Welcome to Washington DC ! Majestic city, awesome Fulbright family!
Back to one afternoon. Having been caught in the grind of work. I received a call from a Moroccan Fulbright grantee: You are a DA Fulbright grantee !! Wow, at last a dream coming true!The excitement started right away and kept rolling into a bigger ball. Everyday after was a mixed feeling experience:A first-hand taste of U.S culture adventure,growth, expertise earned,loads of work,apprehension...All would converge at times to cause a mix of extreme joy and burdensome concern for the upcoming challenge. From Casablanca to Charles De Gaulles airport, not much to say, but once setting foot in Dulles airport, Washington on August 7th, much startes to unfold beginning with high security measures that welcomed us to the Uncle Sam land
. Long flights , costing approximately 12 hours although at Dulles, the clock only signals 3.40 p.m. Welcome my first jet lag experience ever... My friends and I were under the spell of the huge airport with its unparalleled facilities... Awesome views indeed! My friend inquired about a taxi ( Yes, a well-tended, comfortable and perfectly-equipped car), then we could share one to our destination, Madison Loews hotel, a majestic hotel with a lot of grandeur about it...Great, One wouldn't have hoped for something better
Fascinating! Amazing!So cool! These are my responses most often during my short/long stay in the U.S capital, not Capitol ;)
So much happened during the orientation week in Washington DC that description would be an unfaithful, untrustworthy servant! But let me put the maximum in the minimum.
The checking-in was so smooth with those elegant, prim, formal-looking but friendly Loews Madison hotel staff. Monday was for relaxing and handling our jet lag -How thoughtful of the IIE staff!-
Exhaustion surrendered trying given the overwhelming desire and excitement to get lost in Washington DC and be the explorer!Streets, buildings, passers-by...etc, all looked magnificent-or maybe this was a cultural shock reaction- and deserved our first mobile shots.We ended by getting dinner at a friendly fast-food restaurant: a badly-needed pizza after a long journey!
Reception dinner was the next day: getting to know the IIE staff, Fulbrighters, U.S department of state representatives, Alumni...Wow! Overwhelming indeed! Now I belong to large, worldwide family: Fulbright!
Alumni did an amazing job, they proudly talked about their experiences, and thus put us in the picture about what to expect: They were in our shoes once,no wonder!
Presenters, IIE staff (Holly Emert, Angelica Serna and Becky Zook), CIEDR program director,Jacob Butler, shared interesting presentations and workshops about every aspect of the DA Fulbright program. In all honesty, I started worrying about fulfilling the promise! High expectations placed on us! Yes , we can was my next step: It's about pushing the elephant as one of the Alumni beautifully put it.On Thursday, Celebration of world cultures: music,dance, poetry..etc. My Moroccan friends and I performed two typically Moroccan dances: They stirred the audience and had them join us harmoniously following moves!
Either organised by IIE or triggered by our super fascination with the city, we hd the chance to see places, take pictures, talk to people in the streets, curiosity accounted for that, accounting for this is needless.
Viting the white house, the capitol, Licoln memorial, washington memorial, space museum were but some of our "personal achievement".
Saturday, August 12th was the outset for the real stuff: The Fulbright journey towards success! More to come!
Here are some shots of Washington week:
