While studying at UMass, I have come across the usual issues that every college student has to deal with. “I only have an hour to do this essay because I procrastinated!” “I can’t go to the movies with you because I’m poor as hell.” “I overslept, now I lost four hours of study time.”
These are general issues that I have seen that you’ll probably see everywhere. However, what is incredibly intriguing are the unique problems that we experience at UMass. After a year of attending UMass Amherst, here are five problems that I’ve seen UMass students have to deal with and struggle through together.
1. Avoiding Death By Bicycle!
Especially during the autumn and spring, every walking pedestrian has to look out for the students on the bikes. Especially when every single student is walking or biking to class, it can be like a maze of death as you try to navigate your way across campus. You see the bicyclist up ahead, but you never know which way they will go to avoid you. Will you go left while they go right, or will you turn to identical paths and stare death by bicycle straight in the face? Every UMass student is bound to face this horror at some point in their time as a student, unless they are the bicyclists themselves, in which case they will have to face their own version of a death maze from the other side.
2. Construction, Construction, Everywhere!
On such a big campus, there is always something that “needs” construction. This past fall, we all dealt with the construction of the pipes near the library and the construction of a new academic building. Now the Blue Wall is getting refurbished, plus a basketball complex next to the Mullins Center continues to be constructed. Sometimes it’s the noise that bothers us. Sometimes it’s the way the constructions get in our way to class. Sometimes, it is simply the presence of construction that bothers us. Maybe it is all three. Whatever reason, we can definitely say that this is a UMass problem we want gone!
3. Oh, How I Loathe a Crowded Bus!
Now, I do not take the bus all too often, but many friends of mine have commented on how the buses are so full they are forced to wait for the next one. Even when you can fit on the bus, it is still not very comfortable to squish between strangers, whether it is to the other side of campus or to Amherst College. Once again, all blame points to the vast largeness of UMass. It is simply one of the things we have to get used to here. If there appears to be an incredible amount of students on a given campus, then it would be no surprise that our buses crowd with students.
4. April Showers Bring A Whole Lotta Mud!
Okay, so maybe this pertains to more months in the year than April, but we all know that every morning after a rainfall, we have to deal with, yes…MUD! On some of our favorite shortcuts (I’m referring more to the one next to Campus Center) the mud gets so bad, you could actually witness people losing their shoes in the gooey muck. Due to our avoidance of the mud on these paths, we can cause quite a traffic jam as each individual person has to walk in a straight line one by one to avoid the mud. At one point, I watched a misfortunate guy fall right on his butt in one of these areas of mud, wearing a pair of perfect white shorts. Sorry, dude.
5. Too Much Good Food?!?!
Yes, there is a thing of too much good food and it is called the UMass Dining Commons. We are incredibly privileged to have the best college food in the nation. We want an omelet and a waffle for breakfast? We got it. We want a burrito and French fries for dinner? We got it. We want red velvet cake for dessert? We got it. We have the most incredible food here, but with this much great food, there comes great responsibility. More time spent at the gym or learning how to restrain yourself are just a couple things we all have to learn as UMass students. So yes, too much good food is a unique problem for us to have as well, but we sure do love it!
What problems do you face here, Collegiettes?