Riding the Subway

Riding the subway was much less terrifying than I originally expected. I was worried about getting horribly lost, getting stuck on the train because it was so crowded, or being surrounded by crazies. No worries friends, I survived.

My first fear of getting lost was very quickly dissolved. Most of the subway trains had a map on the inside and quite a few of the newer ones had an electronic dealio that said which way the train was headed, where it was, and what all the stops were. Also, if I was ever too lost I could always jump off the train and check the extremely intricate map they have at every station. And to be fair, the subway system was relatively easy to understand. Once I pulled out a map and figured out what transfers to make, it was simply a matter of working around the crazy construction and unexpectedly shut down trains. I only went the wrong way once, and that was because I forgot my final destination, not because I messed up the trains. Silly me.

My second fear was also rather unfounded. The subway trains were really only very crowded on Sunday and in the middle of the afternoons. When I first arrived in New York it was around 6:00 in the morning. There was no one on any of the subways.

I was able to get a seat for most of my trips from Brooklyn into Manhattan. The times that it was crowded were, admittedly, awfully cramped, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as expected. It's easy not to care when everybody else is quietly resigned to having no personal space. If you were invading someone poor unsuspecting stranger's bubble, you just looked the other way and didn't say anything. Surprisingly less awkward than you would think, and much less awkward than it sounds. At least it was for me. Maybe I'm just weird.

My other major fear was the crazies. There were really only two that I encountered and I found my ipod to be the perfect deterrent. "Oh, you wanna tell me about the rapture? Ya, I heard it's been postponed until October." *insert earphones here* *crazy realizes you won't listen and walks away* Victory! One of the crazies was walking around with no shoes on and seemed drunk at first. After riding with him for about 20 minutes I think our whole car realized that he was legitimately crazy. It was humorous, scary, sad, and just plain depressing at the same time.

All in all I found the subway to be a relatively pleasant experience. I don't care for the smell or the extreme heat at the stations, but the idea itself is pretty sound. I find myself considering riding Trax to school instead of driving everyday. It was kind of nice to just sit and listen to my ipod, or read, while someone else got me to where I needed to be. And I got to watch a lot of really interesting people and listen to a lot of free live music.

And let's not forget the random subway art.....

Excuse me.....Mr. Crocodile? That's my friend Mr. Moneybag Head you're currently chewing on. Please stop. And take off that jacket. Weirdo.