As the title suggests, September marked a time of
new beginnings, experiences, and memories for me:
I moved to the D.C. Metro Area
I started a job
I moved into a townhouse with roommates whom I didn't know previously
and I have begun to fully support myself financially (...)
I have to say, the first month went very well.
Yes, it was difficult to move somewhere where I don't have any
family or existing friends, nor am familiar with the area. But, it was
my choice to do so as I wanted to explore, meet new
people and see new places at this point in my life.
While my co-workers' average age is 33, my two female housemates has been
my source of (youth) and friendship; they could not be more
warm or welcoming as they make sure to include me in all activities, such
as: drinks at a roof top bar next to the White House, a country music concert, and brunch
on yuppidty 14th Street with their friends. In addition, I have joined 4 soccer teams
and have been meeting people of all ages and walks of life through that.
In all, it will take time for me to feel rooted in the area socially, but I believe
that I have sown some good seeds.
Work, on the other hand, has also been going well, but I still have lots
to learn. "Baptism by fire" is how my supervisor describes my experience
while my boss believes that "I'm receiving my MBA without
actually going to business school." I agree with both of these statements,
and it is true that I have a lot of responsibility and obligations in my
position (and at the age of 22.) However, I'm eager to learn, and I see my job
as solving puzzles, thinking critically, and analyzing trends in data.
An interesting aspect of my job, though, is the location and travel piece.
Because my supervisor and boss are both located in the West, I commute
to an office where I work with no one; my work is completely separate from theirs.
What this means is that all of my work takes place via phone and email, meaning
that I can choose to work from home sometimes. On a larger scale,
what this means is that I can also be geographically mobile. Come next September
when my lease is up, I can stay where I'm at or move into D.C. and work from home;
or, I can move anywhere else I want to in the U.S. and give another city a try.
Travel-wise, I am able to fly to different cities in the U.S. for conferences and meetings,
and I accept each opportunity to travel because I have no constraints or
hesitations at this point in my life.
While it is an adjustment and sometimes I wish that I
was near family or good friends, I am grateful for what has
happened over the course of September and am quite interested
to see how my life develops in the coming months.
Below are photos of my room and some outings in D.C.
and Virigina as to give you a better picture
of what my new life is like.
My townhouse in Vienna, VA:
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| My bedroom |
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| We are situated in a townhouse community and are right next to a creek and woods |
Some photos from home
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| Aunt Dianne's muse painting situated alongside my muse, which is books about Paris |
Walks in D.C.:
I treat D.C. like I treated Paris: to better know it,
I walk around it to see what lies both in
its main squares and tucked-away streets, corners and parks.
While I still have lots to explore (which will come with time
and the re-opening of the metro next to my house), I have made some
progress in discovering our Nation's Capital.
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| Walking past the White House during a night on the town |
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| The Washington Monument |
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| The World War II Memorial |
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| The Lincoln Memorial |
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| The view of the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool from the Lincoln Memorial |
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| The Jefferson Memorial |
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| During my first weekend in D.C., I was able to host my first visit, the lovely and always inspiring Tory! |
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| Major General George Henry Thomas Statue |
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| Admiring the brownstones on P Street |
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| Dupont Circle |
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| Walking up and down Georgetown's main drag |
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| The brand new African American Museum of History and Culture, which is well worth a visit |
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| The Smithsonain Castle |
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| The Hirshhorn Museum's Sculpture Garden (note the Rodin sculpture replica in the forefront) |
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| The Washington Monument at sunset |
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| The newly renovated Capitol Building |
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| Walking in Foggy Bottom |
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| The building, especially the Eagle, reminded me of Carden Hall |
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| The Potomac River with Roosevelt Island on the Right and the Kennedy Center on the Left |
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| The canal in Georgetown |
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| Georgetown Cathedral from the Key Bridge |
Days Trips in Virginia:
Equally as interesting to me as D.C. is Virginia.
Virginia is home to lots of historical towns
(i.e. Alexandria, Williamsburg, Jamestown,
Richmond, just to name a few), beautiful national parks,
a nice coastline, and vineyards that apparently rival Napa Valley.
I like to spend some weekends spending one day exploring
D.C. and the other in VA, and below is one of those day trips to
Leesburg, where I originally went to buy a table from Craiglist,
and ended up staying 3 hours in this charming town!
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| A Union Cemetery |
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| The Loudon County Court House |
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| The main street |
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| Trinity Tavern, home to one of the cutest brunch spots I have ever been to! |
Lastly, a business trip to Chicago (on my 5th day of work!)
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| We went on an architectural boat cruise after one of our days spent in the conference room; what a treat! |
