Entering college in Washington, D.C., I'll admit that I had my own expectations of how things were going to go. I had lived outside of the city for almost my entire life and I considered myself pretty savvy when it came to the basics. I could use the Metro, I could get you to and from Georgetown or the Verizon Center without a map, and I could differentiate the four quadrants pretty well. Coming into school I told most people that I was a DC native, therefore making them assume that I was their go to for all of their questions regarding bus schedules, food options, and how to get to Dupont.
I am not a DC native. Not even close. I got lost probably 5 times out of the seven times I left campus. Oh, and who knew that using the Metro bus would be so complex. I considered myself a bit of a transportation whiz when it came to using the Metro system, but learning that bus system was like learning Calculus.
The moment that really brought all of this to light for me was during an orientation field trip that found me taking three buses and two metros to get to the outskirts of Anacostia in order to study the effects of pollution on our watershed. We spent the entire day walking around a part of the city that I never even knew existed, and quite honestly never had any desire to visit.
I spent the entire day complaining, whining about how much walking we had to do to get to each bus, complaining that the river was ugly and gross, not taking the time to really immerse myself in an area I had never been to before. The day culminated with me and my roommate calling an Uber to take us back to campus after we found that the bus stop we had been standing at for 25 minutes was in fact out of order.
We collapsed into the Uber as the driver said to us, "Yeah, I could spot you from a mile away. What were you doing in this part of town anyway?" We explained our long day to him and he responded by saying that he had grown up in that area and now lived in Alexandria, my hometown. It wasn't until I had made this personal connection that the area really started to mean something.
Looking back now, I find it so odd that I spent so much time living just outside of D.C., but never really experienced any of the true DC culture until now. D.C. is so much more than the Verizon Center and the National Monuments, it is full of culture, neighborhoods and people all with stories to tell and moments to share. It amazes me that I never experienced these things until now, especially when I had the means.
When I came to college in D.C. I had to leave my beloved purple Jeep behind, meaning that I would be relying on public transportation from now on. I never fully understood how lucky I was to have my car until I was crammed between a large, sweating woman and an elderly gentleman holding an art display, while trying to get back to campus on the 5pm metro.
While it is amazing to live in a city with so many transportation options, I'll admit that I really miss my Jeep. So my advice to any person living in the suburbs pondering going to that museum or trying that new restaurant, I say get out and do it. Also, don't just try the tourist destinations, getting lost in your own city is the best adventure you could ever have.
