This Is Why I'm In D.C.

It's been a busy few days here in DC, and I think I am still relying on adrenaline to keep me going. Right now I am sitting in an academic building on the main campus (which my friends and I sardonically have termed "American Proper") about to begin my first foray into graduate-level education in a class called COMM 543, Speech Writing. It sounds like a fascinating class, but I can't help but be just a bit intimidated at the fact that my first class at American University is at the graduate level.

But enough on that, let me recap a particularly memorable day I had over the weekend. On Saturday, I convinced a motley crew of about 12 to embark on a incredibly touristy adventure into "downtown" DC. Since American University is located in more of an urban neighborhood area about 20 minutes (by train) from the main part of the city, so far I hadn't really felt like I was truly in our nation's capital. I told the group: "dammit, I want to see something!"

After making an extensive list of various places that we each wanted to go, we set off for our adventure, which began at "American Proper". By that point, our group had grown to include students from Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, South Korea, Canada, Missouri, and Nebraska. Quite a diverse group, but one that was quite difficult to maneuver due to its large size. We soon found ourselves hopelessly lost on the American University campus, before even beginning our trip.

Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and we found our way to the Metro station, the main public transportation in D.C. The system so far has been wonderfully reliable and efficient, if not a slight bit sketchy at times.

Our first stop in the city was the National Portrait Gallery, on a quest to see the fabled portrait of Steven Colbert, which supposedly hangs there. The guard told us that we had missed seeing Colbert's portrait by mere days, and it was now hanging in storage. I guess the guy's 15 minutes of fame are over in the opinion of the Smithsonian. The best part of the stop was seeing the museum's entire exhibit devoted to Presidential portraits; a collection only second to the White House's. The mild history buff in me loved seeing an iconic portrait of Washington, the very surreal yet striking portrayal of JFK, and a Norman Rockwell version of Nixon. Upon exiting the gallery, I found out that the museum was the site of Lincoln's inaugural ball. Wow.


We then made our way to the National Archives, home of the original pages of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, among other things. As I stepped into the dimly lit chamber (to protect the documents), I could almost feel the power of our history pressing upon me. It was a remarkable feeling to be so near such important pieces of our past that still hold so much power in the make-up of our government today. Those extraordinary words written on such ordinary paper, with ordinary ink from a ordinary pens, have survived to this day, and are still fought over and scrutinized in courtrooms, classrooms, and offices across the nation. This is exactly why I'm here.

Finally, to perfectly conclude this incredibly day, we walked toward the Capital Mall just as the sun was setting in the pristine blue sky. As we walked, quite suddenly, the Washington Monument appeared to me over the trees along the road. Of course, my camera stopped working just before this moment, so I had to capture it with my clumsy cell phone camera:

We then crossed the street and walked to the top of the monument's hill and watched the sun set over the DC skyline. Across the mall I could barely make out the Capitol building and the Lincoln Memorial, already lit up in the cold winter night. As the bitter wind almost blew me off my feet, I sighed and realized what a beautiful and surreal city this is, and that I am so glad I'm here.