My experience commuting to campus

When I tell people I commute from East London to Kingston Upon Thames every day, they’re always shocked and honestly, I get why. My journey involves one bus and two trains, taking at most 1.5 hours each way one a good day. If one train is delayed, everything shifts. There is no such thing as leaving the house five minutes late.

At the start of 1st year, I did decide to live on campus to ease my travels, but I chose to move back home for 2nd and 3rd year for comfortability and financial security. At the start of 2nd year, I didn't realise how draining commuting could be. By the time I reached campus, I’d have used a lot of my energy. Staying late for events isn’t always realistic either when you know you still have a trip home.

But commuting also made me more organised and disciplined. I’ve learned to manage my time better (although I sometimes I arrive a little later than expected) and use my travel time to catch up on lectures, prepare for where my lectures take place or even mentally rest before springing into my university timetable for the day. Over time, I've realised commuting isn’t always something I do alone. On some days, I end up catching parts of the journey with friends, and it makes such a difference. What feels long and tiring by yourself suddenly turns into time to talk, laugh or debrief. That sense of shared experience makes it a lot more manageable.

I don’t take my time on campus for granted because I know how much effort it takes to get there. When I’m there, I take the opportunity to complete assignments, use resources within the library and speak to lecturers so that when I arrive back home from a long university day, I can switch off. It’s a constant balance between two parts of my life, and although it’s tiring, it’s helped me grow in ways I didn’t expect at the start of commuting to university.

Is anyone else commuting long distance to university? How are you finding it?
Trenyce (Kingston rep)

(edited 1 month ago)