communication climates

My communication climates change drastically between school, work, and home. Most people would think that work would probably be the worst communication climate, however, I would have to disagree. At work, I feel comfortable talking to my boss. If something is going wrong or needs changes, I feel it is easy to ask her questions and to provide feedback on how to help change the situation.
For example, I had picked up a few overnight shifts, sort of as a trial to see how I liked them. They are different than day and evening shifts because during the day there is a minimum of 2 information coordinators working and can have anywhere up to 4 throughout the day. This is the same in the evening. At night, you are all by yourself, there is no one else to whom you can ask a question to. For about five years, they have always had the same two people working night shifts with a third person who picked up on occassion. There are always disputes between the night time and day time people. I had worked mostly days before trying the evening shift. When I took these shifts I thought about how the communication climate might change. It did slightly, but not in a negative way. I just found that they worked at a faster pace.
At home I feel that the communication climate changes drastically from one minute to the next. For instance, if we are talking about family events, our work schedules, or what we are doing that day, it is a happy sunny day climate. On the opposite spectrum, if we are talking about relationships and other such issues, the climate becomes very stormy, very quickly. I feel that the storm often stays for a while, until it cools down enough.
At school I feel that the communication is overcast most of the time. This is because I listen to the lectures and take notes, but have little time to communicate with classmates.