IT'S COMING. That dreaded day is right around the corner and just thinking about it is makes you squeamish. No amount of hoping is going to make it disappear, though. The — your — first day of school is right around the corner and with it, another three months of textbooks, traffic-jam and a too-short lunch-break.

I wish I could say I feel your pain. Not any more. See, I no longer have to face that torment because I, (drumroll, please) graduated, (insert happy dance here) and I no longer have to endure that turmoil.

Now, it's not that I hated school (much), but getting there and back home was pure torture.

On a morning, I had to be at the bus route waiting for a maxi at 6:50 for the latest otherwise I'd be late.

Maxi-taxis zoomed right by me — full.

City Gate on an afternoon was hell. Believe me, I love all my fellow Trinbagonians (not really) but being squished against multitudes of sweaty schoolchildren and stressed-out employees is not my idea of a fete.

Some woman's handbag would smack me in the head. I would get bumped and tossed around and that man would leave a muddy footprint on the sneakers I cleaned over the weekend. To top it off, as soon as I pushed and shoved and clawed my way into the maxi, the driver would whip his head around to shout, "No school-chirren in uniform in meh maxi, please."

So, I had to make make my way out of the maxi while the over-eager woman behind me made her way to my seat. Reasons to cry, right?

How about the day I actually got a seat in a maxi? I walked in and took the double-seater instead of the single seat. Bad idea.

A couple minutes later, a not-so-slim woman with five different shopping bags plus her purse entered the maxi.

I started hoping against hope that she didn't sit next to me, after all, there were about five empty seats, she could have chosen any one of those. That day wasn't my lucky day, though, or maybe I was the only person who didn't smell like 'wet dog'. She flopped herself next to me, bags and all.

I thought she would have tried to be considerate and keep herself and her belongings to her side but courtesy at City Gate only happens in a parallel universe.

The woman started wiggling around and tried to get more comfortable, at the same time, pushing me farther into the side of the maxi.

Next, she tried to wedge her bags between the non-existent space between the both of us.

So, I shot her this incredulous look that I was sure would send the message. Right?

Wrong. She didn't budge. By now I wanted badly to ask her if she paid $9.00 for the extra space she was using but I dared not risk a cuss-out.

I consoled myself with the fact that any day was better than the day I had to hold my breath from Port-of-Spain to Trincity because the man next to me smelled like a vagrant.

Taking the bus was no easier. My first attempt went horribly wrong. A word of advice, if the bus is supposed to come at 3:15pm, it is really coming at 4:45pm. Do not make the mistake, though, of arriving at the terminal at any time close to 4:45pm, you will not get on that bus. The line will be so long, you might as well just try to get a "red-band."

And never try to ask the information desk for help, they are more stressed-out than you and you'll feel the brunt of their frustration.

On a brighter note, no-one will kick you out of the bus if you are in school-uniform, in fact you get a free ride, you might just have to stand for an hour and a half if you desperately want to get home. And no amount of movie-watching prepared me for the kind of skills I had to have to prevent myself from being thrown all the way to the front of the bus.

When it rained, City Gate was ten times worse. What is it about the rain that makes Trinbagonians go crazy? They push more, shove more and get angry more easily.

Anyways, to all the students who must deal with City Gate come September, good luck. I'm sure as hell glad that I don't have to.

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