A Commuter's Nightmare: Part I

When I accepted a part-time internship in New York City, I was aware of the complications that would come with commuting. In order to save money, I opted to travel my bus rather than by a direct train, a more costly but time-saving method. A friend of mine warned me of the temperamental nature of BoltBuses in inclement weather, but being me, I convinced myself I wouldn't have a problem. Lo and behold, the Northeast was struck by a Polar Vortex.

The first week of my internship coincided with my first week of classes, so making the adjustment from my winter break sleep schedule was a challenge in itself. In order to make it to work by 9 a.m., I have to catch a 6:30 a.m. BoltBus. That's right, 6:30. This mean's I'm awake at 5:30 three days a week. If you know me at all (or have ever had a morning class with me) you're probably aware I'm not a morning person in the least.

My first week as an intern was coming to a close and it had being going incredibly smoothly. The only problem I had was an ongoing fight with my off-kilter sleep schedule. My internal clock was keeping me up until way past midnight each night, giving me little time to rest. An early wake-up call on work days coupled with two 9 a.m. class periods and freezing morning temperatures caught up with me rather quickly, and by Thursday night I was feeling massively fatigued. On Friday morning, my alarm woke me up from a dream-inducing sleep, so I gave in and pressed the snooze button. Five minutes later, I turned off the second alarm and lay back in bed, thinking about what I would wear that day and promising myself I would get up in a minute or two. What a mistake. After what seemed like no more than 10 or 15 conscious minutes, I finally got out of bed and saw that my clock read...8:39.

This was a stress dream come to life. I had nervously dreamt about what would happen if I slept through my alarm or missed my bus. I was plagued by imaginary scenarios where I would try to run down the sidewalk, but my legs felt like they were wading through molasses, or weighed down by some imaginary force. And now, it was coming true.

Expletives flew out of my mouth like automatic fire from a machine gun. I jumped out of bed and threw on whatever clean clothes were closest to me. I ran to the sink to put in my contact lenses, briefly considering just wearing my glasses, and threw some essential makeup items in my purse. I grabbed my coat, slipped into my boots, snatched up my keys and was out the door in five minutes, hoping to catch the 9 o'clock. Much to my dismay, when I reached the lobby of my building, I saw that I was about to walk into freezing rain. There was no way I would be able to make it to the bus, let alone walk the 20 blocks from my bus stop to the office without an umbrella. So I returned to my apartment, where I ate a quick breakfast and made myself look slightly more presentable, before I went to catch the 9:30 bus.

Upon arriving at the departure location, I along with the other people in line, were informed that all buses were running 15 minutes late due to icy road conditions. The bus coming in to get us was late, and our trip to New York was running about 20 minutes behind schedule, so by the time I made it to the city it was noon. My only lucky break of the day was when I hopped off the bus, ran around the corner and found a taxi sitting on the corner. I knocked on the window and he said he was on duty, so I made it work in a matter of minutes and didn't even have to hail a cab.

Showing up to work 3 hours late was enough to scare me into setting a second and third alarm. I may resort to sleep aids, or perhaps I'll get so tired my body will force me to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Until then, I'll just continue my struggle to wake up on time.

P.S. I fell asleep again this morning and didn't get out of bed until 6. My future doesn't look so bright.