After three years at Binghamton University, moving to Washington, D.C. for the fall semester was quite a change
I felt like I was playing hooky from college and had escaped to a political oasis. I also felt as though I had landed on a different planet and Binghamton was light years away from my universe (though I should give BU credit for helping me get here in the first place).
In the weeks I’ve spent here, I have taken up former President Harry Truman’s advice: If you want a friend in Washington, you should get a dog.
I’ve been fortunate enough to become friendly with the neighborhood St. Bernard, who plops herself in front of the apartment gate and watches congressional staffers walk by every morning and evening; quite the life for a dog in D.C. It’s reassuring to know that even if I have a bad day at the office, I will always have a friend waiting to greet me.
It’s hard not to get swooped up in the ambience and presence of the marble buildings surrounding the capitol complex, in addition to the National Mall and the Lincoln Memorial. No matter how many times I walk past these edifices, I can’t stop thinking about how they represent the highest of our ideals (or at least what the founders envisioned as a democracy). These structures seem even more imposing and powerful when a golden light is cast upon the marble at dusk, creating a mystical aura.
Even though I’ve never lived in a city before, moving here was actually a pretty seamless transition. After exploring my neighborhood, I became acquainted with the streets and began to enjoy processing the unfamiliar as the familiar. I discovered that D.C. is a chameleon culturally and architecturally; at the cross roads of the North and the South, even though D.C. was considered a part of the Union during the Civil War. The apartments around my neighborhood are a blend of the Puritanical Bostonian look and the Southern New Orleans flavor. It’s something to see.
After becoming acclimated to D.C., the city is starting to feel like home to me, especially after doing all the errands and chores that most natives do. I never knew that going to the Eastern Market to run errands could be such an enjoyable experience! Once I go back to Binghamton, it’ll be hard to imagine how I ever lived without this city in the first place.
It’s hard to not be enveloped by the charm and quaintness of the city itself, which is why I have to pinch myself every once in a while and remind myself to enjoy it while it lasts, because for all I know, I may never have it this good again. Because here, life is really pretty good.