Ms. Min’s chariot. (SEPTA)

After three years of campus life, I decided to save some cash during my senior year by commuting from my Lansdale home. When I told my friends, their initial reaction was, “Why (the heck would you want to live with your parents again)?” With only a handful of undergraduate commuter students at Penn, my experience has been a bit different from that of the average Penn student. Here’s the 411 on going to school from home:

• A Wacky Schedule: I have a fourth-grader’s bedtime, when most college students are rousing themselves from post-dinner food comas to begin a long night of “studying.” I also wake at an ungodly hour of the morning to have breakfast with my parents and catch the 7:38 R5 Express.
• The Joy of Siblings: I’ve learned to block out my kid brother’s rendition of “Ode to Joy” on his beginner violin while trying to read Paradise Lost.
• More Green Spaces: I take spontaneous trips to the park to go kite-flying with the family.
• More Cash in My Wallet: My mother supplies me with Red Bull in bulk from Costco.
• Home Cooking: I’m desperately trying to lose the 15 pounds I’ve gained since the beginning of the school year. My mom’s Korean cooking is that good.
• The Absence of Peers: I find myself working off those pounds alongside senior citizens at the Y. (Where do I get my motivation without the Pottruck eye candy, you ask? You’d be surprised. Seeing what I’ll look like in 50 years is enough to make me appreciate my youthful energy all the more! Plus, it means I don’t need to put on makeup to go to the gym!)
• More Planning: I need at least 2 hours’ advance notice to attend any kind of event on campus, whether it’s a group meeting, a show, or simply dinner with friends. In other words, that a cappella concert better be worth the trip! Staying connected to the Penn community as a commuter is not impossible, but it takes a heck of a lot of effort.

Campus life is a lot of fun — it’s a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience. But, I don’t regret choosing to live at home during my last year at Penn. Pretty soon, I, along with many other seniors, will be making the official transition to adult life. We’ll be leaving the nest for good. I’m grateful for the time I’ve had with my family this past year.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 at 11:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.