Commuting…there are many advantages to it. It does save a lot of money throughout the years. You may be living with your parents or family members and see them more often, but there are also many dangerous factors to it, and winter only makes things worse sometimes.
Personally, it has not made it too difficult so far, since this is my first year, but it has been a problem that you must consider. On a normal day for class, I leave 20 to 25 minutes early to get here on time. In the winter, I have to take more time, considering the snow and what could happen if I don’t take precautions.Another problem with this is that the school does not cancel classes, so I still have to drive through the poor conditions. Professors do sometimes take note of this, but there are times when they need you to be in class. Depending on the weather, roads get icy or sometimes end up being closed. This can cause conflict, even though you have already taken the time to be safe—it still ends up delaying the travel. My car has slipped in the snow on many occasions and has almost caused accidents. Luckily, it has not turned out that way.
An option that I have taken has been to stay with a friend overnight—it helps on bad snow days to not take the risk of driving back home.
There are also many other problems that have risen. One of them is that cars can break down in the middle of the road and cause traffic delays. So even though there are many beneficial factors—which are why I have decided to commute—there are also the bad situations I have mentioned, amongst others which I have not personally experienced. So if you have a friend that commutes and feels like you could give them a hand, they would really appreciate it.
Sonia Guadalupe Navarro is a first-year history major from Chicago, Ill.
