Kara's Adventures: Busses, Trains, and Subways! Oh My!

Before coming to Berlin I had never taken public transportation. Sure I had been dropped off at a train station where I had been either picked up by my sister in Davis or met up with friends in San Francisco, but those were special circumstances. It wasn't every day life.

I've discovered positive and negative aspects of taking busses, trains (S-Bahn), and subways (U-Bahn).

Positives:

You never have to return to your start destination
You never have to worry about finding a DD because nobody is driving
It saves gas AKA money and less carbon emissions
You don't need to concentrate or worry about being distracting to a driver
It is legal to drink and eat on trains

During every hour of the day, I saw people with a beer in their hands

It is easy to discover new places by hopping on and off a random bus or train
If you don't feel like walking a mile in the rain with heavy groceries, you can take the bus for just one stop

Cons:

Takes much much longer than a car because of the amount of time you must wait before it arrives or during transfers
Sometimes you won't find a seat and you need to stand for extended periods of time
Smelly people use public transportation just as much as everyone else- sometimes you need to get off and on quickly at a stop in order to be able to breath again

Yes, this is based on a true story

If it is freezing outside, sucks for you! You will just have to wait around in the cold until your ride shows up

During the cold evenings after class, every time I saw a big truck in the distance I remained hopeful that it would be the bus

People will try to pick-pocket you if the train is crowded. Hold onto your things tightly!

A man once grabbed my phone while I was texting. Luckily I sustained my grip and his hand hit me in the face as he ran off without anything.

Going up and back to school everyday required taking the train (for two stops) and then a bus, a total of about 20-35minutes every day depending on if they were all running on schedule. If there is a train strike (which happened WAY too often!) It could take up to an hour via busses.

Besides school which wasn't located near any cool destinations, it took me about an hour to get anywhere!

-If you went to a club on the weekend you must leave at 11 to arrive at 12am and if you leave a club at 4am you won't get home until about 5am. Also, keep in mind it could take longer because at night time the U-Bahn and S-Bahns only run ever 15-30minutes. I witnessed too many sunrises than I am comfortable admitting.

Back in California it takes about 40minutes without traffic and about an hour via CalTrain to get to San Francisco, but I had always deemed it as too far away. I will not be taking much more advantage of the "short" distance.

Everyone of all ages use public transportation. I saw five and six year olds with cartoon backpacks traveling on their own to and from school. I would have really appreciated their knowledge and confidence when I first arrived.