Washington DC

On the road by 7 am?? That is so early! But so began the journey to Washington, D.C. at 7 in the morning. I went for a field trip for my Cities class. It was a chance for us to walk around and get to know the feeling of living in a city.

While in DC we had to visit two neighborhoods, one in a poorer part of the city, the other in a nicer part of the city. While there, we were supposed to do neighborhood studies. That basically meant we were supposed to walk around and compare and contrast the two neighborhoods. We also had to visit at least one museum and attend at least two cultural events.

We arrived in DC around 9:30 and went straight to the hostel that we were staying at. After the bus was unpacked and everyone got situated, we were ready to roam the town. My group headed to do our first neighborhood study, University Howard and U-Street after getting our metro card and figuring out which stop to get off at.

U-Street was a very run down area that looked like it was trying to be rebuilt but was having a hard time finishing up the projects. Many of the houses were run down and there was trash everywhere.

We then headed over to Howard University. The campus was so much different compared to EMU.People looked professional because they were all dressed up. There was a group of around thirty people playing kickball in the middle of the campus.

Many students were getting lunch or heading off to classes. We stopped and ate lunch in the area, as well as talked to some of the students and professors.

After visiting our neighborhood we headed to the Hishhorn Museum. It was fun to see the different artworks displayed and the creativity that went into all the pieces. After walking around, we headed to the Aditi Indian Cuisine for dinner. Our waiter was very nice to us as we struggled to pronounce the words. After eating, we walked around the city for a while to get a feel for what night life was like in DC.

The Final Day

Saturday morning one of the commissioners from the DC exchange program came and talked to us about the program that they offer EMU students to come and study in DC for a semester. Afterwards, we headed out to do our second neighborhood study. This time we headed to Friendship Heights. What a complete turn around from the previous day!

The houses were in better conditions and were a lot bigger than the ones from yesterday. There were sidewalks with flowers and grass growing around and there was hardly any trash lying on the ground. The stores around the area included Barney’s, Tiffany’s, and many more upscale stores.

After walking around, we headed back to The Mall to check out a book fair that was going on. There were many different authors there that people were able to meet and discuss the books that they had written. Target was a sponsor of this book fair so they were handing out reading mats that could be used as bags and as a checker board. The best part of the Target tent was that the Target dog was there that you could get your picture taken with it! Of course we waited in line and got our picture taken with the dog!

Time to Head Out

After the excitement of the book fair we went and visited the Botanic Gardens. The flowers were beautiful in there! We decided to head over to our restaurant for dinner. There we ate some great pizza and relaxed after a long day of walking. Afterwards, we headed to the Wooly Mammoth Theater for a one man production called "Help Wanted."

It was really funny and made some interesting points about life after college and trying to find a place in the working field. We rushed back to our hostel, grabbed our things, and hopped onto the bus.It was time to head home. We finally arrived back to EMU at 1 in the morning after being stuck in traffic for a good while. Overall it was a busy but great trip!