The Usuals do New York, part 4
Katelyn Moore

It appears I have been remiss in my duties as writer these past few weeks. I can't help but wonder if y'all are still interested in my New York adventures, so I'll throw this last one out here and you'll have to tell me if you want more!

Considering I just spent about five minutes chatting with a friend about how to use the subway, I'll talk in that vein for a bit. Subways terrified me when I first got to New York. I don't like being in a crowd in a small space, and waiting for a subway train to come through is the epitome of crowd-in-small-space. And the NOISE! But I eventually got used to it, mostly with the help of Alexis making constant Ninja Turtle jokes and a lot of lip-biting. Once I got used to that, I had a few more things to learn about this transit system.

Now, I've ridden buses all around the Valdosta State University campus, and I've ridden a train all the way to New York City, but that didn't prepare me for the NYC subway. There are rules about the subway that I didn't know, and people look at you with that terrified "ohmygoodness you broke the RULES!" look when you don't obey. So here are Katelyn's 4 Easy Rules to the Subway:

1. Do NOT make eye contact with anyone, especially the singing homeless lady.

2. Making fun of the mechanized announcer only annoys the people around you, no matter how good your impression is.

3. If you don't know the person you're sitting beside, there must be at least ten inches of space between their body and yours or you're committing an etiquette infraction that would make Emily Post roll (politely) in her grave.

4. (and this is the biggie) DO NOT TALK ON THE SUBWAY. People will look at you like you're from Mars if you even speak with your friends.

Number 4 was the hardest to get used to. On the bus and on the train, my friends and I would chat the whole time. On the subway, you can't even discuss where to get off without little old ladies glaring at you like you just cursed a blue streak or little kids staring at you with wide eyes like they're wondering if God is going to strike you dead for such a sin as talking. The Usuals are a pretty chatty bunch and, despite spending an hour in the hotel room before each excursion discussing where we're going, we still had to remind ourselves constantly where we had to get off the subway and where we were going from there. And if we had to switch subway lines... oh boy. So we were constantly suffering the glares of the other denizens of the subway. I think we finally figured out the no talking thing right before we left... and that only worked because we were so tired that we didn't have the energy to talk.

Riding the subway by yourself is a lot easier than doing it in a group, too. I went out one morning to pick up breakfast from a bakery half the island away, and it was actually rather nice to be out by myself. (My parents, at this moment, are reading this and promptly freaking out. There will be phone calls.) I put my headphones in and turned on the music mix I had specifically chosen for just such an instance (hey, I'm prepared!) and reveled in the NYC morning air... which wasn't as bad as a country girl would think. It was chilly and a little foggy (it was around 8 a.m.) with the promise of a beautiful day. I didn't even have a subway map on me, so I was trusting my memory to get me where I was going (usually a mistake).

I didn't get mugged; I didn't get lost; I didn't even trip coming up the stairs from the subway (which is a big thing for me, not tripping). I blended right in with all the New Yorkers commuting to wherever they were going, and even when I was walking down the sidewalk I didn't actually feel out of place. It was kind of neat. I made it to the bakery and loaded up on the best bagels and croissants I've ever had (we had to go back again and get about three dozen of them before we left to take back with us), then got back on the subway and back to the hotel before the rest of the group was even really awake. Yay for public transit! ... as long as you're quiet. Katelyn Moore is a reporter for The Forest-Blade and may be reached at katelyn@ forest-blade.com

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