Things I Learned this Memorial Day Weekend
I just rode Amtrak for the first time ever, and it was just as nice as I anticipated. A long time fan of public transportation, mainly MARTA as an Atlantian, I try my best to ride public transit as often as possible.
This past weekend, I took the bus from NY to DC and Amtraked back. While the majority of the trip was the typical DC visit, with lots of memorial sightings and museums visited, I had a revelation at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, specifically the new Lights Out exhibit. This exhibit focused on light pollution and the effect of cities on the night sky. While browsing this exhibit, I came to a realization.
Most of my time is spent in a large city, Atlanta, as I go to school there. This summer I chose to stay in NYC, also known as the city that never sleeps. With my friends in other large cities like Los Angeles or Houston this summer, I've realized that I will be spending the majority of the first few years of my working life in a major city, so why should I go travel to one as part of my graduation trip? Traveling to a different country like Japan is different, but what this exhibit made me realize my yearning to camp remotely for a few days somewhere I can truly see the night sky. The only time I have truly seen the night sky was in fifth grade at Jekyll Island for my fifth grade field trip, and that core memory has stuck with me since.
If you ask any of my friends, especially my brother, they will let you know that they don't believe I can go without my phone for a day. While I don't deny this, I feel this is rather difficult to accomplish while in college or interning. My screen time has been an issue I've wanted to deal with in the past few years, and I believe a camping trip surrounded by nothing is a great way to do so.
Back on my point about public transportation. Most of my public transit fascination recently has been thanks to DownieLive on YouTube, who I absolutely love. However, this first Amtrak trip has only solidified that fascination. Riding public transportation with others not only is helpful for the environment, but also allows us to focus our attention on the environment outside and discover new places. The Amtrak passed through countless cities and each city we passed I noticed how they were built and structured differently, and tried to pick out things I'd do if I ever visited them. This applies even on a city scale when taking MARTA with my girlfriend. Watching the city pass by us as we wait for our stop, we try to learn what's near each stop when riding through them and have a goal of getting off at as many stops as possible.
As I write this as the Amtrak pulls into New York and I go back to my M-F schedule of 10-6:30 internship and 45 min rail home and 1 hour of dinner and then relaxing before I hit the hay, with a gym sesh before work three days a week, I have to thank my brother for inviting me on this trip to DC with him and his friends, and I can only look forward to more trips through public transportation.