The Commute

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more details.

Commuting every morning is one of the very different aspects from life at CMC. While I was able to wake up at 10:50 for an 11 o'clock class on campus, everyday here in DC I have to wake up at about 7:15. I'm supposed to be at work everyday at 9 (although with Congress in recess these past two weeks, I don't have to be in until 10) and that means I have to wake up much earlier to shower, put on a suit, and ride the metro to work.


Overall, from when I leave my apartment door until I step into Congresswoman Schakowsky's office, it takes approximately a half hour. I take about a 7 or 8 minute walk to the Metro Center Station. There I get on either the orange or blue line to ride to Capitol South. You can see the DC Metro map here. One of the key things to keep in mind is that on all the escalators at the station is that you should stand on the right and walk on the left. With so many tourists here lately for the cherry blossoms, this has been a little bit of an issue and has actually resulted in some heckling of the tourists who stand two wide on the Metro escalators, so keep this in mind when you're going to work. You can also check how much your commute is on the Metro website. There is also a Metrorail card that you can pick up. This means that if you lose your card, you can get a new card with your old balance on it. So if there were $50 on your card, and you then lose it, you can get a new card with $50 already on it. It also allows you to go quickly through the turnstile, you can simply scan your card instead of waiting for the paper card to slowly feed through the machine. It also makes you look less like a tourist.