I don't usually carry a compass with me in the city but I should. The feeling you described exiting a metro is indeed one of the okay confusing I've felt in my

I don't usually carry a compass with me in the city but I should. The feeling you described exiting a metro is indeed one of the okay confusing I've felt in my life. But that might be because I usually have a very strong sense of orientation and loosing it is unusual. That being said, I think it's kind of becoming a dying art to orient yourself by compass and cardinal points. Most people have a hard time thinking in cardinal points and don't seem too interested in fixing this. But that is a shame since directions such as "go right" are too relative to your reference point to eliminate confusion.