This biggest adjustment of moving from College Park to Washington D.C. is surprisingly not the triple rent I have to pay, nor the lack of kitchen space compared to my previous apartment; rather, it is the fact that I had to make the decision to leave my car at a family friend (a parking lot in D.C. is way too expensive) and surrender myself to being fully (well, almost) reliant on public transportation. I decided that if I’m going to take the year to immerse myself in city living, I may as well go hard or go home. Now, I’m going to debrief y’all on what it’s like to get from DuPont Cirlce to the Universities at Shady Grove.

What my morning routine and commute should look like:

• Set alarm for 6:30
• Jump out of bed, shower, eat breakfast, pack bag, be out the door by 8:00
• Walk to the DuPont Metro station to catch the red line towards Shady Grove
• Exit the train at Rockville, and wait for the 56 to take me to USG

What my morning routine and commute ACTUALLY look like:

• Set alarm for 6:30, snooze every ten minutes until 7:00
• Hastily get dressed, eat breakfast, and pack bag (who cares about the shower, I’m going to get all sweaty from commuting anyway, right?)
• Bolt out the door, coffee in one hand, metro card in the other, and make it to train by 8:15
• Run down the ridiculously steep elevator at the station, and watch a train pass me by. Too classic.
• Now that I’m finally on the train, there are about five delays, making my E.T.A too close to class time, so I make the last-minute decision to take it all the way to the Shady Grove stop
• Oh no, I’m not going to make it…looks like I’m going to have to call an Uber
• Confuse the Uber driver one too many times because each metro station has so many different entrances
• Finally get in the car, and make it right for class just in the nick of time!

So ultimately, while it would be easier to just be able to hop out of bed and get into my car, I end the day with many more adventures and stories under my built, all thanks to public transportation!

HAVE A HAPPY MONDAY!!!!