Life as a Commuter

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Commuting to school can sometimes be a good thing or a bad thing. Some days, you will love it and other days you will hate it. Personally, I have mixed feelings about commuting. Some days, I do want to live on campus because I believe it will make my life easier. I'm not entirely fond of traveling back and forth from home to school all the time. It is tiring and annoying. I live in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, which is 45 minutes away from Temple University. I wake up every morning to catch the septa bus, so it can take me to the train station. I have to get up early, so I can arrive to class on time. To get to Temple University, I have to take two trains to get there which is the Market-Frankford Line and the Broad Street Line. I travel to the suburbs to the city every week and sometimes the weekend as well. Then, I have to travel back home, when I'm done with school or hanging out with friends on campus. I travel back and forth every day, which is a struggle. The transportation system doesn't help all the time and sometimes makes commuting even more difficult. Septa are every commuter nightmare sometimes because sometimes the buses and trains are running late and students will come late to their class, all out of breath because they ran to get to class on time. Currently, I'm running to my 10 a.m. class all the time now because the trains are running late or it stops in the middle of nowhere for no reason. Sometimes Septa workers will go on strike, but that rarely happens. But, if it does, then all commuting students are in trouble because they can’t get to school without these transportations. They have to figure out a way to get to college and go back home. They have to plan ahead of time, so it doesn’t cause a problem the next day. There’s too much traffic on strike days because everyone is taking their car. Students won’t know how long the strike is going to take. In my opinion, transportation is important to a commuter student’s life. Not only, transportation is terrible, it's hard to meet new people on campus because you don't live there. It’s easier to make friends when you’re living in a dorm room. The first friend's people make, when living in a dorm room is their roommates. Also, it’s easier for them to make friends in classes because they can see their classmates every day outside of class. Unlike, commuters they don’t get to see their friends in college all the time because, after a long hard day in college, they want to go home. Also, sometimes they have to go home, so they can do their homework or work. After, a long day of school and commuting back and forth; I don't feel like doing my homework because I'm worn out from school. But, I do it anyway because I want to get my degree and get a good job in the future. Despite, all those negative things. Commuting is beneficial at times and it won't stop people from having their college experience. Due to commuting, I'm saving a lot of money because I don't have to pay for housing and meal plans. It makes my tuition cheaper than students living in the dorm rooms. Also, I don't have to pay back a lot of loans because I'm going to school for a cheaper rate, so I won't be in too much debt in the future. Sometimes people say, living on campus will give students a great college experience. However, students, who are commuting can have a great college experience too. They can still join organizations; I joined four organizations this year. All I need to do is manage my time. Time management is important for commuting students because it's important to have fun and get your work done. The only way to do that is time management. I went to football and basketball games at Temple University and I had a blast. Even though I'm a commuter student and it's a struggle sometimes. I'm still getting the college experience and saving money at the same time. Therefore, commuting is both good and bad, depends on your experience.