When I first decided to come to ISH, I feverishly poured over the student blog, seeking any insight I could into what life on the other side of the world in this old mansion would be like.

I was particularly comforted by Katherine’s blog, who spoke in joyful, vivid terms of her time at the house. She recounted one moment where she and her fellow residents were gathered around the piano singing and she felt this moment of pure joy.

I had that moment yesterday, under very different circumstances. A handful of us were out in the garden, soaking up the new spring sunshine. Someone suggested music, and then the Beatles and then we were all singing along to ‘Let it Be’. I smiled and laughed and felt at peace. Then reality hit, and I almost cried.

As you’ve probably heard, the world is shutting down. Everyone is retreating to their home countries to ride out the wave. I’ve had to make the heart-breaking decision to do the same. My final days at ISH were supposed to be a celebration in May. Warm weather, my family visiting me, trips to the Mall to marvel at the colours.

None of that will happen now, but I don’t want my time blogging to end on a similarly sad note. ISH has been the greatest decision I ever made. Mundane things – breakfast, brushing my teeth, going to the grocery store, studying – have been made into incredible memories because of the people around me. Even now, my fellow residents are the ones holding me together and making me smile.

So what will I remember? Not the uncertainty of these last few days.

I’ll remember the walks around the neighbourhood, usually to the local dog park to spy on puppies.

I’ll remember the smell of Sunday dinner cooking at the house and the jokes we would make week in and week out about the menu options that Sunday (“Could it be salmon today?”)

I’ll remember the movie nights, particularly singing along to Mamma Mia or loudly correcting the inaccuracies in National Treasure (“No that’s not where the Washington Monument would be in the background if you drove South-West from the Mall, listen to me, I’m a local.”)

I’ll remember mornings working on the front desk, greeting each person as they left for their day and trying to see if I could remember every name and every place they were heading (“School, embassy, non-profit, embassy, World Bank, embassy.”)

I’ll remember sitting in the Great Hall, sometimes alone and just soaking in the incredibly rich history of the place we are all so privileged to call home.

ISH is an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life. In these uncertain times I find myself thinking how privileged I was to travel and live abroad and to connect with people from all around the world.

To the ISH staff, I will never forget your generosity and diligent care.

To my fellow ISH residents, you never knew how much you made each day for me better than the previous one. You are family.

To future ISH residents – I hope when you arrive, the world is a little less chaotic. But if things remain uncertain, know that you are in the best possible place. You are home.

I will now interrupt my regular style of blog post (events) to bring you a little snapshot of life at ISH. This month, I am writing about the library – bear with me, I promise this will be as informative and entertaining as my posts about DC events.

The main building of ISH (we have three: Main, Van Slyck and Marpat) houses most of our communal rooms, including the Library. It is my favourite room in the house, and yes that means in my mind it beats out the gorgeous Great Hall, and even the dining hall where you can find good conversation and if you’re lucky, crispy American bacon.

So, why the library?

Well firstly, it’s the books. I am a book worm, a book nerd, a book fiend, whatever title you like. I love the smell of an old bookstore and could spend hours browsing the shelves down at Kramerbooks and Afterwords or Second Story books. Our library has books stacked to the ceilings and then some. It is a treasure trove of memories of residents who have come before and left a piece of themselves behind. Here is just a selection I found from a quick lap of the room: “For Love of Country: The National Heroes of Barbados”; “Treasures from the Kremlin”; “The Complete Plays of William Shakespeare”; “Facts About Alaska”; “The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy”; and “Rival Views on Market Society.” That’s not to mention the John Grisham novels, encyclopedias and almanacs and the myriad of books in languages other than English. I often go looking for the perfect next bedtime reading book but find myself lost in a sea of choices. Sure, I could pick an easy-going romance but perhaps I should educate myself about macroeconomics in South-East Asia?

The library is also the designated movie room. Here we have watched many classics: from Les Miserables and Forrest Gump to using it as an excuse to rediscover our inner child with Hercules and Shrek. On any given day at any given time you will find someone watching sport: American football, basketball, soccer, rugby, the odd boxing match and, of course, the best sport of all – Democratic debates. I am sorely disappointed that I will not be in the House for the Olympics which I am sure will mean the television is never off!

Of course, it’s also a place for a quiet moment. A spot to catch up on your readings, write a blog post, perhaps sneak in a nap on the ridiculously comfortable couches. It’s often the scene of late-night chats over a cup of tea, as residents confide in each other their stresses and failures but also their hopes and dreams.

Every day I walk through the library to and from the way from my room and it makes me smile. It occurs to me that while I still have over three months left in the House, I have already begun to miss it.

When I heard that it was a tradition at ISH that students would host Cultural Nights, I was determined I would do one for Australia. A more daunting challenge then you think, whilst Australian is a beautiful, diverse, multicultural country, it is difficult to celebrate one thing that makes Australia, well, Australia. We do not have a singular cultural dress or music or food. But that does not mean we do not have a culture to share with the rest of the world, and so, on 26 January I armed myself with a flag, some Vegemite and an inflatable kangaroo, and was ready to show my fellow house mates the best of Australia I could offer (or at least, the best I could find in Washington, DC).

Here’s how it went down.

Food

As the traditional barbeque (a “sausage sizzle”) would not make much sense in the middle of an American winter, I opted for an array of Australian snacks. With mostly sweets to be found at World Market, I let my house mates know that they could feast on chocolate-covered honeycomb bites, ANZAC biscuits, Darrell Lea liquorice and – most importantly – Tim Tams, if they humoured me and tried some Vegemite first.

I am delighted to say everyone rose to the challenge, and all who came to the cultural night tentatively smeared Vegemite on a cracker and nibbled at one end, unsure of whether they were going to like the famed spread or not. In the end, Vegemite received its usual mixed reception, but Tim Tams and Bundaberg Ginger Beer won the day.

Australia treats to try

Music

Earlier in the week I had procrastinated from my assigned readings and curated a play list of Australian classics that would form the background music for my cultural event. The greatest part of this turned out to be the international knowledge of most songs, but not that they were in fact Australian artists. I am happy to confirm that John Farnham, Tones and I, 5 Seconds of Summer, the Veronicas and Keith Urban are indeed all Australian.

Slang

As a little bonus activity, I had a game ready for the residents, ‘Guess the Australian Slang’ with the promise of a small soft toy kangaroo as a prize to the person who guessed the meaning most slang terms. Many put in their best effort, and whilst terms of British origin such as ‘bloke’ (a man) were frequently guessed correctly, more abstract terms (cark it, fair dinkum, uey and yakka) left many scratching their heads. I’ll leave you to take your best guesses!

Imparting some facts and wisdom

Knowledge

Truly though, the greatest part of the cultural night was how open and willing my fellow house mates were to learn about my country, its history, politics, culture and the ongoing bush fire crisis. Residents asked me serious and thought-provoking questions and many asked if my family were safe from the fires.

It is moments like these that remind me what a treasured community ISH is.

Just me, a happy little Vegemite tearing into a packet of Tim Tams

Studying in the US presents an interesting conundrum: do you stay inside and finish the paper that’s due in only a few days, or do you locate your scarf and gloves and venture outside in search of winter Christmas magic?

Christmas in Australia means a barbeque on the beach. In America, it’s the winter wonderland that Michael Bublé sings about. Sadly still no snow just yet, but when the sun sets early, the lights come on, the warm drinks come out and the Christmas music abounds.

Despite having to study right up until I got on the plane for my little Christmas break in Colorado, I made sure to soak in as much of the DC Christmas spirit as possible. These were a few highlights:

1. Georgetown GLOW: Georgetown encourages DC residents to brave the chilly nights by setting up a number of light installations. You can see all of them within a quick walk around the neighbourhood before you hide from the cold in a bar with a warm cider. Below are two of the Georgetown GLOW installations.

2. Christmas trees out and about: DC is sprinkled with Christmas trees. Of course, there are the famous ones: the National Tree at the White House and the tree at the Capitol building. However, there are others to be spotted too: for example, the red and white tree at the Canadian Embassy or the tree Georgetown put up in the library (presumably to lift the spirits of stressed students). I even attended the lighting of the Christmas tree at City Center! Below are the trees at the Canadian Embassy; the Capitol; and at City Center.

3. Christmas carols at the Kennedy Center: Thanks to a generous ISH friend, there were a number of free tickets provided to Christmas with Choral Arts, a DC choir that put on a program of a number of Christmas carols. Nothing quite gets you in the spirit like being encouraged to sing a long with an auditorium full of your fellow concert-goers.

4. ISH decorations: Of course, there was nothing quite as special as the ISH Christmas decorations. I spent as much time as I could in the Great Hall, soaking up twinkling fairy lights and garlands. We even took a moment to take some ISH family photos, to commemorate those who had been with us for the semester.

Some of the ISH Fall Semester family

I am now on my little Christmas break but I cannot wait to come back in January. From all of us at ISH, happy holidays!