While my roommates here in DC have been bussing it back home pretty much whenever possible, my first weekend out of town was instead to visit my friends at school (presence requested for the all-college formal), just 2.5 hours north of the city. I took the Metro out to Shady Grove after whirl-wind packing, where a car-owning friend was nice enough to retrieve me… and so began the hugging.
Full disclosure: as many know, I have an issue with personal space. A big one…. as in, even more than your typical American (does that make me more British? From my understanding, they’re known for being averse to hugging, correct? haha). It actually goes so far that one friend likes to quote The Emperor’s New Groove and tease me with “There’s a wall there”… and not just in terms of literal personal space. Regardless, Thursday through late Sunday saw me the receiver of so many hugs it was nearing ridiculous, especially considering the fact that some people bestowed more than one. Don’t get me wrong, I missed them, but... arm’s length, please, as a general rule – and I have long arms.
Pause at Buffalo Wild Wings en route to campus. Left: Scott, car-owning Dickinsonian, ROTC, too proud to admit defeat by Blazin’ wings. Right: Phil, friend of Scott, not too proud to cry due to said wings…. literally. Photo taken by Danielle, entertained girlfriend of Scott.
The agenda? Very, very little. My only pre-determined plans for the trip included conversation over coffee with a prof. on Friday morning and instructions to call a friend when I got back on campus. The latter I failed to do immediately enough for his liking, apparently, as I learned later that he’d asked another friend about me, who’d asked my former roommate about me. I love being missed. This, of course, resulted in my calling at 2:30 in the morning, knowing that we were both up anyways, and, honestly, teasing on his part when he heard my only plans for the next day.
“Kate, you’re only here for the weekend, you’re not supposed to be meeting to chat with professors. You should be chatting with students!” To all who agree- very silly, you are. Interesting people are interesting people; good conversation is good conversation (even better, enlightening and entertaining). The important part is that all of the above apply, correct? Sure. And - in my own opinion, at least - it did. Matter settled, excellent beginning to the weekend.
After stopping in on two more professors (though both much more business-oriented, no-nonsense sorts of meetings, truth be told), the rest of the weekend was pretty much devoted to the “chatting with students” aspect. Continue to criticize, if you will, but much of that was actually spent in the school library, my previous (and future) place of employment and hang out, as it remains a place of employment for several friends… don’t judge, we’re surprisingly entertaining people. Bring in food, music, and conversation, and the circulation desk is a happening place.
…And in case you were judging anyways, plenty of time was spent outside of the library as well, of course. An extended battle of pool, movie watching, dance-going, poker playing, etc. Your typical weekend of very little productivity and even less sleep, quite honestly. Too many people to see, too much to catch up on - productivity was pretty much put on hold until the return trip via Greyhound.
Corinne, Morgan, and I – a roommate reunion – in our Formal garb…. Post-Formal, admittedly, as I was neither organized nor inclined enough to attend as early as they did. Instead, I arrived fashionably late after watching House and discussing the state of democracy in West Africa…. bahaha.
Kofi Agyare, perpetrator of the aforementioned lateness, fittingly displaying his Ghanaian pride. Hands down one of my closest friends on campus, and crucial link for my summer plans: internship in Ghana, during which two months I’ll be staying with his family.
Thus the weekend flew by much too quickly, and I’ve already been interrogated as to when I’ll be back on campus (relatively soon, hopefully… if not for the people, than for the scones and apple fritters). A three hour bus ride back to DC landed me around Union Station shortly after midnight, at which point a lovely car-owning TWC student retrieved me (metro stops at midnight on Sundays- be aware.), and after a bit of confusion we made our way back to Arlington without map or GPS. Needless to say, we were quite proud of ourselves.
(Former) Girl Scout’s promise, I will actually refer to my internship in some relevant capacity in my next post! Attention is rather divided, so you have to bear with me if you were hoping to hear about the latest in real estate in the greater DC area. So next time: TWC programming and event, interview (rescheduled following a slight bout of food poisoning), Association for India’s Development (woot!), and whatever other misadventures I come across. I get myself into those anywhere (yes, this is a good thing), but DC seems to welcome them whole-heartedly at times.
With that- goodbye for now, chale.*
*Multi-cultural lesson for the day: chale- roughly defined, a familiar term of endearment used between friends and such in Ghana… compliments of Kofi Agyare.
Those wings were extremely hot. But nowhere near the hotness of Hanover grill's wings.
ReplyDeleteGO ARMY!