Why did I come to DC?

Written by Parker
2 min read
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Why did I come to D.C.? With no car of my own, no job, and no friends in the area, why here?

Cheesin' on the steps of the US Capitol building after a wonderful (and hilarious!) tour.
Cheesin' on the steps of the US Capitol building after a wonderful (and hilarious!) tour.

Our 2019 DC trip

Back in 2019 Sam and I visited D.C. for about 36 hours(!). Although we remember really enjoying our time here, the short-lived trip eventually became a bit of a blur for both of us. “What was that great ramen place? We saw the White House right?” Not that D.C. isn’t memorable, we just knew that we tried to fit too much into a very short 36 hour window. Thank goodness we have pictures to prove we were there (yeah, I’m being a little dramatic)!

Selfie in front of the White House during our 2019 D.C. trip
Selfie in front of the White House during our 2019 D.C. trip

Why we came back

Sam and I are currently trying to determine where to attend grad school and / or settle down for a little while. We were way too indecisive to just move to one place and sign a minimum 12-18 month lease. Deciding to Airbnb each month, from the East to West Coast sounded like a great way to feel things out.

Map of Oxford to DC
Map of Oxford to DC

D.C made it to the Top 5 in our super-sophisticated-places-to-live-bracket-chooser-system™. It’s a beautiful city; easy to get around; great food; lots of culture; and there’s so much to see and do. Plus, it’s on the East Coast and makes a great jumping off point for heading west later. Since we’ve been here, we’ve made some new friends, visited more museums than we can count, seen some great live shows, and gotten a little glimpse into life in the DMV (turns out in DC this stands for DC, Maryland, Virginia — not Department of Motor Vehicles… phew!).

The people of DC, everywhere it seems, are very kind, pretty progressive, and generous to offer help when needed. On our first day in DC, the parking garage attendant recommended a soul food café. Two ladies who lived next door to us fawned over Niko on our morning walks. Our waitress at Zeppelin’s sang karaoke with us. Our new friend, Gabe, showed us some cool LGBTQ+ nightlife spots (as well as some delicious arepas at Chicken + Whiskey). An old friend, Anapaula, met up with us to show us the beautiful US Botanical Gardens and a very cool personal tour of the Library of Congress. We met a stand-up comic at The Improv and had drinks with a Google recruiter(!).

<a href="https://theopinionatedlatina.com/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=post&utm_id=parkerandsam" target="_blank">Anapaula peeking</a> out from the natural sculpture outside the US Botanical Gardens on a perfectly sunny day in DC.
Anapaula peeking out from the natural sculpture outside the US Botanical Gardens on a perfectly sunny day in DC.

We’re both glad we decided to start our adventure here and will definitely keep D.C. in the running for where we want to settle down or attend grad school in the near future.

A quick snapshot of Georgetown on a very hot 🥵 Saturday
A quick snapshot of Georgetown on a very hot 🥵 Saturday
Panoramic view overlooking Georgetown, University
Panoramic view overlooking Georgetown, University

I’m excited to share more in upcoming posts about the places we’ve visited, the people we’ve met along the way, and the fun that we’ve both had.