By AMANDA PELL

COLUMNIST

“Please watch the gap as the train approaches the station.”

I’ve heard it a million times before and I’m sure I would have heard it again that day if I hadn’t been running late. The train had long approached and was about to depart by the time I got down the stairs, so naturally I threw myself at the closing door in a last ditch effort to catch my ride. I didn’t make it. I don’t remember how it happened, but next thing I knew I found myself on the floor of the train, half of my body in the gap with the door attempting to close on my face. Sigh.

I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person. I have a decent measure of common sense. But, things like this happen to me all the time. I can’t remember making even one trip from point A to point B using train, plane or bus without some obstacle.

I once got on the Bx12 thinking I was headed for Manhattan only to find myself, 45 minutes later, at a JCPenney in the middle of Westchester. Then, I got on in the right direction but was unceremoniously kicked off without explanation somewhere on West Fordham Road (I know, right?) to wait for the next bus. Then there was the time I managed to strand myself somewhere in Kingsbridge, or the day a cop picked me up on the side of the Hudson River Parkway (I was really lost that day) or the time a guy screamed at me on the train for “thinking I’m so sophisticated.”

That experience was very terrifying and, as I had done nothing but stare at my own shoes for the entire ride, unwarranted, I think. In short, I am helpless.

So what’s the point of these stories?

I’ve learned two things in the three semesters that I’ve now been trying to figure this whole transportation system out.

One is to carry pepper spray everywhere I go, because you never know whom you’ll end up with where and at what time of night, so it’s always best to be prepared.

The other is to see what the world throws at you as an adventure, rather than a hassle. I don’t like being late, but if I’m going to be, I’d sure rather it be because I was pulled into the center of a breakdance…event on the subway platform than stuck in boring suburban traffic. Life should also be about the journey, not just the destination.

And I’ll tell you something else — I may have gotten lost in some pretty shady and maybe even dangerous places, but I’ve also seen a whole lot more of the city than most of my friends, and some of the places that I’ve been lost in have been pretty beautiful too.

Here’s what I’m getting at in short: When life throws you lemons, don’t be so hung up on turning them into lemonade. Sometimes, just dodging flying lemons is an entertaining enough way to spend your day.