A day in Georgetown: big university, small town

by Alice
Georgetown University Building

A day in Georgetown: University tour

Georgetown, Bethesda, Washington D.C., Friday 15th & Saturday 16th July 2016

article by : Alice

Spending a day in Georgetown

I woke up late, leaving Simone having an amazing talk with Millie ! Like the day before, we had a delicious brunch at Le Pain Quotidien and then Millie drove us so we could spend a day in Georgetown.
I wanted to go there on my “US Universities Tour” and because I was considering it for my PhD. Of course, the weather was still incredibly hot. Which, let’s be honest here, makes me extremely cranky. Even more so when we got lost. At some point, I just followed a guy who looked like a university student, then followed a family clearly there for orientation so we could finally find our way!
We roamed around the university, which is way too big for me! But very beautiful!

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Simone @ Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university’s Football Field

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

Georgetown University

Georgetown university

THE WORST DRINKS EVER – and no better news

The heat drove us away and inside a little café, where we probably had the least enjoyable tea and smoothie ever. We might not be very adventurous in our hot beverage tastes… but oh boy how bad these things were…
It was also a bit of a weird time because it was the day after a terror attack in France, which was running on TV there. It felt very weird that this was happening and that my country was on alert and mourning and me being so far…
The Turkish Coup also started when we were in that café… So we were rather worried about the world and checking news on Twitter instead of enjoying the present moment…

Georgetown University

Georgetown

The city of Georgetown

When we finally decided to get moving, we walked for half an hour in the city in order to get to the nearest Metro station. It’s actually a very cute place and we enjoyed it! There was this feeling of being in a little village that I like a lot…. It was really nice to spend a day in Georgetown and I definitely recommend it!

Georgetown University

Georgetown

Georgetown University

Georgetown

Georgetown University

Georgetown

The metro on the way back to Bethesda

The metro on the way back to Bethesda

At Bethesda, Millie drove us to the same delicious Indian restaurant for a diner before getting back home!

Saturday 16th: Last day in Bethesda and a lost credit card for me!!

Last moments in Bethesda

I woke up super late to have a swim with Simone (who did not wake up late)… We had brunch with Indian leftovers and spent the afternoon packing our bags.
Simone took a nice nap in the sun by the pool while I worked.

Simone napping by the pool

Simone napping by the pool

Steven (Millie’s son, it was his birthday!) arrived with his pregnant wife and incredibly cute daughter, one hour before we left. I was actually sad not to have met them earlier because they were very nice. We had to cut short an interesting talk about traveling because we had to leave… Millie had packed us a bag filled with food and 6 liters of water !! She also gave us neck pillows, eyemasks and a blanket for the bus ride! She was really incredible !

THE LOST CREDIT CARD

We took the metro to Union Station where the bus stop was.
While Simone looked after the bags, my mission was to get us something to eat… I got Simone a sandwich and when I finally found something vegan… my credit card was gone!! But even after looking everywhere: no luck. I asked police officers, nothing. It was the end of it: I lost my credit card in Washington D.C.!
TOTAL PANIC!!
So I went back to the bus stop (it was time, Simone was quite worried), practically crying, and had to cancel my card and move on… Which mentally took me a while… I felt mad at myself, lost without money, and guilty towards Simone for not having this card that could help us anymore. It’s not a good feeling to lose your only access to your money when you’re far away and still have almost 2 months before going back. A friend suggested I take an American Express credit card for my next trip. It turns out I might not be able to (I don’t meet the criteria to get one) but I will do my best to have a couple cards instead of just this one. Fortunately, Simone was hell bent on helping me to put this misfortune at the back of my mind… This is also one of the great perks of duo-travelling ! I can’t start to imagine how I would have felt if I was all alone with no money….

ON THE ROAD TO ATLANTA

People in this bus were incredibly noisy! Simone gave up at some point and went to ask a guy to turn down the sound of the thing he was watching on his phone… (that says a lot, because Simone has a great(er) tolerance (than me) for noise). Also, the lady behind us stayed on the phone until midnight which made it hard to try and get some sleep before that.
Simone slept a little but I didn’t before at least 1am… It was a pretty rough ride, knowing what was waiting for us. The next destination was Charleston, in South Carolina. But in order to get there by bus, we had to spend a day in Atlanta before taking an overnight bus to Charleston that would stop for a few hours in the middle of the night in Savannah (Georgia). Fun !!!

On the way from Washington to Atlanta

On the way from Washington to Atlanta

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21 comments

Colleen 24 October 2016 - 1 h 39 min

I love the cupcake place in DC! I need to go back and explore the campus more!

Reply
Hanani 24 October 2016 - 4 h 58 min

Beautiful architecture! I wish my uni looks like this.

Reply
Alice & Simone 24 October 2016 - 13 h 50 min

Yeah it’s pretty beautiful… America has a lot of gorgeous universities. The university I did my bachelor at looked really terrible so I know how you feel but since I’m in my masters degree I’m now also enrolled (it’s a joint universities program) at the Sorbonne (and I wonder at it’s beauty every time I step in) and Ecole Normale Supérieure which is also beautiful.
Alice.

Reply
Sheena 24 October 2016 - 7 h 27 min

What an adventure you had! And this all happened in one day?! Georgetown looks like a nice place, I love the architecture of the University. I look forward to reading about your time in Charleston!

Reply
Alice & Simone 24 October 2016 - 13 h 52 min

Two days, actually. I mean Georgetown one day and the lost credit card on the second 😉 Georgetown did look stunning but it’s so big ! I think too big for me, I’m used to just 1 building as a university so this is huge ! Charleston was quite interesting, I hope you’ll like the post !

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Kelly Turpin 24 October 2016 - 11 h 00 min

Travelling can have so many ups and downs! We have had our credit cards canceled several times during our travels and it is a real pain! The old university buildings look amazing!

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Alice & Simone 24 October 2016 - 13 h 53 min

For some reason I never thought I’d lose my card in the States, and I was stunned when my banker told me he couldn’t send me one abroad. I was so fortunate to be traveling with my husband otherwise I’m sure I would have ended up finding a solution but it would have been way more stressful ! The old buildings really looked amazing, it was a nice walk around !

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Lauren West 24 October 2016 - 16 h 01 min

That’s terrible that you lost your credit card! Luckily you weren’t alone, though :). The photos of the campus of Georgetown are beautiful! Hope you enjoyed your trip to the States!

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Alice & Simone 24 October 2016 - 16 h 04 min

Yes, I would have felt really bad if I had been by myself… especially as my banker said he couldn’t send me one abroad ! Thank you for the pictures, it is a gorgeous place. We really enjoyed it, can’t wait to go back !
Alice.

Reply
neha 25 October 2016 - 9 h 55 min

Wow! I simply loved the pictures. I love this kind of architecture. And coming to the story, looks like you had quiet an adventure. That is why its said we can never be totally prepared when we travel and explore

Reply
Alice & Simone 25 October 2016 - 10 h 57 min

Thank you ! I really love this kind of architecture too ! Definitely an adventure, I totally agree with you and I really felt like I had missed something so important in my preparation… Trying to prepare myself better for the next trip to Asia 😉
Alice.

Reply
Michaela Harrison 25 October 2016 - 11 h 28 min

Love the architecture! So much history in this town, the photos are great.

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Alice & Simone 25 October 2016 - 11 h 29 min

Me too I love the architecture. Thank you !

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SARA BERNARD BERNARD 25 October 2016 - 13 h 27 min

Georgetown seems quite a village! Besides the university campus, I guess that gives a sense of a bigger place! Those days were rough between the France attack and the Turkish coup (we were also on holidays & we live in Istanbul), but the rest of the trip seemed really nice.

Reply
Alice & Simone 25 October 2016 - 15 h 36 min

Yes it’s a very interesting place ! And these days were pretty worrying yes… It’s not always easy to find the balance between disconnecting and awareness !
Alice.

Reply
One Tech Traveller 26 October 2016 - 15 h 03 min

Great to see lots of pictures about Georgetown haven’t been before and shame it was during the time of the French attacks but still made for an adventure!

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Alice & Simone 26 October 2016 - 16 h 49 min

Glad you liked the pictures 🙂 Thank you !
Alice.

Reply
Munchkin Treks 30 October 2016 - 17 h 41 min

What great photos capturing the historical buildings on the campus! I’ve never been to Georgetown University, but I’d like to visit someday. It has a great reputation. I’m sorry to hear about your credit card.

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Alice & Simone 1 November 2016 - 14 h 39 min

Thank you ! We had a great time there !

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Janine Good 31 October 2016 - 6 h 20 min

The architecture truly was beautiful too look at through your photos! It reminded me of the Cambridgeshire university campuses where I lived in the UK!

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Alice & Simone 1 November 2016 - 14 h 40 min

Thank you I’m really glad you think so ! Yes that’s what I like about this kind of universities, that feeling of old castle that you can easily find in Europe 🙂
Alice.

Reply

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