Ah, folks, gather around, because it’s storytime with “Hans”, coming straight out of the chaotic, wonderful city of DC. Now, let me tell you about a little secret from my salad days when I was greener than the money in a lobbyist’s pocket. Yeah, school was technically where I was supposed to be, soaking up algebra and the periodic table. But come on, who could stay put knowing there was a whole world of knowledge just a metro ride away? So, I played hooky. That’s right, I was a truant with a cause!
Every morning, just like clockwork, while the other kids zipped up their backpacks, I was slipping out the back door, heading for the Red Line. Not to some dingy arcade or a rundown movie theater—no, sir! I was on my way to the Smithsonian. It was like swapping a cage for a vast savannah. The Smithsonian wasn’t just a museum; it was my classroom, my jungle gym, my think tank. While my classmates were drooling on their desks during second period snooze-fests, I was standing nose-to-nose with the Spirit of St. Louis or eyeballing the Hope Diamond without a glass case between us.
And here’s the kicker—everything I know, everything that makes me “Hans,” I got from those hallowed halls of the Smithsonian. The real education, the kind that sticks to your ribs like Thanksgiving dinner. Politics, art, history, science—you name it. It was all there, laid out like a buffet, and I feasted on it like a king! All those facts, those artifacts, they didn’t just fill my head; they made me who I am.
So, while the truancy officers were scratching their heads, wondering where that kid had scampered off to again, I was time-traveling through human genius, getting my real education. And you know what? I wouldn’t change a thing. Not for all the diplomas in the world. Because in those quiet, sprawling galleries, I learned something more valuable than what traditional school could ever offer: I learned how to think, how to explore, and how to trust my own brain. And let me tell you, that’s the real ticket to anywhere you want to go. Not just on the Red Line, but anywhere in life.
