Public transportation can be intimidating – especially if you aren’t familiar with the concept. I have ridden a subway or two in my day, but using public transportation on a daily basis as my only form of transportation? The idea seemed so foreign to me before moving to Chicago.

I’ve been living here for almost two months now and today I realized how far I’ve come. My first couple of bus rides I sat there so annoyed thinking “why didn’t the bus driver stop at my stop?” Now I know that if I want off I need to pull the string overhead — and in smaller neighborhoods I may pull it 2 or 3 stops ahead of the one I want to ensure I can actually get off.

I waited at the bus stop today after work at prime time, 6:00pmish. Bus after bus drove past filled to the brim. When a bus finally stopped it was nearly spilling out with people. People were standing with their bodies wrapped around one another as it was so packed. But one girl hopped off. I looked around at my fellow bus waiters at the stop. Nobody moved, nobody tried to get on the bus.

I leapt forward and said “I’m squeezing in!” Miraculously, because I forced my way in there was room. I then proceeded to ride the whole way back to my apartment standing next to the bus driver, squished in the very front of the bus.

I’m growing up everyone, I’m becoming a real life city girl.

if you’re lucky enough to make it in the city, you’re lucky enough