...Of A Waterloo Commuter

When I was a child, I absolutely loved the snow. As with many things in life, the majesty and splendor of those soft white flakes wore off with age and morphed instead into spite and resentment. One of the biggest inconveniences of snow, of course, is driving in it. I, like many of my peers, have an internship which requires me to make the trip over to the "big city" of Waterloo, a task made incredibly difficult by the precipitation I used to adore.

As a Waterloo commuter, I make the trek out to the C parking lot three days a week, put my key in the ignition, and hope to goodness that the engine will come to life. The severe weather of this past week has been awfully rough on old Philip (the name of my Jeep Liberty), and I fear he won't be able to take much more. After all, it's difficult for any car to survive the bipolar nature of an Iowa winter.

In any case, I do appreciate the experience this year has given me with commuting to work. Coming from a town of 5,000, it took me approximately two minutes to get just about anywhere by car, so training myself to allow extra travel time in the winter has been an unexpected benefit of this position. I have actually figured out the exact amount of time it takes to get from my dorm room to my internship, factoring in snowy roads of course (22 minutes, in case you were wondering).

You may ask, "How does any of this affect me?" Well, my friends, there is a good possibility that you too may become a part of the Waterloo commuter club during your time here at UNI. If this ends up being the case, I welcome you and look forward to swapping travel horror stories with you in the future. I mean, come on. If there are snow piles taller than most cars out there, work should just be cancelled, right?

Until next time...

Happy February, and may the weather odds be ever in your favor!

~ Jordan, STAR