Whenever people think about commuters, they think about people who get to class late after being stuck on the other side of town in traffic; people with deep eye bags from loss of sleep after waking up extra early to drive; people with a car filled with everything you can think of; people with backpacks the size of a house.
If you are a commuter or know a commuter, you know the struggle. Here are some things that only commuters will understand:
1. Rising Gas Prices Are a Nightmare.
With all the driving you have to do, paying for gas can be super expensive. So when the numbers on the billboard for every gas station start to rise, so does your blood pressure.
2. Your Car Is Your Best Friend/Home.
Now, if someone were to look in your car, they’d probably find just about everything an on-campus student contains in their dorm. Your car probably encompasses all or at least three of the following: three changes of clothes, dozens of water bottles, a blanket, a first aid kit, hair-spray, at least one pair of shoes, lots of books and a bag of something edible.
You probably use your car to sleep in, do homework in, change in, and just get back and forth to campus in. In some sense, your car is your movable dorm room, or locker. When your car breaks down, so does your heart.
3. You “Camp Out” in Some Favorite Spot on Campus.
Whether it’s your friend’s dorm, the library, a lounge or some table in the Ordinary, you have that one “spot,” or certain spots you “live” in. It’s the little space that you go to in between classes to get homework done and just relax. You go there so often that most of your friends know exactly where to find you.
4. Traffic.
Enough said.
5. Your Backpack is Like Mary Poppins Purse.
Since you don’t have the liberty of going back and forth to your room to get different items, you take them with you--everywhere--on your back. Your backpack contains your lunch and possibly dinner, your laptop, most of your school books, your chargers, maybe makeup (if you’re a girl. If you’re a guy, well, okay) and yeah, basically your whole school life in one bag (that is, if it isn’t in your car).
6. The Struggle for Food.
There are those days where you didn’t bring food, and you really don’t want to spend money. Since you can’t just walk to your dorm to get or make food, your only options are to either spend money, look around campus for any “free food” events or just sit by the dorms and beg.
7. You’ve Got Those On-Campus Friends to Rely On.
You’ve got that wonderful friend who will adopt you for the day, feed you and give you a warm place to sleep for days when you really don’t have the time to drive all the way back home.
8. You Have to Wake Up Super Early.
Friends on campus can wake up at 7.30 a.m. for 8 a.m. classes, but you, on the other hand, get up as early as 5 a.m. “Why so early?” they ask. Well, you had to prepare to fight rush hour and have the possible 30-minute drive the whole way to school.
9. You Miss Out on the Dorm Social Life.
You often have to sit and listen to the stories of what you missed while you were home. For those on campus, something happens every day and every night because they all live together.
10. Everyone Knows to Come to You for a Ride.
Commuter: someone who most likely has a car and can drive. Because of this definition, anyone who doesn’t have a car knows just who to contact when they need a ride.
11. Somehow You All Find Each Other.
Maybe it’s because you all have those same “spots” that you camp out in, or maybe it’s the fact that when everyone else is in their dorms, you see each other. However it happens, you somehow discover fellow commuters and bond over every disadvantage and advantage of commuter life.
