By Isabel DeSisto
My commute to college feels as though I am making an attempt to collect every form of transportation. To attend class I must travel in a car, then a train, and then finally the subway. If it were practical to travel by plane and boat, then I would really have a collection to boast about.
My schedule is built around this transportation. A factor many people forget to consider when commuting into the city is that if you aren’t going by car you are going on someone else’s time. In order to commute you must be aware of the transportation schedules so that a proper class schedule can be built.
I have never been a morning person, so I pretend 8 a.m. classes do not exist. Instead my first class starts bright and early at 10 a.m.. Unfortunately I can no longer roll out of bed in my pjs and run to class ten minutes before it starts. Now I have to wake up early to make the train that will get me to campus on time.
My commute to campus takes an hour total. However, because the commuter rail, a train that spans a farther distance from Boston than the subway, has a strict schedule, I end up having to wake up three hours before class.
So at 7 a.m. I wake up and get ready. I have to make sure all of my essentials are in my bag–I can’t run back home to grab homework or lip gloss. Once I’m ready I sit in my car for a minute letting it either cool down or warm up, depending on the state of the unpredictable New England weather. This has become a ritual that allows me to wake up and be in my own space for a few minutes before I am surrounded by many others for the rest of the day.
Luckily I have two trains I can get on, an earlier one at 8:13 or a later one 30 minutes later, so there is some room for delays, but not too much. If I miss the later one, I will definitely miss a class, which will impact my grade quickly. Normally to air on the side of precaution, I chose the earlier one. The commuter rail is predictable, but the MBTA (Boston’s subway also known as the T) is much less so. I prefer to be prepared.
I drive my car down the road to the train station. The radio plays some random song quietly. The ride is much too short to hook up my Bluetooth, so I never bother. I pull in and try to find a parking space in the packed lot.
I pay for parking–most of the time. If I forget I can count on a nice bill making its way in the mail. I walk towards the platform checking my bag one last time; leaving something in my car feels worse than leaving it at home.
Once on the train I show my digital ticket and try not to fall asleep. The internet is always comically bad, so I either read or listen to some downloaded music. Sometimes, if I was too busy the night before, I do homework. The ride goes by fast, normally. I know the stops well and the conductors are all familiar faces at this point.
Once we get to North Station everyone exits. People throw away their coffee cups, others go to stand in the Dunkin line that is only growing. Some exit the building, but many people, including myself, walk straight to the underground trains.
In Boston the T are categorised by color. There is the red, orange, blue, and green line. I can take either the orange or green, the flexibility comes in handy as frequently one or the other is down. Depending on which is running and which is sooner, I get on, standing as they are often packed. I hold my bag as close to myself as I can to try to make space. I disassociate as people talk or yell.
Eventually we get to my stop and I exit quickly. The subways are stuffy and humid and I need the outside air. I leave and walk towards campus, which is only a short walk.
Now that I still have an hour before class starts I walk through the Boston common (a beautiful park right across from my campus) when the weather permits. If it is cold I go to the classroom early, turn the lights on, and wait for others to appear.
The journey to campus isn’t horrible, but it is hard to balance classes around the trains, and it gets costly. Round trip, the journey costs about twenty five dollars. The semester pass is over a thousand dollars.
Luckily my college only allows us four classes per semester, so I stack them. The first semester I did all four on one day forcing me to be on campus from 9 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. two days a week. The days I was in class were long and exhausting. The days that I had off I spent catching up on all my homework and readings. It was difficult to balance work, school, and a social life, so it was a schedule that I would never recommend.
The second semester I commuted I took three classes in person and one online. This balance was much better, and I was able to do all the classes back to back. This upcoming semester I have enough credits to take just three classes. Therefore I only have to commute two days a week. Even so, travelling is still exhausting and time consuming.
There are many benefits of taking this journey, even if it is difficult. This blog is going to cover the positives, the negatives, and my tips as a seasoned commuter.
