Lesson Three: Get lost and find yourself

Thing 2, last week: "If you don't update the blog soon, it's going to become my blog."

Thing 2, tonight: "I've updated 6 times and you've updated once. You need to update."

So here I am world. It's not that I don't have nice, introspective things to say, it's that a.) I'm lazy and b.) I feel kind of stupid admitting that the biggest lesson I learned this past week is that you can get homesick even in an awesome city like DC. The combo of intense boredom at work (8 hours of maintaining a perky, please-give-me-work glow is exhausting, especially when you're punctuating that time reading lawyer blogs about how no one in their right mind would go to law school... hey depressed about my future).

While Friday evening ended up being a lot of fun, as Thing 2 outlined, by the end of the night I was fighting off wallowing in missing my family, friends, and boyfriend (please don't hate me, even though I hate people who act like I was acting). Saturday morning I tried and failed to work out, and was kind of planning on spending the day on the couch, continuing to wallow. But Thing 2 talked me out of my blues and convinced me to walk up with her to Dupont Circle. I figured I would read my book (I'm reading The Camel Club series, not the most literary books I've ever read, but they're fun and take place in DC) in a coffee shop somewhere, but the weather was nice so I ended up mosying all over Dupont Circle and into the neighborhoods of Georgetown. There is something so romantic about wandering sans ipod and cell phone glued to ear, just enjoying watching people go by and turning whenever you feel compelled to mosy in a new direction.

To be sure, I have google maps on my phone, so I'm never really lost, but I've found that when I'm feeling emotionally lost, it helps to sort of get lost physically (and safely), to sort out what's bothering me and ultimately remind myself that a.) it's okay to be sad and to miss the people I left at home. In fact, it's good that I miss them - they mean the world to me and if I didn't miss them I'd be much more concerned. b.) having said that, I have to not let the random bouts of homesickness that I'm sure will strike from time to time keep me from enjoying this once in a lifetime opportunity. And the best way to reconcile those two lessons is to wander through the back streets of Georgetown, pretending to be a local, but ultimately give myself away as I smile while passing embassies and an old cemetery that I've decided is probably where Oliver Stone lives.

Best,

Thing 1

Edit: When wandering for miles, wear comfortable shoes. I decided to break in a new pair of flats and got a 3D blister that Thing 2 had to perform surgery on, and I think I fractured my instep.