Junior Harvey Ye rode the P2P bus Saturday for one full lap as part of The Daily Tar Heel's Bucket List for UNC students. He documented his experience on the late night bus here:
The bus was becoming crowded as every dolled-up person tried to fit into the small space. As soon as they found a comfortable place and settled down, they started talking about which bar they were going to try, what interesting things had happened during the day, which professor was awesome and the person who was so mean.
“Oh! You know what? You are my friend’s friend!” a guy from three seats away suddenly shouted after he heard something.
“Remember? We met before,” he said.
“Oh yes! I remember,” another guy sitting next to me replied.
The first student got so excited he kept patting the post next to him.
The whole bus burst out laughing, including me.
The bus stopped and people got off.
“Where are you going? Let’s go together,” the pole-patting guy said to his new best friend.
This conversation took place on a P2P bus on Saturday night, from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., when people were heading out for the exciting party they had been waiting to go to for a whole week.
This kind of experience might have become something not even worth mentioning for many people who take the P2P every late night. But, as an exchange student from China, I have to admit it was my first time on the P2P and the students' quick and friendly exchange was a shock to me.
Taking a bus is nothing special. Taking a super crowded bus is not new to me either — as China has such a large population. Taking a crowded bus and talking to people you’ve never met and never talked to is a new experience. And taking a crowded bus that drives four full laps around campus and talking to many strange people is indeed a big first step.
P2P, whether it is the abbreviation of “Point to Point” or “Party to Party”, is undoubtedly a place where conversation starts.
I love the English language because you can always start a conversation with an interactive question — “How are you?” People usually respond with a “good” or “very well." And then, conversation starts.
Here at Chapel Hill, you’ve got a bonus — people respond with a big smile so you’ll never be afraid of taking the first step.
Using the simple question "How are you?”, I learned Diane is going to visit her friends, Michael is in the J-School just like me, Joy didn’t have a very good day and Jenny is taking the P2P for the second time.
And they all know I am on the exchange program here and I love this place and the nice people here.
Perhaps someday in the future, you might bump into someone you met on the P2P and greet them with “Remember? We were on the same bus”, or you may suddenly realize “Oh! Isn’t he the guy who took the same bus as me? He is in this class as well!” You might just see them when you are trying to figure out what is wrong with the vending machine and complain “Can they just fix it?” together.
It’s just brilliant.
Conversation is awesome on P2P, but three heads-up are necessary. First, when people are getting so excited, the bus driver may never hear students yelling “Stop please!” No worries, fellow riders will help you. Even so, the bus driver may miss that as well. Again, don’t worry, the whole bus will call out for you all together!
Second, when you are so “indulged” in the conversation, you may well miss the chance to call out that “STOP PLEASE!” before you realize you are already on a second lap of the bus route.
And here comes the third — another lap is not fun.
university@dailytarheel.com
