Living off campus in an apartment or house with your friends can be awesome. You feel like a real adult- cooking your own food, cleaning up, no quiet hours, and you can decorate however you want. Even though living off campus has its struggles, I don’t think any of us miss the days of living in a tiny double room in Warren Towers! But of course, nothing is perfect, and anyone living off the BU main campus can definitely relate to these top five struggles of off-campus living…
Timing
Being a poor college student relying on public transportation is not always easy. Sure it’s cheap, but it’s almost always crowded, smelly and unreliable. Biking is an option, but lets be honest, nobody living in Allston wants to bike through two feet of snow in the dead of winter. Timing the T, the bus, or even the shuttle, is a huge struggle of living off campus. You have to wake up early to make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to class, but if you miss your ride, you’re stuck walking, and usually power-walking. Nobody likes power walking in two feet of snow either!
Spending Free Time
When you leave the comforts of your apartment in the morning to get to class, that’s usually the last time you’ll be there until your day is all over. That presents struggle number two: where do you spend your free time on campus? If you’re lucky enough to have other friends who live on-campus, then you’re all set because you can hang out there during your two-hour break in between classes. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we’re stuck on where to go during our breaks! The library? The dining hall? Starbucks? Which will be least crowded? Where can I find a seat? Do I have enough time for a full lunch, or just a snack?
Changes in Weather
When living in Boston, you have to expect and anticipate rapid changes in weather: beautiful and sunny in the morning with a monsoon and hurricane force winds in the afternoon. Should you always carry your umbrella? What about sunglasses? Am I overdressed or underdressed? It may be sunny now but will it rain by the time my class is over? Sometimes you just have to wing it and hope you can get back to your apartment before the skies open up!
Clothing
Changes in weather directly relates to the struggle of what to wear on a daily basis when you’re living off-campus. Especially this time of year, the mornings are cold and breezy, but by noontime it can easily be sweltering. If you layer up for the trek to campus for the morning, you’ll definitely be sweating by midday. But if you wear a tank top in the morning, there’s no guarantee the sun will ever come out to warm you up! One of my biggest struggles when deciding my clothing before heading to class is to rainboot or to not rainboot. It seems like every time its pouring when I head to class and I wear rain boots I always look like a loser by 2pm because the sun is shining, the birds are singing and my feet are sweating!
Carrying and not Forgetting
When you pack up your books, binders and computer early in the morning before walking or riding to class, make sure you have everything you need! There’s no worse feeling than getting all the way to campus or even halfway to campus, and realizing you forgot your paper, book, charger, or notebook, sitting in your apartment. It’s not as easy to run back to your room to get something than it was when you lived right on campus! But of course, remembering everything isn’t that great either; when your backpack or bag is so heavy that it’s giving you a permanent hunchback…