Most of my classmates in the MPA programme are heading to the heart of American politics, Washingston, D.C. We leave on Wednesday morning and return by Sunday morning.
Thursday is the first full day of the trip. We go to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in the morning and to the Canadian Embassy in the afternoon. In the evening we meet up with some students from the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.
On Friday, we spend most of the day at The Brookings Institution. Near the end of the day we go to Capitol Hill to learn about the role of congressional staff.
Saturday is a free day for us to explore on our own. Any suggestions on where to go or what to see? Later that evening, we board the bus drive through the night and across the country, back to Kingston.
I suggest visiting one of the Smithsonian family of museums.
The Smithsonians are great, and the Spy Museum is very interesting (although not free). In particular, the Holocaust Memorial Museum (Smithsonian and free of charge, at the corner of Indepdence and 14th sts) is very powerful.
Be sure to see the Monuments — in particular Vietnam and Korea.
The Smithsonian museums are truly great – and, hopefully, still free of charge. One could spend a week’s vacation at the Smithsonian museums, I think, and still not feel satiated.
Still, if I were back in D.C., I’d go and visit the Library of Congress during the day, and then head down to the Lincoln/Jefferson/Vietnam memorials at night. The memorials are much simpler than the busy Smithsonian displays, but no less impressive. Then again, I am a U.S. citizen, so perhaps their sentimental draw is greater to me.
However, you may want to find something that deepens your political experience while you’re down there, rather than going with the more ‘touristy’ options. That would be up to you to specialize – no shortage of think tanks, embassies and other political brain-candy in Washington.
If you’re truly stuck, just walk around and talk to whoever the protesters and lobbiers happen to be – there were always a multitude of campaigners in the nation’s capital whenever I was there, from the typical, predictable anti-war/anti-corporate/anti-US protesters to some much more interesting lobbiers.