Going to a movie at the theatre located in the ground floor of the Union Station is an interesting experience since the audience reacts laudly to happenings on the screen. Watching Cast Away, a man shouted "Forget Wilson" to Hanks who was about to dive after his volleyball. Or, in The Wedding Planner, there is a scene where Jennifer Lopez acts quite badly: the audience started to laugh. The Union Station theatre is known among locals for this behaviour but you need to see a not-too-depressing movie to experience it.

In a city rich with art museums, do not miss the Corcoran. It is more intimate than the vaunted National Galleries and offers special exhibits that can offer a "point of view" not found in the others. It provides excellent educational programs that are open to internationals as well as locals.

Washington DC is still a segregated town. Sure, there are no regulations about separate drinking fountains or restaurants for blacks and whites, but, but there is an undeniable cultural partition between both races boiling just below the surface. This is mostly accomplished through geography and economics. It's simple, really: the nice rich parts comprise 1/6 of the city, and it's mostly white. The rest of city neighborhoods range from homey to damgerous, and it's mostly black. Service jobs are mostly black or hispanic, professional jobs often white. White people whisper about neighborhoods such as Anacostia, U-Street and east of North Capital St., as if they were like Lebanon in sniper season. Blacks seem to hide their resentment just subrosa. Coming from an all-white, largely tolerant state, this kind of quiet discomfort is a new experience.

Nobody ended up in DC by accident or because they thought it would be cool. The residents of the Washington DC metro area are usually here to accompish a certain goal, and 99% of the time that goal is professional. As a result, work has a funny way of infiltrating every conversation in town. It makes sense; you get quickly to the heart of why someone lives here in the first place. Yet, should people be defined by their positions? It's as if when you cross the Beltway, you check your human identity at the door and become "Lawyer Woman" or "Lobbyist Boy." Personally, I'm going to tell people from now on that I'm a performance artist, and move the conversation to a more fulfilling topic.