3 Days in Washington D.C. with NSLI-Y
A weekend in D.C. to attend a storytelling workshop with NSLI-Y.
Four years ago, I went on the NSLI-Y Korean program to Seoul, South Korea. I think NSLI-Y was a pivotal experience for me because it was the first time I truly went abroad, or went anywhere without my parents.
It’s been four years now and I often think about my experience on NSLI-Y, even after I did the Critical Language Scholarship in a completely different language. It completely changed my life and the way I see the world, if I’m going to be honest.
They had a storytelling contest in late 2021/early 2022 and I submitted a poem to it, which they then published on NSLI-Y Interactive. Then, in like February, I was contacted asking if I wanted to attend a workshop on storytelling facilitated by NSLI-Y in Washington D.C. and if you know me, storytelling is my favorite activity. I said yes immediately. Now it’s late April and May, the time has come, and it was a great experience.
Almost twenty alumni, including our ambassadors, congregated in D.C. to learn about authentic storytelling.
I left for Washington D.C. at eleven on a Friday. I live in Baltimore, so it wasn’t that much of a trek, and my pickup point was the BWI Amtrak station. My sister drove me there and told me I had to pay the tolls (sad face), then I got on my Amtrak train for thirty minutes.
The drop-off point was Union Station in the heart of the city, and a worker from American Councils came to pick us up. We hailed a cab then headed over to the American Councils.
Almost everyone except the two of us on the train flew in, so the majority of people were already there. We checked in, got our swag list (we were given $60, a nice NSLI-Y tote bag, a water bottle, a notebook, etc.), then grabbed lunch. The entire workshop we were given three meals a day. Lunches and breakfast were catered from nearby establishments, while dinners were at restaurants.
Our group largely consisted of Korean and Russian alumni. The majority were those two, but then we also had an Indonesian, Persian, Arabic, and Chinese alumni each. Another girl and I were the oldest two there, at age twenty-one, while many of the alumni mentioned they were preparing to go on the in-person programs this summer. I didn’t really feel the age gap in my interactions, which felt nice.
Quite a few incoming CLS kids were there are as well. A lot of the younger alumni present had experienced the virtual program, except for the lucky group of Seoul kids that had the opportunity to go last year. The oldest of us were ancient compared to the youths because we went full-on years before the newest batch.
The first night was rather relaxed. We checked in at the hotel, changed into formal attire, then met a representative from the State Department.
She gave a speech about her time in foreign service, then asked if we had any questions. We then progressed into a basic presentation about powerpoints and whatnot as a mode of storytelling and how to make something visually appealing. After that, it transitioned into icebreakers where if you won the competition, you got a NSLI-Y hoodie (spoiler: we all got NSLI-Y hoodies on the second day).
I absolutely loved the American Councils office. It’s designed with Islamic architecture in mind, so the archways are sloped like you’d see in the Middle East, there are photographs all over the walls with images from Central Asia, and then there are Turkish lamps on the staircases. I was absolutely in love with their office, you have no idea about how much I just stared at the walls.
After we wrapped up at American Councils, we all went to dinner at City Tap in Dupont. We were allowed the freedom to leave at night as long as we didn’t go alone, so people scattered. A big group of us ended up going to get boba at Gong Cha, which was pretty great. I got the strawberry marble tea. 10/10 but it was a little sweet.
Days Two and Three
The next day, we got up bright and early for our call time of 9:30. This was the bulk of our trip, as we met with The Moth people. The Moth is a nonprofit organization dedicated to storytelling and they were the ones running the workshop. So at American Councils, we split up after eating breakfast into groups of six or seven.
We had one The Moth leader sitting with us as we talked about what makes a good story, then we ran through our stories. The guy would talk through them with us, which was insanely helpful, and gave tips to really flesh it out and dig to its core.
We broke for lunch, then continued what we were doing for an hour. One member from each of the groups presented their story (all were amazing), we were given free books published by The Moth, then we wrapped up that schedule for the day.
We walked to the White House and monuments, taking tourist pictures wherever we went, then ordered Ubers around the Department of Commerce to go to Bangkok Joe’s, a restaurant on the Georgetown Waterfront. We ate there happily, but then the waitress forgot my pho, so I ended up having to rush while eating.
Our final activity was a ghost tour around Lafayette Square and the White House. It was okay, the woman running it was very enthusiastic so her passion made up for it. After that, we were left to our own devices, so some of us went to Chinatown, others Embassy Row, and my group went to Shake Shack to get fries and milkshakes. We chatted about the Seoul program while we were there, which was also nice.
The last day we ate breakfast at American Councils, then filmed our stories for the NSLI-Y crew before departing for the airport (or, in Estelle’s and my case, the Amtrak Station).
We had to check out of the hotel by twelve, so we hung out in the American Councils kitchen just chatting and prepping to tell the stories we had made the previous day.
We stayed at a hotel that was a five minute walk from the office maximum, so that was nice as well. We had rooms to ourselves due to the COVID concerns (we had to take COVID tests coming to the workshop, then the first night we had to take another one), and the hotel was quite nice. I especially enjoyed the fact they put a tiny bendable reading lamp right next to the pillows.
I had trouble sleeping so I spent a lot of time using those lamps. I also appreciated how cautious they were about COVID. We had to wear masks when it came to the events, which was ideal considering we came into contact with people from the State Department, American Councils, and The Moth.
The most we walked was on the second day, when we went to the White House, monuments, and then walked from Georgetown all the way back to the White House. We took quite a few Ubers and taxis to get to dinner on the second day, as we had to go from the Washington Monument to the Georgetown Waterfront. The only other times we walked were for like boba or Shake Shack.
All in all, the experience was awesome. I met a ton of alumni I never knew would have existed because we were on different programs, and it was really nice to see people who had lived through the same experience you once went through (especially in the case of the Seoul alumni). The workshop was really nice, I felt like I learned something through it and that I definitely will take some of those skills and implement them in my everyday life. It was a great experience, and I definitely will cherish it.
