The Path Less Traveled

by Haleigh Cadd (’21)

Today is Friday. Or, it was, when I sat down to write this.

Friday is speaker day at Wake Washington. And we usually relocate to the Wake Washington Center from our apartments for speakers. After we finish talking with our last speaker, we have nothing else on our calendars–unless we really want to start on our homework. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with myself after walking back home down Massachusetts Avenue.

“Home.”

I have such an addiction of calling places I won’t spend more than three months “home.” However, as a college student who has basically lived out of a suitcase for the past four years, this is how I adapt: I call wherever I can memorize a run route “home.”

Today, I got lost in DC on said memorized running route towards the Lincoln Memorial.

There were about 60% more tourists wandering about the National Mall than I’ve seen so far. I could tell they were tourists because they weren’t wearing masks or were huddled over their phones in groups of four, probably each studying Waze maps.

I think it takes me about 18 minutes to jog to the Lincoln Memorial from 425 L Street, and it would have taken me about thirty minutes to walk back to L Street–if I went the right way. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t really know what to do with myself on Fridays since homework feels less than pressing and our speakers are usually scheduled through lunchtime. So, today, I didn’t go back home the same way. Instead, I wanted to explore this side of DC–without following any route I’ve taken before.

I crossed the street–away from the National Mall–and walked past Fourth, Third, and Second Streets. There were no tourists in this area–but there weren’t really people around, either. I glanced at my phone–my battery only had 10% power left. I didn’t know exactly where I was in relation to any street that would take me to 425 L Street. Sorry, Mom!

But, you know what? I found a new running route–which I wouldn’t have found if I didn’t go explore. All I had on me was a solid pair of running shoes, my ID, my phone, and my apartment key. If I was within walking distance–I could get anywhere.

Also, you have proof, here, that I survived this deviation from my plan.

If I was a freshman coming to Wake Washington, I don’t think I would have gotten cheerfully lost today. This is because freshman Haleigh wouldn’t have imagined going running in Washington, D.C. by herself with only 10% of phone battery left.

Studying abroad–on any continent, even if it’s your home one–teaches you how to be confident with the unknown. For instance, on campus my day-to-day is pretty predictable. I have classes, I do my homework, I see my friends, I go to bed. I don’t set out every day to see what’s on the other side of Polo Road.

Thus, right now, to be able to test-drive a new city, while also getting class credit, is a blessing I didn’t know I needed.

One day before I left for Wake Washington in August, I walked into my dad’s office with a sense of dread because it was my senior year and what was I doing? I told him all of this through a few tears because I didn’t know if my decision to come was absolutely foolish.

Then, he reminded me that if I wasn’t at Wake Washington, I would be doing the same thing that I’ve been doing that summer and for the past four years at Wake: I would be walking down the same path I’ve crossed over hundreds of times. He reminded me that one of the primary reasons I applied to this program was to get more job experience and to start building my network in my possible future home city.

Both at Wake Washington–where I am slowly developing a game plan for how I want to shape my post-undergrad career while also living in a world-famous city–and at the Worrell House, I deviated from my original four-year plan. I also had to break away from the pattern that my friends were engaging in. I took the path less traveled.

As a result, I’m broadening my knowledge about the world of careers, politics–which I’ve learned is a timelessly relevant subject– and I get to spend my Fridays wandering around the same streets as historically significant figures. For instance, today was probably the first time that I’ve been able to walk by the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during the day. This is the same rectangle of water that can be seen in hundreds of photographs dating from around 1914 when the Lincoln Memorial was built.

Wake Washington is not a path that everyone will take. It requires an intentional deviation from the norm to commit to it. But I’m here–and I have the opportunity to get lost in the same place that soldiers stood guard in 1941 and where MLK gave his I Have a Dream speech at the March on Washington in 1963. And I have the opportunity to be in these places on my weekly run.