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By sarajebbar

It has been more than two months that I’ve been in DC and I still feel like I didn’t visit all the parts of the city. Two months without visiting any museum made realize that I need to discover more places in Washington DC.

I started my week by going to the Embassy row trick or treat in Halloween. It’s one of the things that you can only do in DC, so I went for it. I really liked how each Embassy welcomed us with candies and got to present its country. I also enjoyed stacking a huge amount of candies that I still have now by the end of the week. If you’re in DC in Halloween, make sure to walk through the Embassy Row.

I also decided to finally visit some museums in the city. I started by visiting The National Museum of Natural History and it was really interesting. It got a diverse human, animals, and rocks collections. It showed different species of mammals, ocean creatures, insects and historical bones. It also exhibited the history of the human evolution and human origins. So, if you’re curious about the natural world and its discoveries, the National Museum of Natural History will be the best for you. I also visited the National Gallery of Art. Even if I don’t understand much about art, I would say that the pieces of art in the gallery were really beautiful. From paintings to sculptures, everything was so sophisticated and really beautiful. They represented the art in different centuries from different countries and artists. After visiting these two museums, I made a list of all the museums I want to visit before the semester ends (hopefully).

In addition to that, I visited the United Sates Botanic Garden. Basically, it’s a plants’ museum where you can find different species of plants. I really enjoyed walking through all the types of plants and get to know more of them. It also felt like a tropical jungle so it was nice to be there and forget the city’s cold weather that day. I also took the opportunity this weekend to ride a bike around the city. I really love the foliage of Washington DC’s and its colors during the Fall season. I really appreciate how good it was to visit the city in that beautiful scenery.

And the best way to finish this week was definitely attending the concert of Imagine Dragons in Capital One Arena. I feel really lucky to be in a city where there are many concerts happening. After Katy Perry, Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias, I had to experience more of US concerts. It’s true that the tickets are really expensive but the cheapest way to get them is waiting until the last minute. That concert gave me chills in many songs and hearing Imagine Dragon performing live was the best thing that happened to me this week.

IG: @sarajebbar

By audrey

This week, I ticked an item off my bucket list - seeing John Mayer live. Growing up in Singapore, we were never really on any musicians' road map and being able to be in DC while he's on tour has made me really thankful for this exchange opportunity.

Having listened to his music since middle school, he's formed a huge part of my life since. The setlist last night was more than what I could ask for - 21 songs, including tracks from past albums and his latest release combined with the stellar seats at Verizon Center. It was indeed money well spent.

 

DC's weather has been increasingly fluctuating - from skipping outdoors in a T-shirt and jeans to running against winds that seem to keep me from standing my ground, it has been a weird couple of weeks. We officially welcomed Spring last week, but hints of winter remained.

When the weather doesn't go my way, I turn to food for solace and comfort. This week, I got together with the friends whom I spent spring break with and we had dinner at Bistro Bohem.

Located in a cozy corner on U Street, the store front had 'bistro' painted in large blue letters on the wall. The menu included classic eastern European fare, with several fusion dishes and it was actually pretty affordable, coming in the under $20 range. I had the beef goulash, which was served together with Czech dumplings. Czech dumplings are a funny thing - they're like this cross-breed between bread and rice. The schnitzel came highly recommended and came with 2 sides of choice. I also ordered a cup of mulled wine - I believe this is the first time I actually saw mulled wine in DC.

 

In an effort to save money, I started to cook again and fortunately, I found an Asian supermarket that carried the taste of home. I'm not sure if this is the nearest one to GW, but as I was in Virginia over the weekend, Arlington has one called Good Fortune Supermarket and it is huge - it had practically everything I could find back home. Since it was pretty far from Foggy Bottom, I found myself lugging home groceries enough to last me a week.

The semester is ending and the realization that I should start saving up to travel has now hit me real and hard so I foresee myself cooking for the whole of next month! Also having a sudden mindful moment that exchange is going to end soon, what with the invitations for farewell parties and transcript submissions.

That's all for now.