On Danish Transportation

At a Phillies game that I went to before I left the states (because I'm originally from the land of the Phightin' Phils and because my best friend's family is awesome), they made this announcement to "Stick around until the 7th inning to hear why our fans LOVE SEPTA!"  To which I called shenanigans, because no one loves SEPTA (SouthEastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority).  At best, people tolerate SEPTA because it kind of gets you where you need to go sometimes.

But public transportation here in Copenhagen is top notch.  I am obsessed with how simple the Metro system is (two lines, which go pretty much exactly the same places except for like 5 stops), then there are busses and the S-train, which is the regional train that takes you out to the outerlying neighborhoods of Greater Copenhagen.  And everything runs pretty consistently so you never have to wait more than like 10 minutes.  It's awesome.

But this evening, my lovely American roommate and I managed to get completely lost because we got on the right bus going the wrong way.  We were off in search of food: fun fact, they pretty much force you to go into the city from our little suburb-type neighborhood by just not having food anywhere around here.  So we hop on the 33 bus, which runs between our neighborhood and the City Centre.

...And, apparently, the outer reaches of Vestamager, which is two zones past what our school-provided transportation passes cover.  And the fine for getting caught on public transportation without a pass or with an insufficient pass is 750 kr (or about 125 USD).  So, thank god, we just pulled the "stupid, confused Americans couldn't understand the Danish bus schedule and accidentally got on the wrong bus" card and the bus driver was pretty understanding and took us home.

Today's lesson: Don't stray from the path.  Accept the role you have and don't try and adventure, because otherwise you will end up in Zone 4 which is nothing but houses anyway and you could get in lots of trouble.

Confusedly yours,
Rachel Leigh

On Things You Shouldn't Do in Public

Darling readers, if you're friends with me on Facebook or, god forbid, follow me on Twitter (in which case, I'm sorry), you know that I have a really low tolerance for people who can't seem to understand simple rules about what is and is not acceptable in public places.

Today, I was on the bus, which is a place that I find myself a few times a year as I travel back and forth between my home outside of Philly and my home-away-from-home in Richmond.  I could rant for days about the stupid things people do on the bus, but I think I'll cut it down to a few things that I really think should never happen on public transportation.

1. If there are children or old people on the bus, I don't want to hear you cursing somebody out or dropping the F-bomb every other word.  It's just not classy and, in addition, is offensive to old people and probably scarring to little kids.
2. Headphones have a purpose.  Their purpose is to allow you to hear your music/movie/video game without making everyone else have to hear it too.  Use them.  Also, if you are using them and I can still hear your music, you're using them wrong.  And probably causing serious aural damage while you're at it.  Good job.
3. There are things that I'm pretty sure you should just NEVER do in public.  Watching porn comes to mind.  Or, if you're the man behind me on the bus, consider that the bus is probably not the best place to conduct what only could have been a drug deal and a booty call.  Not smart, not classy.

I mean, I can't be the only person in the world who doesn't expect to be offended for an entire six hour bus ride.

Stay Classy, Public Transit,
Rachel Leigh