Control on the S1

After a day of wandering the streets of Munich and an evening spent waiting at an internet café, she finally went to Hauptbahnhof station to take the train. It was 10: 45 pm. She had just been to the train station two days prior to see her friend Jeime off. Even so, she was still amazed that she found S1 line again- that station is massive! (It is a subway station, a train station to far away places like Venice- where she had come from, and there were local trains to the towns outside of Munich)

The temperature was dropping everyday in Munich. She tried to hold out with just her sweater, but she walked around outside everyday, so she found it necessary to purchase a scarf. The scarf would really just end up being packed away for the duration of the trip because she was heading to warmer climates in the morning -and she was excited! But first she had to make it through the night, since her flight was leaving at 6:30 the next morning. A clever reader might question why she was leaving so late at night when her flight was so early in the morning. That is precisely it- taking the first train of the morning was risky; she might miss her flight. Besides, staying another night at the hostel would cost her. And Europe is expensive, so she was penny pinching.

When she was seeing Jeime off, she was able to go right down to the track. Things went mostly on the "honour system"; meaning that the rider would purchase a ticket and get it stamped before entering the train. Sometimes "control" would come by and check tickets, but not always. Jeime had bought a ticket, but it was expensive -€9! Jeime said she regretted it. It would be much cheaper to risk it. So that is what she decided to do. She decided not to buy a ticket!

The train arrived. She got on, sat back and relaxed. It was going to be about 45 minutes before she was at the airport, so she began to write in her journal. After about 20 minutes, she noticed two men in uniforms walk by her to the front of the train. She didn't pay much attention to them at first. Not long afterwards, she noticed the men coming towards the back of the train. They were checking tickets! It was control!

They each took a side of the train and asked everyone for their ticket. As the men came closer, she began to feel very uncomfortable. She knew she didn't have the proper documentation. Suddenly she began to feel this awful feeling in her stomach. She felt like she was a Jew without papers during the Second World War.

They were a lot closer now. She watched them, but tried not to look guilty. They were close enough now, that she could hear them speaking. Something in German, of course. Hearing them speak made her imagine all the more that she was in a movie and the Nazi's were coming to check her papers. She didn't know what to do. She thought about playing 'dumb tourist' and giving the men the unstamped ticket for the -much cheaper-surface train. She didn't think she could get away with it. Plus, what would they do to her? Concentration camps came to her mind. She had one other option; this was the second last train of the night. She could get off at the next station and take the last train! But the train was going through small towns now on the outskirts of Munich, what if the next station was a long way off? What if they got to her before that next station?

As if to quell her fears, the announcement played reassuring her that the next station was approaching. Calmly and discreetly, she picked up her stuff and walked to the doors that were further back on the train. Control was about 7 people from her now. She prayed that the train would be at the next station now. Would Control ask her, even if she was at the doors? What was just a few moments seemed to stretch on for an eternity.

Finally, the train began to slow and finally the doors opened; she couldn't get off fast enough! But she made it! The platform was empty except for a young man who got off at the same time as her. He didn't leave the platform, so she assumed that he had done the same as her to avoid Control. She looked for information on the time of the next train- it would be another 25 minutes. The frigid wind rushed through the tunnels and chilled her to the bone. She was thankful to have bought a scarf. She tried to shove her hands deeper into her the pockets of her hoody. There was nothing to do, but pace the platform until the next train came. Just 25 more minutes...

*Disclaimer: This story is not meant to be racist or against the German people in anyway. It is simply an expression of a feeling in a situation that reminded the author of many movies.