Ah yes, here we are again. After screaming into the abyss for a good four (maybe five) weeks, I have returned to the school life, and that also means I have returned to Her Campus to bless you with more wonderful articles. Exciting, right?
Well, at least for me it is. It’s something I get out of my pilgrimage to school every day. I don’t think people quite understand the sacrifice commuter students make and the crap they have to deal with. For the dollars we save on loans and grants, we pay the pauper in different ways.
Well…I couldn’t sell my soul. That’s never really been there to begin with, I think. As a heads up, I travel an hour and a half each way for school every day. I park my car not too far from my house and take the bus into the city, and then transfer to the school bus and head to campus. “Are you stupid?” you ask. Well yes, we all are. But I feel a bit smarter after calculating that with the cost of gas and maintenance on my car, I save close to $500 a month and only spend about $50 a month on transportation. I get up at 4:45 every morning, I leave my house by 5:30 and I’m at school just before 7:00 AM. 5 days a week. Just to paint that pretty picture for you.
Anyways, let’s cut to it.
1. The elements hate us, and we hate them
I got to show one of my professors how I put on my ‘oldfangled’ contraptions known as shoe spikes today. I have to brave the elements most of the time if school is not canceled, or we’re in a state of limbo, where as students local and on campus have no issue, but commuters have to make a careful choice. To go or not? Are we going to put our safety on the line? Are we going to risk possible injuries? We stare at our phones hoping to see a cancellation before we’re leaving and to take a well deserved rest. That also doesn’t include driving in the early morning and late night and fighting the elements in those conditions as well. It’s never fun, and makes us want to simply stop driving, pull over, and cry half the time.
2. No one wants to hear your excuses
Yeah, I’ll complain about my commute all I want. I know no one cares. No one cares if I don’t make it to class, no one cares that bags under my eyes rival the designer bags I ogle in the fancy malls as security glares at me for even breathing the same air as them. You quickly learn that 95% of your professors don’t care about your commute and even if you miss class and send them pictures as proof of haphazard conditions or some type of apology, you’re just another unexcused absence. Your long journey to and back from school only matters to you, and unless you make friends who share similar (painful) journeys, it’s a lonely road.
3. What are friends?
This is a painful one for me. I don’t really have strong friendships on campus. I have maybe two that I can consider friends, but I don’t talk to them very often. Making friends as a commuter, especially when you’re traveling a distance, is too much of a hassle. You’re tired of hearing about all the parties and the late night hooplah everyone is doing, you can’t stay for things because you have to get going, and you’re not trying to stay with anyone because that’s just awkward. At this point I’ve accepted that making friends and doing tons of activities just isn’t worth my energy. I would much rather spend it getting home and making dinner and curling up in bed and forgetting the world for a bit. Then I remember homework. Then I pour another glass of wine and mellow out as I’m an INTJ and I don’t mind the isolation – it keeps me focused.
4. Every single thing in existence is Insufferable
Before I quit drinking coffee, I found myself severely angry in the morning. While that’s simmered considerably, it’s still deep within me. The girls talking too loudly first thing in the morning, the guys walking all across the sidewalk and you have to sprint around them because no one seems to know how to walk on the street, the people who hog machines at the gym at school, and the innate hunger that grows as a commuter student and you don’t wanna spend money at school on food but carrying around a lunchbox is a giant pain in the ass. As a student that takes public transport, nothing pisses you off more than missing a bus. Everything that is menial is annoying, and you wish you could roll through campus in a giant hamster ball knocking everything out of the way so you can get your crap done and go home . 5. Traffic
I don’t pray for patience. That seems a bit redundant. Patience comes as you grow and whatnot. But when I’m stuck in a convoy of trucks at 5:30 in the morning or I’m stuck behind a school bus coming home when I THOUGHT the school buses were done for the day? Ah yes, let me continue to grind my teeth down to stubs. Traffic is the enemy of the commuter student in every sense. Whether it’s your own car or public transport, something always seems to bite you in the ass and you have to suffer from it. You have to stop for gas that you swore you were gonna put in the car last night, you forgot something and have to go back home, there’s a delay or your bus/train breaks down. The traffic is bumper to bumper and some idiot almost t-bones you when you just wanna get home and cry. I’ve had many a night where I’ve dealt with drunk drivers and people that scared me. Traffic is hell and until I take over, it’s made me its lackey.
6. It’s truly draining
I’m grateful to be back in school, I really am. I handle my school bills and all things related to school by myself. But it’s seriously taxing. I’ve known people that drive longer than I do, and we can all agree that commuting is a mental strain that weighs heavy on you. If you drive to campus you have to follow the policies for parking passes, the fines that may come with penalties, and figuring out where to park and where to go. If you don’t show up at the PERFECT time, in the right parking lot that worked with your schedule, you’ll be walking. If it’s not perfect outside, you have to deal with the elements. Winter or summer or running from bees, your timing is everything. You have to pack layers for your journey to school in the winter, or you have to pack gym clothes if you’re physically active. Sometimes you have to take your makeup with you because you don’t have the time to get ready because you overslept. You feel your energy draining as you get home and instead of doing homework and studying, all you wanna do is crawl into bed or climb into a bathtub and relax. But alas, you gotta get up and do it again the next day.
I could give you some motivation stuff about keep going but I’d rather just keep it simple. You keep doing the damn thing. If you’re commuting, you’re a badass and you put up with a lot of crap to save money on debt you didn’t want/need. You are making a choice that comes with responsibility and you’re killing it. Don’t forget it. Also…just remember that spring will be here soon and we can feel the sun on us longer as we commute to and back from school.
*Images and GIFS courtesy of Giphy.com and The Independent