Gosh Survivor, you were right! Those buses REALLY are tricky!

I can tell you right now that unless you go (or plan to go) to a college that utilizes a bus system, this particular blog entry will probably not interest you in the least bit. As I have mentioned before, I go to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and for the first time today (in fact, it happens to be my one month anniversary of living here at Purdue!!), I rode a campus bus. I had always been a little apprehensive about using the bus system because there are a number of buses and each has a different route, and even though I have a bus schedule, I have had a continual feeling that if I get on a bus, I would still end up on the wrong one, leading me to the wrong destination.

Anyway, I had just got done with my 830 class and did not have another until 11:30 so instead of walking the usual 20 minutes back to my dorm today, I decided I should just conquer my fears and ride one of those bad boys. So my friend (who had never ridden the bus either) and I walked 2 seconds to the bus stop, and we began to scrutinize the schedule to find which bus/route would take us to the closest area where we wanted to go. Eventually the right bus pulls up and we get on and sit down. The bus made frequent stops before we even got close to the Shreve Residence Hall, At each stop, people were either getting on or off and all of a sudden, the bus went right past Shreve!! Now what the heck?! We had no idea that we had to pull down on a black handle in order to indicate to the driver that we wanted to stop and get off. Of course, she and I ended up at the same bus stop at which we got on in the first place. My advice to you: LOOK AROUND AND OBSERVE WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING INSTEAD OF STARING OUT THE WINDOW ENJOYING THE SCENERY. Chances are they’ve ridden the bus before and they know the routine and/or they’re just not as stupid as some of us can be.

In order to get to my 11:30 class, I decided to take the bus again because I knew exactly how to use it this time! I was pretty excited about it and all so I go to the bus stop, got on when the bus pulled up, sat down, and ended up stopping at 6 different stops before my stop. I was late to my 11:30 by 7 minutes. I know for a fact that walking would have been a lot quicker. So how about you don’t take the bus if you are trying to get to class (just to be safe!!). More often than not, walking is probably quicker anyway. Besides, 8 out of 10 times, if you take a bus, you're just being lazy. =)

If you are just absolutely set on riding the bus, here are a few more helpful tips integrated into this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKzilLsUZCw