Ins and Out of Travelling to and from Notre Dame | Tales & News | Go to & Interact | Undergraduate Admissions

Before I ever stepped onto campus, I needed to reply a query each Notre Dame pupil ultimately faces: how do I truly get there? Whether you’re flying into South Bend, navigating Chicago airports, or road-tripping from house, attending to Notre Dame is its personal type of introduction to school life. It’s a course of that shortly turns from complicated to routine and, ultimately, even a comforting one. Luckily, I’ve tried nearly each mode of transportation to get to and from campus, so listed here are my ins and outs of journey.

Driving to campus is among the most frequent strategies of transportation for everybody who lives within the Midwest. It’s pretty straightforward to search out somebody driving to your hometown and hitch a trip with them, at the same time as early as your first fall break. There’s at all times loads of college students driving so far as 8 or 9 hours, and doubtless extra college students than you’ll be able to rely heading to Chicago. I dwell on Long Island, NY, which is 750 miles away from campus because the crow flies and roughly an 11-and-a-half-hour drive. I’ve solely ever pushed to campus as soon as, once I moved in freshman 12 months, and it is protected to say I might keep away from doing it once more. It wasn’t that dangerous with a few podcasts and a nap right here and there, however when you’re from the East Coast like me, you may contemplate another

choices.

Another nice approach to get to and from Notre Dame is flying by way of Chicago. As I discussed, there are at all times many individuals driving to Chicago. It’s at all times a good suggestion to seize a trip to Chicago after which fly to your vacation spot. My solely caveat is: make sure that your trip leaves on time as a result of there’s site visitors on the way in which to Chicago, however, usually, if somebody is keen to drive you to or from O’Hare and even Midway, that is at all times a protected wager to profitable Notre Dame journey.

A favourite possibility of mine is public transportation by way of O’Hare. The South Shore Line from South Bend is a 2-hour practice trip to Millennium station. From there, you’ll be able to hop on the Blue Line over to O’Hare or take the Orange Line to Midway. I often use the South Shore Line on my method again to campus from O’Hare. It’s usually fairly dependable, however has been identified to have delays.

Beyond the practice, some individuals additionally take Ubers from O’Hare to campus, or from campus to O’Hare. They may be costly, so a number of college students will share an Uber and break up the associated fee for this lengthy distance trip. As somebody who has completed this many occasions, I like to recommend texting your dorm group chat to see if anybody is travelling concurrently you and would need to break up the associated fee. I additionally suggest that you simply ebook the Uber prematurely—generally individuals don’t need to drive that far, so scheduling your Uber prematurely may help keep away from a final minute crunch.

If none of those choices are your velocity, you’re nonetheless in luck! The South Bend International Airport is simply 20 minutes away from campus. To get to New York, I’ve flown connecting flights to Charlotte, Detroit, Atlanta, and Chicago. My one advice right here is to ebook an extended connection. The planes out of South Bend are small, so when you deliver a carry-on you are possible going to must verify your bag. That means, if in case you have a brief layover, you’ll have to attend to your bag earlier than you may get to your subsequent flight.

Connecting out of South Bend is my favourite approach to journey because it brings me so near campus once I’m coming again, and I don’t must go far when leaving for breaks. Just like driving to O’Hare, although, I like to recommend you schedule your Ubers prematurely. On huge journey days at Notre Dame, it is at all times higher to have your trip reserved and to share with buddies.

Finally, there are direct flights into South Bend. Many individuals who dwell in cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Orlando, and Phoenix have the luxurious of a direct flight to their house airport. Unfortunately for New York, I can’t say the identical. On house recreation weekends, nevertheless, there are numerous direct flights added to completely different airports. So if the primary weekend of fall break occurs to be a recreation weekend or, if there’s a house playoff recreation on the finish of the semester, you may get fortunate and be capable of get to your house in just some hours.

No matter the place you’re coming from, there’s no single “right” approach to get to and from Notre Dame, and that’s what makes it manageable. With so many choices, from automotive rides and trains to flights and Ubers, you will discover what works greatest to your schedule, price range, and luxury degree. It may take a number of journeys to determine your favourite route, however for me, the method itself has been an enormous a part of rising extra impartial. I’ve realized the best way to ebook my very own flights, take care of delays and tight connections, and coordinate rides or break up Ubers with individuals, generally even buddies I simply met whereas touring. What as soon as felt complicated has turn into one thing I can deal with alone, and in a method, each journey backwards and forwards has made Notre Dame really feel just a little extra like house.