Remember in when we were all in high school, when driving to school made you super cool? Can you remember the feeling of rolling up in your own ride, and chilling with your other friends who also had their own ride? We would sit in the parking lot before school started, because we had the time since we could go to school a little early or late as we chose. It was cool back in high school to drive to school, since most of us lived very near to where we attended. Driving to college however… Well-

That is a whole ‘nother story.

Most high school seniors have the dream of going away to college for multiple reasons. To live away from home, get away from the parents, to have a place to call your own. Sadly, some of us do not get to have that luxury. I remember how heartbroken I was when my parents had to break the news to me that I had to commute to school everyday. Especially for the fact that school wasn’t five minutes down the street anymore. It was a whopping forty minutes away via Garden State Parkway. I was scared to drive on the parkway, let alone be on the road for that long just to get to school. Over the past two years, I have learned to love and hate being a commuter. Here are some struggles I faced, and I’m sure many commuters have faced this as well.

1. Being mindful of Time

All your friends live on campus, who can get up a half hour before class starts and simply walk to their class with no problem. Depending on how far away you live, you have to calculate how long it takes you to wake up, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, AND drive in order to hopefully (some pray, I do) make it to class ON TIME. Not even early. If you’re late, you come huffing and puffing because you ran from the parking lot to the academic building your class in. Well, that’s your daily cardio! Plus, when residents complain about not getting enough sleep, oooooh no. You could have just jumped into your bed anytime you got to your room. A majority of us commuters have to drive to our beds, sacrificing that driving time that could be used sleeping in our cars or at our desks. Even when class ends at a specific time, we might have to wait out traffic or we don’t have time to go home and come back. It’s a waste of time, gas, and money to simply do that. And we hate relying others. We already drive ourselves every day to get an education, we hate having to stay over if we lose our keys or don’t feel like driving. Our commuter life plus time has hardened our hearts in terms of independence.

2. Finding Parking

Don't get ANY commuter started on these two words. We usually here about residents complaining about finding parking for class, even though you can clearly waltz from your room to class. Well to you residents that drive to class - you are part of the huge reason why commuters get extremely frustrated trying to find parking. Oh, Faculty, we didn’t forget about you either! We also hate you for parking as well. Finding parking is like your parents nagging at you every single day - it’s an annoying, constant, daily nuisance we shouldn’t be phased by after a couple years, but still are and will have a short temper about it. And if we really get mad, we have no shame getting vocal about it. We also get vocal about receiving parking tickets. Well campus security - tell the residents and faculty and random strangers to stop taking out spaces!

3. Rush Hour and Road Incidents

Rush hour for commuters is the equivalent of Hell. And like any sane human being, especially commuters, does their absolute best to avoid driving during this horrid time of day. But how lucky are we that rush occurs not only once, but twice a day! From being a commuter for so long, I can’t honestly tell you which rush hour is worse: morning time or 5 o’clock. Just expect to sit in an a very small, enclosed space for hours on end. No bathroom, no driving to a rest stop - just simply inching until you reach some sort of civilization. It’s also just such an amazing time when people get in “accidents”. Now I put accident in quotations because let’s face it - lots of people on the road really don’t know how to maneuver a vehicle. I personally believe most accidents are not entirely actually, accidents. It’s usually someone who isn’t giving their safety 100%, and speeds, or isn’t paying attention to their surroundings and ends up hitting another innocent car just minding their own business, going about their day. But what most people involved in accidents tend to forget is that their accident doesn’t only affect them and the victim - oh no. The whole highway, full of other drivers going towards their destinations also become victims. We become victims of slow, inching, never-ending traffic. Let’s just say for some commuters that the whole travel of being on the road every day is like trudging through thick, wet, mud. You just want to get out of it as soon as possible.

4. Other Drivers

I touched on other drivers in the previous struggle. But other drivers - I don’t even know where to begin with this subject. We like to think that every other driver has the same intention as the rest of us - which is to simply arrive at our rendezvous points. Which is true, but some put in more effort than others. More effort to the point where we start not caring about other drivers. This is towards the people who do not put your signals on. This is to those who cut you off while switching lanes. To those who don’t know how to turn off your hazards. To those who tailgate nonstop. To those who don’t give you room in the next lane even after having your signal on for forever and a day. Because of these people, this is how road rage is created. I remember being a scared little girl, even more frightened to switch lanes. But after two years - you best believe I am the person who will roll down their window and yell obscenities at you for being oblivious of your wrongdoing. And trust me, there are a lot of others just like me.

As much as I am very sarcastic and hold a bunch of resentment towards being a commuter, it really does have its perks. But the anger usually kicks those benefits straight in the face. Hopefully for those who don’t have to go through this, get a good laugh out of this but ultimately understand where some commuters like me stand in our travel-bound lives.