A good portion of NYU students, including myself, commute everyday. Having spoken to other commuters myself, Her Campus understands the commuter’s daily struggle.
1) Trains
Our number one pet peeve must be the train. Half the time, the train is delayed, making us late to class when we don’t want to be. Other times, the train is super crowded and getting to school may just be the greatest hustle. And even if we try to leave the house two hours early, complications usually arise.
2) Time Management
No one ever thought that college would be a highschool 2.0, but it sure feels like it when commuting. Spending one hour or more commuting back and forth to the NYU campus is time consuming. If we have night classes, we get home around 9-10pm depending on the trains. With meetings, assignment deadlines, extracurriculars, work, and the other many responsibilities we may have, how are we supposed to manage it all?
3) Work
Now, what if we have to work as well? This adds even more to our plates. Work study is challenging to manage when we have to run between class and work, all on campus. On the other hand, working off campus is only a bigger challenge when we are commuting.
4) Meals
Oh, how much we wish we had meal plans! We never know what to eat if we didn’t pack anything for lunch or dinner that day. Just deciding on what to eat, ordering, and eating, and then getting back to class on time is quite a hassle. Even making meals the day before can prove to be challenging.
5) Commuter Spaces
When we have long breaks in between our schedules, where do we go? There has to be some place to go to, but we never find this with ease. Commuter spots or lounge areas are usually full with people so it’s hard to find that perfect spot to spend some downtime doing work.
6) Making Friends
For most of us commuters, we tend to go to class and then go home. We don’t necessarily bother staying around after class or coming a few hours early since the commute already takes up a lot of time. Because of this, we tend to be just in and out, missing out on talking to people who dorm or other commuters who are also in and out. It can become a struggle to make friends since we always seem to “miss” one another.
7) Nonexistent Extracurricular Activities
Most NYU clubs and events are held late at night or during times when we have class. When this happens, we are never sure if we want to wait out the three plus hours before we go to the event or club activity. This only makes it harder for us to get involved. And, because many of us do not have lockers, there is an issue of where to leave our things.