Day 2: An Addendum
June 16, 2013 § Leave a comment
I really want to try to soak things in rather than just take pictures of them. It’s nice to have those memories captured on camera, but I really want to feel experiences and have stories to talk about.
Just now, I ventured out of my dorm where I had been resting, alone, for the past few hours. I had Google searched “food” and found a Subway further north on the George Washington University campus, just a few blocks away. And so I put on my dorky black walking shoes and headed down the elevator and out the door.
At first I walked tentatively, slightly worried about being alone and trying not to think of what my mom or my boyfriend would do to me if they found out I was walking around Washington. D.C. all by myself. (A note to each of them if they’re reading this: the GWU campus and, in fact, the entire federal district, is among the only very safe place in this city, and I would not have ventured out by myself had I not known that.) It was so beautiful outside that I forgot about being worried. It was cloudy, and I even felt a few drops of rain on my way back.
As I crossed over onto another street and turned my head southward to look at the view, suddenly, without warning, I recalled my sense of direction and realized where I was looking.
And happiness flooded within me.
The National Mall was only blocks away. I was looking at the grass next to the Constitution Gardens Pond. I had known this all along, but it hadn’t sunk in until I had the opportunity to venture out on my own and really try to feel things and not worry about walking so far behind the group that I’d have to eventually call my faculty director and ask where they were (yes, that actually happened today!).
I didn’t take a picture of anything during my three-block journey. And I didn’t need to.
I’m in Washington D.C.
I’m in Washington D.C.
Shorts and Snippets 
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