A world apart from Salisbury, the 115th Congress convened last week.

They convened surrounded by buildings seemingly all covered by the same off-white color. Cars waited less than a second before honking to notify others that a traffic light had changed colors. Every vehicle inside of the security perimeter seems to be a black SUV with windows tinted too dark to see inside.

The faint, or even potent, odor of marijuana wafts through parts of Washington, D.C. just beyond the congressional office buildings and meeting rooms.

More than the experiences immediately surrounding the U.S. Capitol building, the ones inside seemed surreal.

I was there to write stories about our local representatives. One was taking his first oath of office. The other took his third oath of office.

I’d talked to both of them too many times to count during community meetings, following campaign events or during phone interviews. This time, the backdrop of Washington, D.C., made things notably different.

Instead of ordinary hallways, the Capitol’s passageways were decorated with intricate paintings. Floors in less-trafficked hallways shone brightly enough to be used as a mirror. Even the relatively mundane hallways are extraordinary for those who don’t travel through the building daily.

As I interviewed our congressmen, pounded out a story on a keyboard or waited for an interview, it was impossible to avoid marveling at the structures that surrounded me.

It was difficult to avoid marveling at human behavior and faces among the crowds of people, too.

Sure, there was the unnecessary political grandstanding, which is to be expected. The scale of the media in the room was surprising. Perhaps that should have been expected, too. Dozens of print journalists filled the House Press Gallery. At one point, I walked into the gallery after conducting interviews and every one of the chairs was filled.

When you’re not covering Congress daily, it’s also strange to see well-known politicians in person. On the first day of the session, family members and congressmen filled the hallways of the Capitol as they waited in line for pictures with House Speaker Paul Ryan or exited the photo room.

As I sat and chatted with staffers or visitors, faces making national news nightly passed by. Amid the crowd, I thought I spotted former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Taken together, it would be quite an experience for anyone who hasn’t been to Washington, D.C. before. Even for those who have previously visited as a tourist, experiencing Congress as a reporter would be a unique experience. Perhaps the U.S. Capitol experience is a culture shock for newly sworn-in congressmen, too.

At one point in the day, I received some sage advice that made the experience more unique. A staffer said the building remained open until midnight. He recommended walking around after finishing my stories. When I did, the hallways that were packed to the brim just hours earlier were silent. A few TV cameras sat in one corner of a room near the Capitol Rotunda and I spied a police officer or two, but the masses of visitors and lawmakers were absent. The marvels of architecture in the Capitol were even more impressive amid silence.

With only two days in Washington D.C., the experience was like a brief plunge into polar water. It was a world away from anything one might experience in Salisbury.

It may require a career change, but, if you visit Washington, D.C., do it as a newspaper reporter. It’s unlike any other experience you’d have as a tourist.

Reporter Josh Bergeron covers county government, politics and the environment for the Salisbury Post.