Spring break was unlike any other for me, in several different ways.
Not only did I actually travel out of the Erie area, but I got the opportunity to travel to my favorite place on the planet – Washington, D.C.
I’ve never been on a more educational trip in my entire life, and there wasn’t a single school chaperone around to make sure that I was learning anything.
Granted, my best friend Katie and I didn’t have much of a plan prior to getting there, except for convening with Natalie, a friend and Gannon alum who lived in the area.
We met up with Natalie on Sunday night, after we successfully navigated our way from the economically friendly Megabus stop to the Metro station.
Once we finally figured out the city’s public bus system and got to the hotel, we settled in and headed back out. Our first night, we walked around the city before having dinner with Natalie.
Once we were settled down at the restaurant, Natalie told us everywhere that was good and not good to go in D.C. via our map of the Metro system. After Natalie’s guidance and well-wishes, Katie and I were good to go.
On Monday, we went to both George Mason University and American University to check out various graduate programs that we were interested in. George Mason is located in Fairfax, Va., and American is located right in the heart of D.C.; needless to say, we racked up quite a bit of mileage just Monday alone.
However, I felt highly productive by getting a head start at looking at the schools that we could both very well be attending in 2012.
After getting our primary mission out of the way, we spent the remainder of our days in the city browsing around, looking at apartments and getting a feel for the night life.
It’s strange to say that I literally stepped foot onto the ground in the city and thought to myself “Wow. This is my future home.” But that’s exactly what I thought, and once I get an idea in my head, it doesn’t go away.
I learned many things from the trip, including how to navigate through a real city where it’s inconvenient to drive, how to properly read maps, that dinky little restaurants really do have the best food and most importantly, that it really is time for me to grow up.
My unconventional spring break trip really opened my eyes to the fact that I will soon be pushed out into the real world, in less than two months, to be exact.
It’s time for me to get my life into gear and create a plan of attack for how I intend on making a living in D.C. both a reality, and a feasible one at that. I know I can do it. I have the right attitude and enough information to get me started.
From here on out, it’s all up to me.
The city has shown me what it has to offer and now, it’s my turn to show what I can bring to it.
