Commuting: A Newfound Love of Mine

I had been telling myself for months to expect an hour-long commute. For some reason, I was still shocked when I got my school placement and saw that it was over an hour away from my apartment. I was secretly hoping it'd be much closer.

To be fair, CIEE doesn’t recommend committing to an apartment before school placements are sent out. That being said, when a girl reached out to me in May asking if I wanted to move into one of the rooms in her apartment, it was a no-brainer to say yes. I'd be avoiding the headache of finding roommates and an apartment in the city, and she seemed like a perfect person to live with.

Despite telling myself to expect a long commute, I still panicked when I mapped it out and realized it would require a metro, cercanías, and bus. I was quickly reminded that it's very common for people in our program to commute that far. Since many of us want to live in the city but work in surrounding towns, a longer commute is our reality.

So it begs the question, what is there to do while commuting? Well, I’ve come to find that the possibilities are endless. Since I’m not driving a car, I can really do anything. To my surprise, it’s actually become one of my favorite parts of the week.

Sometimes I play the audiobook that my best friend and I are both listening to. Other times, I work on my Spanish homework for the week. There are many days I just listen to music. My favorite way to spend it though? Reading and writing. I’ve loved doing both of these for as long as I can remember, but I’ve never had so much uninterrupted time to hold a book or journal.

I’ve finished four books since moving here three months ago and although that might not sound like much to some, I’d be lying if I said it’s not something I’m proud of. It used to be much more difficult for me to make time for the things I care about. Now, it feels like I have ample opportunity to sit and do whatever I want for at least two hours a day.

The lesson here is to not worry about having a commute if you're planning to teach in Madrid - whether it’s by metro, cercanías, or bus (or all three, in my case). Some of the best things in life are often disguised as challenges at first. What I thought would be a struggle has become something I look forward to every day. Without my commute, I wouldn’t be dedicating hours a week to hobbies I've been neglecting for years. When do you think I wrote this?!