Hey everyone
Just sort of internally arguing back and forth with myself. I go to a University about an hour from home and deciding whether it would be worth it to live on campus next year.
Not that a 1 hour drive is terrible, but being in my junior year of my program, I find myself here at least 4 days a week, and then there are student activities which run at night. I have long days so I will get here at 9 AM and not leave until sometimes 9 PM. I have a group of friends that always want to study for exams on days I don’t have class so I will drive out for that. I guess what I’m trying to say is I spend a lot of my time here during the week.
At what point would you find it to be worth it to rent an apartment? Not just from a commuting stand point but also when you’re exhausted after a long day and don’t want to drive an hour to go to bed? Or when a group of friends want to study on a day off? Thank you for all opinions!
I commute an hour each way but I commute via public transit which I think is an important distinction. If I was unable to take public transit to school and had to drive, I’d probably get an off campus apartment.
A one hour driving commute is a huge time drain - you cannot really devote that time to anything other than driving (and perhaps listening to a podcast or something) plus its a safety hazard. If one day you’ve been thrown through the ringer with exams, meetings, homework, etc you’ll likely be exhausted - driving home while tired (and at night) is really dangerous. It’s also a hassle - there have been a few incidents where I’ve gotten home only to check my email and find that some interesting event is going on at school and I already spent an hour getting home. Bleh. And gas (and repairs) can be expensive, especially if your car is already pretty old.
There’s something rejuvenating and strengthening about being at home. Personally, I would commute and get some audiobooks.