As a first-semester freshman who lives 10 minutes away from campus, I’m still new to the commuter game. But as I pass my “first month of college” milestone, here are 12 commuter truths I’ve come to know and love.
1. You will feel left out at orientation when everyone has their roomies to hang with, their special hall activities going on, and their #dormgoals to share.
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2. People will tell you what dorm they’re in, and for a while you’ll only have a vague idea of what they’re talking about. North Hall must be North, right?
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3. People will constantly forget you’re a commuter, but you’re okay with that because it means you’re *accepted*.
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4. When you do find a fellow commuter, you are instantly family and have an unbreakable bond, even if you only talk to them for a few minutes and never again.
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5. You will base your parking spot around where your first class is, and you have the minutes of walking (running) between locking your car and getting to Nygreen down to a science.
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6. You know your favorite gas station on your route to CLU, and you’ve made more trips there than you would like to.
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7. What Even is a Meal Plan? is a self-published novel about every time someone mentions the Ullman Commons.
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8. When you have an hour and a half break in between classes everyday and no dorm to go back to, you quickly adopt a spot on campus to be your designated Break Party Time area. Catch me on the Starbucks couches in between World Civ and Intro to Christianity, kids.
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9. If you have an 8 am class, you feel like there’s a little bit of leeway for when you can get there. Thanks for not calling me out when I walk in a few minutes late Prof. Claussen, the traffic on Olsen got the best of me once again.
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10. Since you can’t rely on roommates, you have to be a little more creative to find friends. But with classes and clubs at your disposal, you’ll be sure to find people you connect with, even without being on campus 24/7.
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11. You will try your best to plan clubs and activities around when you’re on campus for classes, or you will take an extra long break in Starbucks between your class that ends at 4:00 and your Zumba class at 6:30. Honestly, who would really want to drive to school twice in a day?
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12. Eventually, commuting will be the life for you since getting to eat, sleep and study at home or deciding to hang on campus all day whenever you choose to isn’t all that bad. In fact, your orientation worries of #noroomielove will change to #roomieloveformyself, and what’s better than that?
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