Finding my Path in DC

in Fall 2016, Student's Blog
December 19th, 2016

by Caroline Melville (Fall 2016) 

Prior to coming to Washington this fall, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had been once before for an eighth grade field trip, but at that time in my life I could not fully appreciate everything in Washington. My goals upon arriving in Washington were to fully immerse myself in the DC culture and hone in on my communication skills throughout the semester. Although I find myself a strong communicator, I am a shy person and do not network very well. I thought spending a semester in DC would allow me to become a skilled networker which I feel would benefit me greatly post-grad.

Another goal of mine was to step outside of my comfort zone. Although I did this in many different ways, one night stands out to me in particular. It was a Saturday evening and I had just left the Tenleytown public library. I noticed a homeless man standing outside of the Panera in front of the metro looking very cold. I asked him if he was hungry and took him inside to buy him some soup. As I sat there and ate dinner with him, he explained to me how he and his other friends that are homeless are very underrepresented. He said he gets very little aid from the city and is ignored most of the time. This was something that stood out to me the first week that I was in DC – I noticed immediately how many homeless people there were, more than in any other city I had been in. This was shocking to me as I would expect for the capital of our country to take care of the people in their city. I was happy to sit and talk with this stranger, even just for twenty minutes, to get some insight on a large population of this city.

This small little instance made me start thinking of the bubble I have been living in my whole life. Although I have done community service and helped out at soup kitchens and toy drives, I really don’t know how much people are hurting in this world. I have always had an interest in pursuing the Peace Corps after college as my father did it and had a great experience. I found that DC is filled with Peace Corps alumni. Knowing this, I used it to my advantage and tried to find as many people as I could to talk to about the Peace Corps – my mentor at my internship, BU alumni and friends of my father. They all had the same positive message – it changed my life and brought me to the great place that I am today. I found this extremely motivating and positive as I move on in my path to finding what I want to do.

Another highlight of my time in Washington was walking around the monuments and seeing so many tourists awestruck by the sprawling, historic memorials to our past heroes and politicians. Seeing all of these diverse families coming from all over the country and world to see the beauty in Washington made me very proud to be an American. As a millennial, it made me very motivated to keep my country a place where everyone can be free and prosper.

I am forever grateful for the wonderful experience I had in DC. Although at times it was trying, I feel much more confident in myself to take on future endeavors and obstacles. Being in such global city with so much going on was just the Junior-year boost that I needed.