Even with the extra advising when making my schedule and adjusting to the UCF system, I made some poor decisions my first semester as a commuter. While they didn’t affect my academics (thankfully), they did affect my sleep schedule, work, and studying habits more so than the mistakes I made my first semester as a resident at my previous college. Luckily, I quickly realized my mistakes—well, not that quickly, but in time for choosing classes for my second semester schedule. Some I learned from and adjusted to, while I learned that some are just unavoidable misfortunes of living forty miles away from school. That’s the price you pay for living at home.
The first mistake I made was spacing my classes out. While I only had classes three days out of the week, the times were not compatible for a commuter’s schedule. On Monday’s and Wednesday’s, I would be on campus for up to eleven hours, while only having three hours’ worth of classes. Thursday’s were probably the worst because I only had one, forty-five-minute class and then I was immediately back on the road for an hour long drive.
I would spend most of my time on Mondays and Wednesdays watching Netflix in the Business Administration building, hoping that I would get the good couch next to the outlet so that my computer would last for the 9-12 hours. I rarely had any homework to do because I was in all introductory level classes with large class sizes, which meant the only graded assignments were tests; most of my professors did not even use the textbooks I spent hundreds of dollars on, so this semester has been quite a shock academically. I learned where and where not to eat on campus, sometimes spending over $20 a day in order to get decent meals, which were not always the healthiest or most well balanced meals. Sometimes, it was either ice cream for dinner or starve by waiting until I got home at 9 p.m.
I lucked out this semester by getting two online classes, and my two in person classes are back-to-back in the same room. I get to eat all of my meals at home and can relax or work on the mountain of reading and assignments that I got so far this semester from the comfort of my own home. I have to say that I do miss my couch sometimes, but not enough to visit it.
As a commuter, I work in order to support myself and pay for the enormous amount of gas that I use driving to in from campus. Last semester, I would work 12 hour shifts until 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m., while having to leave at 7 a.m. the next morning.
I learned to work with my managers in order to ensure that I never work late at night when I have to be at class early the next morning. Most managers have no problem helping with academic related scheduling issues—they want you to succeed and will help anyway they can. This is extraordinarily helpful, as I am able to sleep well and never have to worry about driving while barely being able to keep my eyes open. No one wants this to happen:
The final mistake I made was getting frustrated while driving to and from UCF. Coming from driving in New York City, the traffic in Orlando should be nothing, but everyone knows the traffic on I-4 is the worst and that parking is always a magical time. The first two months or so I would scream at people while in traffic, putting me in a bad mood for the rest of the day.
Leaving for UCF early and enjoying a coffee when class doesn’t start for a half an hour is a great option. Downloading an audiobook and playing it in your car can be more distracting than just music, and will keep your mind off of the rush hour traffic on the way home.
Overall, when you are a commuter, you try your best to make your schedule work for you, but it’s also important to learn to take what comes your way and not to get too stressed out—this can be difficult, but once you accept that you are going to sit in traffic or that you just spent $20 on lunch because your first attempt at lunch was inedible, it is much easier to enjoy the perks of living at home during the school year (i.e. free food, no communal bathrooms, personal space, etc.).
Photo credit: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5, Image 6, Image 7