I have to go up to the library and get two books. I've put it off for days. In fact I've put it off for so long that if I don't go and get the books, they'll put them BACK and I'll have to do the whole rigamarole of ordering the books all over again.
I SHOULD have gone yesterday, when my husband was in the throws of computer insanity and rather touchy and therefore not much fun, and the SUN was out. The current blackness of the clouds means my lights are on.
MY LIGHTS ARE ON IN DENMARK AT 4pm IN THE SUMMER!!
Horrors they are black looming clouds.
So it's going to rain.
Well, I don't really want to walk up and back to the library in the rain. My excuse is that the books will get wet, but mostly I just don't want to walk 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back in the warm and wet. Yes, to make things worse, it's rather warm. Have I mentioned that the University is UPHILL?? So I'll be hot and wet and SWEATY??
Therefore.... I think I'm going to take the bus.
*full body shiver*
I'm terrified. What if I get on the wrong bus? What if I get on the bus going the WRONG WAY??
This has happened. Quite a lot, in fact. I'd go so far as to say that I've spent more time on the WRONG buses than I have on the RIGHT busses.
I've checked the rejseplannen twice. And they make less sense than ever. I can't seem to get a simple map showing me what busses go where and the rejseplanner wants me to walk half way across town to catch a bus that may go right next to my home... but the map provided seems to indicate that the bus will FLY through parts of down town. Have the folks at rejseplanner been reading too much Harry Potter?
Gone onto the midttrafik web-site, and they want me to take completely different busses. However, as they have proper maps and I can see that I can take either of two busses from RIGHT next to my home that will drop me off RIGHT next to the University... I think. I will go with this option.
All I have to do is find my bus tickets.
Can you tell I am procrastinating? I really don't want to take the bus. I REALLY REALLY am afraid of busses.
Oh geez.... here I go.
***UPDATE: I did it!! I took the bus there and back again! Without help from my husband, so I feel quite triumphant. I bought clip card from the supermarket (the only one I had was for Copenhagen, not so helpful here) without any trouble. I knew I needed a two zone card and I had just enough money. I did stand at the wrong bus stop for 5 minutes (the construction in downtown Århus is a NIGHTMARE) but noticed the "Obs" sign (Danish for "hey, you, stupid, notice THIS") and since it contained words I do not know I grabbed the first passing Dane who looked between 20 and 30 years old (more like to speak English and be comfortable with it) and I grabbed the right one. Not only did he tell me I was at the wrong stop, he gave me directions to find the right stop for the bus I was trying to take (I don't know all the street names so this was INCREDIBLY helpful). Caught the bus. Got off at the correct stop. Had a bit of a problem finding the bus stop for the way home, but after a bit of looking, I found it. No Danes had to be accosted. Got on the right bus. Got off at the right stop. YES!! And instead of two books waiting for me, I had 6, so I'm glad I took the bus. Why must I keep ordering such hefty books?? I still ended up sweaty because it is very humid and I was terribly stressed. My knees are still shaking!! But I did it!!***
Oh I can relate! I want to go to the idraetcenter on the other end of town but I would have to do a two-busser and I am very afraid.
ReplyDeleteI am someone who thinks a two-busser at 1am in London is almost direct, what is wrong with me?
You saw my blog the other day, right? And here I thought I knew Oslo well enough to get on the right bus...ha!
ReplyDeleteIt's raining here, too. As a fellow Californian, I can sympathize with WTF??ing the rain in summer. And the cold! It was 60F here a few days ago...in July!! WTF???
@ Kel: I KNOW!! I can handle the London Underground with the ease of someone born to it. I've taken buses in Israel and cabs in Jordan. I've driven manual transmission in San Francisco. Why do city buses in Denmark scare the bejezzus out of me?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I'm sitting here STILL SHAKING and with stomach cramps from clenched muscles. It's like PTSD or something.
@ Corinne: My worst nightmare is that I get on the wrong bus, end up in the middle of nowhere and then they WON'T LET ME TAKE THE BUS BACK.
And really, what is the worst that could happen? I call my husband, cry about how I'm lost and then he'd come and get me. WTF?
Darn it all, and I was going to make Naan and Chicken Korma tonight and I just don't know if my legs will hold me up in the kitchen long enough.
You should try to get an apartment next to the library. Like ours, for example :D
ReplyDeleteYes, these are all the reasons I dislike buses. I make noises about the people and diesel fumes, but really, it is the terrors of The Wrong Bus. You are not alone! And, Trains Rule. (What about a bicycle?)
ReplyDeleteI think some of that fear of buses for us Californians is that unless you were lucky enough to grow up in the bay area, there isn't a whole lot of really good public transportation for us to use, so we really aren't used to it. My last semester at Sac City they were doing all kinds of construction and there was NO parking so I had to take the light rail...I only got lost once, but it was very scary.
ReplyDeleteAnd quit complaining about the wet weather...I'd sell my soul for a summer storm.
Ooh do I hate having to lug books from the library. Luckily for me, they deliver them to the library next to my office for collection.
ReplyDeleteIf it's any comfort, I don't think is a "foreigner thing" - I get lost in Aarhus Sporveje all the time and I hail from the Kolding/Vejle area, about an hour south of Aarhus.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm not sure it's any comfort at all. It sort of implies that if you're not Trøjborg born-and-bred, there's no hope.
So sorry. Will close comment now. But am enjoying your writing very much!
You lived my nightmare. Public transport, foreign signs.
ReplyDeleteI am going to procrastinate this taking public transport event for as long as I can. I left a whole life behind, now please dont put me in a train or a bus ewww. ( Damn! I just realised how annoying sound! But given a chance everyone would want to live a life without public transport)
@ Digger: ever since the Terrible Incident involving me, my bike, my husband and his bike, and on-coming traffic I have decided that it's better for everyone if I don't bike in Århus. (I was watching his reflector as if it was a break light, didn't see that he was stopping, ran into him and fell into aforementioned on-coming traffic.) Funnily enough, I have gotten on the wrong train and kicked off in the middle of NOWHERE, but for some reason I still prefer trains to buses.
ReplyDelete@ TBS: Actually, that does make me feel better!!
Congrats! I remember being all sorts of confused the first time I took a business trip to Denmark and had to take the bus to/from the hotel (my company was very cheap in that since there was public transportation they wouldn't provide a rental, not that I would have attempted to drive anyways). Fortunately in the morning I ran into someone from the company I knew, but on the way home I was extremely confused. But I made it.
ReplyDelete@AG: Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch.
ReplyDeleteI'm about 75 posts behind in my google reader so forgive my tardiness! You are much more brave than I - if I don't have the car, I don't leave the house to venture anywhere!!
ReplyDeleteFinding out which side of Park Alle to stand on to get the right bus in Århus is ... an art. For example, to get to Statsbiblioteket I can catch the 4,7,24 or 26 from the banegården side of the road _or_ the 17 from the Rådhus side. Get it wrong and I could end up just about anywhere. And now with the insane roadworks you can't even count on them staying the same from day to day.
ReplyDelete