On August 12 I left town for an adventurous week-long houseboat vacation in Lake Shasta with six other friends and a wake boarding boat. Upon returning to Sacramento, I realized that school was a mere eight days away. This came as a startling fact to a person that just less than 24 hours ago was enjoying sitting on a boat with an ice cold beverage.
As I sat there trying to wrap my head around the idea of school, I tried to figure out what I was dreading the most: was it the classes, the idea of having to be somewhere on-time, the professors, the textbooks I have to buy, or the fact that I will have no social life because the 21 units I am taking will consume all of time.
Finally after a week filled with fun, relaxation, and some last-minute organizing, it was time to go to the first day of school. My first class began at noon, so I got there plenty of early and arrived to a line of cars exiting the parking garage to go to lunch. Naturally, this made finding a parking spot effortless as I got one on the first incline going up to the second floor.
Walking to my first class isn’t that far of a walk, but it was just long enough to notice all of the first-day-of-class observations that you forget from the previous semester: the new shoes and the crisp new clothes, the bikes and skateboards zooming by you, the cigarette smoke in your face from the person walking in front of you, and the group of people huddled around the campus directory in confusion of where to go.
But it wasn’t until after I left my first class, went home and had lunch, and then had driven back to campus that I realized what was so frustrating about the first week of school: the parking situation at Sac State. It was not the classes, it wasn’t the professors, and it wasn’t the upcoming workload; it was parking on campus.
And the reason I dread the parking on this campus so much: people do not know how to park. People often park quickly, causing them to be parked over the lines and making other spots inaccessible. The number of said spots I passed on this day was enough to drive anybody mad.
As I drove by these spots banging the top of my steering wheel while shouting a select group of cuss words (my windows were up), I couldn’t help but regret leaving campus for my one hour and 45 minute break and giving up my great spot.
After passing some 10-20 spots that were empty but simply unusable, I eventually parked on the 4th floor. As I began descending down the stairs to make my way for class I noticed one of the parking enforcement officials making rounds on the second floor.
Now, the parking enforcement officials weren’t exactly on my best side last year. I had gotten a ticket for parking over the lines. Before you go judging me, here are the facts: I parked in an end stall, where there was only a car on one side of mine which was parked right on the line. So rather than parking within the lines and crowding their door (which would probably cause my door to get hit), I decided to just park my car a couple of inches over the other line since it was already “dead space”. I came back from class to a $52.00 ticket for my sound logic.
But this time, as I descended down the stairs and noticed the parking enforcement, I couldn’t help but think, “Ah, justice is served” as a grin appeared on my face.
As I sat there trying to wrap my head around the idea of school, I tried to figure out what I was dreading the most: was it the classes, the idea of having to be somewhere on-time, the professors, the textbooks I have to buy, or the fact that I will have no social life because the 21 units I am taking will consume all of time.
Finally after a week filled with fun, relaxation, and some last-minute organizing, it was time to go to the first day of school. My first class began at noon, so I got there plenty of early and arrived to a line of cars exiting the parking garage to go to lunch. Naturally, this made finding a parking spot effortless as I got one on the first incline going up to the second floor.
Walking to my first class isn’t that far of a walk, but it was just long enough to notice all of the first-day-of-class observations that you forget from the previous semester: the new shoes and the crisp new clothes, the bikes and skateboards zooming by you, the cigarette smoke in your face from the person walking in front of you, and the group of people huddled around the campus directory in confusion of where to go.
But it wasn’t until after I left my first class, went home and had lunch, and then had driven back to campus that I realized what was so frustrating about the first week of school: the parking situation at Sac State. It was not the classes, it wasn’t the professors, and it wasn’t the upcoming workload; it was parking on campus.
And the reason I dread the parking on this campus so much: people do not know how to park. People often park quickly, causing them to be parked over the lines and making other spots inaccessible. The number of said spots I passed on this day was enough to drive anybody mad.
As I drove by these spots banging the top of my steering wheel while shouting a select group of cuss words (my windows were up), I couldn’t help but regret leaving campus for my one hour and 45 minute break and giving up my great spot.
After passing some 10-20 spots that were empty but simply unusable, I eventually parked on the 4th floor. As I began descending down the stairs to make my way for class I noticed one of the parking enforcement officials making rounds on the second floor.
Now, the parking enforcement officials weren’t exactly on my best side last year. I had gotten a ticket for parking over the lines. Before you go judging me, here are the facts: I parked in an end stall, where there was only a car on one side of mine which was parked right on the line. So rather than parking within the lines and crowding their door (which would probably cause my door to get hit), I decided to just park my car a couple of inches over the other line since it was already “dead space”. I came back from class to a $52.00 ticket for my sound logic.
But this time, as I descended down the stairs and noticed the parking enforcement, I couldn’t help but think, “Ah, justice is served” as a grin appeared on my face.
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