During my lunch break the other day, a coworker and I took a walk around the block to go visit George W. Bush’s white home. The next day, we went to a square located behind my work building to go hear an improv jazz band play, with the Washington Monument raised in the background.
Toto, I don’t think we’re in Westwood anymore.
About a month ago, I moved to Washington, D.C., to intern for a federal government agency ““ a move which is just a sliver of the travels that lie before me in the coming months.
As a native of South Florida and Southern California, this has been my first experience in D.C. or even the northeast region of America. And it’s funny isn’t it, how two big metropolises in the same country could be so different.
There, of course, are the obvious distinctions between the two cities.
D.C. is home to all of the legislative activity and policy that governs our country on the federal level. Los Angeles is the home of Paris Hilton, Antonio Villaraigosa’s new journalist girlfriend, and now David Beckham and Posh Spice.
In D.C., the women wear closed-toed heels to conservatively match their buttoned-up tops and sleek suits. In Los Angeles, flip-flops and stilettos are the norm.
But what intrigues me the most are the little things that subtly draw out the delineations between the two cities.
For instance, people in D.C. jaywalk ““ a lot.
I don’t know about you, but ever since I got a $125 ticket for jaywalking at the De Neve crosswalk to Bruin Walk, I haven’t been doing much of it.
And while people in Los Angeles do jaywalk, people in D.C. will do it on major, urban intersections, as though the difference in seconds between the walking man and the stop hand might as well be hours.
There’s also a very prevalent musical culture in D.C. squares and streets that’s very genuine and artistically effervescent. I’m not talking about flashy, sold-out Justin Timberlake concerts or the young punk bands at the Whiskey a Go Go.
These are street, improv jazz bands that have such a strong connection between the musicians that you can’t help but feel almost moved by their spontaneous, melodic synchronism. Whether I’m walking home from work or taking a break for lunch, it’s nice to have such a relief from the 9-to-5 routine.
I’ve also noticed that people in D.C. are a lot friendlier.
Strangers smile at you as they’re walking their dogs. Others offer to give you a hand with your groceries.
And it’s funny because sometimes my own neighbors back home don’t even say hi to me.
There’s such an amicable aura to the people here that is exuded in the local strangers I have met and friends I have made in D.C.
So while West Coast people are categorically “more chill” than those from the east coast, maybe sometimes we get so caught up in the L.A. lifestyle, our academics and other things, that we forget to say hi or even smile.
Love thy neighbor, right?
When you live in a different city, you can’t help but compare one to the other.
I love Los Angeles. But maybe we get so engulfed in the lifestyle or in our routine that we forget to explore, to be spontaneous or adventurous.
But this is what traveling is all about ““ learning.
After Washington, D.C., I will be spending four months in Europe, traveling and studying. And along the way, this trip will serve as an educational process.
So what have I learned from D.C.?
Sure I’ve learned the name of the chairman on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and global health. I’ve learned that on escalators out of the Metro you stand on the right side and you walk on the left.
But I’ve also learned to jaywalk every once in awhile. Smile at a stranger. And improvise.
E-mail Peach if you think receiving a $125 fine from UCPD for jaywalking is a bit steep at pindravudh@media.ucla.edu.