When choosing an apartment, you’ll likely have a preference as to where you’d like to live in relation to other attractions. If you want to live near friends, that’s one main influence. Or maybe you want to live near work so you won’t have to commute when you’re scheduled to go in.
No matter what, you should make sure that your apartment location is near four essentials so that your life will be easier!
Restaurants
In case you don’t want to cook, or don’t like to cook, it’s nice to have a few options where you can eat. It’s nice if they’re accessible on foot, but a short drive isn’t so bad, either. Make sure you’re not completely cut off from the option to have a quick, hot meal!
Campus
Obviously, as a student, you’d like to live near campus. It’s hard to get the motivation to wake up for an 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. class as it is, but it's especially challenging if you have to walk there in the middle of January when it’s cold.
If you’re a short walk from the buildings you frequent, you’ll have more motivation to go and you won’t be late for an exam.
With this being said, make sure you can cross the street or train tracks in a reasonable amount of time! Nothing is worse than having to wait for traffic while your lecture ticks on. This also means you’ll be closer to university-sponsored events, so get a group of friends together and go—you might as well if you’re right there!
Public Transit
Living near a bus stop or train station is essential as a college student, regardless of whether you have a car. If you need to get across campus quickly, in case there’s no parking (and you KNOW there won’t be), you can take the bus system!
Or, if you happen to run into car trouble, catch the bus to class or the grocery store until you can fix the issue.
The train system is another plus so that you can go home at your leisure without having to waste gas money or deal with traffic!
Grocery Stores
It’s nice to have restaurants and the corner store nearby, but what about a Walmart or Target? You can’t get everything you need from the drugstore, so make sure you live within a short distance of a grocery store so you can buy meat, produce, and fresh foods.
It may be more practical to live within driving distance so that you have your trunk at your disposal.
As long as you can access a store within a few miles, you don’t need to worry. Make sure the bus also runs to the grocery store, just in case you need it!
Living near these few things will do wonders to make your busy schedule a little more bearable. You won’t have to waste time cooking dinner every night or traveling all the way across town for a loaf of bread and some eggs. Keep this in mind when looking for places to live, and also think about what you DON’T want to live near.
Good luck!
