Friend 1: Dude I need to go to the dollar store still. Wanna go on a COTA adventure?
Me: Actually I was just thinking today how I need more of those in my life. Not joking.
Friend 1: Ok let’s do it. (to Friend 2) Hey, you know where there’s a dollar store, right?
Friend 2: Yea, it’s like right by the Kroger.
Me: (having just been to the wrong Kroger the previous weekend, the one neither on High St. nor by a dollar store) You sure?
Friend 2: Or maybe it’s the Giant Eagle.
Me: Yea probably; there wasn’t anything around the Kroger besides a parking lot.
Friend 2: Ok well then just hop on the #2 bus and you should get there.

After several High St.-esque distractions (Starbucks) and whining about how the bus driver made me throw out 90% of the Grande Java Chip Frapp Light I just spent $4.50 on, Friend 1 and I were happily riding a crowded COTA #2 headed north towards the Giant Eagle. To make a long story/ bus ride short, there was no such dollar store anywhere near the Giant Eagle. After walking past at least 13 oriental markets and other delicious-smelling ethnic-cuisine sellers way north on High, we decided to hop on the #2 Southbound and cruise down past the south campus gateway to the Kroger that Friend 2 originally suggested. Sure enough there was a Dollar Tree not half a block away from the Kroger on High and King-ish.

Me: Oh…that Kroger.

I love how COTA being free (with BuckID) made for a much more enjoyable afternoon. I also love how true dollar stores are to their name. My friend and I spent a total of 11 dollars on as many items that we didn’t even need in the first place (foam star stickers, glow stick bracelets, award ribbons bearing statements such as “it’s my 4th birthday!�, etc.). It’s basically guilt-free impulse shopping. I suppose the take-away point is that now I know how to get to Dollar Tree and Kroger. And Giant Eagle. And Aladdin’s Eatery. And oriental markets 1-13.

GO COTA!

GO BUCKS!