{"id":69185,"date":"2017-04-05T16:30:57","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T14:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/?p=69185\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:41","slug":"running-washington-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/04\/05\/running-washington-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Running through Washington at night"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hardlopen door Washington in de nacht.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

When you\u2019re reading this, I\u2019ve been in the U.S.A. for a couple of days now and I\u2019ll probably have left Washington and be on my way to New York City. Let me tell you one thing: I love Americans. I love everything about them, and the best thing might be their politeness. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I hate Americans as well at times, especially their pathological tendency to put sugar in everything. I mean, that chicken avocado burrito is nice as it is, why would you want to put sugar in that? (Note: this was a joke).<\/p>\n

The trip to the USA was quite good. No problems during the flight, I watched a couple of tv-shows and it turned out they had La La Land in their entertainment collection. So of course I watched it for the millionth time. After an eight hour flight, a couple of hours through customs and baggage retrieval, I finally got the chance to see the sun again and have some fresh air.<\/p>\n

No, humongous<\/h3>
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Bij het Capitool.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

And by fresh air I mean smoke a cigarette because twelve hours without the necessary nicotine does something to a person (yes, I know smoking isn\u2019t cool anymore). After we arrived at the hotel, we all planned to go for dinner. Five minutes later, everybody gave up and we went to Chipotle.<\/p>\n

Another thing typical to America: everything is huge. You think a burrito is like a timid meal you can enjoy. But no, this thing was humongous. I had to give everything to finish it. The worst part of it all, is that in the middle of the night I woke up with this roaring hunger.<\/p>\n

Running at night<\/h3>

And that brings me to the one thing I might have underestimated a bit too much: the jetlag. On the first morning I woke up at 4:30 wide awake. There was no chance I could fall asleep anymore. The same was for my fellow delegate and also roommate. We decided to go for a run and it was actually a good run. We ran about four kilometers and got to see Washington in the earliest of morning. It was beautiful.<\/p>\n

Of course my stay in Washington wasn\u2019t all pleasure. We did a few cool study-related things as well! We went to visit the Capitol, got a tour and I finally found out how the American political system really works (it still hurts my head when I think about it). Naturally, we walked by the White House as well.<\/p>\n

Biggest anticlimax<\/h3>

And let me tell you something about the White House: it was the biggest anticlimax I have ever seen. I just cannot deal with how big the anticlimax was. But I try to let things go in life. We also did a self-organized tour of all the monuments, by night! This was after I walked 25 kilometers that day so I may sound happier at this moment than I actually was then. We also visited Georgetown and Arlington. Apparently Arlington is in a different state. You should have seen my face when I saw the sign \u2018Welcome to Virginia\u2019.<\/p>\n

But I really can\u2019t complain. My stay in Washington has been really good and I love it. My next blog will take a bit longer than the first two, but it\u2019ll be good. Until next time, my dear reader!<\/p>\n

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Welkom in Viriginia.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Previous episode<\/h2>