Let me start by saying that I grew up in Orange County so I'm pretty sheltered. And going into LA Union Stations makes me say to myself, "Todo, I don't think we are in Orange County anymore."
***These are my opinions and don't intend to upset or offend anyone. And these may come off as insensitive, I'm sorry if they do.***
There are bums in Orange County but not nearly as many and they never get really close. And in San Luis Obispo(where I went to college), there were maybe 4 that I saw in my 4 years. But my first bum experience in LA was on a train ride home one day. This bum wasn't just scraggly, he was an "eccentric" bum. He was wearing a shoe box for a hat that was covered in pink paper and was carrying around a big orange plastic trash bag and walking up and down the aisle. But he did have a ticket, surprisingly and wasn't causing any trouble so he stayed on the train. Now that I'm writing this I should have taken a picture.
***I have nothing against homeless people but I am just not used to them.***
After a long day at school, I'm usually pretty hungry so I totally understand if you eat snacks on the train. BUT, do not bring fried food on the train! One, it smells amazing. Two, it looks disgusting. One day a lady sat down on the train right next to me and whips out a bag of fried food. I wanted to either eat it all or throw it out the train so I didn't have to smell it but I kept to my flashcards.
The nice lady offered it to fellow train goers. Another lady asks what was in the bag so the fried food lady said "Fried onions and sweet potato fries. Have to lower my glycemic index."....Are you kidding me?! I get the sweet potatoes are better but COME ON! It's fried! Some people...
**Fun fact, did you know that one of the chemicals used for embalming(formalin) actually makes you hungry**
This next one actually terrified me.
This weekend I had been avoiding going into LA because of the 10th anniversary of 9/11. But ofcourse Monday meant school so I knew I had to go but didn't want to. I had been worrying about going to Union Station that Monday because you never know what could happen. But I dragged myself on the train and was half way to Union Station when a BOMB SQUAD walked the train with a bomb sniffing dog. Um HELP!! I totally thought I could have died that day. Then when I got to the station is was practically empty compared to all the other Monday mornings. Apparently others where scared too. So I nearly sprinted to shuttle to make the 7:50 bus to get-the-hell-outa-there. Obviously nothing happened but it still scared the shit out of me!
4 comments:
I grew up taking the metro - not a lot, but sometimes, so none of this stuff surprises me :) I'm surprised they let you eat on the trains! All food is banned on the DC metros. I know they tried to arrest a young girl who brought french fries on before - probably more as an example than anything.
omg that bum sounds like a hoot!! Austin has lots of bums which sucks but mostly downtown! Some of them stand on the side of the road and tell jokes!
I don't even think we have a train where I live...lol! Well, maybe, but people don't take it to get anywhere closer than 2 hours away. The bomb squad thing would have freaked me out, too!
We have almost no forms of public transportation where we live. I'm jealous that you get to use it, but it definitely sounds like it's an adventure!
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