Make the Most of Your Commute

When I first received my school placement, I was a little nervous.  My school was in the town of Collado Villalba, about 25 miles outside of Madrid. Google Maps said it would take me an hour and a half just to get there from Madrid city center. My first thought was, “this isn’t what I signed up for! I wanted to teach in the city of Madrid!”

However, after talking to someone from CIEE, I learned that most participants have a commute ranging from around 45-90 minutes each way to their schools. Some participants even have almost a two-hour journey each way! They also told me that a lot of busses were down in the summer, so there might be a faster way to my school that Google Maps wasn’t showing. This ended up being true, and now I take the bus for about 40 minutes each way everyday.

I’ll be honest, when I first arrived in Spain, I was really dreading the commuting part of this job, and was still wishing I was teaching in the city center, but I tried to make the most of it. Now, I actually love my commute to work! It’s a nice time where I can center myself each day, and just relax on the comfy coach bus. Here’s some tips I’ve found to make the most of your commute and be productive on the bus! 

1. Get an apartment close to a bus station

After I got my placement, I decided to try to make my commute as small as possible. I recommend when looking for an apartment, try to find one somewhat close to the station where you will need to take the bus each morning. I live really close to the Moncloa station, and I’m able to walk there each morning in about 10 minutes. It really makes a difference having a nice, 10-minute walk straight to my bus in the morning instead of having to walk to a metro station, taking the metro, and then taking the bus. It’s a great way to shave a few minutes on your commute if you are able.

2. Don’t sleep on the bus!

While it can be really tempting to give into the perfect sleeping environment of the dark, warm, rocking bus, don’t do it! Try to stay awake and use the time wisely. If you take advantage of the hour or so of time you have each day just sitting on the bus, you find that you can get a lot done!  Try seeing the commute as a chunk of time you can depend on each day to be productive and you will be surprised at the results.

3. Choose a different activity for each direction

The bus ride can become pretty mundane if you do the same thing both directions. One the way to school, I usually read, and on the way home, I usually listen to a podcast. Since I’m doing different things, it makes the ride go by a lot faster! Also, I would recommend doing a relaxing activity one way, and a productive activity the other way. When I’m tired in the morning, I download some Netflix episodes to my phone and watch them on the way to school. Then, on the way home I’ll do something more productive. If I’m exhausted after school, that’s when I’ll just relax and listen to music. Not gonna lie, there are days where I do something relaxing both ways, and that’s totally okay too! Just try not to make a habit of it.

4. Listen to a podcast to study Spanish

One of my goals here is to learn more Spanish. However, I find it hard sometimes to sit down and study at home. I’ve found listening to the podcast, Coffee Break Spanish on at least one direction’s bus ride is a really easy way to get my studying in for the day. 

5. Do the things you always have wanted to do but never had the time for

The bus is a guaranteed chunk of your day where you are just sitting there. Take the time to read that book you have always wanted, do that daily journal you always forget to write in, catch up on that tv series or podcast, or whatever things you wish you had more time for! For me, it’s been reading. In the US, I used to never make time for reading, but I really love it. So far in Spain, I have read 10 books just on the bus! don’t think I even read 10 books in the last two years when I was living in the US. I have finally read books that have been on my “list to read” for forever!

Long story short, you will probably have to commute to your school. But, what you choose to do with that commute time and what attitude you choose to have about it can make all the difference in the world. 40 minutes there and back on the bus each day, four days a week, for 35 weeks adds up.  You have to make the most of it!