Hibba Meraay
The Cool Realities of Living in the Nation’s Capital
By Hibba Meraay
Spring 2015
Although I’ve made a few trips down to DC over the years, this semester was my first true DC emersion experience. As any diligent list maker would do, I set out to make a DC bucket list early in January. I included all the trademark tourist sites and activities like the monuments, Smithsonian museums, and Cherry Blossom festival, but as I checked more and more items off my list I realized that there are some intangible DC experiences that can’t be captured in a list. Here are two things about living in DC that you might not anticipate but I believe are an integral part of the DC experience.
- The historical undercurrent: As someone with many foreign family members, I am continually reminded that, while the U.S. is very prominent on the world stage, we are a comparatively young country with only about 400 years of history under our belt. Understandably, unlike most of my friends who chose to study abroad, I didn’t expect to encounter ancient ruins on my travels. However, nowhere have I ever felt more in touch with history than in DC. I know some of you are thinking well duh, it’s the capital! True, DC is home to many pieces of American history such as monuments commemorating presidents, and wars. But those are not the only places I’m talking about. The undercurrent of history runs through the streets of DC like no other place in the U.S. Every day, people and places that have nothing to do with anything political have witnessed history in the making here. I specifically remember listening to one of the Senior Managers of Ben’s Chili Bowl, a famous DC hotspot, as he recounted how Ben’s had been one of the few stores left standing after the 1968 riots which followed the assassination of Martin Lither King Jr. and left many DC neighborhoods in flames. It is one thing to stand at the Lincoln memorial and feel awed but it’s another to recognize that same sense of awe while casually enjoying a bowl of chili. History permeates the city in a way I didn’t quite anticipate.
- Extraordinary things are casual (but still exciting) – Vice President Joe Biden occasionally drives by our dorm on his way home to the Naval Observatory. His motorcade shuts down Connecticut Avenue for a few minutes as bystanders wave excitedly to the three black SUVs central to the convoy. Although this doesn’t exactly happen on the daily, due to traffic considerations and the VPs travel schedule, it does happen enough that a few of us managed to catch of glimpse of Biden waving out of a rolled down window. After living in D.C. for a few months I can honestly say those kinds of moments don’t get old. Perhaps taxi drivers, more directly affected by the traffic feel differently, but many of the DC residents I have met feel the same sense of excitement whether they’ve lived in DC for two months or 20 years. Even if for only a moment, the proximity of the VP can be an exciting reminder that we are living in the corridors of power.

Hibba at the Cherry Blossom Festival (taken by her lovely roommate Camila Rivera)
Hibba Meraay is a junior at Boston University, studying International Relations and Economics.