Washington, D.C. Transit System: Friend or Foe?

It was midday and we had finally reached our destination! We were aboard our first ever ride on the lovely below ground railroad we like to call a subway and I was so thrilled about our destination that I forgot the most important rule of riding the subway-hold on to something at all times while the train is in motion so that you do not fall on the eloquently carpeted floor of the train car. Falling is a dreadful way to get hurt that no one wants to endure, but sometimes we all just have "one of those days." So as I fell I noticed no physical pain upon landing on that hard, fuzzy, carpted surface, however I did take notice of the gorgeous detail in the sweatpants on the legs that I happened to fall directly between. OOPS! The good news is that these legs did not belong to some grungy DC hobo I had never met before but to one of the members of my group who was very forgiving. As I arose from my trumendous fall I told myself to remeber to grab hold of the handles located around me in quite literally every direction imaginable so I would not tumble to the floor as the train sped incredibly fast en route to our stop. As I reminded myself of the existence of said poles I was greeted by the warm hospitality of a PLEASENT DC local who said, "I know sometimes we all forget, but try to remember, dear, that you're not the only one riding the metro..." As I stood there processing the statement I did not know whether to stare her down or ask her for tea once we reached her stop. After all, she had degraded me in the kindest tone of voice I had heard since my eight hour ride on the amtrack which consisted of lots of bad food served to us by an admittedly grungy food service worker, and some soothing knitting. Regardless, I did not respond to the woman's incredibly unnecessary comment but just waited for my stop in silence and enjoyed the fact that were all there, safe in DC!!!!

And so the train comes to a stop. And as the door opens we are greeted by the most astonishing stampeed of DCers I have ever seen in life. It was quite litterally an underground people jam. As we pushed our way through the roars of city dwellers shouting, "What's the hold up?" as though they were not certain that we were in an underground jungle of mayhem, we nearly lost our fingers to the 40948 pound bags we were carrying in our hands. Upon reaching the city (finally above ground!) we kicked the rats and other underground critters that strangely resembled unborn humans down the escalators steps and marched drudgingly (oh yes, still with those bags ;)) to the hostel.

Upon arriving to the hostel we were greeted by its lovely staff and asked to hand them our identification cards as they assigned us to our rooms. We arrived in our rooms and were perplexed as to where these sandbags we had carried with us for what seemed like three lifetimes would go as there was about a foot of room for us to move around between beds. The inhabitants of the room seemed to take kindly to our presence as well. So as we plopped our luggage on our beds (its home for the majority of the trip) we took in the majestic comfort that had been granted to us and basked in the glory of our investment for this exceptional living space. After this brief but deeply needed moment of awe, we were called down to be informed on the rules of our living space. Oh yes, we were well on our way to an enjoyable spring break and we could not have felt so optomistic had it not been for our first experience in the Transit System.
-Stephen