The Art of Commuting and Social Integration

Hello, I’m Ryan and I’m a first-year at Leeds Trinity University. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t mastered commuting to university yet and I doubt I ever will. It has been a difficult first few weeks as I definitely struggle at getting up in the morning and it’s fair to say that I am categorically, just lazy. At the moment, I take trains to university 3 days a week minimum and in this blog, I thought I would share my experience and provide some tips that have helped me so far.

From the early, rainy mornings to my moody fellow commuters; it is generally quite a boring and depressing journey to university. But, I keep reminding myself that it won’t last forever, and what I can say is that the people I have met during my first few weeks here are nothing short of brilliant. From my course mates, friends in the football teams to my best friend’s flatmates; they have been genuinely kind, sociable and welcoming — some I even feel like I’ve known for years. The lecturers are great, too. Furthermore, the fact that one of my good friends from school lives here and allows me to stay over from time to time definitely helps.

I did have prior worries when it came to socially integrating at the university, but I feel like I do have plenty of people that I can talk to and the Football club that I joined has been a great way to not only exercise but to socialise and meet new people. However, there are times where I feel like I may be left out, simply due to the fact that on the weekends I would rarely be here and therefore won’t be spending time with a lot of people from the university. But I try to socialise with people from my home town when I get the chance as well as working at Lidl (big up).

Here are some tips for people for integrating yourself into social groups when commuting to university.

• Spend some time with your course mates outside of lectures or seminars if possible
• Join a club or society where you can attend socials when you are in university.
• Make the most out of your days when you commute.
• Spend time in the student lounge.
• Try to find people who you can commute with to and from university
• Sleepover at a mate’s flat (but not all the time)
• Attend events on campus
• Stay in touch with people back home
• Make yourself a workplace at your home, where you can complete work efficiently.

By no means am I an extrovert, or a social butterfly who finds no problem socialising with people. If anything, I have struggled over the past few weeks in adapting to the commuting life, but hopefully, with the tips I have provided, you can enjoy your time at university more. Commuting is a forcing function for productivity, and remember, the experience of commuting for a year or however long — is valuable for you.

Furthermore, commuting in itself can be made more enjoyable, less stressful and less expensive than what it is made out to be. One of the main things for me is investing in a travel card, which has saved me endless amounts of money. I currently have a 16–25 railcard but there are plenty out there that suits the needs of anyone no matter their situation.

Additionally, fighting boredom and perhaps combating that with productivity might be the key to enjoying commuting a bit more. Personally, I listen to music on the way to and from university but you could watch YouTube videos, listen to podcasts or even complete work on the way there and back. There are plenty of ways to fight off boredom, and they genuinely do help.

Commuting most days of the week can take a toll on you, but the key is to stay positive and try to enjoy your time at university when you are there and make the most out of every day — whether that be doing work or socialising. I am slowly getting used to commuting and I feel much happier every day.

Thanks for reading.