Its 5:45 am, Saddik wakes up to the song “Good Morning” by Kanye West as his alarm. After hitting the snooze button 3 times he finally gets up and sits on the edge of his bed. “I need to start waking up faster” he thinks to himself, as he stands up and start to get ready. After showering and getting dressed, still grumpy, he walks to the kitchen and makes his coffee. HE says hello to the super while she sits with her daughter waiting for the school bus that’s always late. He then walks across the street to his car. Normally New Yorkers don’t drive into the city but since Saddik works as a personal driver for a family that lives in the city he needs to always have his car with him (hence why he always leaves in the middle of class for 10 min to feed the meter for his parking). He drives to the city and normally parks in front of Starbucks on Lexington Avenue. It is now 8am and his fiancée, Fatima, is just getting off her bus and walking to Starbucks where the usually meet. In the meantime, Saddik orders Fatima her Caramel Machiato. “ He’s wearing the jacket I got for his Birthday” Fatima says as she approaches him with a smile. He kisses her and hands her the drink as they walk to their 9 am Management class in Baruch.

As Jacob walked out of his house with his father and brother, he felt a brush of cool air that made him snuggle in his jacket. They entered their car and drove for approximately 40 minutes from Brooklyn to Manhattan. During the duration of the ride, Jacob was forced to hear the irritating sound of the AM radio his father enjoys listening to. The subject of the annoying radio was about money, interest rates, stocks… It made Jacob think that he needs to make a lot of  money, really quickly, so that he doesn’t have to wake up this early (6:30 am) and head to school every morning. Jacob’s father dropped him off on the way to work on 6th Ave and 23rd St. He saw many people walking, running… all on their way to start their day. From there, Jacob went to the Starbucks on the corner and got a double toasted butter croissant and an iced coffee with milk and sugar (5 pumps of sugar syrup). He then plugged in his headphones, listened to music, nibbled on his croissant as he made his way classes. As he listened to the music through his headphones, the sounds reminded him of the music he was dancing to the night before at a friends wedding, it got him a little pumped and boosted his start of the day. On the way to school Jacob encountered a man named Johnny. He was a homeless man asking for some change. Jacob looked around and didn’t see anyone give him money, so it made me feel really bad. Jacob thought to himself, “why should a man like this have to suffer in the cold, famished, begging on the hard cement floor, while everyone walks by him without even acknowledging his existence.” Jacob went over to him, said “good morning” and gave him all the money he had brought for lunch that day. This incident made Jacob feel better, and was happy to make Johnny’s life a bit easier. After this incident, Jacob continued walking, through Madison Square Park, up until the entrance of Baruch College.

Jacob Chetrit

Xingyu woke up at 11:00 today. The alarm died again, she was going to be late today. “I promise to myself that I am going to get a new alarm!” Xingyu thought. Xingyu slipped into her clothes and cleaned her face rushed. As she reached the Q44 bus station at Main street, she saw a woman was taking photo of a little boy, who dressed like a pumpkin. It was Halloween, she realized she forgot to prepare candy. It was a windy day, she felt cold because she forgot to wear her warm scarf. The bus was crowd as usually. Xingyu breathed hard when she got off the bus at Queens library, she said she needed fresh air. She looked her phone, it was 11:35am. That was a bad day, the train was going to take her about an hour to get to the destination; she had to be there before 12:25 pm. When she arrived the subway station, the 7 express train was just gone; she did not get the chance to step her foot on the train. This may be the worse day that she had for this month! When the 7 local train was approaching the station, Xingyu quickly got on the train. How empty was it! That was roomy! She felt nauseating suddenly, because she was sitting right after she ran. Yes, she was dry retching. This was so quick that she didn’t have time to move her hand and cover her mouth. Oh, that was so awkward! When her mouth was acting for retch, there was a man stepped on the train. He saw the ugly face of her. Xingyu thought: “Should I say something to release this strained relation?” She ended up with no word, she was shy and embarrass. The man may had many feelings about her, but he didn’t say anything either. As more people stepped on, the tension was gone. As the expectation, Xingyu was late for her class. What a terrible day!

Just like any ordinary Monday, Jacob woke up and prepared for school. Promptly collecting his school materials, he ran out the door. Would there be traffic as usual? After starting his car, he drove down the roads, eventually ending up on the Bronx-Queens Expressway. He  intentionally prevented a taxi from merging in front of him. Antar Potus, the driver, clearly looked upon Jacob with a look of disdain, clearly irked by his selfish driving ways. While nearing towards the Brooklyn Bridge, Jacob, seeing nothing but an endless stream of cars, asked himself if he would ever make it to class. After crawling over the Brooklyn Bridge and finally making it to the FDR driveway, he hit another patch of traffic that gave him a moment to reflect, asking himself “is it even worth it to drive?”.  The beautiful appearance of the East River coupled with the serene cloudless sky consoled him. After making it to the 23rd Street exit, the cluttered NYC streets reminded Jacob that parking would not be an easy task. Better park before class. Would he be able to find the needle in the haystack and get a parking spot. To his relief, immediately upon turning on 28th Street, he found a parking spot which allowed him to make it to class with time to spare. He could not stop thanking god for how lucky he had been to find a spot amongst the difficult Flatiron District Streets.

Hitting the snooze button on her phone, Teena refuses to get out of bed. It is 6:30AM and it would be cold outside of the blankets. As the alarm rings again, she tells herself she has to get up. After getting ready, she heads to the living room where breakfast has already been prepared for her. Her dad wakes up earlier to make sure she has the most important meal of the day. Teena sits down and enjoys her sandwich with an egg sunny-side up, just how she likes it. Thank you, dad! Finally ready to leave, she puts on her shoes and rushes out to catch the train. Speed walking down two blocks, she gets to the train station just as a 6 train closes its doors and speeds away. The next one is in five minutes. That’s not too bad. As she waits, she observes the people making her way out of the train station. Isn’t she cold wearing that? So many unfamiliar faces walking past. She hears the rumbling of a train coming as it slowly comes to a stop at the station. As she steps into the train, she realizes a strong pungent smell in the train. A woman runs out to the next cart just making it before the doors closed. Teena switches carts at the next stop. The train pulls to a stop at 23rd Street. Teena exits along with a crowd of people, mostly containing Baruch students. She bumps into a friend, Lucy. Lucy, having known Teena since high school, smiles when she sees Teena. Lucy is surprised to see her so early in the morning. However, she notes how tired Teena looks. She has always recalled Teena with a friendly personality. Not having see each other for a while, they catch up with each other as they make their way to Baruch.

It is 10am in the morning, the alarm rang. Yan opened her eyes slowly and stopped the alarm. “Uh, I need to wake up and eat breakfast before going to school”, She said. After she managed to get off the bed, she told herself she must to have the breakfast before class because she remember she has promised her best friend that she would take good care of herself. Yan opened the window and went to wash. Then she went to kitchen and put the bagel into the oven. 2 minutes late she picked the bagel up and put some cream cheese on it. She bite it and thought “Uh~ it is yummy, this is a perfect breakfast for the day”. After finished the breakfast, Yan went back to her room and got changed. Choosing what clothes to dress is a big question for Yan everyday. “Di. Di..DiDiDi….” Yan’s phone was singing. She picked up her phone and saw Tom texted her “Are you ready to go to school? You must catch the next train”. “I’m changing clothes now, I will go out 10 minutes later”, Yan replied. Tom is her best friend and always urges her keep doing things on time.
Yan locked the door and went downstair. The sun was shining and she thought “Today is a beginning and I must make it good”. She walked to the N subway station and swiped the metrocard. There was a lot of people in the station. “Now I’m waiting the subway“, Yan texted to Tom and then she saw there were many people playing with their phone too. About 10 minutes later the subway came and Yan got on the subway. Thankgod, there was not that much people in this compartment so that Yan got a sit. When she sit down she saw she got a new message, “Ok, text me when you arrived. Be safe”-Tom. She put down her phone and thought of her message, how pleasure God has given her this good friend? Additionally, Yan asked herself how valuable this friendship is to Yan since they met. “I have to treat him as good as he treats me”, concluded Yan. The way of Yan go to school was far, she was thinking whether or not to take a nap . She looked at the map and showing it has ten more stops, then she decided to take a nap. Twenty minutes later the subway stopped at 23rd street and Yan got off the subway. She walked out the station and walked to baruch college.

As Samantha left work she rushed down 164th St to the first stop of the 64 bus. She pulled out her phone to check what time the bus would arrive and was annoyed to find that there wouldn’t be another one for about 10 minutes. She decided to be productive while she waited and read her books for class. As she looked up to check the bus again, Samantha saw a few young trick-or-treaters out for Halloween with their parents. She had recognized a woman that she had gotten to know through her job. She was with her young daughter Jess who was a very sweet little girl dressed up as a bumble bee. Samantha commented to her mom on how cute Jess’s costume was and they talked for a bit they both waited for the bus. When the bus finally came, Samantha took a seat towards the back as she would take it to the last stop anyway. After getting a little dizzy from reading she decided to take a break. How was it that she only became dizzy reading on a bus yet never on the subway? This was puzzling as it was something she could never do for long. As she looked around the bus it slowly began to fill up with students as it stopped by Queens College. She saw more children dressed up in costumes and Samantha remembered when she was a child and would love going out trick-or-treating. The bus turned onto Queens Boulevard and Samantha said goodbye to Jess and her mother and headed for the train station. Jess’s mother thought to herself that Samantha was a mature for a teenager and that she was always rushing from one place to another. Samantha was glad to find that her train was only a stop away and she walked towards the front of the platform as she knew it would make things quicker in her commute when she would transfer trains. She boarded the E train and was lucky to find a seat right by the door. The train was very cold and she had forgotten to bring a scarf or cardigan. Samantha thought of how her mother always tells her to bring a sweater just in case she gets cold and she thought she should start taking her advice. Samantha looked around the train and noticed a lot of people seemed to pull sweaters out of thin air. How funny that everyone else seemed to be ready for the confusing weather but her. She laughed to herself as she almost heard her mother saying “I told you so”. Samantha looked at the time and saw she was going to be late, she was irritated and made a mental note to tell her boss she wouldn’t be able to work before class anymore. She began to read to take her mind off this crazy morning. As the train got close to her stop she got up and stood by the door ready to jog up the escalator to transfer to her next train. Samantha thought this was a nice little workout as she got off at the Lexington Ave 53rd St station and rounded the corner to the 51st St platform to take the 6 train. Why don’t they just connect the platforms? It would make a lot of sense instead of having her run up the escalator just to walk about a block and go down a flight of stairs then up yet another escalator. As she walked up the last escalator, she looked up to find that she had just missed the 6 train. Samantha walked down the platform annoyed and waited for the next train. As the train came it was very full but Samantha forced her way in for she was already late and she tried to make up some time. She turned around to find a creepy guy breathing down her neck and she squeezed her way to the other side of the car. Looking around she saw a few more people dressed for Halloween. She hoped nothing else creepy would happen as it was Halloween after all and people tend to be a little wild with their masks and scary outfits. Thankfully a large group of people got off the train at 42nd St so she wasn’t squished anymore. The train then got to 23rd St and Samantha shot out the door and up the stairs to the outside world. What a morning she thought as she walked a few blocks and up the stairs into school.

Haein was walking to the 86st train station in the morning as same as usual. People seemed to be very busy and no one talked while walking on the street and riding in the train. They are very sensitive especially 8 o’clock in the morning. There is no yield at the train. Most of people try to find seats instead of offering their seats. This time was no exception. She hit one woman’s arm by mistake. Even though Haein said she was sorry about that, the woman was still angry. Actually she didn’t expect that the woman would say that she was fine. So she ignored whatever the woman said and kept listening to music like nothing happened.

Then, she got off the train at 42^nd street to transfer to take the N train to school. She saw one Chinese guy who played a Chinese traditional instrument while she was waiting for the N train. The Chinese instrument which is Erhu sounded very beautiful and unique. However, people didn’t seem interested in the music due to lack of sleep or personal reasons. Although the song was great, Haein felt that the music was too loud compared to other day. Presumably she was also sleepy and tired. And she found that there was one person who was enjoying the music. He is a homeless guy. The Chinese musician didn’t care that only one person was listening his music and played the Erhu with deep emotion for one audience. She felt something weird at that time but the train came so she took and went to school like nothing happened.

Nick walked out of his dorm building and turned onto 97^th street. It was a cool day out, some wind in the air. He made his way from 3^rd avenue to Lexington and entered the 6 train subway station. He was delighted to see that there was only a 3 minute wait for the next train. When the train approached a gust of wind came with it. Unfortunately there were no open seats on the train so Nick an his roommate had to stand. To their surprise, after 4 stops two seats opened up and the boys were able to sit down. As the train approached the 28^th street stop Nick rose from his seat. The doors opened and he made a dash for the exit. When he reached the top of the steps the cool breeze of the outside air hit his face. Nick then walked over from Park to Lexington. Walking down 28^th street there was a ton of constructing going on. The sounds of power tools and heavy lifting filled the air. H wondered what they could be building. As he left the construction zone and walked toward 27^th street there was a familiar smell in the air. It was the smell that Nick loved most on his daily commute to school. The smell of fresh baked bread at subway filled his nostrils and made him crave a sandwich right then and there. He made eye contact with the Subway cashier as he slowed down to take in the wonderful aroma. Jeffery wondered why the strange boy had almost come to a full stop in front of his store but before he could question it the boy was gone. As he rounded the corner of 25^th street ad entered the plaza he saw the vertical campus tower before him. Nick had made it to school on time and with the thought of Subway in his mind.

One step outside and Vanessa could feel that the weather was very nice. The sky was bright and it was cool, but not too cold. She walked to the bus stop at a slow pace as she was early today. When she got on the bus, she was surprised to see that there was many seats, which was unusual. She thought to herself, Where are all the people today? It’s not as crowded today. Vanessa got on the bus and arrived at main street soon enough. She got off the bus and walked to the 7 train station. The 7 train was always busy especially at rush hour, so it was even weirder that it wasn’t crowded. “This is really weird” she said. She got on the 7 train and sat down. She arrived at Grand Central Station soon after. As she got off, she walked to the 6 train station. As she walked to the 6 train she saw a lady selling water and soda. She thought it was very interesting that she was selling water in the train station. As she walked past the lady, an unpleasant smell entered her nose. It smelled like gasoline except worse. What a nauseating scent. She walked quickly as to avoid the scent. She got on the 6 train and got off at 23rd street. She was 40 minutes early so she was able to get a coffee on her way to school. She walked for a couple minutes and finally arrived at school. What a nice and hassle free commute today.