A city where I felt like I could survive being a young woman without a car. A city of suits and ties, who all hurry to the metro, not a subway. J-Term break brought me to a place where police sirens sound more serious and people gather around the black fence of a white building to maybe see the President.
Washington DC met me with cold wind and grey sky. It was my first trip fully on my own. The weird part was waking up with nothing expected from me. I was supposed to plan my day according to what I wanted, and God knows I had yet to figure that out.
One thing that stayed the same through all my trips is the criteria that I use to rate new places: how safe it is for a young woman, how comfortable it is for a person without a car, and how likely it is to make me feel at home. Surprisingly, Washington DC checked these three points for me (to an extent).
While efficiently ignoring Google statistics on the crime rate in DC, I felt quite safe there.
The feeling of security came from seeing other people walking on the streets (as if it’s a normal thing in America). In combination with a decent system of public transportation, the capital brought back the feeling of freedom of being in a city that I thought I lost forever.
As I walked out of the metro station one evening, I was slightly overwhelmed by the buzz of the road, the flow of red lights, and the constant motion of people with their bikes, dogs, and bags. Surrounded by buildings not too tall, yet not too short, I felt the steadiness of the busyness. My chest felt tight when I realized where else I saw this picture.
Long ago and back home, I was a part of the city and the city was a part of me. Not a New York, DC, or Seattle type of city, but all of them and none of them at the same time. Ukrainian city, home city – a feeling that’s never going to be the same for me.
Washington DC met me with cold wind and grey sky. But also with a wave of nostalgia, I didn’t see coming. In DC, there was a metro train, a crowd, a motion, and a feeling. The feeling, parts of which I occasionally find in all different places, but never full in one.
