With An Eye to the Future

Time is cruelly accelerating as May approaches. Like an improbable Metro train with no stops and no delays, I can feel the velocity of the end of my junior year tugging at me, and I don’t really like it.

But, I have determined that I will do what I always do: plan. I’ll plan out what I want to do in the ever diminishing time left here, I already know I’ll enjoy it, and then I’ll go home to plot my return.

This past week I’ve already taken some additional time to enjoy the simple pleasures: spending time with friends, making time to do what I want to do (this may require venturing outside of Washington Center events once in awhile. While TWC offers a lot of events and opportunities, it's important to remember that the wider city can also offer you a great deal), and relaxing in a few favorite spots around town.

Last week, I tagged along with a local and urban politics class out of George Washington University as they took a walking tour of the Foggy Bottom campus, with an eye to that campus’ future. As someone fascinated by urban planning and architecture, I was a bit intent to absorb what was said. The school is obviously worlds away from my own Saint Anselm College, especially in basic areas like student population, campus design, and layout. As is to be expected, there are pros and cons on each side.

The group was led to a roof overlooking GWU’s current biggest project: the joint development on an extremely valuable piece of land formerly occupied by the old GWU hospital, right on Washington Circle. On the old site, a gigantic “mixed use town center” has shot up. A simple pit less than two years ago, the site now holds a huge concrete shell, whose outer walls are just being installed.

While I personally have always been fascinated with and admired the idea of large, sustainable buildings supporting entire communities, the concept of this site, “Square 54,” still remained frustratingly outside of my comfort zone. I guess I am far too used to my quaint, isolated and tiny St. A’s campus to get my head around the idea of a “campus” actually sharing space with public residential units, commercial space and retail space.

At any rate: the weekend arrived and I had the great honor and fortune to spend it with two people I have known for a long time, and yet was barred from spending more time with in high school. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and tried to forget that soon I would be walking away from all of this. We wandered into town, around several monuments and over to Arlington Cemetery, as it was a beautiful day.

Someone very thoughtfully pointed out that the further back sections of that cemetery feel much more peaceful, more like a traditional American cemetery and less like a national tourist shrine. The more I’ve thought about this, the more I agree. In fact, that is the one thing I value above all else about cemeteries: the peacefulness.

In my time here, despite my newfound love for a fast-paced, high-powered environment, I have found a few quiet places, tucked away and carefully protected. My favorite would probably be the South Lawn of the White House. But, as that is off-limits for the most part, I’m quite content to sit in a nearby park and catch up on some pleasure reading.

         

As these weeks fly by, and as I count down the days left in which I can ride my beloved Metro system, I’m determined to balance two things: getting to each of the half-dozen items on my to-do-before-I-leave-list, and to keep finding those quiet places, sit back, and reflect on it all. For, after all, it’s in the quiet moments we have to ourselves after the excitement has receded where we can find the true significance in what has just happened.