Going from classes at EMU to a semester in Washington, D.C. and an internship at the Anacostia Community Museum was a major change in many ways. There are the obvious things like not having classes each day, and instead of learning new things, you are applying what you have learned from your classes into your work setting.

However, the change that hit me the hardest was having to commute a long way to reach my internship site. I was accustomed to going straight to EMU from my home and arriving there in about 15 minutes. Now I take a 10 minute walk to the nearest metro station, then take the metro south for a few stops, then get off and get on another metro to the station closest to the museum, and finally wait for a bus that will drop me off at the museum. All of that now makes my commute take around an hour. It was annoying at first to get up early and figure out what time I would need to arrive to catch the bus, but I grew used to it.

Despite that, I have had interesting moments on the commute to work. One time, a stranger talked to me about a book he was writing. With an energetic passion, he told me his book was about his own life and his mother’s life. When his stop came, he left saying that he plans to release his book around Christmastime because that is his mother’s birthday.

Unfortunately, he did not say what the title of his book was going to be, for fear of someone stealing it. Another cool but brief metro moment was seeing someone hip hop dance on the ride home. Things like that showcase the personality of the community that lives in D.C. Moments like those make waking up early, getting on a metro that is sometimes jam-packed with people, and waiting for 10 to 15 minutes for a bus that sometimes does not even arrive worth it for me.