People-watching on the 99

Things I’m not doing: Preparing to move.

The other day, I took public transit to Cambie and Broadway, where my orthodontist’s office is.

That means I took the 99 B-Line Express bus, which is probably one of the busiest bus routes (the only other huge bus I can think of is the 135 on Hastings Street).  Even on a supposedly non-busy hour like 10am, the bus gets pretty full.  It runs from Commercial-Broadway Skytrain station all the way to UBC, stopping only at major transit stops.  It’s supposed to come every three minutes, which is handy because there are so many people (both students and professionals) coming from all over Greater Vancouver.

Anyways.

On the bus down to the Skytrain, I saw a girl, and someone who presumably was her father, carrying lots of bags and a huge hot pink suitcase.  It was one of those shiny, plasticky suitcases, and it was at least half the girl’s size.  Automatically, I knew she was heading off on a long, extended trip.  It turned out to be that GWAPS and I were heading in the same westward direction (“GWAPS” is the Girl With A Pink Suitcase).  When we got onto the same 99 B-line bus, it finally occurred to me that GWAPS is actually another UBC student! And I’ll bet that she was a fellow first year, too. Question: Are non-international students only allowed to move in on September 1st?

Immediately, I started to notice other potential UBC mates.  There were the twin sisters with long braids; they looked about my age.  And then there was the glasses-wearing, Emma Stone look-alike.  In addition, there were lots of people wearing heavier school backpacks; typical of what you’d see on a normal school day.  I’m pretty sure I accused (all in my head, of course) about a dozen people of being UBC students before I even got off at my stop.

To be honest, I don’t know where I’m going with this. Maybe I’m saying that there will probably always be at least one UBC student on the 99 bus at any time.  I’ll just have you all know; if you see a small Asian girl squinting at you on the bus, it’s probably not me. That is all.

PS. Good luck this school year, GWAPS! I liked those shoes you were wearing!

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