
Back in my early 20s, in London, I was broke as hell in a typical London flatshare HOWEVER I had so much fun...no regrets, lived with crazy people from all over the world..now I am boring and tired haha..
Even if, realistically it makes life SOOO easier to stay with parents rent-free in big cities, I do think being broke after uni builds you up somehow in terms of creativity, sociability, self-awareness and basic adulting...just my two cents...It can explain why Lily is such a baby...I had colleagues like this too, nice people but so dumb.
This!!!! It’s the equivalent to young people staying in a very small town by total choice (despite having resources or nothing tying you down) in the era of globalization and intentionally not developing any worldview. In Lily’s case, she was in London but her world was small. Therefore she didn’t have the variety of experiences normal for people her age. Her idea of being open minded is eating “ethnic” food at a hipster food market, so she thinks anyone speaking a different language is “weird” and that her belly showing when she lifts her arms is wildly titillating. Ugh!
My 20s were so SO SO much better than uni: I traveled the world, lived with people from all over and developed friendships that still last today; not because we simply went to nursery together, but because we have similar interests and went on to share insane experiences like hitchhiking through Zimbabwe and having crazy sex on the beach in Goa! Uni sucked in comparison. I realize I also have financial, family, and passport privilege to be able to have done whatever I wanted, but Lily does too! That’s what I find mind blowing! I didn’t always feel grounded or sure of my next step, but I wouldn’t trade the freedom I had in my 20’s for a house deposit if I had to do it over again.
Also: I think the living with your family thing is relative. Her parents are together and seemingly have a happy home environment, which helps. They also had a HUGE house so there were extra rooms for them to hang and I don’t think coming home drunk would have woken them - plus who are we kidding, Rich and Lily are boooooring. I’m sure there aren’t any boozy /coke club nights in their past. I didn’t live constantly with my parents, but I was in and out of their house a lot during my 20s. Never with a partner; that would have been weird. My husband couldn’t stand to stay with his parents, so while he was in and out of his parents’ house as well, it was only during the 2 years directly out of uni that he did this. They were also getting divorced, so it was a super uncomfy situation. I’m sure if his parents had a happy home, it would have been more appealing to live with them longer. So on top of being super spoiled, Lily had the right environment to be able to live with them a long time.