There are, of course, pros and cons to being a commuter student; and these pros and cons are especially prevalent for your first year in college. I have not been at college too long-- only a month or so-- but, to be quite honest with you, I think this is all one really needs to understand the positives and negatives of commuting. If you don’t have a month, though, I will lay it out here for you.
(You’re welcome.)
When a friend first asked me if I wanted to live off campus with her, I thought she was joking. But, later, when I committed, I began to think more seriously about it. I sent her a message saying that, if she were serious, I’d love to room off-campus with her.
And so it began.
Finding an apartment when you’re a freshman isn’t easy. Most places take graduate students only- or, at the very least, people over the age of twenty-one. It took us four months to find a suitable apartment. And, once we moved in, we realized all of the little inconveniences we would face.
Not only did we have to deal with our own spiders, but we were also secluded from many people. A common topic of conversation when meeting potential friends is where you live, and when you respond that you’re “Off campus! In Squirrel Hill!” everything usually comes to a grinding halt. This is not a lie, nor an exaggeration. I once had a girl stop talking to me completely, turn around to face another person, ask where they live, and proceed to have quite a lengthy conversation with them when she found out they lived one tower over from her.
Additionally, it is a huge pain to have the clubs that you want to join start at eight or nine at night, and you know that you’re not only not going to get home before ten or eleven, but you’re also going to have to ride the bus at the times your mother always told you not to ride the bus at. Orientation week itself was a plethora of frantic Googling, trying to find the right buses to take and the right times to leave. You would think that that would be over by now, but I still have to do it when I want to make it to a club on time.
And, like I said, you have to deal with your own spiders.
“But wait,” you say. “Then why in the world would you want to live off campus your first year at college?”
To which I respond:
It is quiet. It is peaceful. There is no one awake and shouting at two in the morning, there is no loud music from distant gatherings at one. I can go to my own room and take a nap for five hours, and not be in anyone’s way or be woken up by a noisy crowd. I have my cat, (which I consider the most important, to be quite honest,) and a large desk where I can easily do my homework. I have all my stuff from my old room, and am very comfortable, even being so far from where my family is.
And, beautifully, I have a home. An actual, comfortable home away from my first home. I cannot stress this enough: even though I am in an apartment, I am home, and not going “back to the dorm,” at the end of the night. I am going home.
Living off campus is a strange experience. Having an apartment to myself (and two cats and a person,) is amazing. Being able to fit my dresser and my desk into my room is awesome. Getting up an hour earlier to make it to the bus so I make it to class on time? Less awesome. Having to use up two hours for a one hour club at the end of the day? Not awesome at all. But it is so worth it; the positives far outweigh the negatives. After all, a home far from people is comfier than a stay with others. And, since this is going to be eight years of my life, I would like a home.
