My Life Experience

For the majority of my life, I had been shy, even though it didn’t seem like it most of the time, I was scared to death when I met new people. I know that it sounds extremely trivial, but I feel that when you first meet someone, you’re ultimately giving them their first impression of yourself and that is a lot of pressure. It seemed almost certain that I would lead a life of being a social wallflower until March 2017, more specifically, March 28th, 2017. This day was and still is important to me because I learned how to be confident, and through my experience, it taught me something that I will hold onto forever. Prior to this day, I was an extremely introverted person and rarely went out of my way to make friends. As a volunteer at day

The wide use of transportation contributes to how society is increasingly turning away from walking. Since, the majority of people drive either their own cars or a form of public transportation regularly they have lost the sense of distance. People may never even know that the daily commute they may take to work is faster to walk to then it is to wait in traffic for. For example, recently my roommate invited me along so she should get a tattoo at a parlor in our hometown. We had to take a bus to get near to the location because it is a bit far away from UCR, but once we got off at a bus stop instead of walking the short distance that would take about 15 minutes we decided to call an Uber. We both haven’t been in our hometown in a while, so instead of enjoying it we decided to take a car. At my high school, students were allowed to drive themselves to the campus beginning junior year. I never got my license during high school, so I would either be picked up by one of my parents or a friend who drove to themselves to school would. However, whenever one of my parents would pick me up they would refuse to pick me up directly in front of the school because of the ridiculous amount of traffic. They had me walk a little over half a mile each day after school to the exact same spot. Even though, half a mile wasn’t a long walk I realized a difference between taking that small walk and being driven home by

One of the few financial costs that commuters have to pay is gas money. A huge disadvantage to commuting is transportation. When one dorms, everything is located in walking distance. Plus, many college campuses have buses that transport you from one side of the campus to the other. Commuters, however, have to drive to school every day. This means they have to get up earlier to navigate through traffic every day. This puts them at risk of getting in a car accident or worse: being late to

As a seventeen year old who is currently in between jobs (I’m only babysitting for a family two or three times a month), I do not have to travel very often or very far. It is because of this that I typically only travel to five different locations from my home. On the nights that I am babysitting, I travel 18 miles to the family’s home. I also travel to the local farmer’s market, which is only one mile away, the gym (6.5 miles away), church (18 miles), and to the movies (6 miles). In order to get to these places I drive the family car, which is a 2007 KIA Sportage and it is an efficient means of transportation.

As a commuter here on campus, I related to Haidt’s statement that commuters arrive at work with higher stress levels. “Those whose commutes are traffic-filled still arrive at work with higher levels of stress hormones. Driving under ideal conditions is, however, often enjoyable and relaxing” (Haidt 92). The fact that I live 40 minutes away and have to commute every single day really impacts the amount of time I have to study, do school work and spend time with friends and family, which causes a large amount of stress. But, driving for me is ideal because because I get to listen to my own music and have my alone time.

Driving. There is a lot that goes into driving. For starters you have to be awake, alert and focused when driving – crazy right!? After working for nine hours getting into a car and having to put all my energy into thinking about the skill of driving in New Jersey can be a lot on my body, mentally and physically. Also, while an hour might not seem very long that hour is contingent upon daily traffic flow. One day in the rain it took me two hours to get home, and just this past week there was an accident on the turnpike that caused major delays – I’m talking 5+ hours worth of a delay (I was sick this week so luckily I missed out on that one! Phew). Last, in the long run driving costs more. I sat down and wrote my driving expenses for work and NEWS FLASH: THEY ARE INSANE. Welcome to New Jersey.

public transit networks. But just how serious is the burden of car ownership, and how exactly does

First and foremost, if I had a car, I would not be stuck at school having to ask my friends for a ride home everyday. If none of my friends are available to bring me home, I end up having to wait at school for my dad to pick me up after he gets off of work, which sometimes may be as late as five

In the article, “America’s Key to Freedom” by Carol Domblewski, it says, “…expense of automobiles and suggested that their price is too steep.” Also, in “Facts Along the Road,” it says, “The average cost of owning and operating a car is more than $8000 per year…In 2011, traffic congestion cost the US $121 billion.” Also, in the article, “Running off the Road,” it says, “The cost of owning a car averages $8,876 per year.” This is a lot of money spent just to keep a car. There are other ways to get to your destination. In the article, “Running off the Road,” it says, “Using public transit…allows people to enjoy…while they ride…new, tech-savvy businesses offer ways for people to avoid the costs and problems associated with owning a car in a big city…thriving car-sharing and carpooling systems…a whopping 3,500 commuters bundle up and bike to work along the city’s Midtown Greenway.” All these ways either reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions or they don’t emit greenhouse gases at all. Also, all these ways of transportation are cheaper than a car. In conclusion, cars cost a lot to watch after and there are other ways to get to the same destination without the use of all that

There are many instances in our daily routines where transportation is a requirement and not a luxury. In the first place, some of us are unable to drive or even to own an automobile. Public transportation can usually be accessed but when you reside in the suburbs such an option may not always be on the table. A trip to the airport to board an aircraft should not be a stressful experience and with minicabs in Enfield Chase, it won’t be. You could ask a friend to provide you with a ride, however, that may not always be an option either.

“Since 1960, the percentage of Americans who get to work by car has increased from 63% to 85%” Facts Along the Road. Not only are people able to get to work but they can explore the places around them, and do the things they can’t

My main reasoning to commute is that I am always working. I work at the East Side YMCA in Green Bay, which is right by my house. I have 3 jobs there: I am part of the business staff at the front desk, I lifeguard, swim teach, and occasionally sub for Teen night. Mondays I teach swimming lessons until 7:30 at night, Tuesdays I lifeguard and work at the front desk from 12:00pm-8:00, Thursdays I am there at 4:45am-8:00 life guarding and go back to work at the front desk from 4:00-8:00, Fridays I world 4:00pm-7:00 and sometimes stay for teen night 7:00-10:00, and work every other weekend. As you can see, I have a very full schedule Since I am constantly at the Y, I find myself sleeping at home 4-5 times a week. On an average

One appealing feature of the public transportation is the lower cost in comparison with using your own car. A real example from my life when I was a student at University

During the Summer of ***** I made my way to training camp. The sweltering Summer air was unforgiving. It felt like a cloud of heat was just entrapping me wherever I went. I had to travel for what seemed like days to reach the training camp. The buses were infrequent and covered in filth. The insides of those buses were almost twenty degrees warmer than the outside. I literally fought people to be next to the windows because I was sure that if the bullets weren’t going to kill me, the heat exhaustion would. After what seems like years in that awful bus (Mule) I reached the training camp.

Commuting may be tough in the morning since a commuter must wake up, and begin traveling early, but at the end of the year a commuter would save much more money. Most people choose to commute because of money and “Free housing, food and laundry. Living at home means you save a lot of money, which can help you down the line when you want to move out on your own” (Callahan, Confessions of a College Commuter.). Callahan