Whatever the differences are between the CEU students’ daily routines, there is one interesting tendency to observe. Some kind of magic, one might say, happens on Astoria-Kerepesi 87 route every weekend. Friday and Saturday.2 am, 3 am, 4 am, 5 am. What am I talking about? The glorious night buses, of course.
So you’ve squeezed yourself into a crowd of youngsters, wonder for a second what the actual human capacity of an ordinary bus is, then stop that steam of thoughts and enjoy the fact that – finally! – you’re on the way home.
Surely, on the way, there is that brief moment of panic: “Wait. Is the bus going to the right direction?” (a mental pause follows) You look through the bus window, as if that could somehow help you determine where you are. Your heart rate, already affected by alcohol in the blood system, increases. The fact that the bus is packed with young people seems like a good indicator that you’re going towards Ors Vezer tere. On the other hand…these people could be going anywhere! Then suddenly, you see Arena, a shopping mall the size of a micro state, and do a victory dance in your head. “Yessssss! Now, where’s Arkad? Faster, almighty bus!”
After half of the jolly youngsters leave the bus, it is finally physically possible to look around. And when you do, you realize that there was a way to check whether you’re on the right bus even before seeing Arena. It is seeing some familiar faces. The girl from my elective class… The guy I talked with in the elevator… Ah yeah, and two course-mates of mine! So you look around, politely – while also trying to look cool –nod at some people, even say “hello” to others, and inside of you, the feeling of solidarity with other CEU students explodes: it’s not just you who has potentially ruined half of your Saturday for having proper fun of Friday. There are more of us!
On any of the night buses, there are always more of tired but happy CEU students going home. And, you know, if not for any other reason, let’s maintain solidarity among ourselves at least while we’re on that damn bus. Because, you know, we’re all in this together. Literally.
Justina Poškevičiūtė
POLSCI
Lithuania
0 comments:
Post a Comment