The First Week: Washington DC

Yesterday I arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to begin a four month university placement. The opportunity to spend some time abroad arose soon after I started at the University of Exeter last year, and now that all the organisation has been taken care of, my placement is beginning in earnest!

I flew in to Albuquerque from Washington DC, which involved a four hour stop in Denver but was actually a very pleasant journey, and I even managed to glimpse the Mississippi River when the clouds had subsided. Prior to this flight, I had spent a week in Virginia with my friend Jonathan, which meant that I was able to visit Washington DC and explore some of the eastern USA before heading to the western half of the country.

My first ever sight of North America - Quebec and the Gulf of St Lawrence

I travelled from Heathrow to Dulles airport, which was a comfortable trip and quite interesting once I reached North America, as I saw parts of Canada and New England, and briefly spotted New York City to the east. The queue for immigration at Dulles was huge, taking ninety minutes to get through. The problem was mostly the result of the airport having over a dozen desks, but only one employee stamping passports; I thought that perhaps he was so good at his job that the airport didn't trust anybody else to work there!

When at last I got through immigration and security, I was met by Jonathan and his wonderful family and was extremely well looked after from that point on. Jonathan is an American, but he lived in the UK for three years, so he and his family were able to gently break me in to the American lifestyle. I had a brief freshen up at his house, after which I was whisked off to visit George Mason University, which Jonathan had attended the previous year, so my American sightseeing began very early on.

Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool

On my second day, we headed into DC itself, beginning at the Lincoln Memorial, and working our way along the National Mall towards the Capitol at the other end. Having seen most of the major monuments on the Mall, we entered the Natural History Museum, which housed a host of stuffed animal exhibits, fossils, and live specimens of various insects and fish. I could easily have spent a day there, but we moved on in order to see other things and leave DC before the rush hour began.

The Capitol

After leaving the museum, we passed the Treasury and then circumnavigated the White House. Jonathan suspected that Barack Obama was in residence because when he had visited previously, there were far fewer police officers around. A rather determined looking anti-Zionist protestor was camped opposite the White House, but otherwise the police were having a quiet day.

The White House

We left on the metro; this was in itself a confusing exercise. As an experienced user of the London Underground, I found the metro to be far too dark, the signposting was awful, and Jonathan and I were told we should have added an extra dollar for using a disposable paper ticket when we reached the other end of the line. No wonder so many Americans drive everywhere!

The following day, we went to Mount Vernon, about halfway between Jonathan's house and DC. Mount Vernon was George Washington's home for forty-five years of his life and it is where he learned he was to become President and where he died in 1799. The tour opened with a brief video about Washington's life, and I knew I had arrived in the USA when it was plainly announced that the historical film was sponsored by Ford, as I could not imagine a car corporation sponsoring a documentary in the UK! Following this we toured the house itself; a particular highlight was seeing the actual bed on which Washington died.

The rear of Washington's house

View from Mount Vernon across the Potomac, towards Maryland

We then explored the grounds, learning more about slave labour and the fact that Washington considered himself to be primarily a farmer, even inventing a mechanism for collecting grain. The bottom of the estate consisted of a well-maintained farm and a view across the Potomac River to Maryland. On the way back up, we stopped at the family crypt, where it was possible to see the tombs of George and Martha Washington. Before leaving, I decided to buy a couple of postcards at 50 cents each. When I handed the smallest note I had, a $20, to the cashier, he cried out 'You've gotta be kiddin' me!' before reluctantly counting out change. And so I learned an important lesson: never try to pay with anything more than dollar bills for small transactions!

George Washington's tomb

Jonathan outside the front of Washington's house

On the fourth day, Jonathan and I made a beeline for the National Air and Space Museum, as it was reputed to be excellent. There are now two parts to this museum - the original is on the National Mall, and the other is the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre, a few miles outside the city. I realised here that I know a lot more about aircraft than I thought, and I could easily spend hours reciting information about the various planes, helicopters, missiles and space equipment that we saw. However, since space is limited, highlights were the centrepiece SR-71 Blackbird stealth plane, the Space shuttle Discovery and the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. There was a free tour on offer, and the guide was a very friendly former pilot, who even made a special stop next to a Hawker Hurricane when he learned that I was British! He did, however, suggest that US aircraft were pivotal in ending World War I, a fact that I am inclined to disagree with!

SR-71 Blackbird, one of only 21 in existence

Space shuttle Discovery

The famous (or perhaps infamous) Enola Gay

The day after this was a Saturday, which was spent as a relaxing day with the family. I only left the house to go to the local pool, where I demonstrated my inability to throw an American football! The evening provided an unexpected barbecue invitation from the next-door neighbours. I had naively predicted that as a Brit, I might be a source of intrigue, but in fact I was presented with a multicultural occasion hosted by a family originally from Ecuador, so there was plenty of Spanish being spoken, and I was able to see how Americans of all backgrounds were able to integrate and everyone got along really well.

In the morning, we left to go to DC again, and first stop was Ford's Theatre, home to a museum about Abraham Lincoln, and opposite the house in which he died. I had not known until then that the theatre is still active, and in the museum I learned a lot more about Lincoln's life than I knew previously, as well as a detailed breakdown of the events of the day of Lincoln's assassination.

With Lincoln

The pistol used by John Wilkes Booth to kill Lincoln

The box in which Lincoln was shot

After leaving Ford's Theatre, we headed to the other side of the National Mall, where we stopped at the other branch of the National Air and Space Museum. Here there were so many different points of interest that it was difficult to take it all in, but I would single out the Wright Flyer (the world's first plane), Louis Blériot's 1909 Channel-crossing plane, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St Louis (which flew non-stop from New York to Paris in 1927), Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1 (the first plane to break the sound barrier), and the Apollo 11 Command Module, which brought man back from the Moon.

1903 Wright Flyer - first aeroplane

Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1 - first plane to exceed Mach 1, in 1947

Finally, we visited the Jefferson Memorial on the way out of the city, which also turned out to be a good place to take some fun photographs...

Jefferson Memorial

Playing with the Washington Monument

On my final day in Virginia, Jonathan and I drove south, beyond the state capital Richmond, to Jamestown. Even over a relatively short journey, the DC suburbs gave way to a taste of the true South. People's accents changed, the humidity rose, and I even saw a bumper sticker declaring 'Vote Obama? How Stupid Can You Get!', suggesting that we had reached a more conservative part of the state. 

Located on a peninsula between the York and James rivers, Jamestown is the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America (it was founded in 1607), so it was very relevant to both English and American history. We explored the site of the town, where many of the buildings had been excavated, covered again, and had their foundations marked with brick outlines.

Jamestown: 'The first permanent colony of the English people;
the birthplace of Virginia and of the United States - May 13, 1607'

With Captain John Smith, Governor of Virginia

Along the way, Jonathan and I concluded that this was not a particular desirable place to settle, not just because of the humid, 30°C heat, but also because of the swampy ground, lack of fresh water, dragonflies the size of small birds, and the settlement's precarious location on a small island surrounded by native Indians. We also agreed that it was a good decision to visit the actual site complete with ongoing excavations, rather than go to the reconstructed town, which was a little more commercial and family-orientated. To round off the visit, we drove to the end of the island, where we saw some deer and admired the view downstream.

Looking east down the James River at the far end of the island

The next morning meant an early start in order to make my westward flight. All too soon my time with Jonathan and his family had come to an end and my university placement was due to begin. I am so grateful to them for allowing me to stay with them and for giving me a comprehensive tour of Washington DC and surrounding area. It has also provided some perspective - travelling first to the 'old' part of the country, where the original colonies were, and where the government resides, before visiting the 'new' USA (New Mexico has only been a state since 1912, although it does have a long and interesting history of its own).

Now that I am here in Albuquerque, I have passed several landmarks: both the furthest west and furthest south I have ever been, the furthest away from home (just under 5,000 miles), the biggest time difference from the UK (-7 hours), and I am now closer to the Pacific Ocean than the Atlantic. I have already been mistaken for an Australian more than once, and I am gradually adapting to living in hot conditions at altitude (Albuquerque is at 1,600 metres). Despite being so far from home, American university life seems to be familiar so far; the campus atmosphere is comparable to that at Exeter, and my shared room is reminiscent of the environment I had whilst at boarding school.

I am looking forward to this experience...