College students know it can be difficult to balance all the demands of student life and still have time for yourself. But, there are a few struggles only students who commute to campus will understand.
1. Waking up extra earlyWhile most students can roll out of bed at 7:30 a.m. and grab breakfast on the way to their early morning class, you have to wake up at 6:00 a.m to get ready, factor in driving time, traffic, the time it takes to find a parking spot, and time it takes to walk to class from wherever you end up parking.
2. Trying to find a parking spot
It is no secret that the student-to-parking-spot ratio is way off. Especially during winter when people can’t see the parking lines covered in snow, so they just make up their own spot. The race to find a parking spot is often brutal, but there’s no better feeling than finding a good spot on your first loop around the lot!
3. What to do on those long breaks between classes… So your morning class got let out early? Lucky you. Oh wait- you can’t go back to your dorm and take a nap…you have to wait around another three hours until your next class starts. At least you can use this time to catch up on homework or go see a movie, your choice!
4. Making friendsIt can be hard to make friends when you just attend class and then go home- and easy to miss out on opportunities to meet new people.
5. Feeling like you live in your carWhen you have to spend the day at school from sun up to sun down, and can’t go back and forth to your dorm to pick stuff up, you end up packing like you will be gone for a week. You’ve got your backpack with all the class materials for the day, a gym bag, an extra change of clothes, extra pair of shoes, your makeup bag that you threw in your car because you didn’t have enough time to get ready this morning. It adds up fast.Regardless of the added struggles of being a commuter student, there is not much better than being able to come home and crash in your own bed after a long day!
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