Having a car on campus

I'm from New Jersey, and I love this state. Many of my fellow peers, however, love to rip on New Jersey, quickly dismissing my home state as "the armpit of America." They constantly whine about the fact that Jersey drivers are incompetent and are so lazy that they don't even pump their own gas. Well, my friends, this all may be true, and you may enjoy laughing at our malls, skanky beaches and unrefined diners.

But who's laughing when it's time to go home for break? Who's laughing when "packing" for Thanksgiving means throwing every single belonging in the back seat of your car and getting home within an hour? All you sun-soaking Californians and Floridians ... have fun squeezing your entire wardrobe into a suitcase that you can barely carry around the airport! Don't you wish you could just drive home?

Sure it's awesome being able to drive home, but I must say, having a car on the Princeton campus can be a bit annoying because of how far away from our dorms we have to park. Can you imagine the leg cramps that poor sophomore in Holder gets every time he has to walk all the way down to Lot 23 whenever he wants to use his car? Lord only hopes he's not parked in (gasp) Lot 23A. That we all have to park in the freaking boonies making each trip to Joe C's that much more of a pain in the ass.

Fortunately, however, during "off-peak" hours, we are allowed to bring our cars up on campus. Apparently, the traffic on campus is just wayyyy too intense to handle student cars during the day. If you try to bring your car on campus before 5 p.m. on a weekday, you'll get shut down at the Public Safety booth ... if the dude is actually willing to get out of his chair. Don't you love how the Public Safety booth dude never gets out of his chair when it's raining or snowing, no matter what? You could be driving onto campus with a car full of dope, and he'd just wave you by. They should just change the rule "No student cars on campus before 5 p.m. ... unless there is precipitation ... cause then the dude ain't stoppin 'ya."

Some students who live in the slums try to optimize their car parking strategy. The U-Store parking lot serves as an important resource. Students can park their cars there overnight, but if they don't move them before 9 a.m., they are subject to being towed. Ouch. Also, there are many parking meters that run up the side of University Place. Be careful, though. A buddy of mine has racked up an impressive $240 in parking fines (12 tickets). Ouch.

The University is kind enough to let us drive our cars up to our rooms on move-in day, making life much, much easier. Though if you are one of those sun-soaking Californians or Floridians, you probably end up spending a few hundred bucks for storage each summer, eh? Hopefully, the moving and storage agency guys don't put a dent in your TV or lose your futon couch.

Though I've spent a good chunk of this column rambling on about the benefits of having a car on campus, I must admit that it's not all that bad to be vehicle-less. If you live close enough, you can undoubtedly bum a ride off a friend or your parents. Even if you do have to fly to campus, NJ Transit makes it pretty easy to get to campus, though they might make you suffer through a 45-minute train ride through the most dismal parts of New Jersey. Yes, I admit it, the number of warehouses, rundown shacks and depressing fields that you have to look at on the way from Newark Airport to Princeton is quite remarkable. But just remember, when you're laughing at us Garden State folk for living in the armpit, we'll be the ones with grins on our faces when your flight home for Christmas break gets delayed. Jinx! Neel Gehani '07 is an ORFE major from Summit, N.J. He can be reached at ngehani@princeton.edu.