I don’t think I could have chosen a more suited city for my year abroad. It ticks all of my boxes. The first one being my nerdy side: politics. The amount of speakers, and calibre, on over at George Washington University is incredible. So far I have had the pleasure of attending a panel on female empowerment in the Arab Spring participants of which were official who work with women in the Middle East and Northern Africa and a talk by the former head of Homeland Security under the Bush administration who gave his opinion on the intervention in Syria. Sadly on my way to purchase my tickets to see Gorbachev (YES GORBI which was possibly going to be the most exciting talk of my year abroad) it was announced that due to health reasons he was going to cancel his entire American tour. To say I was devastated is an understatement. Most of the professors I have here are not full time and actually work in the field they are teaching in. My 80 year old professor has declined a job offer from Rockefeller, worked with Bush and currently is an expert speaker and analyst on Global Energy Security. Putting it mildly, he knows his stuff!

The city itself is absolutely beautiful. There is nothing more striking that going to the nation’s monuments at night. Standing where Dr King stood with the reflecting pool lit up across from the Washington Monument is spectacular. Another great thing about the city is that it has so many different neighbourhoods each offering a completely different atmosphere and experience. Some of which include Dupont Circle, Georgetown and Adams Morgan. Each presents culinary delights and alternative bars full of young people. Washington DC really is a city for young professionals and students. There are still many more restaurants, museums and bars to explore, certainly enough to keep me busy for the year.