In my first year, I chose not to live in London and had to adjust to something completely new – commuting.
As someone who has family and friends in London meaning they spent a large period of their childhood in the Capital, adjusting to London was fairly easy. The idea of travelling to central London multiple times a week was not a problem for me, I simply viewed it as this new level of independence where I was required to go to my lectures and seminars on time. It was no different to travelling to sixth form or even secondary school, it was just on a slightly larger scale!
Starting the day early
The main adjustment I had to make was getting up earlier, however as I am a morning person this was not much of an issue for me. The 15-minute walk to sixth form that I had spent the past couple of years doing was now a 45-minute (sometimes longer depending on the trains) commute. Despite being used to travelling on trains, travelling alone at rush hour was new and slightly daunting to me. Prior to university, I’d only really taken trains at off-peak hours and with my friends. However, this new experience was something I adjusted to fairly quickly after being exposed to this twice a day for multiple weeks, it soon became part of my routine.
The worry of train delays!
The reliability of trains was one worry that I had going into my first year. It is common for trains to be late, and there is always the possibility of cancellations. My main concern was missing seminars or being late because of public transport. Thankfully, in my first year, I only had to miss one seminar as a result of a cancelled train, due to the storms we had during the winter. It did not take long to learn that in this environment we are treated like adults, meaning if you are late or miss a class due to a public transport nightmare it’s not the end of the world. I was simply advised to book an office hour or request any missed content to be emailed to me.
Looking back on my year of commuting
Overall, I feel I adjusted to commuting quickly, the more I did it, the easier it became! So, whilst it may be difficult to adjust to at first, once you’ve got the hang of commuting it becomes second nature.
