Buses on Strike!

As long as I can remember, I have never had to take a bus. Sure we used them for school trips, but I never had to take one to get to and from school. By the time I was working or going to hang out with friends on my own I could drive and had a car. Out here it's totally different. Everyone uses public transportation and I am no exception. Since the first week here I haven't used anything EXCEPT buses to get to the city and back home again. My host family's house is 30 minutes from the city by bus. If for any reason I can't make the bus, I have no other way of getting in to the city (or home) normally. All that being said, yesterday the buses went on strike. Unlike many of the other students living closer to the center of the city, I could not walk to get to my classes or back home (unless a four hour walk was something that sounded like a good idea). The strike severely affected the entire city for the day. While I was able to get a ride into the city with my host mom, it took 45 minutes due to traffic. The streets aren't made for that kind of traffic because so many people take the buses. That number of cars all traveling the same direction at the same time just doesn't happen. Then after a long day of classes, I was ready to get home. That unfortunately wasn't immediately an option. Austin and I decided to wait and see if the night buses would start running because they only run after midnight (the strike was supposed to just be on Wednesday). That also was not the case. We had to split a cab to get home, costing us each ten euro. It was my first encounter taking a cab unexpectedly on my own, which was exhilarating. I do have to say though I would have preferred to take the bus and keep my ten euro. It was in extremely new experience!