Falling in Love

Dear Future Fellows,

When you move to D.C. for this fellowship, they will try to prepare you the best they can for everything you might encounter.  They will warn you about longer commute times, safety issues, and general living-in-a-city problems, but they can't cover it all.  Some things will come up that you aren't prepared for, but you just cope the best you can.  One of the things they won't warn you about is falling in love.  

Somewhere between my daily commute, answering office phones, giving tours, meeting new people, weekly outings to Eastern Market, afternoons on the Mall, strolling through museums and monuments, I fell in love with Washington, D.C.  It is a city like no other, and provides so many great opportunities.  Every single day I lived here with the WAIP program I woke up, looked out the window at the Capitol building and felt blessed.  I had the chance to go to work every day in one of the most gorgeous buildings, have the nicest coworkers, and chat with the Justices.  After meeting incredible people after incredible people every single day at work, I got to come home to the other Fellows in the program and forge friendships with them.  I won't forget a single one of them and look forward to seeing them again in Columbus, as well as finding out about the amazing things each will be doing with their life.  

These past fifteen weeks, my life has been changed.  I have a clearer view of what I want to do, where I want to be, and who I want to be.  There will still be decisions to make and hurdles to jump, but because of D.C., I know where I'm going and have the resources to get there. Each and every person I've met this semester has helped shape this and I am grateful to every one of them.  

As I write this, I'm finishing packing, and I'd lie if I said that it wasn't a tearful occasion.  Saying goodbye is always the worst--both to my friends and this city. But, I know, like many of the other fellows, I will be back.  And when I do, I hope to see the rest of you doing great things, like I know you will.

To my current fellows--I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to spend the semester with.  You were all fantastic and interesting, and I loved all of our differences. WAIP reunions will be much anticipated. 

So, future fellows, when you get to D.C., don't be afraid to explore, to dream, and to fall in love.  

Love, 

Katie