Back to the books…and commute
Posted September 4, 2011 
Comments(3)
Comments(3) Phew! After 1 summer course, 2 family weddings, and a very spiritual month of Ramadhan, I’m ready to start year 2 at UBC. Although this year will bring challenges (I have 11 courses and 2 labs in my schedule), I am looking forward to delving into the deep sea of knowledge! However, my excitement is offset by the dread of commuting. Commuting over 3 hours everyday by bus will definitely be testing. But, of course, I’m not the only one! To all of you who are going to be starting (or restarting!) to commute by bus/train, here are a few tips in order to be productive during your commute.
- Study: Use your commute time to review yesterday’s lecture notes or to complete today’s pre-readings. Don’t want to bring your heavy textbooks with you? Make cue cards if you can They’re light, portable, and serve as a great study tool in December!
- Stay Up to Date: Almost every bus loop and train station has the 24-Hour and Metro newspapers available. They’re free! I personally like to occupy myself with the crossword and Sudoku puzzles, and comparing how accurate the news articles are between the 2 papers. 😛
- Sleep: Although this sounds like an unproductive thing to do, it’s not! Catching up on a bit of sleep on the bus helps you get in more study time in the evening at home.
- People Watch: Entertain yourself! This isn’t necessarily the most productive activity, but it’s good for days when sleep evades you, and you also don’t feel like studying.
Happy commuting!
you commute over three hours a day?!?!??
i want to attend ubc once i graduate, and i want to stay at home as well. Do you think that its possible to commute 4 hrs a day?. And if you can’t get home that day, is there a place at ubc where it is open 24/7?
thanks so much!
Yep! 4 hours?! Where are you coming from?
Anything’s possible if you want it to be. Although I don’t enjoy commuting, I love knowing that there is a yummy and warm dinner waiting for me when I get home, or that I don’t have to worry about doing my own laundry – staying home does have it’s perks! But it really depends on you as a person. I know someone who commuted 3 hours a day by bus during medical school – I don’t think I could ever do that, but they managed just fine! 🙂
As for a place to crash, there is the commuter hostel – http://www.housing.ubc.ca/student-residences-van/commuter-hostel. I originally thought that this was only open during exam time, but looking at the website, it seems it’s open for most of the year!
Hope that helps!
Zahra
Langley!! Thanks!
Do you think its possible for me to attend ( and be successful in pharmacy ) with that sort of commute?
Also would you mind telling me what your majoring in ? ( if your okay with answering thanks)
How about libraries? I heard that the UBC libraries are only open 24/7 during the midterms … 🙁
Thank you for your reply