where to practice...

[henrikhank]

Hi!
How do you practice piano when being away from home? Do you just skip playing piano for some time?

I am a young adult who never went to music school/university and I wonder where you play piano if you're not studying piano at university? There must be other places than just playing at home.

[indianajo]

Students at music college don't have it made, they often have to practice at weird hours to get time.
I had the problem for decades after I left my parent's house.  The college performance piano was off limits; the student union piano was a wreck. 
In the Army, the pianos in the officer's clubs were wrecks.  I'm not talking out of tune, I'm talking keys that didn't work. 
I suppose I could have tried one of the chapels, but I was off base on weekends due to a housing shortage.  The little town I rented in, I attended a church there and after a year of choir practice attendence, the organist would loan me a key to the church late on Friday or Saturday nights. 
I have a summer property in the country, with a dilapidated trailer (caravan) on it.  For the first 12 summers I skipped piano practice while I was out there. This led to losing accuracy on many pieces during the gap, plus losing strength.  I happened to be out there one weekend (not usual practice) and attended a little country church.  there piano was badly out of tune but the action was okay, so after a year of summer attendence they let me tune it, and recently they gave me a key so I can work on the geriatric electronic organ.  However, good luck runs in waves, and Salvation Army finally had a decent playing (though dull sounding) spinnet piano for $50 with appearance issues, that I moved out to the trailer for and additional $70 in truck rental.  Again, you have to tune them yourself to make this pay. 
Some churchs are not possessive of the second rank piano in the fellowship hall or choir rehearsal room, especially if they have been allowed to fall out of tune.  Tuning the piano for them shows you are seriously interested, and not the average deadbeat that expects the church to support them. 
Some churches are so picky they allow only graduates with performance degrees play their precious 50 year old relics. even the ones in the Sunday School assembly rooms. It depends on the people running the music program, and musically trained people are often not real generous. 
Bars are a place where you used to find beater pianos but I don't think that is recent custom.   
And the music store will always rent you a room for $$ an hour, which I could never afford in my early days.  Bunch of 5 octave electronic toys music stores are pushing these days. 
Best of luck.  I find it is the practice that builds the skills, and careful listening and marking of errors, not the lessons, after the first six years. 

[outin]

I would think it's a lot easier now with good portable stage pianos...not the same as an acoustics, but better than nothing...

[dcstudio]

 It depends on the people running the music program, and musically trained people are often not real generous. 

especially when they are at church...lol...  sad.