The Bus

by Amelia Smith

The AC saw so many amazing and educational sites on our Peace Trip across the South, but none of these things would have been possible if it weren’t for our great bus driver Paul, and his big bright pink bus, the Pink Panther.

Like I said, the bus was big, and a very bright pink. This bus actually had seat belts! And we had to wear them. The seats were so comfortable and easy to take naps on. Most Buses don’t have that kind of quality. You could lie down and fall asleep. It was really cool when you fell asleep and woke up in a different state or city. It was especially easy to do this if you sat alone. This made it so you had more leg room.

Now I’m sure that you are thinking “how is a bus full of 27 kids supposed to represent peace?” Well I’m glad you asked. Yes we all pretty much got along with each other, but when

We didn’t we needed to figure out how to get through it in a peaceful manner. We were on a bus for 7 days together. It was hard to be patient and peaceful at times, but we did it, and we made it, and we all did an amazing job.

Everyone enjoyed the ride, except for a few people in the back. It was pretty bumpy.  Near the back of the bus there was some singing going on. It was nice and very cheerful. Especially when we didn’t have music, the singing filled in. Some people brought games to play, and a group of people would sit in the aisle seat and play cards or some other game.

We also watched some pretty great movies while on the bus. Like, Selma, Remember the Titans, and An Inconvenient Truth. Our bus driver Paul helped us set up the movies. He helped us a lot on the trip and was a great bus driver. During the movies everyone was silent. This was the only time on the bus ride that no one was talking at all. I think that everyone was thinking about the movies in a way that we have never thought about any movie before. It was so hard to grasp the idea that everything we saw in these movies actually happened. All of those poor innocent people dying. And why? For the stupidest reason. For something they can’t help. For something that they shouldn’t have to help. Because everyone is perfect no matter what they look like.  

The view from outside the bus windows was beautiful. Especially when we were going through Tennessee and Virginia. All of the leaves were changing colors, and the country side was so beautiful. We played some great games of I Spy. It made the hours go by fast.

Now just because we were on a trip didn’t mean that we could get out of doing school work. So during the long drives we would read, do math, and any other kind of work we needed to do. A few kids played integer bingo with Mrs. Hijazi. A few kids got really into it. Math time made the bus alive with spirit.

Every morning we had to be on the bus at a certain time. I don’t think we had any days where everyone was in the bus on time.  It was either they forgot something, or they were still eating breakfast. We were pretty much always late. But that’s ok. We were never late to any of our appointments. Once we got on the bus and got all situated everything went smoothly.  

Every day on the bus we had to find a different person to sit with. Now this is a lot harder than it sounds, but on the third day, no one really payed any attention. It was also an option to sit alone, and those days were good ones. No one bothered you, you got extra room to lie down, and you could sleep! 

On the days that we had partners we had to stay with them for the whole day. So if you got into an argument no switching. But no one got into any big arguments, and we all had fun with our partners. It made us closer as a community, and we became closer friends with some people who we weren’t as good of friends with before.

When we got to Washington D.C. we had to say goodbye to Paul and our bright pink bus. The bus took us to so many amazing places. My favorite place was Alabama. We couldn't be more thankful to Paul and his bus. We wouldn’t have been able to see everything we did without them, and, had such a good time. There was never a dull moment on the bus.