Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. city, the repository of political power! Haha, whatever the case, this city is beautiful and some of its renowned architecture naturally inspired awe in me. Roman pillars, the Capitol Building, museums...all speak volumes about the rich and dignified history of the United States of America.

I guess USA is the only world superpower not without good reasons. All its major institutions are well-organised in an orderly fashion and there is a palpable pride of the people in their shared history. This comes with the maturing of the state over time and does not come naturally to young nations with colonial memories that cannot be shaken off easily. I think political struggles in the past also serves to make a triumphant nation more resilient and united in the face of adversity. This is my sense of the substratum of the american society. I think heritage and the associated pride define who the americans are, and how they assertively juxtapose themselves vis-a-vis the rest of the world.

But of course, America is far from flawless. I have yet to visit the seedier parts of the country, nor will I stay here long enough to find out more about this country.

In any case, over-consumption is a real problem in USA. The food portions are so big (and the price is equally huge)! Like for dinner tonight at the Union Station, Michelle and almost all of us could not finish our food. So wasteful.

I went around looking for noodles with soup at the Union Station and I was so surprised that there was not a single chinese food stall! In the end I had to settle for oily tepanyaki style noodles. I miss hot and soupy chinese food!

Meetings with people at the Tillar House was good. We had 3 speakers, Rafael, someone from WB and Scott Lyons. Rafael is such a charismatic speaker such that it hardly felt like a 'lesson' on the EU at all. With his lead, the discussions were so spontaneously rigorous. Really admirable and smart guy. WB person was regular and Scott was very helpful.

Walk around capitol building was fun and time well spent. We took some photos and it struck me that Canadians, despite being fellow North Americans in close proximity, generally do not identity with anything in the US. US is in a sense in a little capsule of its own.

I'm feeling very tired now from a long day!! I need to go to bed now as tmr I have to wake up at 8am for another day that is set to be more tiring!