Pepperdine: an incredible school in the beautiful city of Malibu, filled with so many amazing students, faculty and staff. For many of us, Pepperdine is like a dream come true. Not only do we get to go to our dream school in Malibu, but we also live right next to the beach! Our days consist of the beach, class, and more beach. Life at Pepperdine is such a breeze. Although, the only ‘rough’ part about it is the parking situation. The parking situation is the one thing on campus that the students agree upon that needs to be changed. The parking situation on campus is so stressful and leaves so many students (commuters and on-campus residents), feeling angry every single day. Here are 10 parking struggles that every student at Pepperdine can relate to.
Commuting to Pepperdine not only means that you have to plan enough time to get to campus before class starts, but it also means you have to plan enough time to find a parking spot too! Whether you live down the street from Pepperdine, or all the way in Calabasas, you know that you have to plan a good amount of time to drive to school and to find a spot. Sometimes, it may even take you longer to find a parking spot than it did to drive to campus. Once you finally find that spot, you sprint to the shuttle stop and pray you catch the next shuttle to make it to class on time!
Since parking lots are very limited on campus, and usually full, you resort to parking on the street. The only down side to parking on the street is that parking is also limited, and you have to know how to parallel park! For some students, parallel parking is no problem, but for others, it is very stressful. Regardless of your parallel parking experience prior to starting college, you leave Pepperdine as a master of parallel parking because of all of the experience you got every single day. You even mastered how to parallel park on the hills, without hitting any cars. You go!
Campus is full every day from 10am-2pm, with a majority of students taking classes during these hours. This means that parking is a complete nightmare. Because of this, you have to get to school extremely early (an hour or so before class) just to make sure you get a parking spot! You wish you could use that extra hour to sleep in, but you know that if you tried, you would not find a place to park. Instead, you usually get some breakfast at the Caf or meet friends at Starbucks for a coffee before your day!
You know that if it is after 9:30 am, you are not guaranteed to find a parking spot in the Firestone Field House lot. The Firestone Field House lot is one of the the biggest lots on campus and is open to everyone — students, faculty, staff, and visitors. Since this lot is open to everyone, it fills up every quickly. Most people like to park here because it is right next to main campus, the Caf, and the gym. If you want to park here, you know you have to get here early, or pray you find a spot later in the day!
There is a huge parking structure all the way up at Drescher, but none of us ever want to go all the way up there! Although you are guaranteed to find parking in Drescher, you rarely ever go there because it is just too far and inconvenient. You can’t even rely on the shuttle to bring you down to class in time between all of the stops that it has to make on the way. It is really only your spot to park at if you live up there.
You live for the days that you carpool with friends or roommates to class because you get to ask for a carpool pass (aka the golden ticket)! Whether you actually carpool to class, or pick up a friend on campus just to drive through the gate again to get a parking pass, it is worth it every time. These carpool passes are the ultimate lifesavers, and allow you to park in the most convenient spots around campus. The best part is, once you get a carpool pass, you can use it throughout the entire day! Just make sure to get a new carpool pass every day to avoid getting a parking ticket.
There are some days when you just don’t want to deal with parking, so you ask your roommate to drop you off for class. It is always nice getting a ride to class and not have to stress about parking. You can even leave the house a little bit later and get dropped off right as class is going to start! You and your roommates will probably figure out a routine where you switch off dropping off each other for class because you both realize that this is ultimately the best option!
Your classmates and professor may think that you are late to class because you overslept, but in reality, you were just trying to find a parking spot! You thought that you would have enough time to find a spot before class, but ended up driving around in circles for quiet some time before you finally found something. Then, you make the walk to class, without realizing how late you are! It is always so embarrassing going to class late and everyone always stares at you, but at least you made it!
“Sorry professor but I couldn’t make it to class today because of parking” is literally something only Pepperdine faculty and staff can understand and relate to. Most professors will understand because they even struggle to find parking every day too. Just don’t make it a habit and abuse this excuse, because it can only help you for so long before your grades start to drop!
It is literally your lucky day if you can easily find a parking spot on campus. You may be blessed with the last spot in the George Page parking lot, or a perfect parking spot right outside of the CCB. Whenever this happens to you, you blast your favorite song, let out a happy dance, and send a Snapchat to all of your friends to brag about your incredible parking spot. You also refuse to move your car until you are ready to leave campus for the day because you know how precious the spot is. It’s always a great day when you get a spot!
Let’s hope that the university’s next project is to add more parking structures!
**Please keep the Pepperdine community, and the entire city of Malibu and its residents in your thoughts, as they are currently facing the devastating Woolsey fire.
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