geography

The more I stay in D.C., the more I dislike it. Being the nation’s capital, I honestly expect much more. There is nothing that really makes up this city. It’s a fine place to visit, and as I’ve said before, I have enjoyed all of my previous visits. But it didn’t take too long for the novelty of the city to wear off.

After living in D.C. for almost two months, I have finally figured this city out. D.C. is a city where people really do nothing but work. It’s a place where people just go through the motions. It feels like a lifeless city. Nobody seems happy. It’s as if everybody here is simply living to die. I’ve never lived in a city before where I looked at people and they all just looked like zombies to me; and I’ve lived in Japan, a place where everyone acts and thinks the same!

Interspersed among the local workers are the tourists, which, oddly enough, I hate. I’ve been a tourist myself in many different cities across the world (D.C. included), but for some reason, I hate tourists. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It’s like I’m hating myself, but either way, with there only being two main groups of people in D.C., it makes me like the city even less because it is so bland.

Apart from the lifeless people who live here, the city is simply boring. The geography is flat. There aren’t any great parks, and there isn’t any beautiful scenery. There is one thing to do in D.C.: museums. Again, the museums are great, but when you’re looking for a little bit more to do than look at stuff and read things, there just isn’t much substance here. Basically, there is nothing to do here past 5 o’clock because that’s when the museums close.

I have asked the advice of what to do from locals and people who have lived here for awhile, as well, and I never get great answers about it. One person told me of the lovely coffee shops and bookstores in the area. Another person mentioned going to see a show at the local theater. Someone else told me where to find good food. Actually, a lot of people told me where to find good food.

But what does that say about the city? There’s good food? I can find good food, coffee shops, bookstores and plays in any city. It’s not unique, which is what really brings D.C. down. There is nothing actually special about the city, and the vibes that the local people give off from working all the time just brings it down even more.

With so little to look forward to, this city clings onto anything it has, no matter how uneventful it may be. The weather is getting better, and with that, the cherry blossoms will be in full bloom soon. Everywhere I go, I see cherry blossom stuff. There are even cherry blossom stickers in the subways to make it seem like the cherry blossoms blooming is the next great event in history.

Sadly for D.C., it’s not. Maybe they do it for the tourists. That could be a possibility, but I still feel like they do it because they are so excited of the fact that the cherry blossoms are going to bloom because nothing else even remotely exciting happens here.

Fortunately for myself, I won’t be here for much longer. D.C. just really doesn’t have much to offer me. It’s basically like any other city, except with six million people living in it. To me, it’s boring. There’s less to do here than in my hometown, which only has a couple hundred thousand people in it. Unfortunately for me, though, I am leaving as soon as it gets warmer. You can’t win them all, I suppose.

I’ve recently been studying geography because I am terrible at it. Especially since I am attending graduate school for international affairs, I figure it’s probably pretty important to know where Canada is. Despite my lack of knowledge in this area, I find that this is a common trend among Americans.

When I travel to new places and people ask me where I am from, I give them one of two answers:

1. To people who are not from the U.S.: “I am from the U.S. I live in the northeast in a state called Pennsylvania. It’s cold and snowy.” If they inquire further, I give them more information as needed.

2. To people who are from the U.S.: “I’m from Pennsylvania. My hometown is Erie. Are you familiar with Lake Erie, one of the five Great Lakes?”, to which that question always nets me a resounding “No.”

Are you freaking kidding me? You don’t know about the five Great Lakes? You’re from the U.S., and you don’t even know the name Lake Erie? Forget about the fact that Lake Erie holds important significance to the founding of America, how do you miss the five giant lakes that sit atop the northeast side of America? If you even knew the name Lake Erie, it’d be much easier to describe that I am from the city named after the lake. But alas, I cannot expect Americans to have any sensibilities about the geography of their own country, I suppose.

On the contrary, my sixth graders in Korea were quite knowledgeable on the subject of geography. I once had material that tested them on the different countries in the world, and they knew about as much as I did. So, why is it that sixth graders in Korea know as much geography as a college-educated student from the U.S.? I think the reasoning is two-fold:

1. It is something that simply isn’t taught in school. At least for me, personally, beyond knowing the “important” continents and countries of the world, it wasn’t discussed. Thus, I never learned it.

2. People are apathetic towards learning something they may never need to know. For example, why would you spend the time to learn how to build houses if you never build a house? This is the reason I never took it upon myself to learn about geography. It’s not that I didn’t care about the rest of the world. I simply didn’t care about learning about the rest of the world. Note the difference in those statements.

Of course, it could always just be a fault of mine or my specific learning environment growing up.

I’m to the age now where I realize it’s quite important to understand the many facets of the world, including geography. It’s a big place, and I am but a little speck on this vast rock we call earth. Therefore, I am learning. My progress is quite fast, too. I now know where all of the five oceans are. You’d be surprised how fast you learn when you go into something knowing so little!

That’s why I implore Americans to go back and do a study of their own country’s geography. When they are done with that, go learn about the rest of the world too. It’s not very difficult, and there is a lot of knowledge to be gained from even a rudimentary sweep of a world map. We live in a global community now, so this is important information to know. If nothing else, do it to make me look smarter.