Sundays, the dreariest of days if you’re returning to college. Sundays are for sleeping in late, and having dinner before starting the long commute back to college. For most of us, this commute can start anywhere between four pm and six pm, and can take between four and six hours.
Somewhere along the way you find yourself plugging in to music on the bus, train, or even if you’re getting a lift. It consists of shuffling in and out of buses and walking from town out to your accommodation, only to drop your bags and turn around and head for the shop.
Sundays are the longest day of my week. By nine o’clock Sunday night I’m exhausted, from the three – hour long bus ride, trudging through Dunnes for food and trying my best to unpack. Mostly my bags sit in the corner of my room until I get sick of staring at them and decide it’s better to unpack them than live out of a suitcase for the rest of the week.
It almost feels like constantly shuffling between two places, home and my home away from home. It’s a rare time in your life when you’re both independent and co – dependent at the same time. On one hand you’re living away from home, making your own meals and doing shopping, but on the other hand you’re also relying on the bank of mam and dad. You bring your washing home every weekend and take up dinners your mam has ready and packed to go on Sunday before the bus. Nothing beats her shepherd’s pie.
Before you know it the week is over, you’re packing your bag, heading to your last lecture and then off to the bus or train or car and suddenly the distance doesn’t seem so far. Suddenly you realise you were never too far from home, and your two lives overlap. College is the only time in your adult life where you can have the best of both worlds.
Of course, there are those times when you’ve missed the bus, your train gets delayed, it takes you six hours to get home. It can be frustrating, and I know for those out there working weekends it feels like you’re never home, you come back from college, go to work, come home, sleep, eat and leave again. That’s all part of the chaos that is college life.
The perfect balance between the two means making time for home and college. Maybe take a weekend off every now and then, spend it with your friends back home or your family. As for college, treat yourself to a night off, go to the cinema, go out for dinner, or even a shopping spree. College is never easy, so take a break when you can.
To my fellow final years, congratulations on making it this far, the commutes and chaos have only begun.
Make sure to pick up a copy of the next issue of SIN which contains the next installment in the final year diaries.