McCall

Somewhere between the constant flickering of yours eyes from left to right and the muttering of obscene things, you realize that the thirty minutes you set aside to find parking before class is not so slowly evaporating in this dry Kansas heat. By this point there is no doubt that a mild panic has begun to set in.

Parking on campus can be a traumatic event. Yes campus provides an allotted space for off-campus students—if a permit is bought—but those spaces tend to fill up quite quickly. In this type of situation only two solutions come to mind: arrive early or walk.

I confess that mornings are not my favorite, so that automatically rules out arriving early to hunt for a parking place, leaving only the option of walking to class left available to me. Walking has more benefits than just lowering your stress levels when it comes to parking.

It single handedly puts money back into my pocket. Finding ways to save on gas has become a hobby of sorts for me.  The way I see it, the less I need to spend on gas the more mobility I truly have. I can go see that new movie being released, or just be able to go out with some friends on the weekend.

The walk itself isn’t even that bad. It give me the necessary time needed to completely wake up, listen to my music and prep myself for the oncoming day. To even think of starting my day without my music and coffee is a terrifying thought.  Almost sounds like the start to a bad horror film.

After psyching myself up for the day with three of my favorite songs, the walk is over. By the end of my adventure—which is sure to become routine—I am wide awake and ready to begin another day.

It is interesting how physical activity that early in the morning can be so energizing throughout the rest of the day. Seems to me that it is true what people say about being active. Go figure.

At least one good thing came out of the start of this semester: I no longer need to worry about having a parking permit for campus.

Amanda McCall

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