GW isn’t shy about billing itself as a destination school smartly located in the hub of one of America’s most important cities. To promote our location, the University has even created the Twitter hashtag #onlyatGW to encourage students to share their experiences.

Of course, it is exciting to live and learn in the District. Internships are easy to get, you can study at the Library of Congress and students sometimes run into senators while grocery shopping.

But this type of access comes with a price: the logistical headaches of running a city filled with the world’s most powerful people.

I experienced the most recent example Tuesday when the Vern Express was delayed from both campuses for almost 45 minutes as President Barack Obama’s motorcade shut down Rock Creek Parkway and snarled downtown traffic. It certainly didn’t help that apparently no one in city government knows how to properly operate a snow plow even during even the puniest of snow storms.

A mass of us huddled outside Somers Hall in sub-freezing temperatures, muttering things like “Thanks, Obama.”

These delays caused by the leader of the free world are thrilling when you’re a first-semester freshman experiencing the city for the first time. But by sophomore year, the novelty of the Secret Service delaying your much-needed trip to Chipotle wears off quickly.

And those who were nearly 45 minutes late to their midterms on Foggy Bottom were definitely not laughing. Once we pushed our way inside the Vex, traffic kept us at a standstill for another 20 minutes.

It’s fun to brag to your friends about how close you live to Obama, but students at New York University actually see Alec Baldwin almost every day – and he doesn’t shut down half the city just because he leaves his house. (Okay, maybe he’d be annoying to run into.)

These types of #onlyatgw irritations, especially the federal government’s obsession with motorcades, irk even the oldest District residents. D.C. Mayor and GW alumnus Vincent Gray even went as far as to write a letter to the Secret Service this week calling recent street shutdowns disrespectful to the city and its inhabitants.

Let’s be honest: Huffing and puffing from D.C. officials won’t eliminate the traffic problems that come with with motorcades – the federal government doesn’t even let the District approve its own budget by itself.

We just have to sit back, enjoy the traffic and keep tweeting.

Jonah Lewis, a sophomore majoring in political science and sociology, is a Hatchet columnist.