Washington D.C.

         Earlier this week I was able to make it into Washington D.C. for some sightseeing. I’m living and working just outside the D.C. area so it does require driving to actually get into Washington D.C. 

         Driving into and out of D.C. is not something that I would label as fun or easy. The traffic is horrible! That’s because so many people commute into and out of the city for work…so getting in takes forever in stop and go traffic. The lady that I’m renting from told me an easy way to get in and out of the city without driving is to take the “slug line.” 

         It was developed to help prevent some of the commuting congestion on the road ways. During high traffic times the HOV lane is open to cars that have at least 3 people in them. Well not everyone knows 3 people to commute in and out with them, so there are several designating parking places outside the city you park at and wait for someone that is driving into the city to stop and pick you up. Since there are also several stops inside the city you ask where the driver is going and if it’s close to where you want you get in the car. After there are 3-4 people in the car, you leave, get dropped off, and then when it’s time to go home, you go stand at a designated slug line stop in the city and wait for someone looking for another person or two to make the minimum of 3 to use the HOV lane going home. Then they drop you off at the parking lot where your car is.  http://www.slug-lines.com/Slugging/About_slugging.asp

At first I was a little skeptical about something called a slug line, and the whole process, but I tried it and it’s actually pretty great. I didn’t have to drive on roads I’m not familiar with, in a bunch of traffic, or find parking somewhere which was amazing. The best part is that using the slug line is free, I don’t pay them to take me to or from since I need a ride, and they need a person it’s to both parties benefit. The only thing is there are only certain times that the line is open and so if I use it to go into D.C. then I have to spend pretty much all day there. I’m not complaining about that since there is so much to see and do and once I’m there I can take the metro pretty much anywhere so it’s actually really a great system. 

I thought about using the slug line and going into the city again today, but it’s supposed to be really hot and sunny and I’m still a little sunburnt from Monday when I was sightseeing. Instead, I decided to go out to a local café and update my blog. 

For my day in D.C. I was so exhausted by the time that I was done, but I don’t feel like I really did that much. After slugging into D.C. I took the metro to Union Station where I got a ticket for the Big Bus hop-on hop-off tour of D.C. 

The White House

Washinton Monument 

My first stop was the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Normally, I like to go through museums pretty quickly since there is so much information it can be overwhelming to read absolutely everything. I spent more time there than I normally would at any other place. It was very well done, and horrible at the same time. Some of the videos of what was done in the concentration camps and the medical experiments that were performed on prisoners made me feel sick to my stomach. How can anybody do that to another person?  Overall, it was an extremely powerful reminder of what happened. 

After receiving my ticket I got on the elevator and the lady that was operating the elevator asked everyone to silence cell phones, be respectful, and find something about the person in the identity card that you could relate to, basically she was asking us to put ourselves into the shoes of the person’s identity card that we had. It’s really hard to explain the various emotions that I felt as I walked through the museum.  

My identification card told this girls story. 

 

At the very end as you were leaving, this quote was on the wall. 

After leaving the Holocaust Memorial I got back on the Big Bus tour and went to Arlington National Cemetery.  Another very powerful reminder of all the battles the United States has fought in. It is the only national cemetery that has soldiers buried there from every war since the Revolution. The place is huge and I didn’t walk through all of it, I only made it through a very small portion but it still made me stop and appreciate the freedoms that I enjoy today.

By this point in the day, it was early afternoon and I’d been riding on the top of the bus in the sun and needed to stop somewhere to get food and hydrate. After eating and cooling down in a nice airconditioned place, I made my way to the final museum of the day, the Air and Space Museum. 

I didn’t spend much time there since I was exhausted, but it was really cool to see early aviation memorabilia. The Spirit of St. Louis was there, along with the Wright brothers, and the Lindbergh’s. It was interesting, but there were so many people that I left very quickly and didn’t actually explore the entire place, but I got through most of it. 

The Spirit of St. Louis

The Wright Brother's Plane

I will go back and explore more of Washington D.C. since it really is a beautiful place to visit. 

Thoughts on my life as a Travel Nurse:

            I’m now onto my second travel assignment and I’m discovering how I respond to the stress of being a travel nurse. Overall, I am still happy that I made this decision, but I’ve realized that the constant change is more stressful and exhausting to me than I thought. 

            For my first assignment I got a contract in Philadelphia. I had to find a place to live without seeing it in person before signing the lease and paying rent. Then I had to find it when I got there and move in all the stuff that I brought with me. Then I had to figure out where the hospital was that I would be working at, and how long it would take me to arrive. 

            I also had to learn my way around the area I was staying in. Where was the grocery store, post office, best places to eat, what’s the easiest way to go sightseeing. What sights did I really want to see? 

            At work, I had to learn my way around a new hospital, learn their policies, learn their charting system and charting requirements. Neither the nurses or the providers knew me or my nursing practice, I didn’t know them so learning to trust each other was a two way street that has to happen somewhat quickly…but I’m also the first to get pulled to another unit making it hard to learn where things are and get to know people. It really made me realize how great it is to know your co-workers and how the team works together in stressful situations. 

            When I finally started to feel like I was getting the hang of it, my contract was done. Time to move onto a new place where I get to start all over again. Since I didn’t stay in the Philadelphia but instead found a contract in Falls Church, VA, I got to start with finding a place to stay online again…only saw pictures of it before I moved in and talked with the landlord on the phone. After moving it, I had to start finding my way around again…

            So far in my 3 weeks here, I’m now able to get to work and home without my GPS, I can go to the grocery store, walk to the farmers market on Saturday, today I found the library (which is where I’m currently writing). I haven’t made it into Washington D.C. yet to do any sightseeing there. My goal is to go into the city one day when I’m not working, but I’m just now starting to feel somewhat settled which means I’m starting to have more energy for going out and exploring.

The house I’m staying in is much more like a community house with multiple people from different backgrounds. We’ve talked about doing some stuff together as housemates (hasn’t happened yet), but I think in the future it will. Having people to do something with occasionally is actually really nice, traveling and never having any friends around is actually very lonely…even for an introvert. Everything you do is alone, and we are created to be social and live in some form of community. 

I knew that constant change would be an unavoidable aspect of travel nursing, what I didn’t know is how well I would respond to the stress. I feel like the second adjustment has been harder than the first one. Is it because I came from a stable place into extreme change and could adapt better? Or am learning how to make constant change a more normal part of my life and therefore it may get worse before better. Or is it just this place is a little more overwhelming with the size of the hospital and the amount of people and traffic in this area. It will be interesting to see how I respond to the third contract I take. 

            When I get super stressed and overwhelmed my introverted tendencies come out and I like to hide in my room and either sleep or stream TV online and not be around people. Sometimes I wonder if I like to hide too much and miss out on seeing more things…but if I’m so overwhelmed that I can’t function it’s not enjoyable and then I’m also not a 100% at work. I’ve come to the conclusion that priorities need to include taking care of myself, but also prioritizing what I really want to do in this area so that when I am going out I have a plan in place. 

            Even though I stay the constant change has been difficult at times, I really do love being able to see other parts of the country! Philadelphia had tons of early American history and great foods!!! Now I’m excited to explore the nation’s capital and see what all D.C. has to offer.