<p>Just popping in to add that taking the Metro just one stop outbound from AU (as well as taking a convenient bus that stops right on campus) brings you to the Chevy Chase (MD) downtown area, where there’s a multiplex movie theater and lots of shopping. American is within DC’s city limits, and getting from there to the various other points of interest in DC is no more difficult or time consuming than traveling between neighborhoods in any major city–think Upper West Side to Park Slope in NYC, for example.</p>