An ode to searching for parking on campus

As the rays of the sun beat down on us drivers while we sit in our cars driving frantically around campus, one thought passes through our heads: “why has the Seminole spirit left us without more parking options?” This is my tear-filled cry to the powers that be.

Hell have no wrath like a vulture in a parking lot.

Our nation’s forefathers built this nation on the principles of liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. Florida State was built on the foundation of football, tailgates, and the pursuit of parties. O captain my captain, why was parking forgotten? It is a proven fact that for a university to exceed any and all expectations set by every living human being, you MUST provide ample parking! Why does one have to leave their place almost an hour earlier just to prepare for the battle that is sitting in a fire lane, waiting for a parking spot?

The forgotten ones

During my freshman year I stared out the window of my Landis hall dorm room and saw as the crews built. They built and built until erected out of the ashes of the old, arose new and improved dorm halls. Not one, but two! The addition of these two new dorm halls will have, and this is the best part, dining halls within them! This means that freshman living in those halls won’t even need to leave for food! While I understand the influx of more students means more money, you have left us, the olden ones of this great university, in the deep abyss of disremember. We should not be confined within the concrete walls of Traditions, Call, or if you’re unlucky enough, St. Augustine.

Oh the classes you’ll miss

Yes. It has happened to at least one of your 3 friends. You’re sitting in perhaps a parking lot or a garage waiting for a parking spot. You did not have the greatest night, so you left later then usual. Your class starts at 11 AM but here you are 10:57 still waiting for a spot. You panic just a little bit because you think it’ll be fine and destiny will smile upon you. You drive a few feet to see if that lucky angel will come from the staircase and let you know where they parked, but nothing happens. Throughout this ordeal, you notice the time. 11:22?! How could this have happened, you ask yourself. The class is half over and you have yet to find a spot.

You leave

You take that guilty drive back to your residence because you realize that it is a battle well fought but a battle that is lost. “The lecture is always uploaded online”, you tell yourself to feel a bit better about missing the class, but ultimately you feel the deep regret of not attending and are saddened on the inside.

But there is always that glimpse of hope 

If you are lucky enough, you will find that one person who just happens to be pulling out when you enter. Maybe you are lucky enough to have been waiting and get chosen to follow someone to their car because they can read the sadness on your face and decide to spare you. The parking epidemic we face in today’s time is something that we can all relate to. Many of my fellow Noles can attest to the fact that this situation of which we have to endure on a nearly daily basis is heart wrenching. So I write to you President Thrasher, if you build it [parking lots] they will come.