by Jenna Rashid
Move-in day. You’ve been waiting for this moment all summer. Before you can even pull into the Bissman parking lot, you see a line of cars unloading into the dorms. Now there are no spots to park your car, including the sidewalks and in front of the dumpsters. Not to mention the cars parked in the grass. This isn’t unusual, as it happens every school year. It’s not just the first week of school that these parking issues arise, it’s a year-long problem. Move-in day is just foreshadowing what is to come.
As someone who has lived on the north side of campus for three years in a row now, I was not excited for the parking pain to start again. You always learn about defensive driving, but you never learn about defensive parking. I remember so vividly the times when I had to fight tooth and nail to get a parking spot here at the College. Last year I would intentionally race the cars in the Bissman parking lot to see who could find the only spot first. I would take a different route around the lot, hoping to be the lucky driver. The feeling of defeat comes when you loop all the way around just for the lots to be completely full.
One time, I was in my friend’s car and there was only one spot left in Andrews’ parking lot. The problem was that there was a car looping around, inevitably getting this last spot (or so they thought). We all started to scream and I told my friend to hit the gas to cut off the person trying to get to the parking spot. Luckily my friend’s car was small, so she was able to snag the spot literally as the person was pulling into it. So much so that the girl had to back up a little in order to drive away from the situation at hand. We felt bad- but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
I think a universal experience that all Wooster drivers can relate to includes waiting in your parking spot before you leave because you know as soon as you pull out, it’ll get taken. Just soaking up that last little bit of parking privilege that you have. Earlier this week, I went out to my parked car in Armington and saw that there was someone waiting for a spot to open up next to the sidewalk. I found myself sitting in my car hoping that they wouldn’t pull in immediately after me leaving. Of course, when I came back 15 minutes later, that’s exactly what had happened.
Often when I’m with my friends and we’re deciding who is going to drive, and someone says “I just got a parking spot,” we automatically rule them out because we all know how hard it is out here to find one. Sometimes I’ll decide not to drive anywhere because I don’t want to lose my parking spot. Even if you leave for five minutes to go to Drug Mart, when you get back, your spot will be gone. It’s always a game of luck when pulling in to find a spot. Will I be the lucky one this time? More often than not, you won’t be.
