Have No Fear, D.C. is Here!

It’s been a little over a week since I arrived in D.C. from Memphis. The weather was definitely something to get used to! I was so excited when I saw real snow on the ground and not the Memphis-10-minute snow (for those of you who don’t know, it snows in Memphis for 10 minutes, then melts…yeah, fun).

My biggest fear coming here was relying on public transportation to get me around. I’ve never even been on a city bus in Memphis, let alone ridden a subway system I am wholly unfamiliar with. Let me tell you – the Metro is the best. I love not having my car (except when I want to do big shopping) because I don’t have to spend money on gas, although I think spending money on the Metro evens it out. The Metro is pretty reliable (but I’m on the yellow/blue lines and not the red, which seems to suffer the most from delays).

My second biggest fear: roommates that I have never met. Contrary to my fear, my roommates are the best roommates I could have asked for! The best introduction to a city I’m not familiar with is exploring it with my roommate Yes (short for Yesenia). My other roommates Bianca and Florieli are trying to teach me Spanish. Thus far, I’ve learned “pollo” and “mejor", and my hopes of understanding a sentence by the end of the semester might be shot down.

Our first night bonding, we set up a wireless internet connection in our apartment. What a way to connect! Advice to anyone worried about roommates – set up a wireless router together without the software and you will be the best of roommates ever (side story: after an hour of trying to get the internet to work, three of us could get on and one could not. We put an ethernet cord in the router and she could magically connect, so now we have a random ethernet cord hanging out of the back of our router – we’re scared to disconnect it even though it isn’t attached to anything!).

I forgot to mention that in my first two days, I had two orientations and (most exciting part) went to The Museum of Crime and Punishment! There was a history of punishment exhibit that covered medieval times, the original gangsters, serial killers, kidnappings, and cybercrimes. We participated in a crime scene investigation lab that covered how to take footprints and fingerprints.

I love the rush of everything, the Metro, the people, the city. Everyone minds their own business. The shopping is amazing. I love walking everywhere!! I love wearing my long D.C. coat and feeling like I belong. I love the cold here. I love my high rise apartment. It’s crazy when they say something about President Obama on the Hill on TV and I think “Oh my God, he’s down the street from me!”

I miss everyone in Memphis like nothing else, but please let me stay longer than May!!