You won’t be complaining about your 8 a.m. after hearing the tales of commuter students

Everyone’s heard stories of parents and grandparents trudging through the snow as kids to get to school. While it seems unlikely now, there are many students who spend large amounts of time traveling to UNC daily.

Juniors Danielle Curtis and Joel Anil are just two of the 18 percent of students who drive to campus each day, according to a 2015 survey.

Curtis drives to UNC two days a week from Fayetteville, about an hour and 15 minute drive, with rush-hour traffic.

Curtis lives on base with her husband at Fort Bragg. She moved there from her Chapel Hill apartment this semester, taking only Tuesday and Thursday classes.

Similar to Curtis, Anil scheduled only Tuesday and Thursday classes, but he said he’s on campus every day for research.

Curtis’ class days are spent driving and going to class.

“Definitely know what you’re getting yourself into,” she said.

Junior Eno Idiagbonya drives to Southpoint Mall and takes a 30-minute bus ride to and from UNC each day. Idiagbonya has classes Monday through Friday and said it is manageable as long as she doesn’t forget anything at home.

Curtis said she leaves home at 7:15 a.m. each class day for her 9:30 a.m. class. She doesn’t leave campus until 5 p.m., when her last class of the day is finished.

“Being included in extracurricular activities, like joining a club or just hanging out after class, that doesn’t really happen much,” Curtis said. “Thinking about the drive home, I just want to leave right after class.”

All three students said there’s a lot of preparation involved with commuting.

“There have been many times where I even forget to pee in the morning and then I screw myself up for the entire day,” Curtis said.

Anil commutes from his family home in Chapel Hill. As a sophomore, he lived in Hinton James, but now he lives at home to save money.

It takes him about 15 minutes to drive to school, with another 10-minute walk from his parking spot at Boshamer Stadium. Still, he said he sometimes arrives late to his morning classes due to traffic.

“In the mornings sometimes there might be traffic, but this semester hasn’t been bad,” he said.

His biggest takeaway from his commuting experience is learning to eat his breakfast on the way to school.

A jammin’ playlist never hurts either.

swerve@dailytarheel.com