college anxieties – Committing to the Commute

As being college students, whether it be residential, commuter or one that has recently become the biggest of all (an online student), we have all had to learn many different things. That’s literally our job; to learn things. In fact you don’t even have to be a college student to learn things, but I think you already knew that.

As commuters, we had to learn how to get to our school; to park at our school; to do our school work, whether it be in the library or our kitchen table; to balance school work and our job. Some may even have had to learn how to take classes on campus as well as online. And because of the world we are currently living in, that has become my hardest challenge yet.

I do feel that many college commuters also take online classes since it can be more beneficial for them to stay home instead of having to drive in everyday, or taking an online class so they can go to work or tend to their children more. Needless to say, I’ve never been one of those commuters. I’ve never taken an online class until now.

WHAT! I know. It sounds crazy!

I just never thought I would enjoy it, I found it to be a lot more work, and frankly I was scared of it. I don’t know if there are any of you like me out there, but if so, leave it in the comments below and let me know as to why you’ve never taken an online class.

But the time had come. A time I was dreading and was never expecting. Due to the pandemic, all my classes were forced to go online and for the first time ever I had to learn how to take online classes. Dun Dun Dunnnnn…

Lets just start off by saying this, it hasn’t been easy and I’m still working it. It’s not like I can go from one day only having face-to-face classes and then magically transitioning perfectly into online classes. This is a process that I have to deal with day by day and continue to keep practicing at. And you do too since we are all currently in this together.

Queue The High School Musical Ending in 3,…2,…1…

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Anyways, each day I’ve had to learn how to access the work along with learning how to submit it. I’ve also learned that every teacher is different. So learning how each one runs their course has been a challenge. I’ve also had to learn what Zoom is as I’m sure most of you have too. I’m not sure about you guys, but the only thing that came to my mind when hearing about Zoom was the kid TV show lol.

Tv Zoom GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

Wow I’m old.

I think one of the biggest struggles has been the change from having a specific schedule to now having class anytime you want and teachers sending work and announcements left and right. Have you gotten ones at 1am because I have. It’s ridiculous!

Like I’ve said it’s been quite challenging and very stressful. Everyday I’ve been trying to create a system of my own to keep everything structured as much as I can to make sure I get the work done, yet still have enough time to relax. It’s been working for me so far, but remember time management is key. If you need a starting point may I suggest a to-do list or even blocking out times to do specific things.

That is actually something I learned from a couple of tip sheets that I read. I highly recommend that if you’re stuck transitioning from face-to-face to now online during this time to look through some tip sheets on how to take online classes. Or even if you’re someone who is considering online classes in the future. They are certainly helpful to know and in fact you may already know some that you have applied in your regular classes.

I will say though that this is not a regular semester nor how regular online classes go. This is a weird time for all of us so we need to be patient and try not to beat ourselves up about not doing things the way we hope. This is a learning curve we all need to deal with, even our teachers. If you’re reading this now (during the Covid-19 pandemic) and are struggling with the transition from face-to-face to online I highly recommend this tip sheet for how to deal with taking online classes now.

All I can say is that we’re all going through it right now, some having it harder than others, but we can get through this. Before you know it the semester will be over and summer will be here. YAY!! All we can do now is try our best and be kind to one another. This is not a normal situation for any of us so we need to give each other some slack. Even if you think you are the only one struggling during this time and having a hard time navigating through this new territory called online classes, just know I’m right there with you struggling and learning every step of the way.

Imagine this:

You just left your house to go to school. Backpack, check, phone, check, keys, check. You turn on your music and start jamming away as you drive your many miles to get to school. You’re in a decent headspace knowing you’ve finished your test that was due today and your paper is all set and printed, until you pull into the school realizing you’re about to head into a major war zone.

“Please! Please let there be a space. I can’t risk being late again.”

All you see are cars upon cars filling up the entire commuter parking lot with tons more circling around in hopes to maybe find one empty one. I swear it’s like a bunch of hawks just circling its prey. You drive slow and keep your eyes pealed as the rest of the hawks do the same.

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Your anxiety increases as you see nothing opening up or being available. You circle once more. With luck a spot just opened up. You start to speed up a bit in hopes to get it. All of a sudden, a car coming from the opposite direction spots it too and somehow manages to get there just before you.

AHHHHHHHH!!! NOW WHAT?

This just seems to happen to you no matter what day or time; it’s always a blood bath.

I don’t know about you, but this tends to happen to me almost everyday I go to school. I can hardly ever find parking, and when I do it’s a godsend. But let me tell you, it really grinds my gears.

I shouldn’t have to fight for a spot everyday just to go to school; there should be space for everyone and then more space on top of that space.

At my school faculty and staff say that there’s enough space for all of us. They start by saying that we have 8 parking areas; which of course the biggest one being the dumping grounds for all of the residents’ cars. So even if you did want to park there, you would be parking in the far back. Have fun walking a mile 🙂

They also say to us to get to school early that way most spaces will be available (maybe don’t tell that to everyone next time).

There just never seems to be enough space to hold all of us and it’s really frustrating, especially when our parking lots are also used for other cars that decide to not park in their designated parking lots. I don’t know how many times I have seen student stickers and faculty stickers on parked cars in the commuter lot; which by the way, can receive tickets for. But then again, just this week I counted at least 5 cop cars in potentially good parking spaces for all of us commuters too.

I just don’t get it. There are so many other lots they could take, why ours? We barely have enough space as it is.

Like I’ve said in past posts, we just don’t get the recognition we deserve. I think people just assume that we won’t mind that our spots are taken for their convenience when that is really the biggest thing a commuter can ask for; a parking space.

All I ask is for more space and to actually care about your commuters. It sucks when a major commuter parking lot is covered in snow because that was the only lot the school let any faculty or staff park in so the rest of the lovely lots could be plowed to perfection. Couldn’t they just keep one of the million faculty lots open for them? Did they really have to use our lot, because now after driving in the elements and risking our lives to get to school we now can find no places to park because they’re all filled with snow drifts and the school just didn’t have time to plow it; whoops, sorry. It’s not like we can park in the faculty/staff or resident parking lots either, even though it should be when you can’t find a space.

Everyday I see empty faculty lots staring me in the face along with a big open field just waiting in my opinion to become a parking lot. I get it nature is important, but getting to the class I paid for is too. Sometimes I wish we could do something about that, because an extended parking lot in my opinion would be very helpful.

Well… maybe there is something we can do about it.

Like I’ve said in a past post, Commuter Services is a great place to talk about your concerns about anything commuter-related. So if there really is a problem at your school about parking, like mine, bring it up because maybe a change will happen. Maybe you could get another parking lot or having a better way of handling the wrong groups of people that park in your parking lot.

If we continue to complain about parking and do nothing about it then nothing will change because to everyone else nothing seems to be wrong. Take action.

To all of you parking lot survivors out there, I understand your pain and I wish you luck at your next battle. As to all you residents, faculty, staff, and random visitors out there, GET OUT OF OUR PARKING LOT!! Thank you 🙂

Tag: college anxieties

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