Summer is going well; everything is great. Roads aren’t crowded, restaurants are empty, stores are calm, and then the end of August comes and everything changes. The college students return to school and those once empty restaurants turn into loud, crowded places and the roads are filled with distracted drivers.

Your life has changed, that job you planned on having is taken and the cool coffee shop hang out you and your friends had is now filled with college students pumping caffeine through their veins, studying vigorously for exams.

We all know that college students tend to get rowdy – they party – and with partying comes alcohol and drugs. Sometimes when students are under the influence, they tend to think it’s okay to get behind the wheel and drive around, placing countless lives in danger. DWIs, PIs, and other related citations tend to increase when the students are back in town, an easy fix for this problem is to designate a driver for the nights they want to party.

But even if college students are not under the influence they still seem to drive like they are. Swerving or weaving in and out of lanes, stalling at lights and terrible parking are many of the downfalls of immature college drivers.

Residents of Bryan College Station like to go out and eat with their family and friends to wind down and have fun on the weekends. If you try to go to a restaurant once the fall semester begins, people are bombarded with college students being obnoxiously loud while you wait at least an hour for a table.

With a large portion of College Station’s population consisting of college students, many of the activities are focused on them. Age groups get left out because of this, especially the teens, and this is inconvenient because we are left with nothing to do around town. Teens are left to come up with their own ideas and most of the time this can become a negative thing.

Living in a college town isn’t all bad though. With a college campus near it brings many learning opportunities. There are days on campus when guest speakers who have done something unique, political figures and what a lot of people look forward to: performers of the arts. Having a college in town also brings in many businesses that are usually found in larger cities, like chain restaurants such as Panera, Cheddar’s and Abuelo’s.

Sporting events are also a big draw and they bring excitement to college towns. Football, baseball and basketball are all sports that A&M hosts but they also host sports that are unique to a campus like, rugby and hockey. In a normal town, you would have to travel to see big sports like this. The only problem though is, that they are always crowded with students. Although student involvement adds to the atmosphere, it can become annoying because local residents have to endure the crowds without really getting to enjoy the games.

Living in a college town sometimes fills people with anger and irritation, but positives are there and opportunities are present in this city that are not there in other towns. Think of the best place to go hang out – chances are it wouldn’t be there if there wasn’t a college in town.