MSE is a school whose students and teachers come from all over the city. From the outskirts of Queens to Long Island, many people spend quite a bit of time commuting. The vast majority of commutes are perfectly normal, but sometimes, things can get unexpectedly interesting or disgusting. Below is a collection of some of the encounters that our students and faculty have faced.

The Runaway What?!

Early in the morning, Coach F., a former colleague of Ms. Hesseltine, was driving his car up the Hudson River Drive when he noticed something strange ahead of him on the nearly empty road. 

Up ahead, he saw a strange shape standing in the middle of the highway. At first, he assumed it was a deer; they sometimes wander into the area at dawn, confused and out of place. 

But as he got closer, the outline didn’t match a deer at all. The proportions were wrong. The pattern was unmistakably striped.

That’s when he realized he was staring at a zebra. A full, living zebra, planted squarely in the middle of the Henry Hudson Parkway!

He slowed almost to a stop. The zebra didn’t panic or run. It just stood there, watching his car approach, completely calm. After a long moment, it turned and finally walked off the road.

Later that day, he learned the circus was in town, and one of their zebras had escaped. It was eventually spotted, collected, and returned safely—no tragic zebra‑versus‑traffic ending.

Even though this description is from a second‑hand account, Coach F.’s narration of the event was so vivid that it felt “like it had happened to me,” says Ms. Hesseltine.

Gross!

After school, Marcia Naspud (’27) and her friend were riding the 7 train home. Both were watching a show together on their phone, as people do on the subway. 

The ride was normal until Marcia noticed a tall, skinny man in a beanie, pacing between the subway doors. He was hunched over and looked unsteady, almost like he might have been drunk. Marcia didn’t think much of it and went back to the screen.

A few minutes later, as her stop was getting closer, Marcia looked up again to check the station they had passed. At that exact moment, the man leaned forward and threw up! The white, liquid mess splattered onto another passenger’s backpack. 

“I was pretty grossed out, and I felt bad for the guy who got vomit on his bag,” Marcia recounts.

It Gets Weirder …

It was early evening, and Sawyer Dufresne’s (’27) mom was heading home from work. Her train had been held at the station for a few minutes, so everyone was just waiting quietly.

Then a man stepped onto the car, walked toward the center, and suddenly started urinating on the floor.

People reacted fast. Almost everyone rushed out of the car, leaving only Sawyer’s mom and one other woman next to her. She stayed mostly because her stop was coming up next, and she didn’t want to miss it.

Abruptly, an MTA worker boarded the car, and the man in the middle ran off the subway. In his hurry, he dropped his phone on the floor.

The next part stuck with her the most. The woman next to Sawyer’s mom picked it up, wiped it off with her pants, and slipped it into her bag. The doors closed, and the train continued on, strangely calm after what had just happened.

“It was one of the craziest things that has ever happened to me,” Sawyer’s mom describes.

Pouring Trust

It was freshman year, and Esther Gould (’27) was taking her usual route home on a rainy afternoon. She and her friend were waiting for the train, the station floor slick with water as everyone rushed down toward the platform.

As the train pulled in, Esther noticed a woman at the top of the stairs struggling with a stroller. Her friend stepped forward immediately and asked if she needed help. There was a small, preschool‑aged boy inside, and the mother asked him to step out so they could lift the stroller more easily. Immediately after, she looked at Esther and asked her to hold his hand. 

Esther held the boy’s hand as they prepared to go down the wet steps. Before they even started moving, the mother looked at her and said, “You can hold him.” 

“I wasn’t expecting her to say that,” Esther said while retelling the story. “I was very surprised and said, ‘It’s okay,’ and just continued down the stairs hand-in-hand because I didn’t feel comfortable carrying a child whom I didn’t know, and he probably felt the same way about me [carrying him].”

Nevertheless, the train had already pulled into the station, and they were still at the top of the staircase. The mother insisted on Esther carrying her son, but Esther held his hand as they all rushed down together, the woman ahead with the stroller, Esther following behind.

They made it to the platform just in time and stepped onto the train, a small moment of coordination on a rainy day.

What’s the rush?

After a long day at choir practice, Lina (’28) finally got on the A train from Penn Station to go home. The sun had already set, and the cars were filled with tired commuters who looked ready to fall asleep where they stood.

It was the express train, and Lina settled into her seat, hoping the ride would be quick. But as the subway picked up speed, she realized something was off. Instead of slowing for Columbus Circle, it rushed straight past it. Then it blew past 125th Street. And then 145th. One by one, every stop she needed simply disappeared behind her.

“It was not only annoying that all the stops were missed so late at night, but also [frustrating] because an event like this is so expected from the MTA,” Lina explains. 

And while nothing about the night was particularly strange, it was still maddening to be reminded how unreliable the subway can be when you just want to get home. 

Together, these stories show just how unpredictable commute times can get. Most days are uneventful, filled with the usual crowds, delays, and background noise of city life. But every so often, something bizarre, unsettling, or unexpected happens to a human being. Whether it’s a runaway zebra, an unfortunate mess, a stranger’s questionable choices, or a train that simply refuses to stop, these moments remind us that commuting in New York is never just about getting from one place to another—it’s about navigating a system that can surprise you in ways that are both memorable and frustrating.