By: Lindsey Hamilton ‘22

This is a great time to be alive. No, not because of modern technology or vaccines or Bird scooters. The Expo line running from downtown to Santa Monica has connected the beach to the city since May of 2016. That makes it only the third ―the third!― year that USC students have been able to take advantage of all of the fun destinations now available to us. It’s a great time to be alive. But there’s a lot of city in between the beach and downtown. Here’s what I found…

By: Alexis M Peters ‘20

Yes, I did it. I gathered my courage and used one of those electric scooters that have been spreading like the sickness that’s been going around lately. I mean they’re everywhere. When they first popped up, I figured they’d never catch on. It seemed too dangerous, too expensive, too inconvenient. Being from Chicago, I sort of forgot that an electric scooter business could actually be quite profitable: there’s no snow in LA. And living at USC, I’ve realized that certain distances are too far to walk, too close to Uber, and too far to Fryft. But I put off trying those scooters for so long. To be honest I was terrified. I had never stood on a motorized board of any kind, and I was almost certain I would fall on my butt. Or worse: my head. (They tell you to wear a helmet, but hello, I didn’t want to look like a complete dork. [Especially when there are ten-year-olds out here doing wheelies on these things!… I digress.]) Anyway, I finally hopped on one of those scooter-things because I am an avid movie goer and was spending entirely too much money on Lyfts to and from LA Live. It’s about 1.8 miles away, which took me about 14 minutes by scooter. So: to Lime or not to Lime?

By: Camila Grases ‘21

I commute to USC. It’s about a 45 minute to an hour drive to and from my house. “Aw thats so sad, you aren’t getting the FULL college experience.” Oh hush hush now. It’s not sad. I wake up every morning in my own bed, my mom makes me breakfast in morning, and when I get home late, there is almost always food waiting for me (or for my brothers, but who am I to complain?). It’s really not so bad. There are definitely days where I wish I could live here, and have roommates and be able to stay late without having the fact that I have to drive home be in the back of my mind always. But I think having the constant support from my family has helped with my mental stability so much. Of course, there are commuters that don’t still live with their parents and whose experience is so different from mine. And there are students that don’t feel the same way about their parents. I’m just here to share a little bit of wisdom I learned from commuting for a full year now.