First Experiences

First Experiences

I chose these pictures for my first blog entry because they have come to symbolize what the WAIP program and my time in DC has come to mean to me. These three pictures were taken the very first Sunday all the Spring 2016 WAIPERs were together in DC, so they have deep significance. That first morning we all got up and did our own thing but when 11:00AM hit we all gathered together to take our inaugural tour of our new environs. We walked to eastern market taking in the sights and smells of our adopted city for the first time.  We explored for a bit until we decided to take the risk and made our way to the dreaded metro. We all bought tickets and not surprisingly knowing the good ol’ metro, some of us had trouble with that. Surviving the ticket debacle, we took the metro all the way to Georgetown where we walked around experiencing this historic, eclectic neighborhood.  Venturing down to the waterfront area, we passed the Washington Harbor ice skating rink and watched people of all ages and colors glide across the ice.   Then deciding we were hungry the group moved on to find some lunch. We stopped at a small falafel place and caught our breath while we enjoyed our meal and got to know each other.  After we finished we decided to get desert, some of the group went to Baked and Wired while others, myself included went to Georgetown Cupcake where I had one of the best cupcakes I have ever had. After satisfying our sugar cravings, the two groups split off and explored our adopted city. My group and I walked all the way back to our brownstone on Capitol Hill stopping along the way at the American History Smithsonian Museum and then onto the Washington Monument and The White House. We stopped at each of those places for a little bit just soaking in the atmosphere and history and then returned home to rejoin the others. It was a memorable first day.  We bonded as a group and were able to absorb some of the atmosphere of the city we would be calling home for the next four months.

These photos are special to me because they represent the first time I truly got to know the people that I would be spending the next semester with.  We were all new to the city and it was a fantastic day, full of new experiences, new people and strong ties being built. We started off as a group of strangers embarking on an exciting journey, all nervous and scared about this semester.   The fact that all of us were meeting each other for the first time, in circumstances outside our norm, to be honest gave me a case of “opening night jitters”.   I was worried that maybe we wouldn’t gel as a group or maybe I’d be an outsider. That first Sunday showed me that my worries and concerns were unfounded and this was the start of something special.

Personally I think these photos are a great representation of the start of my time in DC.  Most of these pictures are of tourist sights, and in the beginning that is exactly as I viewed myself, a tourist.  That feeling was understandable the first couple of days but now it is funny to reflect back on because today I feel like a true resident of DC and have gotten used to the uniqueness of the city. I have really come to like DC in the past few months and these pictures serve as a reminder of a time when I thought of myself as a visitor and not as someone who makes DC my home. It gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment that I have come so far in such a short amount of time. I no longer get confused by the metro or struggle to walk around the city.  I no longer think that people are staring at me as if I don’t belong.  After a month in this wonderful, vibrant city I feel like I do live here, that I’m part of the thriving heart of our nation and that is a feeling I definitely enjoy. 

-David