Sit down. Reflect.

I've not written here for too long. I've settled into DC and am liking it a lot more than I did when I first got here - I actually felt terrible about having to leave New York a couple of weekends ago. But now that I've spent some time here and gotten to know some of the people, I can truly say that I'm very happy to be here.

It's not easy to uproot yourself from the comfort of home, and with the thrill of independence comes additional responsibilities. What I've loved about the States so far is how much easier it is to just meet and have conversations with people. Sure, you're not going to be best friends with everyone, but just that heightened possibility of making a lasting connection is so... attractive to me. So attractive that I actually find myself thinking of coming back to live here after I graduate. Which is very premature but also an interesting development. I don't need to be a highly-paid lawyer. Hell, I don't need to be a lawyer. I'd trade being a big fish in a small pond for being a fish in the large ocean. All this may change, and today Michael said something that I won't forget for a long time (something to the effect of how I shouldn't waste the opportunity he thinks I have to rise to the top of the legal profession), but right now I can envision myself earning a reduced - but still decent - paycheck, being able to get off work at 6 everyday and having the weekends to myself, living in this great country and among these wonderful people.

Sweet dream or beautiful nightmare? Either way I don't want to wake up.

The Outlaw party last weekend was held in this beautiful place called Artists' Inn Residences, on R street in Dupont, inside one of those lovely houses we walked past when I was in DC in Dec and marveled at. I did quite a bit last weekend. Went up to Ikea in College Park and reveled in the vaguely familiar Swedish meatballs, went for hot yoga with Michael and Keith at this cute place called Down Dog, headed to a club called Cobalt after the above-mentioned Outlaw party, had breakfast at this wonderful bookstore cum cafe (located at the back of the bookstore) called Kramer's (last photo above), did a spot of studying in Dupont the next day and chatted with this cute blonde sales associate in the G-star store at Dupont. Oh I should have gotten a number :(

Yesterday (Friday) night, I headed out to meet some of the Outlaw people at Nellie's, whose four walls (and open-air balcony on the second floor) contained the greatest number of gorgeous people I have seen in quite some time - or ever. You can go crazy just looking around at the people there.

Today I headed to the Georgetown main campus for this event called Homecoming, which is basically an alumni-sponsored beer festival. For 10 dollars, you get all the beer you can drinks plus unlimited pizza, burgers, hotdogs, ice cream and the like. They even had a band playing on stage and a whole buncha Hoyas jumping up and down - they don't really know how to dance - to the music. Mike then brought me to this Chinese tea house in the Georgetown neighborhood and I had a tea called the floating lantern. The tea leaves are tied up to resemble what I thought was a champagne bottle cork, but when you submerge it in hot water it slowly beings to unfurl and resembles one of those red Chinese lanterns that are ubiquitous come Chinese New Year.

I'm not looked at my current situation through rose-tinted lenses. It isn't easy being new and looking and sounding different from everyone else, and I bristled last night when someone asked me - completely non-maliciously by the way - whether I understood the meaning of 'break-up' and 'trivia'. What Jin said is true - when you don't speak the same way they do, there may be the tendency to presume that your standard of English is inferior or that the scope of your vocabulary, or for that matter your understanding of what they may deem "American" terms, is limited.

But all this I shall take in stride.

JS's friend Sean is coming over from NY in a few hours, and I have a lot of work to do, so I shall sign off now and wish you all a good weekend, wherever you're reading this from. Have been in an amazing mood for the past few days. Like, amazing. I don't really know why. Something to do with living in and enjoying the moment, I think.