It started off with a couple of drops of rain falling on the ground, but quickly it began to pound even faster and harder, each raindrop harder than the one before. I heard the loud whoosh of the tires rushing through the wet road. My mom quickly locked our front door, “Go ahead you guys, don’t worry I’ll catch up” and motioned for my sister and me to continue to walk down the street towards the bus stop. As I hurried to catch the bus, and tried to dodge all the slippery slush of the melting snow and ice. With my mom trailing behind us, my sister and I tried to hop over and avoid the treacherous puddles. We tried rushing to the bus stop in the rain and avoiding the muddy puddles, miraculously the bus was there waiting thanks to the other passengers who were getting on.

Relief immediately rolled over me, we would finally be inside a dry, warm bus.As all the damp and wet passenger got into the bus, my sister, my mom and I hurried in to find a seat for all of us. Yeah the dry and warm feeling that I mentioned earlier, I felt none of that. Instead I started to feel super uncomfortable because 1) My socks were soaking wet because of the gigantic puddles that I had stepped in, 2) I didn't know where to put my wet umbrella on the bus and 3) There were lot more people getting into the bus then I had expected. Soon I realized that this was going to be a long ride.I wondered to myself, is this trip truly worth going to the Bronx to see my aunt? Hey I couldn’t help it, I’m not exactly what you would call a “happy camper” when it comes to traveling in by the bus and the train on a rainy damp day.

Finally, after what felt like a million stops we finally arrived at Roosevelt Avenue 74th street. As we got off the bus, my mom decided to get something for my aunt. It’s a typical Bengali thing to do whenever you go to somebody’s house you should always bring a housewarming gift or food. My mom decided to buy some snacks from a nearby Bengali restaurant that was a couple of blocks down. Oh my goodness! When we stepped in it was like stepping into heaven, all the spicy aroma of warm, chicken tikka, biryani, a variety of fried fritters and other warm spicy delectables just whirled around and captivated me. While I stood there with my mouth salivating, my mom quickly ordered a bunch fried fritters to take to my aunts house. It was like being snapped out of a wondrous dream. I was a little sad to leave the store that had so many types of spicy and savory food that made my mouth salivate. As we left the store, we walked towards our next destination the underground train station.

When we started to walk down the staircase the stench of urine and damp rain immediately bombarded my nostrils, I nearly gagged,and my toes curled inside my worn out boots. Slowly I forced myself to walk down the staircase and I rushed in to swipe in my metrocard, my mom and my sister swiped in after me. We rushed to catch the E train, we waited a couple of minutes for it to arrive. Once the E train arrived we rushed inside as other people started pushing into get in as well. My mom and sister found a seat for themselves and I chose to stand. I really don’t like sitting in trains when its raining outside or when the weather is damp because all the seats feel cold a wet, Blech! When I check my phone to see what stop we had to get off at, I swear I thought I was going to jump off the then and there! I almost yelled out “ twenty-six stops!” to my mom, and she said “what?”, “twenty-six stops mom, we have twenty-six stops until we get to aunties house!” I moan. My mom just hushed me and said it’s okay that all we have to be is patient and she told me stop whining.

Me being myself, I would constantly check the map on the train to see how many more stops until we got off at Parkchester. Eventually I stopped doing that because I honestly got tired of it, and I started to look out the window. When I looked out the window I noticed many things such as the types of people we have in New York, the stores we have, street art, there was even this random guy who came into the train and did some cool tricks and a lot of other incredible things that you normally would not see on a train. By the time you knew we finally arrived at Parkchester 177th street! Phew! I was relieved that we finally got to my aunts house. Well some what close to her house at least, since it was only a couple more blocks until we reached her house. The funny thing is that I actually didn’t mind walking in the rain, because I was willing to actually enjoy the rain instead of moping around about it, and enjoy checking out my aunts welcoming neighborhood in the Bronx.