People commute to school and work on a regular basis. There's always those basic struggles of everyday traffic and leaving your house at the perfect time to get to where you need to be. Yes, commuting has it's benefits of saving a lot of money, but after doing this for over 2 years I've realized there's a lot of problems most people don't face because they have the luxury of living on/close to campus. Because commuting takes up a chunk of time, I've been able to gather a list of struggles that the general population of commuters can relate to.
So if you're a commuter and reading this, know that you are not alone, there's a community of us out there that understand your pain. Here are a few of the problems commuters all around have faced:
1. Morning traffic is worse than rush hour.
Being a freshmen, having an 8am class, and assuming it takes the same amount of time any other commute during the day. ROOKIE MOVE! Don't be like me and realize on the first day of school that morning traffic will take you even longer than a rush hour on a Friday. Be prepared to double your commute time if you have an early morning class...
2. Having to get up/be ready even earlier than the lucky person who can just roll out of bed and walk to class.
Everyone's rolled out of bed after hitting snooze 10+ times and eventually barely making it to class on time. But for commuters there's still that time to rush out of the door, head to campus, look for parking, AND make it to class.
3. Speaking of looking for parking, FINDING A GOOD SPOT IS SUCH A STRUGGLE.
It seems like the whole university and their mom have their cars on campus. And just when you need to hurry and find a spot close to your building, every single space is taken and you end up parking in the middle of no man's land.
4. PARKING TICKETS!!! Parking struggles continued (actually I could write a whole book on my campus parking struggles)
Those are awful. There's so many rules like, did you know you can get fined for your wheel touching the line?! The university just seems to have an endless list of reasons to give people a parking ticket! And the people who work at parking services and write down the tickets are ruthless!
5. Being homeless in between classes.
If you don't have back to back classes, that means you have a lengthy block of time for an entire semester with no place to go. Even if there's enough time to go home and back, nobody wants to make a double commute.
6. Car naps are a thing.
If you haven't napped in your car, do you really commute?
7. When you drive all the way to campus and come to find out class is canceled.
Do professors even consider the feelings of students who commute when they send out an email canceling class 15 minutes before it starts? No, I don't think so.
8. Driving to campus just to turn in an assignment.
Days like this are probably the most frustrating because you're literally taking up more time driving than actually being on campus.
9. Making trips to the gas station a weekly thing.
By now, you can map out the nearest gas stations by your house and on campus. And your budget has to include a big chunk for gas money. There's also that moment of realization when it's a school break and you have some extra cash to spend since you only need to pump your gas every 2 to 3 weeks like a normal person.
10. When everyone is moving and talking about what to do with their new space and you're laying in the same bed, in the same bedroom like:
And finally after a long day of driving, classes, and then driving back home you're just over it and ready for to say hello to your comfortable bed.
