Life @ GW – Page 3 – Postcards from GW

Winter has come

AdminNovember 20, 2018

This week was particularly amazing. I have witnessed so many changes again in many aspects. First of all, I can tell that winter has officially arrived in DC. It was one of the most pleasant surprises of this semester. I woke up and I found this:

It's not a lot of snow but still, how could I miss this during one night? The weather is surprisingly strange in DC. Sunrise is around 7:00 am and sunset is around 5:00pm. We can enjoy only ten little hours of light.

With the end of the semester coming, there is much pressure in class because of the projects due and the exams. However, it was a pretty charming study week. In fact, I tried for the first time team group as our professors suggested it. I got to know people from my class which is huge (more than 80 people). After hard work at Gelman, it was time for us to enjoy a good lunch. We went to Founding Farmers and although it's only my second time, I can tell that food is incredibly amazing. I had a great steak with vegetables (sorry vegans).

Furthermore, because of the amount of study I had this week, a funny anecdote happened to me this week. I was in my yoga class and at the end of the class, we are supposed to stretch and relax. Our professor always puts some nice music in the background, so I completely slept for about twenty minutes, and when I woke up all my classmates were about to leave the classroom while I was sleeping on my mat comfortably. My professor said that I must have been really tired.

Also, I decided to work a lot this week because next week is a holiday week and I don't want to feel any pressure next week. I got rid of the chores of the week such as sending a package to my family in Morocco full of presents and gifts, going to the office hours...

I am really looking forward to experiencing Thanksgiving here in Washington at the president's house. I think it is going to be on of the great opportunities of this semester.

See you next week!

Yacht Dreams

AdminNovember 20, 2018

By angusmack101

It's become a recurring theme of my time in DC; plan for one experience and stumble into another. It happened last week with Catharsis on the Mall, and it happened this week outside the Anthem.

A friend and I had bought tickets to the Young The Giant gig on Friday night and decided to roll in to the wharf early to take advantage of a local happy hour. I'm not sure if it was the happy hour or the quality of the bar, but the place was packed when we arrived at around 6:45. After fighting our way to the front of the mass we'd bought drinks and my friend had struck up a conversation with a guy seated at the bar. I went over and joined the convo, where we quickly found out he was the president of the local yacht club on the wharf. Turns out he lives full-time on his boat, presumably splitting his time between the water and the club.

After a solid half-hour conversation the happy hour had ended and he offered to show us the club. Since it was outside the Anthem and the gig didn't start for another hour, we agreed. I also sensed the possibility of free drinks, so I didn't need much convincing. It was a bizarre turn-of-events for sure, and we were genuinely impressed with the setup this guy had going. He said his was one of the only yacht clubs in the country with an average age trending down, and it wasn't hard to see why when we saw the place and met the people. I spoke to one guy for 15 minutes about Australian politics before he revealed he was a congressman from Oregon. If the president is to be believed they have a bunch of members with high-profile jobs on Capitol Hill. By the time we left for the gig my friend was already trying to network her way into a membership. Is this one of the #onlyatGW experiences I keep hearing about?

Young The Giant was another highlight, and by the evenings-end we were exhausted. I managed to spend a couple hours at a party in E street, but eventually called it in to try and get a few hours before Saturday. I'd booked another hike with TRAiLS, and I wasn't looking forward to the 8 a.m. wakeup.

YTG - picture 1

One of those openers that's good enough to remember but not enough to look for more of their stuff

The wakeup on Saturday was definitely rough, but not enough to ruin the day. I'd loaned out another DSLR for the trip; I needed more footage for my next video production assignment. This ended up being a great decision as the town we went to had some of the best scenery I've ever seen. Historic Harpers Ferry indeed. We were lucky to catch it at the brief intersection of Fall & Winter.

HarpersFerry - picture 2

$15 well spent

I did end up getting a lot of great footage and pictures from the trip. At this point I'm seriously considering shelling out for a decent camera of my own, it might incentivize me to go out and do more of this kind of thing back in Aus.

The rest of my week wasn't eventful as those couple of days. I did go to another gig at The Black Cat on Thursday to see Alex G, which was great, but aside from that it was mostly receiving and submitting assignments. Finals are getting dangerously close—I suppose I'd better ramp up my efforts to do everything this city has to offer.

A good week for walking

AdminNovember 20, 2018

By angusmack101

It's been another good week for walking around.

The media department at GW allows students in set film classes to rent out equipment for free, which you might remember I took advantage of a few weeks ago to film my roommate Javier buying and eating the first bagel of his life.

Honestly hours of editing for this.

While it was definitely a good time, the film camera I used for that video was impractically large for my purposes this week, so I went for a more compact Nikon DSLR —a D3300 for any camera-nerd readers. After an hour-or-so of YouTube tutorials I was ready to take it out to test, and opted to do so on one of my late-night monument walks. I've been in the habit of walking around the mall at night once or twice a week, usually when I can't justify spending money, and I got a kick out of learning the tricks of the camera on the quiet streets of DC.

DC 01

Game for the more observant readers: spot the rat.

I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I decided to go out and do it again on Saturday night. This was the surprising one for me, because I'd unknowingly walked right into the middle of a hippie festival camped out beside the Washington Monument. Literally camped out; they'd set up tents, art installations, a couple of dance floors, and a whole bunch of weed and LGBT flags. This was exactly the kind of weird stuff I enjoy finding, and a great opportunity to test my ability to snap pics in a bizarre low/high light environment. I even took the camera settings off auto for some of them.

hippies 02

If 8th-grade English taught me anything, it's that juxtaposition is the name of the game.

Of course after leaving my hippie comrades at about 3 a.m. I had to try and sleep, because I'd naively signed myself up for rock climbing with TRAiLS on Sunday—It was actually the reason I loaned the camera in the first place. I managed to get up on time to make the trip, and the climbing itself was a bunch of fun. After the trips I've taken with those guys this semester I've got to say that TRAiLS deserves every bit of funding they get; they never disappoint.

I've also got to conclude that, for a student, there's no need to use a bulky film camera when the college has the Nikons available. My one was easier to use, less than half the size and weight, and it could take decent photos as well as video. My professor never even mentioned it was an option, but I'd be willing to bet he won't be able to tell the difference from the footage. If you're at GW now or you're heading over for exchange, do yourself a favor and take a film class. The workload is manageable and you get access to a bunch of cool stuff for free. What's not to love about that?

The end is right there!

AdminNovember 20, 2018

By yassineaourid

"The end is right there!" Every professor said this phrase this week, thinking that it would make students happy... The idea of me leaving scares me. I just got used to this new way of life, this American lifestyle which helps you to define yourself, allows you to discover great opportunity and much more. Me leaving this and being happy? No!

Anyways, I can remember every detail of my last post which shows how fast time is flying. More changes have come to my new way of life. In fact, I believe there is a strong correlation between the amount of time left in the US and the amount of cash in my wallet. Therefore, I can say goodbye to my Vanilla Latte every morning. Instead, I started cooking nice omelets thanks to the $1,12 egg box at Trader Joe's. Also, I never knew why we associate students' diet to pasta, now I know. I make pasta every day. First, it was tedious because it took me a lot of time and the end result wasn't very good. Now, in my humble opinion, I'm a chef. Room 602 is now officially Ristorante Marrochino!

This week has been one of the most important weeks of this American political year. Although I don't understand much the American political landscape, I went to an event organized by Prof. Porter where we enjoyed discussing the outcomes of these elections while savoring some pizza slices. I knew that the Democrats had to win a lot of seats to take control of the Senate but it wasn't the case. In fact, it was a win-win situation for both parties. One of the good news of these elections is the number of women elected to the House of Representatives.

As I have a couple of exams next week, I went to several tutoring sessions at Gelman. It was particularly interesting to have someone else than the professor who re-explains the lecture in a way that I can understand. It's free, efficient and very helpful.

This weekend, I went shopping and I bought some gifts for my relatives. Finally, the good news of the week is that I am invited to Mr. Leblanc's house for Thanksgiving. I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving. Cant' wait to eat that turkey tight!

Also, what's going on with the weather? Anyways, I have my solution for it:

PS: 0°C= 32°F 🙂

Halloween

AdminNovember 20, 2018

By yassineaourid

After long weeks of hot and humid weather, the beautiful Washington D.C. is getting ready for the cold weather. It embellished with the colors of Fall, making the National Mall even more amazing. Everything turned to red, yellow and orange. In fact, most of the grocery stores are selling pumpkins because guess what? It is Halloween!

Being in the US for Halloween is an incredible and joyful opportunity. This special day represents so much for me since it is reminiscent of my childhood. I have always wished to ask candies to people and wearing scary costumes but unfortunately, in Morocco, it is not a big day. Halloween reminds me of those nights where we organized pyjama parties and we get scared the whole night, it was fun but we were 8. Being 20 for Halloween suggests another atmosphere. First of all, no more scary costumes. I was told that in the US, you can wear any costume as long as it's not your normal clothes. I saw doctors, soldiers, dogs... Mine was basic but I liked it. I bought it on the 31st and I was pretty nervous because I was afraid that I couldn't find any so I went to Crystal City in a shop called Total Fright where I got a Phantom of the Opera mask and a sort of skull necklace.

Wearing the Phantom of the Opera mask I could only go to Opera that night. It was an unforgettable night.

This week, I was very happy that I could finally make my own app! It was a hard work but it paid off. The app I made is nothing lucrative or exceptional. It is a tool for DC and Arlington inhabitants to use the metro easily. Basically, given two inputs, origin and destination, it tells you which line you should take, the station you should enter and leave. I am really using it sometimes but still don't know how to include ads in it...

As usual, I always take my Sundays easy. I always go to the Mall to observe nature and have conversations with my friends and family on the phone. It was a great Sunday this week, a calm and sunny day that makes us prepare for the big event of the year: the Midterms elections.

Until then enjoy these beautiful pictures of the Mall's trees and see you next week.

Fall in D.C.

AdminNovember 8, 2018

By yassineaourid

This is it, fall arrived. The nice weather we knew when we came here is gone now. I can't realize how fast time is flying, and I can't believe that I'm leaving the US in almost two months. It's time to review what I did so far and to make a quick assessment of my experience abroad.

From my window, I can see the leaves of the trees turning from green to a kind of yellow. But leaves aren't the only one who changed. In fact, since I am here, I noticed that a lot of things changed in my way of life. I think that living in the heart of the nation's capital and going from time to time to NYC, makes you become "American" quicker than living in any other American city. If we talk about food, I can say that food here really changed me, literally. I gained 4 pounds since I came here. Well, it's sort of understandable when you have Chick-Fil-A on campus and a Subway downstairs. Also, I have a new habit now, I can't go to class without a Vanilla Latte in my hands. Back in Morocco, I used to drink only strong coffees but here... I got Starbucksized.

From the study perspective, I am very happy that I took such great courses. On the first hand, my psychology class is really interesting and fascinating. Although the exams are not always easy, the content of the chapters allows me, now, to understand better my behavior and some of my actions. On the other hand, my computer science class, a more pragmatic approach, is by far my best class here. I get along with my classmates and my superb professor. A good thing about American people and mentality, that I noticed especially in NYC, is that they hate wasting time. They are always to the point. Even when they speak, their phrases are a sequence of shortcuts, and they love approximations. "I was like...", "sort of", "kind of", "for some reasons", "a bunch of stuff" How much is a bunch? What's a stuff? I don't know... (Gad El Maleh, American Dream)

In a nutshell, my experience is not done yet, and yet, I have learned so many things, made so many acquaintances and seen great things. I'm looking forward to knowing more about the American culture especially with the upcoming events (Halloween, the Midterms, Thanksgiving...)

P.S: Don't be surprised if I write another post about NYC, we never get tired of this city...

Midterminal

AdminOctober 29, 2018

By angusmack101

Exciting times continue at GW with another extremely busy week. Assignments are coming and going really quickly now; I've got to knock up an obituary for newswriting, a 30-second ad for video production, and an interactive digital timeline for web design by the end of this week. Don't think that'll keep me from doing this blog though—I know my priorities.

The video production one has been the most fun so far. Aside from being significantly less morbid than the obituary and less technical than the webpage, I've been having a blast messing around with the expensive cameras at the media department here. As a student there I'm entitled to loan the equipment out for free, and this is the kinda stuff I'm never getting my hands on otherwise. The Sony film cameras they use retail for about $3500 (despite the replacement cost being closer to $5000 if we break one) so it's a definite improvement over my beaten up iPhone 6 camera.

I elected to make the ad about GW's own Leo's Deli, my go-to bagel destination for early-morning classes. I discovered my roommate Javier had never had a bagel in his life, so his pilgrimage to G Street made for an easy narrative. Not to mention I consider it my civic duty to make sure everyone knows the joy of a deli bagel.

javier - image 1

Look at the Spaniard go. No more paellas for you pal—you're in America now.

It's also been another big week for events. I got tickets to the Brockhampton concert on Tuesday and it was a riot. People were getting panic attacks in the mosh, losing shoes and shirts and sweating like pigs. Trying to reach the front at a gig like that is a futile task. Once I gave up on the mosh about half way I was able to appreciate the music a bit more, and it was worth hearing the tracks in their full glory. They really are the hardest working boyband in the world today. Get around it.

brockhampton - image 2

Keep up the good work Kevin

Got a Formula1 viewing party with my friends at AU later today. More European than American I know, but there aren't exactly any NASCAR events going on near DC—I gotta take what I can get. If it's eventful I'll be sure to put a rundown in next week's update, but right now I've got 45 minutes to bang out an obituary. Know any fun dead people?

beardy - image 3

This well-bearded chap can be found at the National Portrait Gallery. I feel you, man.

A week in four days

AdminOctober 22, 2018

By angusmack101

Flew back from Montreal on Wednesday after a really close call getting to the airport. Turns out the bus, which comes every half-hour, only takes coins and charges $10 per trip. Consequently my plan to arrive an hour and a half before take-off became a rushed attempt to get in before check-in closed. Things went significantly more smoothly after that however; I'm not sure if it was because I was the last to check-in, but I got to enjoy a front row seat the whole way back. As a serial passenger in the dingiest and smallest-seated budget airlines I'm counting that as a major win.

image 1 - lounging

Me lounging in my fresh front-row seat

Once settled back in DC I got straight to work on all the assignments I'd been neglecting, except the one that got extended to Week 9—I won't be touching that for at least a week and a half. My attentive study lasted about 24 hours before distractions kicked in and my unofficial weekend began with a house party put on by the AU Frisbee team. Fun fact: a regulation ultimate Frisbee disc holds almost half a gallon of liquid (1.8 liters in real volume). I shook myself down on Friday morning to power through my 8:00-12:30 web design class before capping off another assignment in the afternoon. My mission to power through a week's worth of activities in four days was going well.

Friday night was another fun one with a gathering of exchange students in E st, and I was grateful to not have to leave campus to have a good time. The real action was to be had on Saturday though. After a couple hours at a party at Eden I left to prepare for the nights entertainment. I'd lined up tickets to Cage The Elephant with a friend a month ago, so I was extremely excited to see the investment pay off with floor spots on DC's brand-new and boringly-named Entertainment & Sports Arena. Between all the moshing and screaming and sweating and dancing, it was a helluva show.

image 2 - cage

I'm guessing Cage The Elephant and Judah & The Lion both used the same indie-rock band name generator.

I was able to squeeze in one more social gathering that night before exhaustion overtook me at about 3am. It's now Sunday morning, and it looks like today is going to be a drudge of all the chores and errands I didn't manage in the last three days, but so long as nothing drastic happens I'm confident I can cap off my four-day week without a hitch.

The name’s Bond, James Bond.

AdminOctober 15, 2018

By yassineaourid

After a great week in New York, I came back to the hard reality of Monday mornings and the class routine. I can finally tell that Washington D.C. has its own charm. Being surrounded by officials at the government and living near the heart of the global decisions center is a great privilege. For instance, this Monday I saw some White House limos at Pennsylvania Avenue driving the Mexican delegation. A few minutes later, I read on Facebook that the US signed a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada...

My Software Design class is getting more interesting since we tackle some very important elements of Mobile app design. My professor is truly helpful and very kind. He makes a lot of efforts so that we can grasp the content of the lectures. We communicate through Slack (a professional version of Whatsapp where all the classmates and the professor can interact). It's a new concept for me and it gets us much closer to the professor. I find it better than office hours.

This Tuesday after my class at the Milken Institue, I found a man selling some T-Shirts in front of the Metro station, and he had a chessboard. So I asked him if we could play, he said: "With pleasure". It would have been cool if I won but, unfortunately, I did not. I will have my revenge though

My fall break started on Wednesday afternoon since I don't have class on Thursdays and Fridays. However, I didn't plan anything special for this holiday. In fact, I was going to go to LA but my friend who was going to host me had a last-minute difficulty. Therefore, I decided to devote some time to study in order to get rid of the work charge, because yes I am a procrastinator.

My roommates went for their break trip, thus the apartment is quieter but freer. After checking my museums' list, I noticed that I didn't visit an important one yet: The International Spy Museum. This museum is incredibly awesome! It's true, it costs $18 but I would have paid more because it is really worth it. From Julius Caesar to Alan Turing through James Bond, every character was there. It was fascinating because the history of the intelligence services dates back the era before Christ. I got to try this fun activity where I had to hang on a metal bar pretending I am James Bond...

My record: 46 seconds

It was a pretty good week but again the next one will be neat!

See you then 😉

Gettysburg

AdminOctober 3, 2018

By angusmack101

Being reminded of an all-day hike at 2 a.m. is not a pleasant experience. I’d signed up to trek around Gettysburg with GW Trails a couple weeks prior and completely forgotten by the time I found myself at a dorm party on Friday night. It was an accident too; I overheard two Aussie friends of mine talking about how much they dreaded getting up for a full day of hiking the next day. That was enough to trigger a distant memory of paying for just such a trip, and we soon realized that all three of us were stuck with this decision. We weren’t going to let that $15 go to waste.

image 1 - milk water

My trusty jug: 98% water, 2% milk. Seen here with a side of 7/11 coffee and some post-party regret from Lou.

Don’t let it be said that Australians aren’t committed. Against our better judgement we all made it up before dawn the next morning to prepare an improvised lunch and find some water for the trip. In the absence of an actual bottle, I settled for pouring the dregs out of a gallon milk jug and refilling it with tap water. I was also able to scrounge some flaming hot pringles and an improvised pickle sandwich. Lou and Liv didn’t fare much better; they managed to secure some 7/11 trail mix before sprinting to the rendezvous at the Marvin Center.

The two-hour van ride to Gettysburg would be our only chance to rest before eight hours of walking. Naturally, we elected to stay awake the entire time arguing over the distinction between puddles, ponds, and lakes.

image 2 - pond v lake

That’s a fake answer and you know it. Poor form, Google.

After agreeing that YOU CAN’T SWIM IN A PUDDLE AND YOU CAN’T SAIL IN A POND, we arrived at Gettysburg and began trekking around behind our ever-enthusiastic trip leader Jared. Honestly I can’t fault the expedition. The weather was great and Jared was the exact kind of history fan you want to have leading trips like that. I was so distracted by the aesthetic of the place that I didn’t even mind the milky aftertaste in my water.

image 3 - gettysburg

Stay limber Jared.

Traffic on the way home was brutal and sleep wasn’t really an option in either of the overpacked minivans. This didn’t stop some of us trying—to varying degrees of success. In spite of all the things that should’ve spoiled it, the trip was honestly a great time. If I’d bothered to get a night’s sleep and pack some decent food beforehand I’m sure it would’ve been even better.

image 4 - van

It hurts just looking at it.