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Trip to D.C

Going on a school trip particularly by bus with people that mostly I am not familiar with, never fails to make me nervous. My social distance-invisible bubble is getting much bigger to people that I don't know well which gives me nothing but claustrophobia. Question about how to stop 50-passenger bus when I need a bathroom break always comes up to my mind. For those reason, I had kept debating whether I wanted to spend my fall break in Washington D.C with a group of student from my university. I knew it would be a great opportunity for me to be able to see Solar Decathlon-a competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The trip was very cheap, since it was sponsored by a National Lab. Despite those benefits, series of assignments and a big exam lined-up as soon as fall break was over.

In last minutes before I left house, I almost decided not to go. Hubby was being so supportive for every decision I made. I know he was as nervous as I was (he always nervous whenever I go without him). The anxiety swarmed myself as soon as I entered the bus. Soon I checked the exit windows-as hubby always forces me to make it a habit, in case of emergency. The bus we had was a really nice bus that had a bath room. One problem was solved! We left at 10PM from campus' parking lot. The bus' TV was blaring, made me sick. An hour passed by out of our eight-hour trip, I was dizzy and my stomach was feeling nauseous. I was ready to get a plastic bag out from my backpack (mom always brings plastic bag on a trip for emergency), and I tried hard not to vomit. Thanks God I didn't. Finally, My professor turned off the television, easing me to rest.

Got to rainy D.C the next morning, we had breakfast and checked in to our nice hotel. After resting for several hours, our exploring D.C started. The Solar Decathlon houses were amazing. I was amazed with a lot of brilliant ideas from those participants. There were 20 chosen university in that competition. Our university plans on participating or at least come up with ideas for our Zero-energy house. Our task while we were there was learning as much as we could from those houses. There were only 20 houses, but surprisingly 3 days wasn't enough to learn all although we were divided into groups or three.

The most annoying thing on that D.C trip was the rain. Since we arrived until we left, there's no single minute without rain. I never thought rain could be that annoying. I think I am too spoiled with hop in and hop out of my car. Solar Decathlon houses were set up on National Mall - an outdoor big lawn in between Washington Monument and the Capitol Building. Surrounding the mall is lines of famous museums including Natural History museum, where movie Night at the Museum took place. When we couldn't stand the cold and the rain, we run to one of those museums. Most of them are free. One evening My friend Wyn and I were cold and really wanted to go back to our hotel. We stood in front of the Capitol building, waiting for our hotel's courtesy bus. We waited at the place that the hotel receptionist suggested for 45 minutes in cold and rain, and we finally found out that it wasn't the right place :-(

I was glad that I followed weather forecast and didn't listen to my feeling. I was hesitate to bring heavy coat, tall boots, thick blanket, 4 pairs of socks, pillow and extra pants. To bring those things, I needed more bags that I anticipated. Hubby always teases me for being heavy packer. I was soaked everyday and needed to change clothes more than I need on regular day. Some of my friends weren't prepared for the weather and suffered during the trip. Some bought clothes in D.C. Everything I brought was very useful either for me or my friends.

I was glad I decided to come to that trip. The trip back to Knoxville wasn't as bad as the trip to DC. I was tired and had a really good sleep although my head was busy managing things to do to finish my never ending assignment and exam for the next day. I haven't finished exploring D.C. One day I will come back to D.C with hubby. On a bright sunny day, for sure.

Posted by Maudy Indriani in school Comments: (0) Trackbacks: (0)

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