Week 9: What I wish I'd known

This is my ninth week here in Washington, DC and time has gone by so fast, it’s really unbelievable. There are so many opportunities for many unique experiences but it seems to me that sometimes you have to know where to look. Constantly I find myself learning about things and places and wishing I had known that place was there in the beginning. So I thought it would be cool if for the next to last week of my blog I blogged about some things I wish I had known about the first week I was here. There are also some things that are unique to the city, so given the chance to come here you should take advantage of them.

1. One of the best things about being in DC is its proximity to other cities. Surprisingly it’s really easy to find cheap bus tickets to great place like Philadelphia, Boston and New York. I’m really excited as this weekend I’m headed to New York on a bus line called Tony Coach, and I only paid like thirty bucks for round trip tickets. On websites like megabus.com you can even tickets as cheap as $5.

2. I’ve been here since the beginning of June and it was just a couple of weeks ago that I realized that this place called Au Bon Pain has half-off baked goods after five o’clock. It’s like carb lovers' heaven, there are pastries, brownies and literally every baked treat imaginable. They make an awesome “confetti cookie,” which is my personal favorite but if you’re looking for something a little more healthy they also have some great bagels and breads. Locals actually call it “ABP;” apparently DC doesn’t have enough government acronyms, restaurants have to have abbreviations too. Getting half price pastries is actually pretty competitive downtown, but it seems there is one on almost every corner. There are seriously like four in very close walking to distance to where I work.

3. The National Mall of course is here in the Nation’s capital. It’s normally just like a huge yard with the Capitol building and the Washington Monument on either side. This summer there have been festivals on it. In the beginning of July there was the Folk Life Festival. There were people everywhere with song and dance from various countries around the world. I went the day after Fourth of July and they had tons of venders with ethnic foods and drinks to try. Of course it was million degrees outside but the mall is right in the middle of the Smithsonian museums, so when I was ready to take a break my friends and I cooled off in the Natural History Museum while we checked out the hope diamond all for free.

4. Conferences are a great idea to participate in while here in the city, and there is certainly an abundance of them. I get an email inviting me to conference every other day. There are conferences for young people, old people, liberals, conservatives, or those interested in globalization policies. You name it—somebody in DC will hold a conference for it. Pick the ones that you’re interested in and they are normally really informative and enlightening. Not only you will feel smarter, but they usually have food for participants, which is a lifesaver for those of us living on an “intern budget.” Not only do they feed you, but they are a great way to network. Join “listservs” to stay in the loop of these kinds of events.

Again these are just a few things I wish I had known more about in the beginning. Hope someone finds them helpful.