The First Post:Leaving MT and Getting Situated

Travis and Amy’s Lives in Washington DC

By Travis

My adventures started early in the morning of Saturday the 14^th of August. Amy met us at our house and we left at about 7:20. We drove and drove for what seemed like an eternity, and then finally arrived at Salt Lake City. Once there, we went to a store that carried all sorts of freeze dried foods and some in large number ten cans. I guess they were normal number ten cans, but they have a great magnitude when compared with other cans. We originally became interested in this type of food, because the meal prices at American University are fairly ridiculous at an average of $12.82 per meal for a 150 block meal plan. So anyway, we bought some freeze dried food and also realized that the #10 cans aren’t a better deal than the single packs… So… Getting back to DC. We went to the airport where Dave Holman, the person that helped us to get Jet Blue buddy passes, called us and said that he had a pilot friend that could help us to get on the plane, since it was over booked as it was. We went to a Hotel that my parents stayed at the night we (Amy and I) left. We had some sandwiches that my mom had packed for dinner and they were oh-so delicious, accompanied by some cantaloupe. After supper it was back to the airport. My parents dropped us off and there was an emotional-ish good bye. I felt really sad as I wouldn’t get to see them for another 4 months… AHH! Oh well, I have to go to college some day, and I might as well go the year right after my senior year of high school right? We went to get our tickets and got some, but they turned out to be the wrong ones, because we had two sets of them: one as normal stand-by and the other with the pilot that was flying. We realized at the gate that the tickets’ confirmation numbers matched the wrong set of tickets that would give us a worse chance of getting on the plane. We went all the way back to the ticket booth, and then got new tickets and had to go through the security center once again. We met with the pilot of the plane, and then got our seats on the Airbus A320.

They are a really nice airline company, JetBlue. They give you one free bag, have normal head phone jacks, have some direct TV Channels such as Discovery and News channels, have some XM radio channels, give you food and soda, and give you the whole can without asking, and on our overnight flight, gave us some orange juice in the morning. Anyway, we arrived in Long Beach, and had to walk outside to get to the terminal. On our next flight, Amy and I got to sit together in the Exit row without a person in the aisle seat. It was a pretty good flight, but there was a large storm around Kansas that blew us slightly off course.

We arrived at the Dulles International Airport at around 4:50 in the morning, Eastern time, and then picked up our bags a little while later. We wanted to get to the city, so we were a little upset to find that the metro bus shuttle thing wasn’t running until 7:45. Then, we walked all around and found the other two options. A shuttle van thing that would take us to the other airport, Ronald Reagan, was our best bet. From there, we could find a ride on the metro to go to Christopher’s house to drop of Amy’s things. (Christopher is Amy’s cousin, a lot older though. We rode all through the city and finally got on to the subway system. It was fairly easy compared to the Denver trolley thing, because the tickets you buy just go right in the machine, it scans them, and you get on the train you need to to get to your destination. Then, there are some other scanners at the end that take the ticket, find the distance and as a result, take a certain amount of money off the card. It even prints the amount of money left on the card right on the little slip of paper.

Once we got out of the metro system, the real journey began. Amy had a 40 lb checked bag, a 25 lb carryon and a 18 lb backpack. I had a 37 lb duffle bag (with no wheels), a 20 lb carryon, and a 15 lb backpack. This is a lot to carry the 10 blocks. We eventually figured out that it would be easier to use the wheels of Amy’s big suitcase to roll my duffle bag. I carried the big bags and my backpack, and Amy rolled both of our carryons. We stopped at the Safeway to get some breakfast food for Amy, some Peanut butter Crunch, then continued on. We crashed at the apartment for a while before we would take on the rest of the day. I’m trying to catch up on this blog-to-be, so I’m just going to give a couple major or exciting events per day. The walk back to the metro was much easier. I figured out that I could just put the 37 lb bag on my shoulders alternating sides, and Amy carried my carryon bag.

We finally arrived at my campus after the metro again, and an AU shuttle to get to the campus. We walked around and tried to find where my dorm was. We found it on the south side of campus and then checked in to get my key. I went over to Anderson hall to get the ID card, though I thought I already turned in a picture. Oh well, I just got another picture taken, though my hair was a little messed up. We unpacked my bags in my room, and met my roommates. Tyler Mich is from Boston, and seems pretty nice. Charlie is from Park City and seems cool. He said that he plays hippie sports such as ultimate Frisbee,  hacky-sack, and slackline. They both have Macs… Oh well, everyone, well, most people, have Macs here. Actually everyone seems quite wealthy here. I guess that is probably because they are going to a $50,000+/year school. The room itself is very nice. There is tons of storage, and I couldn’t fill everything at all. There is a bookshelf, a desk with three drawers, a dresser with 5 drawers, and some overhead compartments. I have the bottom bunk under Charlie, and Tyler got the loft since he got there first. I was the last of the three to arrive. I’m sorry to everyone at home that wished I would get over my modesty at college… The showers are confined! Wahoo! Its room number 45 and is in the Terrace or basement, though there is a large window in it. It is just below the first main floor where the doors are. The bathroom is right down the hall and is pretty nice. In the stalls they have an addition of some news called “News at eye level” or something like that so you can read and take care of business at the same time. For all those that don’t have my mailing address, here it is.

Travis Volz/Letts Hall-045-Fall 2010/4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW/Washington, DC 20016

Anyway… The next major event occurred when I was walking Amy home. We were walking to Christopher’s house, and on the way passed by a church that was being pretty loud. There were the sounds of drums, an electronic piano, an organ, and many voices. We went up to the door to look, and were beckoned in by a largish black lady in the back. She was very friendly and we went inside and found 2 empty seats. There, we were offered fans, like little hand ones made of Popsicle sticks and cardboard pieces. The fans were actually developed by a larger group than the members of that church, but that is beside the point. They were quite gospely and loud and energetic and we were the only white people at that service. We felt a bit out of place. They would get up, put their hands on the backs of the seats in front of them, and do this little dance thing: Mostly just shuffling their feet and legs up and down and such. Some people, mostly the guys, would get up and do this crazy more exaggerated foot shuffling. “They had really nice foot work,” Amy said. They sang and sang on and on. We got in in the middle of their singing and it lasted for probably another 30 minutes before they braked for anything else. They offered us water, though we were practically the only ones not moving all around. The water was in red plastic cups and always had a folded paper towel over the top. We filled out this visitor card, and a little later in the service, they read our names and they all welcomed us to their service. The pastor then got up and yelled his words with lots of comments from the audience such as, “preach it brotha,” “amen,” “Oh Jesus,” or “the devil’s a liar.” They were big on audience participation, though we never really felt pressured to speak. They seemed quite Christian, though their style of worship was something that we had never seen before. The main differences were their always saying, “The Devil’s a Liar” and the fact that they strongly stressed that their main preacher was, “THE Shepherd.” No one else could prophesize or else there would be lots of confusion as many were trying to understand the scriptures differently. Anyway, it was quite the experience and we were ready to leave by the time it was over.

The next day (Monday the 16^th) my orientation started at 11 am. Amy came over before it started and saw me a little then. She walked to Georgetown by herself while I heard some lectures about the different things a freshman should know. I took the math placement exam and got a 27 out of 30, just placing me high enough for my Calculus class for which I was signed up. We met in smallish groups and the college leader lead some games. We played ninja, and Haven, the athletic college student leader and I were the only ones left. I wonJ We played the game for mixers like we did at spec where the middle person would say something they liked or had done, and all others would have to move around the circle while the last person moving would be the next person in the middle. There, I learned that I was 1 of 2 conservatives in our group of 15 people. Wow… So anyway, we went to lunch and it was awesome! They had lots and lots of choices and everything tasted very good. I will have to eat a lot to get my 12.82 out of each meal, and since I only get 1.2 meals per day, I will take something from the lunch room for breakfast, and have a late lunch each day. It should work out well.

Amy came back after a while, but said she was really tired, so she took the metro back to AU. She came with me to the afternoon presentations, and they were all quite interesting. The first one especially! Rick was his name. He was such a flamer that I don’t really know how he managed to stay not-on-fire. He often danced to the pop music in his sparkly and glamorous presentation on the housing and dining programs. It was during this presentation that we learned that dorms are actually “residence halls”, and the 150 block are actually 150 “swipe” meal plans. You can take other people to eat with you, you only need to swipe your card multiple times. We played deal or no deal with different things that could be or not be in you “Residence halls.” The only pets that are allowed are those that are able to stay under water for 5 minutes straight. He said that even Hippopotamuses could be brought in the room if anyone could manage to find one and transport it. 

Tuesday the 17^th

The orientation resumed this morning at 9:00. We met with our groups and then listened to some extremely boring presentations about the career helps, AU Central, and the Health Department stuff. We did a painting that was to show the 5 values of AU, which will be shown at graduation. Then we went back to the glorious lunch room. There was some very delicious food there once again.

            The main experience of today was our shopping trip. We went to the Target across town to buy some more things for my dorm room. On our way there from AU, we stopped at Wholefoods, an Organic, and understaffed, expensive grocery store in Tenleytown. We were there merely to scope out some potential foods for our way back to American. We then took the Metro to Columbia Heights to go to Target. When at Target, we shopped around for the best deals which takes quite some time. It was very frustrating for Amy, because I figured out the unit prices for almost everything just so I could find the best deal. We bought 4 bags of things including some food and school supplies. We bought some boxed, just-add-water, meals which I think I’ll buy more of, because they were good and fairly cheap. (*Fun Fact* This Target was a 2 story one and it had cart escalators that would grab a little extension from the front of the cart and carry it up, all the while keeping the cart flat. It was a great idea, and I wish I would have come up with it. The carts also lacked the back supports, that lots of people use to ride on, as a result of the escalator readiness. They had locking wheels too if you tried to take the carts from the store. That seemed a little strange to me, but it was on a sign there.) We carried all the bags and our backpacks all through the subway system. When we arrived at Tenleytown, Amy sat by the stuff while I went to get a mango and some lemonade from Whole Foods. There was a giant line and I probably waited for close to 15 minutes, though no one before me had an overly large quantity of goods. I got at a 12 pack of 32 oz. glass-bottled lemonade, because I thought that I could reuse the bottles several times. They were really heavy, because the liquid alone was 24 lbs, and as a result, created quite a burden on our ride back to the dorms. We had the 4 Target Bags, our backpacks, and now, a bunch of lemon aid and one mango which could not be squished. To make a long story short, we made it with some difficulty back to the dorms and stocked my shelves with food and other supplies.

            On Wednesday the 18^th, I had to meet with my scheduling advisor to finalize my schedule. Currently I will be taking: Physics Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; Calculus Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday; The Global Majority Tuesday and Friday; American Society Monday and Thursday; and Understanding Music Tuesday and Friday. I’m not really sure about the things I will do in each of these classes, but I’ll definitely write more about it as I take them, assuming I have time at all to type this blogJ Amy met me in the TDR=Terrace Dining Room for lunch today, and I just swiped my card twice. This whole lack of meal plan should work out decently, because today, after lunch, I wasn’t that hungry at all, and there are other places I can buy food if I get hungry. I’ll keep a stock of food in my room also, so that I won’t starve on those days. If anyone is coming to Washington DC to see me, you should let me know ahead of time, so I can save up my .2 meals per day so they can come with me to eat at the Awesome Dining room.

            After we finished what we needed to do at the campus, we headed on to the National Mall. On the way, I talked to my mom and sisters, because they had called me earlier and I just got around to calling them back. We stopped at the CVS pharmacy in Tenleytown to get some Metro SmartTrip cards. They are re loadable, and it can just scan the cards through a wallet or thin purse. It is a really cool feature that it doesn’t have to see the card directly. We took the Red line down to the Metro Center, and then transferred to the orange or blue line to go down to the Smithsonian stop. It was only two stops and then we were there. It was pretty crazy as we came out of the Metro and were greeted by a giant city with many huge buildings and museums. We went to the map and saw that we were fairly close to the National Monument. We found the National Holocaust Memorial on the map and walked the several blocks to it. It was a 4 story building that was pretty big and had many pictures, articles, artifacts, and videos that were along the walls of the building. It was very professionally done and gave you almost an eerie feeling as you walked through it. They had some of the suits that the Jews were forced to wear and also a small pile of the shoes that were collected off the Jews at the cremation centers. After the memorial, we felt a little depressed, but it soon subsided slightly as we left the area and walked to the National Monument. We walked for quite a ways and finally got to it, though we could see it as soon as we exited the subway system. It is Huge! A fun fact that has to do with AU is that the Katzen Art Center could hold the entire National Monument if it was laid on its side without it touching either end. So anyway, we looked around that area and took some pictures, and then walked along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial. There was duck poop everywhere and also lots of ducks. IT reminded me a lot the scene in Getsmart where he walked on the stone things and went down in the middle of the pool to the secret area. The pond itself was pretty gross and mucky, but it was very long. It took probably 15 minutes to walk from one side to the other. We then got to the Lincoln Memorial and walked up the large steps and went inside. It was crazy to think that this picture was on myriad pennies. Almost everyone at one point or another in America had held on to this miniature version of this building that was now before us. Lincoln was quite the sight also and was very large. We left, and since it had been raining today, the steps were slippery and I slid a little on accident before catching myself again. This concluded the adventures of today.