WashutdownDC

Okay, I know our trip to Washington DC was a weekend ago now, and thanks for validating my online social life by checking out the photos and given them a like or seven on Facebook. But alas I've been busy being a top college student and smashing out all my midterms, to get consistent A grades and laugh at my American peers when they get a 78 and act like their dog just died. Actually, speaking of dogs; I saw a man walking his new pit bull terrier puppy today, and I have noticed that I've seen a lack of dogs on the East Coast. On the West Coast, I did see my fair share of Chihuahuas in purses. But it's made me realize that I do miss my English Staffy at home. I especially miss walking him. So shoutout to ma dawg. The only pet you're allowed to have at college is a fish. Maybe I'll get one of those. 

So Washington kinda happened at an inconvenient time (11th, 12th, 13th, 14th of October). Due to the shutdown, you know. You would be surprised about the number of American peers AND PROFESSORS that didn't know about it. Seriously. 
"Yes, we had a great time in Washington DC, even despite the shutdown"
"The government is shutdown? What's that?"
....................

We boarded our 10 hour train at 9pm on Thursday 11th. Reminiscing fondly about my days traveling around Europe via Eurorail - I had high hopes for the journey. I was unpleasantly disappointed. It was shockingly uncomfy. They really didn't cater to any human beings that were bigger than the size of an average household pet. 

We passed through NYC, which was amazing - to see the city by night. I also brought snack packs - everyone seemed to make fun of my cheese wheel, crisps and pocket knife, but surprisingly tables turned when it was 3am and conversation had been exhausted and there wasn't much left to do except eavesdrop on the loudly executed conversation of three African American women next to us, whilst munching on cheese.

We arrived in Washington after the 10 hour overnight train, with little sleep at 7.ooam. Just contemplate that for a minute. And pity me. First impressions of DC - its super spaced out, much different to Boston, Chicago and NYC. It's TOTALLY not how I expected it to be.

The city is actually quite dirty, and there's a lot of poverty. It's not as glam or populated as I expected...kind of like Canberra - just kind of, on the whole...a bit less than expected for the country's capital. Not to say that it wasn't cool - it was (!).

Me and Bridge were ahh...responsible for the ahh...accommodation. Annie wasn't terribly impressed with our lack of a four star hotel with a Jacuzzi (as in Chicago) but we can't live like that all the time. And besides, she's a terrible British snob. 
1. Our hostel wasn't exactly in...the best part of town imaginable. With a large African American population, there was a lot of poverty, halfway housing and communities relying on welfare. It was dangerous to walk around during the day by yourself. Let alone at night. Eek.
2. The men were super seedy and creepy. 
3. Our hostel had barred windows and doors. Need I say more.
$. There was no one at the hostel - we had to call a number and wait for someone to arrive.
5. After we sorted out our keys and check in, we left our bags and went to make the most of the day (8.30am by this time). The rest of the troupe; Javi, Pedro, Guillaume, Maria and Itziar were catching the bus down and meeting us later that day.
So, here's Washington DC baby!

Presumably important government building

Smithsonian #closed 

Depicting the plane that was headed for the Whitehouse on Sep 11

What I'm going to say next is going to sound utterly terrible. And considering how I am so cynical of the intelligence of the general American population I understand this may come off as somewhat hypocritical. But nonetheless. We stood for a solid half and hour at the building that we thought was the Whitehouse. It wasn't. We then proceeded to be utterly confused and look around trying to find the Whitehouse. It's harder than it looks! There are way too many fancy and important-looking government buildings in DC! I maintain to this day that it was an honest mistake and could have happened to anyone. (You'd think that the lack of tourists would have given it away though).

Fake Whitehouse

It was a simple mistake

When we finally DID find the Whitehouse - it made a lot more sense. There were police guards everywhere, and they yelled and chased people who crossed on the wrong side of the street. There were also tourists everywhere (made much more sense)and even snipers on the roof. 

Whitehouse Squirrel

#yolo

That's it

Obama's crib

Obligatory me-and-the-Whitehouse pic

Fwends

Despite the anti-gay Christian protestors, the Whitehouse

This made me physically ill.

Peace Vigil.............Spanish woman Connie has been (on rotation) had someone sitting out here, 24 hours a day for 30 years

Seen enough of the Whitehouse?

Bridge looks like a little mouse here

So, we saw the Whitehouse and surrounds, and it was great! Some Middle Eastern men wanted to have photos taken with us as well. They yolo-ed.

Some point later on, after browsing through the shops, eating lunch and generally meandering around the capital, we met up with our other friends and headed to the WW2 memorial. It was "shut" but no one seemed to particularly care too much...so uhh...we yolo-ed it.

It was a grey day

The Lincoln Memorial was where the magic happened. We literally walked the whole city that day. We trekked all over the place! The reflecting pool is longer and more impressive than you think, and the memorial was packed with people. The government had 'shut it down' and there were a lot of Americans very visibly upset by it...at one stage a group of rebellions pushed down the barriers and crowd of people stormed through, there were blokes dressed in the American flag and wearing frightening t-shirts dictating constitutional rights, like 'the right to bear arms' and 'freedom' ect. Basically, I was chatting to some locals and they were like, wiling the crowd up and trying to start a small revolution, shouting 'Don't let them tell you what you can and can't do! It's your country! Your grandfathers fought for freedom!' And with that thought people broke down the barriers and trampled all over the 'DO NOT CROSS' tape, and up the steps.

In the memorial, there were guys that started a moving national anthem chant, and numerous Americans stood with their hands over their hearts to sing. Then it was all like 'America! Yeah!' And some news crews rolled in and were interviewing some particularly colorful characters. We were lucky to get in when we did actually, cause the cops came, saw the rioting and then called for backup, and soon enough they shuffled everyone out. And them more and more cops came. There were protest groups that refused to move and the authorities were totally badass about it but, bless them, the citizens were just yolo-ing it and wouldn't stop chanting. It was quite a scene. Still, we're lucky to have gotten in in the first place. After we were thrown out we just sort of sat and chatted for a bit, it was quite exciting seeing conflict unravel right before you. Pull out the popcorn. 

Xchangers: Guillaume, Javi, Pedro, Bridge, Annie, Moi, Kirsten, Itziar

Xchangers

Havoc break out

Watching. Disapproving. 

In a nutshell; here are photos that constitute what we did on our afternoon, it was pretty late by the time we had seen our attractions, and at 3pm we were allowed to go and check in to our hostel...and we did gleefully and welcomed nap time.

China Town

Great, I feel so much safer.

The hostel - was UTTERLY ATROCIOUS. We weren't staying where we thought, it was actually some dodgy building a good 2 blocks away. We walked through a very diminished part of town to get there. It didn't have a front door handle, so the door flapped open all night. There was mould in the bathroom and the lockers didn't work. It was basically like a flat, with 14 beds...but not enough for all of us. There was a single bulb lamp, but sparks flew out of it when you turned it on. The shared kitchen had rotting food on the bench and ants crawling in the sink. It smelt. Our pre-existing-roommates didn't seem to conform to standards of basic hygiene. There was one bathroom between the 14 of us. My sheets were stained. The welcome mat was an old cardboard box. Our Mexican hosts didn't exactly make us feel welcome...or safe. But it was (a generous) 20 bucks a night to stay there, so you can't really complain. My dad once emailed me and said that it looked like I was having a blast, living the high life ect...but then he added that my baked beans on toast dinners and studying-till-2-in-the-morning were probably not mentioned on my blog. He's right. I seldom mention the shitty things...no wait actually I do. And this atrocity of a hostel was one of those shitty things. 

After a full day we all claimed some much-needed sleep and later that night we headed to a fantastic Italian restaurant downtown. The food was freshly made pasta, we shared a couple of bottles of wine and the company was exquisite  The group of Australians, English, Spanish, Dutch, French and Mexican all get on really well and we had a super day plodding around together, and a relaxing evening just chilling out. I would consider these guys really some of my closest mates I've made in the US, and I heart them a lot. Even though I'd never say it to their faces...I really hope they know.