Oh the places you’ll go!

            I love the metro. I grew up right outside of New York City and spent a lot of my childhood severely lost, confused, and sad while attempting to figure out the 785,962 color coded, lettered, and numbered subway lines. Comparatively, the DC metro is heavenly. In Columbus, you will find yourself standing outside in Ohio’s notoriously unpredictable weather waiting for a bus that will come any time besides its scheduled time. This is not to say that the metro is always running smoothly, but as you stand comfortably inside the stop, there are electronic monitors above providing live updates on your train. For the most part, the metro can bring you anywhere in DC. With almost always a less than 10 minute wait and fare arounds $2.75, the metro will serve you well while you explore the city, travel to work, and scurry to study tours.

            To be fair to the critics however, I will offer a cautionary tale. As a WAIP fellow, most weeks, there is a “policy salon.” Policy salons often include a selection of esteemed panelists (usually Ohioans!) presenting on a variety of topics including, but not limited to, law school, life in DC, and careers in public service. One of our policy salons this semester included a panel of Ohioans and graduates from the University of Georgia. The University of Georgia has a comparable program to WAIP. For this event, we were graciously invited to their DC house to mingle and participate in this policy salon together.

            Like all policy salons, the event was set to begin at 6:30PM. Two other WAIPers and I headed over together and decided to take the Orange, Blue, Silver line.

1.     We went in the wrong direction.

2.     We did not take into account the fact that it was pouring and how that would affect the metro’s timeliness.

3.     Pure human error.

We were late to the policy salon. Luckily, the pizza delivery was also late so we did not interrupt our panelists, but regardless we were late.

            This semester, one of the most important lessons I have learned is that if work starts at 9:00AM means that you should be sitting down at your desk, ready to start the day at 9:00AM. If class starts at 6:30, again, you should be sitting in your seat ready and waiting by that time. This is a drastic adjustment from college lectures as punctuality is not entirely necessary and more of a recommendation than a requirement. Therefore, our tardiness was unacceptable.

            Though the metro is an excellent tool, learn from my mistake and recognize that things may not go as planned. Leave at least 15 minutes early (realistically, 20 minutes would be your safest bet), and you will always be on time for class, work, and policy salons. Lastly, human error is inevitable. You cannot control the rain, metro maintenance, or a meeting running late, but you can control how you handle the situation. Keep the excuses to yourself and just apologize, part of maturing is recognizing your mistakes and taking responsibility for your actions (but so is learning how to use public transportation, wherever life may bring you).

Don’t be scared. The metro really is wonderful.

Elexa Diktas