Pinay in the City - Week One

A bientot, Jacksonville! Bonjour Washington!

Ten weeks in the nation's capital. Pretty amazing.
I've only been to DC once before and, quite honestly, it didn't really count. My family and I were driving home to Jacksonville from Newark after visiting family and we just kinda drove through downtown Washington. Just enough to take a peek and a pic of each of the monuments, then we were back driving down I-95 South.

About 7 years later, here I am, given an amazing opportunity to work and live in one of the most powerful decision-making cities in the free world. Not just to sit idly in some huge corporate office, but to actually be a part of what I believe helps to keep the United States a democratic nation - the free press.

Talk about a dream come true. Well, one in the making, at least.

So I've been here for a week, sitting in a great apartment in Arlington, just a couple of blocks from the Ballston-MU metro station and my gateway to the rest of the city. My roommate and I get along very well, and just when we are starting to get used to having the apartment to ourselves, we've got two other roommates coming in sometime today or tomorrow. I think we'll all get along just fine.

I work for a radio news service that provides Washington news to affiliates across the country. This week has been fairly quiet because Congress was in recess, but it gave me time to familiarize myself with the equipment and procedures in the office. So far I have been able to get an insider's tour of Capitol Hill, got my first ever press badge Thursday to go to the National Spelling Bee, and, the thing that I am most excited about so far, the first press conference that I was able to go to was held yesterday inside Capitol Hill by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi! She talked about her trip to Greenland and global warming. I was starting to nod off in the middle of the almost hour-long press conference and I thought to myself, What are you doing? That's the first woman to ever be the Speaker of the House! This is your first official press conference! Wake up! Yeah, as if my body actually listens to my head.

As far as tourism goes, I haven't really done much, considering how busy I've been. But I have been able to go see the typical things like the White House and the National Monument, the Treasury, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. I was also able to go to the National Zoo for a little bit, and got to see the pandas. Then there's the Museum of Natural History's awesome gem collection, which holds the gorgeous blue Hope Diamond and this diamond crown that Napoleon Bonaparte gave to Marie Louise.

Oh, and I got to do a little bit of shopping.

But of course, as with everything, there are some things that you just have to learn as you go along:
- When I first got a metro pass, I stuck a $10 bill into the machine and decided I only wanted $5 put into the card. Expecting I was getting a $5 bill back, the machine proceeded to dispense $5 worth of quarters.
- Never stand in the left side of the elevator if you just plan on riding the whole thing out. You get run over.
- Fruit is really heavy. So if you ever go to a lunch buffet where they charge by the pound and you decide to be healthy and get nothing but fruit, it will be expensive.
- Always have money wherever you go. Always have your metro pass wherever you go. Always have money in your metro pass wherever you go. If you don't, you'd better have your cell phone.
- Ramen and leftovers are amazing!

As much as I miss my family and friends in Jacksonville, and the fact that the beach is less than 30 minutes away (the closest beach from DC is about 3 hours away), I'm slowly warming up to the idea of living in a big city in my own apartment, taking the metro everyday and just enjoying everything it has to offer. I've met some great people who live in the same building as I do, at work, in class and in the program, and I've got so much to look forward to for the rest of my stay here.

I could get so used to this.