After a semester of living on campus, I made a tough decision to move back home and commute to college. Having gone through a year of driving back and forth to campus, I’ve come to a conclusion—commuting is weird. I essentially have an alternate college experience that only a fellow commuter can understand.
I no longer know the struggles of trekking from a dorm to a classroom at 8 a.m. in the dead of winter, or having to wear $1 Old Navy flip flops in the shower. Instead I know the difficulties of finding a parking space on mornings I’m running late or making sure I leave enough time to brush the snow off my car.
These subtle differences aren't necessarily a bad thing. It just means my morning starts off differently than most college students. Not only that, but I've already experienced those difficulties, and they were truly unenjoyable. I would never trade clearing off my car for those shower flip flops
However, I do struggle with one thing in being a commuter, feeling that I'm missing out. There will always be days I miss hanging out with my friends because I’ve already gone home, or I don’t get to laugh at that time the whole friend group struggled to get to the dining hall during a blizzard because I wasn’t there. It's also weird when it's time to go home for break. I can't join in on the chatter of excitedly awaiting the first night sleep in my own bed or picking what I want my mom to make for my first home-cooked meal in months.
I think that’s why, as a commuter, I make a huge effort to be at school. I always come to dinner, even though that’s money I could be saving by living at home. (Not to mention I don't technically have to eat crummy school food, but I suffer through it anyway.) I also come back on the weekends, just to sit and do homework in my friend’s room, or go to sporting events. I realize all of these things are counter-intuitive to me living at home. But without doing this, I think I would have had a harder time adjusting to being a commuter. It also allowed me to create friendships that I know will last a lifetime.
And even though I struggle with F.O.M.O, there will always be moments at home that make up for it. For example, I can be completely alone after a long and exhausting day of classes and my dog is always waiting at the front door for a hug. I can also escape school food any time I want to, and we all know how big of a plus that is.
I know that for my next two years of college, I will run hot and cold on my feelings of being a commuter. There are days that I love it, and there are days where I want to stay at school and experience college in that aspect again. But having lived on campus for a semester, I learned that the dorm life isn't always all it's cracked up to be, but that doesn't mean that being a commuter was the perfect solution for me either. It's a stance I will always be in the middle of, but I'm happy to say I've seen both sides of the spectrum.
