Observing The Marc Rail

When I received this assignment I thought to myself this is going to be a easy project to do, which was go to a place people go every day. I chose to go to the Frederick Marc Rail. As I drove up into the parking lot behind the train station I sat in my car for a bit to observe my surroundings before I'd walk around the area.

When I was sitting in my car I saw numerous people just either sitting by themselves or next to someone they knew. The people that sat by themselves either had a cell phone stuck to the side of their face or a pair of headphones blasting their favorite music. After a couple of minutes I got out of the car to get a better perspective of the area. The first thing that surprised me was seeing a homeless person having a conversation with a couple people. They where actually interacting with each other, which is odd to me because I know so many people that would never attempt to talk to a homeless person without saying, " Get a job" or " Get away from me" which I think is extremely rude.

So after that I sat down at a bench next to a pretty "hefty" man. He seemed like a nice person so I said good morning and he replied back with the same response, but with a fowl odder following it. Of course I didn't say anything because that wouldn't be a good idea. So instead I waited for a couple minutes and then walked around the building to observe some more.

I walked towards the area where the buses pick up people and I heard some pretty interesting conversations. Two people were talking about how they hate their jobs and certain people they work with. Another couple was talking about how the buses were late and one of them said she needed to go to the hair salon to "Get my hurr did"; that is an actual quote. So then I heard some music which caught my attention. The music was coming from someone's phone and the person next to them said, "Why don't you pick that up?" The person with the phone said, "Cuz this is my song."

After all of that I felt like my observation was complete, but it wasn't. The buses finally came and a group of people stood up for joy. They all walked fast towards the bus to get first in line; which reminded me of elementary school when school was almost over and everyone ran to be first in line to get out first. So everyone got on the bus but then had to wait 10 minutes on the bus before they could leave. So I am guessing that the one girl didn't get her hurr did.

So I walked to my car, feeling the cool breeze against my face; which was a relief because it has been a hot summer. I got in my car and thought about waht the Marc Rail was. The M.R. is not just a building with tracks next to it... ok it is but still. It's a place where people come for transportation, but it is also a place where people meet friends and family. It's a place where friends hang out and rant about their problems and just chat with each other. It's a place to relax before you go to work. It's a place to learn about others and their cultures or rutines for every day and finally it's a perfect place to observe a scene.