By Brendan Lin
By design, everything about Washington, D.C. screams "America." Most of the city, from the grand monuments littered across the Mall to the relics enshrined in the National Archives, tells the story of how our country came to be. It's quite an experience seeing all of it with your own eyes.
I'm from California, where this feeling is conspicuously absent. There is definitely history there, but it follows a different timeline. Missions. The Gold Rush. El Camino Real. Don't get me wrong, it's all very interesting, but there are no Civil War battlefields or homes of Founding Fathers in the 31st state. For me, at least, coming to D.C. reminds me of how far we have truly come as the United States. It's truly a different feeling.
It seems fitting, then, that my first ever MLB baseball game was at Nationals Park, Washington, D.C. last Friday (Nationals vs. Marlins). What an experience! I could not believe what I had been missing all these years. I went with two fellow WAIP students, Sarah and Katy, both of whom had been to some kind of professional baseball game before. I was enthralled. Next to me was a Russian exchange student who was going to her first baseball game with her "host" family. The father was explaining every aspect of the game to her, from what a strike was to what it means to make a run. She seemed very confused but interested. Behind me were two young boys, obviously big fans, yelling at the top of their lungs whenever their favorite baseball players went up to bat. At the 7th inning, everyone sang "Take Me Out To The Ball Game," a song I knew by heart but never got to use. It was one of the most relaxing days of my time in D.C. so far. The scenery was nice, too! The river was visible from where we sat, as well as the Capitol dome. This was a fun departure from the businesslike, politically-charged Washington I had come to know so far. I enjoyed myself. The burger was great too.
The three of us had walked to the game, so we decided to walk back after it was over. The great thing about being a WAIP student is that it's usually impossible to get lost on the way home- all you need to do is find the Capitol Building and head towards it! The air was nice, the atmosphere was friendly, and Washington was beautiful.
Half an hour later, as we neared our apartment building, we came upon the Supreme Court, lit up in the night. Katy, the aspiring lawyer, begged us to wait and take photos of her in front of it. Eventually, all of us decided to walk up the steps and stare. A problem I've always had in D.C. is that I never manage to wrap my mind around what I'm looking at. For example, when I see the White House, my brain knows "President," but it can't fathom the enormity of its significance. It's just too much.
So I stood, staring at the Supreme Court building. An entire branch of government in one building. Okay. Interprets the Constitution. Okay. I was struggling to really get my head around it.
Then I thought about China, and what life was like in parts of that country. Websites blocked. People "disappeared." Foreigners' laptops discreetly searched. An entire year that has been deleted, purposefully, from Chinese history (1989).
I looked up at the columns of the U.S. Supreme Court, patted it slowly, and thought, "Thanks."
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And that was my Friday.
By design, everything about Washington, D.C. screams "America." Most of the city, from the grand monuments littered across the Mall to the relics enshrined in the National Archives, tells the story of how our country came to be. It's quite an experience seeing all of it with your own eyes.
I'm from California, where this feeling is conspicuously absent. There is definitely history there, but it follows a different timeline. Missions. The Gold Rush. El Camino Real. Don't get me wrong, it's all very interesting, but there are no Civil War battlefields or homes of Founding Fathers in the 31st state. For me, at least, coming to D.C. reminds me of how far we have truly come as the United States. It's truly a different feeling.
It seems fitting, then, that my first ever MLB baseball game was at Nationals Park, Washington, D.C. last Friday (Nationals vs. Marlins). What an experience! I could not believe what I had been missing all these years. I went with two fellow WAIP students, Sarah and Katy, both of whom had been to some kind of professional baseball game before. I was enthralled. Next to me was a Russian exchange student who was going to her first baseball game with her "host" family. The father was explaining every aspect of the game to her, from what a strike was to what it means to make a run. She seemed very confused but interested. Behind me were two young boys, obviously big fans, yelling at the top of their lungs whenever their favorite baseball players went up to bat. At the 7th inning, everyone sang "Take Me Out To The Ball Game," a song I knew by heart but never got to use. It was one of the most relaxing days of my time in D.C. so far. The scenery was nice, too! The river was visible from where we sat, as well as the Capitol dome. This was a fun departure from the businesslike, politically-charged Washington I had come to know so far. I enjoyed myself. The burger was great too.
The three of us had walked to the game, so we decided to walk back after it was over. The great thing about being a WAIP student is that it's usually impossible to get lost on the way home- all you need to do is find the Capitol Building and head towards it! The air was nice, the atmosphere was friendly, and Washington was beautiful.
Half an hour later, as we neared our apartment building, we came upon the Supreme Court, lit up in the night. Katy, the aspiring lawyer, begged us to wait and take photos of her in front of it. Eventually, all of us decided to walk up the steps and stare. A problem I've always had in D.C. is that I never manage to wrap my mind around what I'm looking at. For example, when I see the White House, my brain knows "President," but it can't fathom the enormity of its significance. It's just too much.
So I stood, staring at the Supreme Court building. An entire branch of government in one building. Okay. Interprets the Constitution. Okay. I was struggling to really get my head around it.
Then I thought about China, and what life was like in parts of that country. Websites blocked. People "disappeared." Foreigners' laptops discreetly searched. An entire year that has been deleted, purposefully, from Chinese history (1989).
I looked up at the columns of the U.S. Supreme Court, patted it slowly, and thought, "Thanks."
And that was my Friday.
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