Hakuna Matata

I live in Christiana East Tower, which is all the way in the far reaches of North Campus. This means that most days, I end up taking the bus to and from my classes. Normally, these ten-minute bus rides consist of one of two things.

The first: I slouch as deeply into the seat as humanly possible, tuck my chin against my scarf-wrapped neck and legitimately consider trying to sleep for several more minutes, regardless of the time of day. The second: I cling to a metal handrail, sandwiched between the girl who needs a foot of elbow room to text and the guy who has a precariously lidless cup of coffee hovering dangerously close to my white t-shirt.

Please don’t misunderstand me: the Express line has been my saving grace this year. If not for the bus, I’m quite sure I would have missed more than a few classes at the hands of long walks through paradoxically horizontal rain. I’m just giving you an idea of how unpleasant the bus rides can be so that when I tell you what happened to me this week, you can appreciate it all the more.

This week, after slugging through four hours of non-stop, early morning class, I staggered onto the bus to find a rather unusual sound greeting me. Normally, the soundtracks of bus rides consist of typical Top-40 stations, or else the chatter of the bus drivers talking over the radio, drone on over the swoosh-whoosh of the bus engines and fans. On this particular day, however, I walked onto the bus to the nostalgically familiar “Hakuna Matata.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking. How and why on Earth is a bus radio playing “Hakuna Matata?” If I could provide you with an answer to that, rest assured that I would. What I can tell you is that the smile that lit up my face was so bright I think I may have sprained a facial muscle, and I wasn’t the only one grinning that way. The normally blank faces of the students on the bus were replaced with lips mouthing lyrics, people chattering about the movie, and connecting in ways that aren’t generally commonplace on busse

Not only did hearing that song brighten up my (and everyone else’s) day, but through the haze of my madly stressful week, it reminded me of the “no worries” part of the song. That with all the anxiety and pressure from class, and other obligations, sometimes we college students forget to breathe and love where we are, and to be happy about the things we’ve done.

Odds are you’re having a week like I am. You’ve got this or that many papers and exams to deal with, not to mention calling your parents (Hi, Mom!), cleaning your room, and struggling to fit in some free time this weekend. Just let me remind you

Hakuna Matata. What a wonderful phrase. Have a great weekend, UD.

~Claire Davanzo