...Well, this is the real world? No.

Six hours came and passed with the chain of tolls and bridges that brought my family and I to Arlington, VA. We arrived at my apartment around 9:30 a.m. and went in to receive my key. As I was turning the key to unlock my room's door, I was immediately received with an eager welcome from one of my roommates! While the unpacking unraveled (and thank God I had help from my mother), I realized that I completely over-packed with clothes, as two of my roommates who flew down had only two suitcases in comparison to my four huge bags. My excuse is that I can't go to work naked!

View from the balcony

 After saying goodbye to my family, two of my roommates, another girl from a different apartment, and I went to the hotel that one of the three girls stayed at during the prior nights to grab a quick bite to eat and get a SmartTrip card for the metro.

The metro system here blows my mind, as it is completely different than New York's. First off, in comparison to the slimy subway stations of New York that appear as if someone just slabbed some cement underground and called it a day, the metro stops here are beautiful. That may sound ridiculous because, but the ceilings are oval shaped with these "engravings" (probably not the correct word because they aren't that elaborate), while the lights are slightly dimmed to give off a much nicer vibe than the NY subway. Plus, as many have told me before arriving, the DC metro truly is the cleanest form of public transportation that I have seen.

However, I am NOT a fan of how their metrocards work. Unlike the simple and cheap metrocards in New York, a true commuter should buy a SmartTrip card. You need to pay $5 for just the card itself and then put money on it. That marks DC metro rip-off #1. Then, you get charged depending on how far you go. Although this could save you money if you don't go far, I can already tell that it is going to be very costly, especially since my work is about an hour away.

Regardless of my personal analysis of the metro system, my apartment conveniently has two metro stops nearby. There's one in that is connected to that hotel, which is the "Crystal City" stop, and another one that is near the huge Pentagon City mall (where we also went during my 8th grade DC field trip), which is naturally the "Pentagon City" stop. (I wonder where they came up with that name...)

Shortly after, two of my roommates and I decided to go to the Newseum since one of them had extra tickets from her trip with her family. It was a couple of metro stops away, making it my very first metro ride! I found it interesting that the cars represented more of a traditional train card than the typical subway. I also thought it was neat that it not only goes underground, but above ground as well to stop at the Arlington Cemetery.

The National Archives was the beautiful sight that greeted us, as the escalator carried us from underground. It was my first taste of DC in a while and it felt so exciting. The museum was only about two blocks away. As someone who is very interested in journalism, I thought the museum was awesome! I loved it. It was a great mixture of the significant issues of today and monumental events of the past. My favorite exhibits were the FBI section that featured mob criminals among many other famous cases and the display of the day's front pages from newspapers of each state.

FBI exhibit

Plane engine from 9/11

Capitol - View from the Newseum

Although the day was already jam-packed with activities for the entire Holy Cross group, we ended the night together, getting dinner at a sports bar/burger restaurant called Champs.

Today, the real world hit me with a ton of bricks. A group of us went to Trader Joe's, which was also a couple of metro stops away, to get groceries. You need to bring your own recyclable grocery bags here because they charge you for using plastic grocery bags, so it was an odd feeling entering the metro with groceries and even more foreign feeling riding the metro with my groceries. I also never realized how weird it would be to buy groceries for myself and trying to decide what I will need. Mom, I now admit that I've always taken your grocery shopping for granted!

Another new circumstance that I needed to consider was that I could only buy how much I can carry. Even though I succeeded at Trader's Joe, walking back from Costco later in the day was another story. To sum it up, I am an extremely weak individual. I only had five boxes to carry, yet struggled immensely. It was like a snail trying to make its way through a marathon. In the end, I made my way back without completely embarrassing myself.

After that draining experience, my noodle-arms were pleading for a break. For the rest of the night, we are relaxing and preparing for the first day of work tomorrow.

Welcome to the real world, except this isn't even close to it...