Work is interesting…in my first few weeks I have had the opportunity to visit some think tanks in the area and listen to the top experts in various fields as they discussed immigration reform, rebuilding Haiti’s education system, remittance flow from USA to Latin America, Mexico’s economy, and a pretty interesting briefing on the recent capture of a drug cartel leader in Mexico.
DC is an interesting place. For better or worse it is the mix of people here that make this place unique. I have had the opportunity to meet people from almost everywhere. I feel like most people in downtown DC are tourists or interns with an occasional local sprinkled in. However once you venture past the secure perimeters of the Capitol and monument areas, DC begins to tell a different story…this to me has been the real DC. Away from the pretentious intern set and the disconnected elites. The grime. I wandered a DC ghetto, accidentally of course. Problems here are just like problems anywhere else. I wandered uptown DC, made some single serving friends while enjoying waffles. People here were genuine. I wandered around and just took it all in. there are a lot of Central and South American people in the DC area. Most of them are fascinated by me. Some had never met a Mexican from LA. Even funnier is when they realized how much I have in common with them… Many of these people assume that all DC interns are from well to do families, drunk on the weekends, and running around with little regard for the people who actually live in the city full time. I have had my run ins with some of these kids, one thing is for sure, we are not the same. I’m just another kid hustling my way through school, fighting my way to a better tomorrow.
Adjusting to mass transit has been a challenge. Being cramped in a hot, sweaty, musty, train for two hours day isn’t exactly my ideal mode of travel. Add some humidity, heat, random storms, and wool suits and you see it can be a little uncomfortable at times…although it is nice not having to worry about driving anywhere, not having to find parking, not having to valet, or not paying for gasoline.
I’ve spent much of my free time wandering the city, checking out museums, watching movies, and of course sampling food. The food here has been amazing. Empanadas, Indian food, Central American food, Pakistani food…so far everything that I have tried has been great. I had the chance to check out a baseball game last week, Strasburg delivered. Aside from that, life here in the metro area has been pretty quiet. Work, diet, gym, read, sleep, repeat.
