When I woke up after my first night in Foggy Bottom, and I found myself on E Street in DC I wasn’t believing myself…
It was my first week at GWU! This week has been very intense in term of activities and emotions. (FACT: According to my cell phone, I walked 13 miles every day and I burned 1500 calories daily). I will try to cover every aspect of this week in this post.
The first thing that got my attention this week was the international students. International students in GWU are such a great resource. In less than a week, I got some basic notions in Chinese, learned some cultural facts about Argentina, understood the relationship between Australia and New Zealand. I spoke German, Spanish, French, Arabic. It is very diverse and doing this exchange in Washington, DC is a kind of exchange in the world.
We visited some important monuments of the capital. We went to the capitol, that big white breast where all the American laws are voted. During the presentation, I felt some strong emotions for the particularity of the United States and its history. It was fascinating to learn about how all the states merged and even going through civil wars and other obstacles, the nation ended up to be one.
Another important event this week was my birthday. Who ever thought that I would turn 20 on a rooftop in Washington DC looking at the Washington Monument and the US Department of State? Being in DC for my 20th birthday was the best gift I could have had. When I went to the Philips Hall for the ExO Leaders’ presentation, all the international student wished me happy birthday and I thank every one of them for that great moment.
I went to Georgetown, an amazing neighborhood in DC that reminds me of Europe. The M Street is amazing. It has so many stores that are connected to each other. I felt that everyone knows everyone. It is such a great place for a walk on a Sunday.
We went to the baseball game and it was so interesting to discover a new side of the American culture. In fact, when we got to the stadium, the focus wasn’t only on the game but the atmosphere surrounding it was astonishing. People were eating, laughing, drinking and it was so great to see plenty of people having fun. Of course, I don’t understand baseball’s rules, but still, I had a very good time.
Fun fact of the week: I saw the vice-president of the USA on "The Beast"; He was just in my street.
Ultimately, this week has been fun and very rich and the credits go the amazing Exchange Orientation Leaders who did such an amazing job and the ISO!