It started as we were heading towards the metro on day one. As soon as we hit the escalator I was immediately interested. Going down I couldn’t help but notice how different this metro subway was from every other subway that I had seen thus far. The main thing is that it was spacious. Some subways are crafted in a way that they cause you to feel claustrophobic, but I didn’t get that feeling with this subway and neither did anyone else. Its architecture was also interesting in that it makes the subway look more like a space station, in my opinion, than a subway. All the subways in DC are composed of dome shaped concrete ceilings that stretch from one side of the floor to the other side. The concrete is molded into a repetitive design that continues for the entire length of the subway station. This is part of the reason why people don’t feel claustrophobic, because the lack of separation between walls and ceilings adds more space.
Besides the architecture, the other the thing about subway that interested me was how clean it was. Every other subway that I’ve been on (San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia) has been littered with trash and advertising. I didn’t see that so much in DC though. There definitely wasn’t any trash lying around anywhere. And there may have been a few sporadic ads, but I definitely didn’t feel as if I was being assaulted with advertising like I did in New York. Not only was the subway clean but it was also efficient. I haven’t had a bad subway experience on this trip yet, but I think that the DC Metro’s system is a little more effective most because our group never second guessed which train we needed to take, where it may not have been as clear in other cities for some.
Another thing that I enjoyed about DC was its level of diversity. As I walked down the street I could see people representing many different cultures and even sub cultures. When I found out later that DC was the third most diverse city in the country, I thought that it made sense. As our nation’s capital, housing embassies for countries around the world, you would expect to see people from foreign countries but I saw several different types of people who were US citizens as well. This was similar to the diversity that I saw in LA and Chicago, but different in that there seemed to be a little more of a unity in diversity. Maybe the ideal of E Pluribus Unum is just stronger in DC…
Along with this thought of diversity, as I walked around DC on Saturday, I kept thinking about this interesting juxtaposition that was present in DC. I think that most people would expect DC to be just Capitol Hill, but I would say it has a lot more to offer than just a couple of stuffy bureaucrats’ offices. The Adams Morgan area was an interesting part of town, because I saw a lot of young people mixed with families from the zoo. Again, I was walking through I was happy to see different types of people milling about. Not just black, or white, or academic or bohemian, but several types of people. Walking through, it seemed like this might be one of DC’s night spots because there were so many bars in the area. But there’s more to this area than that even, because if you travel a block down from the main streets you can find some interesting blocks of homes with regular people just trying to live regular lives.
Then there’s the U Street district of DC to think about as well. This area is historically known for being the “it” scene among the black community since the Harlem Renaissance. As of late, it’s become the place to be for everyone not just blacks. I was curious to see what the area looked like, and I was surprised to see that it had been kept up fairly well. I was expecting the area to be either extremely impoverished or extremely gentrified, and to my surprise it was neither. The area looked great and it was clear that the black presence in the community had not left. I think that this is one of the first communities that I’ve seen on this trip to accomplish this task.
Interspersed within these two areas and others are the University communities like George Washington University, American University, Georgetown University, Howard University, and the University of the District of Columbia to name a few. Each of these schools has different things to offer its students and in turn different things to offer the city as a whole. And to add more to the variety that’s already there, the town of Alexandria, VA isn’t too far from the DC area either. By simply taking the yellow line to King Street you are within minutes of the old town that was one of the oldest settlements in Americas. As you walk through the streets you get that feeling of nostalgia, but it is also clear that commercialism has taken the land and converted it from a community to a commodity. But sociology to the side, it seems like a great place to come and get away from the noise of the city for a couple of hours. But overall DC has a lot of great getaways. It seems like there are little gems all over the city for people to find.
I think that some of DC’s uniqueness may have something to do with its physical placement in the United States. Sitting with Elizabeth on the subway, we began to discuss this and it occurred to me then that DC is a northern metropolitan in the south. It sounds ridiculous at first but it makes sense if you think about it. Part of the reason why our nation’s capitol was placed where it is was because of the fact that it’s such a neutral territory between the northern and southern states. So I think it’s for that reason that DC residents get the best of both worlds in a sense. DC has its northern traits in that it is busy, diverse, and fairly progressive. And it also has its southern traits in its classic community atmosphere, friendly residents and warm weather. I think that this creates a great combination for an awesome place to live, and DC is officially on “my list.”
This assumption may not be true at all, but that was just the impression that I got in the three days that I was there. It could be that I need to go back and experience it more, in order to really grasp what DC is all about. And if that is the case, then I would have no problem with that because I enjoyed my time there.
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