RAI Corporation Internship Program

It’s Tuesday afternoon. As usual, train R is going to drive me home. In my bright and small apartment in Brooklyn where I’ll eventually bite what remains of a Magnolia Bakery’s chocolate chip muffin. It seems a long journey to me, today. I keep reading My Life in France although it deals with French costumes and culture and to a first-time newyorker sounds dramatically ridiculous. Never mind. The train has the hiccups, as it keeps stopping and going. Page 68 and the Strand bookmark falls on the floor. It is then, that I realize that we are stuck in a gallery. It’s 6.45 pm. I keep reading but time never goes by. But not everything was perfect. Madame Brassart had crammed too many of us…I cannot concentrate. People around me pretend not to care about the waiting. The Chinese girl keeps hugging her boyfriend and the little kids are laughing jumping from a seat to another. “Hey everyone, I want to inform you that something happened close to 36th street stop. We don’t know what. No idea. We cannot communicate. We are stuck here. It can be for ten minutes, it can be two hours – or the whole night. Be patient”. Facial expressions change. Kids start crying and screaming. A man asks for getting outside and walk. "No way, we don’t know how many you are. Nobody has to get lost." Keep reading, it will move soon – I try to convince myself. But not everything was perfect. Madame Brassart had crammed too many of us…A woman wants to exchange a slice of pizza for a seat. The guy in the corner takes his earphones off. It’s 8.05 p.m, the train moves. After few minutes, I’m not eating only a muffin but a big pasta plate. It has been an unforgettable day after all, even if not everything was perfect.

~ Laura Battini