Wouldn't It Be Nice to Have a Car?

Until recently, I was one of the blessed individuals who had a car on campus. It was a beautiful experience. I could go wherever, whenever. Bored sitting in my room? No problem — I’ll take a drive to the store. Professors expecting me to go to a place off campus for an assignment — no problem! I can hop in my car and get right over there.

Now, I’m car-less. Not having a car wouldn’t be so bad, but in college, it seems like it’s almost as important as a laptop or your books. As a journalism major, I can see how it is expected for us to go off-campus for stories. Have you ever been to Oswego in the dead of winter? With the wind pushing you so hard you almost fall and snowflakes feel like bullets shooting across your face? Maybe I’m being a little over-dramatic, but the winter is no joke. Walking around isn’t so bad, people used to do it before cars, but the sidewalks are so packed with snow, we pedestrians need to walk on the road just to get to our destination, which is dangerous no matter where you are.

There is the bus, of course. But sometimes reading the map is harder than reading Latin. The buses aren’t always reliable and are hardly ever on time. What if you accidentally miss the bus? Standing out in the barely 20 degree weather, with a wind chill of -7, waiting for another bus does not sound appealing. Especially when buses don’t go by all that often.

Another solution is to ask a friend for a ride, but asking too often could put a rift between the friendship. And not everybody has the same schedule, so you might have to wait awhile until your free time matches up.

A lot of college campuses have stores, but I would rather not spend ten dollars for a tiny bottle of shampoo. College already takes enough of my money.

What I’m trying to get at here is that it should not be assumed everyone has the resources to get to the store or other places around the city. Professors should give us an option on it. Look at the poor education majors. Some of them have to beg to get rides to the schools they student teach at. The college does try its best to place the people without cars in a school close, but there aren’t hundreds of spots open.

Maybe someday we will live in a world where everyone has a car on campus or the winter weather will be less brutal. Until that does, we will have to suffer with taking the bus and racking our brains to figure out how to get from place to place.