#bus to school

[trainsinanime]

I wonder: Do Americans know about american school buses? Not their existence in general, but how they're seen overseas.

Over here, they're one of the symbols of America, on par with the Statue of Liberty, the flag, the Eagle, and well ahead of any chain restaurant you can name. People won't know any US states, but they will know these vehicles.

The thing is, here in Germany, we don't have dedicated school buses. The general idea is that kids go to school on their own. When that's not practical, they're expected to use (and given free tickets for) public transit. Public transit is designed around this requirement; there are many places where there is a bus, and anyone can get on it, but the route and timetable really only makes sense for school children. In case a dedicated school bus is really needed, that's generally subcontracted out, and the lines either use something like a Sprinter Van for smaller routes, or a normal city or interurban bus (often a used one that's a bit older). School trips are normal public transit, or a rented bus, typically a coach or regional bus.

It's not a perfect system, in the past couple of years there's been an epidemic of people bringing their kids to school in their cars instead of letting them walk, which is less than ideal. It is what it is. But building a dedicated network of public transit lines only for students, and building dedicated vehicles only for that, has never occurred to anyone here.

Of course we know about these buses, from movies and such, but they're as foreign here as cacti or pick-up trucks (actually we're seeing more and more of these here) or yellow cabs (all europeans will assume all cabs in the US are yellow until they actually visit).

You do see these buses here at times, because people still generally like the idea of the US, even if they have a lot of issues with a lot of details, and so folks bring them over, along with stretch limos and stuff (also not really a thing here). And of course, if someone goes to all that trouble, they don't do it to haul school kids, they rent it out for city tours or as a party bus or whatever.

So you see these yellow things as a symbol of faraway places, scenic vistas, some vague undefined idea of freedom that doesn't necessarily hold up to any contact with reality, and it's just a huge part of the whole US aesthetic.

And then you go to a student exchange with the US, and you finally get the chance: You yourself get to ride in one of these iconic chrome yellow buses! It looks just like in the movies! You get in, you drive in them a little…

…and you realise they're shit. Just the worst buses in the western world. Terrible suspension. Uncomfortable seats with weirdly high backs (so they don't have to put seatbelts in, they just restrict how far kids can fly in an accident). Everything made out of the cheapest materials. Turns out the reason why the US uses school buses like that instead of normal modern city buses, which the US has, is to save money and because they just hate kids.

And then it hits you why US Americans say "as American as apple pie", a dish that is made and enjoyed literally anywhere in the world, instead of "as American as yellow school buses". Of course the Americans already knew all this. They got tortured by these things forever. It would never occur to them to see this as a symbol of America, it's just a normal part of life for them. It's a symbol of school and school life and sometimes normalcy, and tells us that these actors getting out of it are supposed to be teenagers, nothing more.

But most people in Europe have, of course, never ridden on these buses. So when they see them in movies and TV, that's a giant big yellow signifier that we're not in Hessen or Wallonia or wherever anymore. A symbol of a different world, one that may be at most a once-in-a-lifetime-experience for most people, just like a picture of a tropical beach, Mayan Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, or Hildesheim (there's no reason to go there twice). And I think Americans don't know that, and that's fascinating.

[indigo6f00ff]

need to share an experience i had 30 minutes ago

(edit: thanks to @walks-the-ages for providing and reminding me to put alt text, sorry it slips my mind alot lol)

[mostly-funnytwittertweets]

[christadeguchi]

LOOK AT THESE ABSOLUTE UNITS AT OSAKA AQUARIUM… round…………

also… plotting jailbreaks between bouts of sleep…

[beybuniki]

they should go on a fishing trip pt.1

[lee1504]

why do this to me T-T

[peanutseagle]

haha they make me sick

[d-llahanspade]

Somehow churned this out in a little over 8 hours.

I feel like it’s a rite of passage to draw the token group of friends in a shitty laundrette?

(Edit: Aiden is supposed to just be hella tanned. You can even see the tan lines on his arms, hands and neck. Sorry for any confusion lol)

[b3achysurfur]

someone give ben a raise he’s working overtime

[floralcavern]

People in the fandom who still baby Logan need to shut up

He’s a little past his “I’m so shy and sensitive” stage

[thurio-edau]

it's literally so him

and tbh i made a second one

and I could make SO MUCH MORE bc of how many silly panels he has but that'd be too much so-- 😭😭

[abitterberryblog]

logan and taylor's friendship (an appreciation post)

[spidercoris]

i was looking for a specific panel and i feel so dumb but like

tyler’s contact photo of aiden

and then the actual panel when it happened

i just realized we can actually see tyler taking the picture. i can’t tell if this was intentional or if red was like “oh tyler had his phone out during this part put might as well use that as aiden’s contact photo” ?? its a nice little detail i think

this is gonna turn into a “things i noticed in sbg that i probably should have noticed before that was super obvious but i was too dumb to figure it out” type of account. just to let you know…

[b3achysurfer]

teenagers in media acting like real teenagers will always hold a special place in my heart

[broimlive]

I see like

[random-gamer1942]

Y'all remember this right?

I have a 2 week break starting now, and I am heavily debating drawing a comic of sorts where Ashlyn teaches Taylor how to dance, Aiden feels left out, and Ashlyn teaches him

Thing is, I've never really done anything like this before. And given that I'm far from the best artist out there, I imagine it's gonna take quite a bit and not gonna be that easy

What do y'all think, should I try?