The Early Bird Catches the Bus

After much (and I mean a hell of a lot of) deliberation, I have decided to commute from outside of Leicester into University for my final year. I will therefore be able to carry on the tradition of my predecessor Zara, and share with you my experience of commuting throughout the year.

My journey into University each day takes roughly an hour and a half by bus and I must admit that at the start of the term this prospect was really daunting. I had gotten used to the luxury of only living 15-20 minutes walk away from campus.

After a month of commuting I can identify some stark pros and cons of having to make a journey of this length each day and no longer living at a convenient distance from campus.

The benefits of commuting:

1. Saving money by living at home – even taking into consideration the cost of travelling, the cost of commuting from home is proving far cheaper than the cost of living in Leicester in my first and second year.
2. More focused – I am now treating my degree more like a job. I am on campus each day for a 9-5 of lectures, tutorials and library sessions and now go without much loved spontaneous trips to the pub.  Don’t worry I still fit in the odd planned-in-advance pint.

The downsides to commuting:

1. Missing out/ less time for extra-curricular activities: as a result of not being able to drive to and from University, I have to fit my timetable around that of the bus’ and as such this has meant that it isn’t logistically possible for me to take part in evening activities without being left stranded in Leicester overnight. However on this score I can’t place all of the blame on commuting. I had planned to scale back my involvement in extra curricular activities in my third year in order to have more time to focus on my studies and so commuting has simply forced me to stick to this plan.

Of course the effect of commuting on your lifestyle will differ depending on the length of your journey and your mode of transport.

Overall I am pretty happy with my decision and I’m feeling positive about the year ahead.