We are finally settled into our apartment in Washington D.C. — the hoard of boxes is gone and all of the furniture is put together. Blessed be.
Ingrid at our old apartment in Pentagon City.
Our new apartment in Chinatown / Penn Quarter in Washington D.C.
Living by work
Moving into the city has made both of our commutes significantly shorter. I do not miss the crowded metro rides in the morning or the scary metro rides back at night.
Living within walking-distance of the office also means that mornings are far less stressful. The ~30 minutes that I gained in the mornings is spent walking the dogs, eating breakfast at home, and even making the occasional guest-appearance at the gym.
I began working at my firm full-time immediately after graduating the Georgetown LL.M. program (which is 2 months ago now) because I got the bar exam out of the way before starting school. I am grateful for that early start because there’s a lot to do at the office and things are only set to pick up more in the coming months.
One strange thing is that many of my coworkers have said some variant of, “I can’t imagine living so close to the office, I’d never get away.” I don’t really understand how my proximity to the office really matters in a world of laptops, smart phones, and billable hours (particularly when most of my coworkers don’t live as close to work.)
Maybe I’ll feel different in a few years, but right now the stress-free commutes are totally worth it.
The Friendship Archway in Washington D.C.’s Chinatown.
The new neighborhood
Life in Chinatown is very different than Pentagon City.
Chinatown/Penn Quarter is full of office buildings, museums, restaurants, coffee shops, and overpriced apartment buildings. There are loud buskers, and plenty of tourists.
The morning dog walks are also a tad bit more interesting than they were in Virginia.
The Darlington Memorial Fountain in Judiciary Square.
Ingrid the labradoodle near the Washington Monument in D.C.
A couple dancing on Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C.
Ingrid the labradoodle and Gunter the chiweenie on the National Mall.
Gunter on the rooftop of our new building in downtown Washington D.C.
Readjusting to City Life
There is also a critical mass of homeless shelters in the neighborhood. It is not uncommon to find people drinking beer in front of my apartment in the mornings, or completely high in the alleyway behind the building at night.
Most of my homeless neighbors keep to themselves, but I have already been screamed at and followed several times, including inside the neighborhood grocery store. That situation was particularly ridiculous because the scrawny grocery store security guard was watching the homeless man go off on me, but the security guard was too scared to confront him.
Grocery store rent-a-cops aside, the neighborhood does have an unusual amount of real security due to the museums, the stadium, and a random FBI building. However, there was shooting by the courthouses and D.C. Police Headquarters this afternoon, so maybe the security presence is overrated. Hopefully that was a one-off.
The sketchy neighbors aside, living and working in D.C. feels like being in a pretty theme park. It’s surreal walking the dogs in front of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Theater in the mornings — particularly because we haven’t been mugged yet. We’ll see how the next grocery store trip goes though. 🍎
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