The CTA

I've been living in Chicago for about four months now, and I still don't feel at home. There are so many things that take getting used to, and you'd think after four months I would be. Nope, not yet.


Learning To Get Around Chicago

Take public transportation. It seemed simple enough to me. Wait for the bus. Get on the bus. Get off the bus. Done. However, it hasn't gotten to that level of simplicity for me quite yet. I wait for the bus, often times I somehow miss the bus I set out to catch and end up waiting for ten to fifteen minutes in the brutal Midwest winter. I get on the bus and try to find a seat or at least an area that isn't jam packed with people. I say excuse me and smile at my fellow CTA passengers while trying to ignore the jerks who don't bother to use the same common courtesy; they instead choose to shoulder bump, grunt or simply plow through the crowd to get through. I sit with a nervous feeling in my stomach that I will miss my stop and travel much further than necessary or worse, somehow be on the wrong bus. That may seem ridiculous, but both instances have happened.

Like the first time I took the bus home from my night class.

I waited at what I thought was the correct bus stop and boarded what I thought was the correct bus. Unfortunately the bus I boarded had a route that took me out of the city, on the highway and thirty minutes away from where I was supposed to be. Getting off at the first stop I could, I briefly looked around, saw nothing familiar, went to ask the bus driver how to get back only to have to doors shut in my face. I guess the driver was in a hurry. It took me over an hour and a half to get home. I wish I could say I bravely found my way back via the public transportation system, but I didn't, with my tail between my legs, I called for a ride to pick me up.

In getting used to public transportation as my means of getting around, I've not only had learn to get over being directionally handicapped, which I didn't know I was until I moved here, I've also had to get used to the fact that every now and again I will come across a stranger who is beyond strange. Like the woman who used my leg as part of her seat, and when I pointed out to her that she was basically sitting on me, she proceeded to move even more of her weight in my direction, or the man who sneezed on the window and left it there, or the woman who appeared to be asking me questions, so naturally I answered only to be surprised when she yelled back at me, "I ain't talkin to YOU!" I remember thinking how embarrassing, she was probably on a bluetooth, until she turned around and clearly wasn't, or the man who seemingly urinated on the seat next to me, although I'd still like to pretend that one didn't happen. Yes, the public transportation system is challenging to get used to, and I am still not... but hey, at least this is my new backyard: