The vast majority of students at The Ohio State University’s regional campus’ do not live on campus. We are the commuter students. You know us. We look like zombies rolling out of our vehicles at 8 am after an hour long commute. We can’t just effortlessly jog across campus to class. At night we dream of walking across campus. Instead of counting sheep, we count mile markers.
We have to wake up, down a caffeinated beverage, pray to Saint Jesús Malverde, get in our car and drive. The pros factor in about 15 minutes to the commute for the subsequent traffic jam or possible old lady driving slower than the rise of your GPA.
I live with and take care of my grandparents. I chose to be a commuter student to save money. This was a difficult decision. I had to choose between living on campus in Columbus or not. I decided to live off-campus instead to save money. Many students make a different choice. The argument can be made that living on campus is a once and a lifetime experience. I, however, could not ease the persistent thought of debt looming over me. I love being a commuter student except for one thing... The commute.
I drive to campus five days a week. Each day I drive 2 hours. One-hour to campus and one-hour home. All that time in the car can get a bit annoying. I am stuck driving until the time the United States finally decides to put high-speed trains or teleportation devices in every town. But alas, I’ll keep waiting on that one.
I’d like to say I spend that time productively listening to books on tape or mentally going over Spanish words. But we both know that isn’t the case. I spend most of my commute listening to NPR and wondering if Terry Gross is as sweet as she seems on air, or wondering if toilet paper is an acceptable housewarming gift.
So during my commute, I have compiled a list of things I could be doing instead of commuting. Here they are:
