By nimames
Orientation week. Check. Meeting everybody. Check. Trying to remember everybody’s name. Check. First week of classes. Check.
This first week of classes seemed surreal to me maybe because I’ve been so engrossed by all the activities that were planned. But the first week was almost as entertaining as the previous one. Granted, classes and professors and syllabi meant the end of an era and the beginning of endless readings, assignments and papers. However, the first week of classes was as interesting as it was entertaining.
On Tuesday, a friend and I had the immense pleasure of going to the concert of Jay-Z. For someone who has not been to many concerts, being to the Verizon center was really impressive. First, the stadium was huge; I’d never seen so many people squeeze in in one closed space before. Second, the sheer diversity of people that attended and the uniqueness of characters that I’ve seen was something new. Weird haircuts, huge high heels, colorful outfits and much more made the first concert I attended in the U.S. much more than just a musical event.
The next day was the day I met the coolest professor to ever grace the face of the planet: my political economy professor. Although the class is rather challenging and was all about fixed exchange rates, debt ceiling, and congress bills, I can say that Pr. Kaplan is by far one of the best professor I ever had. He’s the type of professor who has Simpson characters up on his slides and who uses Hunger Games and Twilight analogies to explain theories of international relations and principles of economy.
The following day; Thursday, was the busiest day. We decided to treat ourselves and go to Korean BBQ in Annandale (Kogiya Korean BBQ). I already had Korean back home but Korean BBQ was new to me. The meat was cooked in front of us, on round small burners that were built in the table. Rice and spicy soup was served with it in addition to the most delicious and perfectly cooked egg I ever had the pleasure of tasting. 
Friday came and having only one morning class, a friend and I decided to walk down the White House. It was something I wanted to do for a long time but haven’t got around doing it what with all the activities we had. To be honest, the white house wasn’t as I had imagined it. It was just a house that happened to be white and it wasn’t that big even! However, when we turned around the block to the backside of the house, BAM, that was the White House I imagined, with the domes, the balcony and the ivory white, the big not so green lawn and Michelle’s garden of course. 
Saturday came and it was the yet another day of culinary discover. Since it was restaurant week in DC, fancy restaurants offered a 3 course meal with only 20 dollars. We went to a great Spanish restaurant called La Taberna del Albardero that served the most amazing food ever. My first doubts were confirmed: DC was definitely a culinary city where one could experience the most amazing dishes from all over the world and I couldn’t wait to taste new, exotic and foreign flavors.
Although I’m most certainly going to put on a few pounds but if that’s the price to pay for culinary heaven then so be it !