Torn between two cities: The life of student commuters
Interstate 25, cars zooming past one another. The trucks moving along, their lights making a path, and the early sun following you. You pull down the sun visor in the car as you look to the cup holder where your morning drink sits, ready to help you through the early start. Once you take a sip and put it back, you unwrap a breakfast sandwich you bought at McDonald’s because it was easier than groggily making something while getting ready.
This is what most of my mornings look like. I’m a commuter student: I don’t live in the same place I go to school. I’ve had lots of time with this subject, too, as I have been commuting for about 12 years now. From Rio Rancho to Santa Fe takes about an hour, if it’s a straight drive, from destination to destination. If there is traffic, then there is more time spent on the road, not to mention the possibility of being late to work, a concern for my mom and dad, who both commute to Santa Fe with me to get to work every day. Or in my case, being late for school, even though New Mexico School for the Arts is a commuter-based school.
However, I know I’m not the only young person who does this. People commute for a variety of reasons, and there is no set, given reason. It differs with everyone; it could be to go to a program and see family, like Ulysses Alvarez does when he commutes to Santa Fe from Rio Rancho. Or coming to school and the dorms at New Mexico School for the Arts, like freshman Robbie Aguilar does when he comes from Taos to Santa Fe.
I talked to them about their experience as commuter students and some of the pros and cons.
Aguilar commutes from Taos to get to school for the week. “It’s not that, that, that bad. Like I think it could be worse.” he said “… There’s a lot of people that drive five hours, and I only commute an hour and a half or two hours.”
Alvarez, who goes to school at V. Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, commutes from Rio Rancho to Santa Fe regularly for the after school Breakthrough Santa Fe program and has similar feelings.
“I get to come back to my hometown each time I do it,” he said. “It’s not too long of a drive; I’m not gonna die with it.”
Each, however, highlights different pros they have of commuting.
“I like the views, I like the view that comes along going from Rio Rancho to Santa Fe,” Alvarez said, also mentioning how beautiful the sunsets are.
When I asked Aguilar for pros, he told me, “I get to go to the dorms.”
“Commuting is tiring,” he added. “You go to the dorms, you go through your week. You can’t go back to the dorms on Friday. Then on Saturday, you stay the whole day most likely [at home] … it’s a very short weekend.”
Alvarez also had some cons about commuting as well. “You know, it takes an hour out of your day. I could do some more things with that time, other than being on the road,” he said. “Though it’s not bad, so like I said, I won’t die from it, but you know you’re going to have a moment in life asking yourself, ‘How much time have I wasted just driving?’ ” he said.
I can’t help but agree with him. There are times where I have thoughts of how long the drive really is versus how long it seems, especially when getting home around 7 or 8 p.m. on weeknights and only getting an hour to unwind before bed to ensure you get a full eight hours of sleep — if you fall asleep quickly enough.
Commuting is difficult. You spend time on the road constantly, during which you probably could be doing something else. You’re tired either most or all the time depending on how much you commute and the days you commute.
But then there is the issue of feeling torn between two places. I have my personal life mostly in Rio Rancho. My parents are there, my home is there, my pets are there, and the things that I enjoy doing are also there. Though my work, school and social life are in Santa Fe. My school is in Santa Fe, my friends are in Santa Fe, my work and programs are in Santa Fe, and my extended family is in Santa Fe. So when it comes time to look at where your life is, it’s torn between two cities.