Final DC Days

I can't believe I'm actually HOME!!!  I've been waiting for this moment for so long, and it is truly wonderful.  This experience has been so hard, and I definitely have a better appreciation for my life and everything I have after going through it.

I was hoping my last week would be smooth sailing, but clearly that was too much to ask for or expect.  I'll focus on the positive for the blog though.  Monday, I went to a Clemson event with some of my coworkers after work.  We got to bowl and eat for free while meeting some Clemson alumni, Clemson students, and other staffers in the SC delegation.  That was a nice way to start out my week.  Tuesday, I got to see the Discovery shuttle on top of a 747 flying over DC on its way to the Smithsonian.  That was really cool!  It was flying pretty low and came by in four different directions.  Everyone in my office went outside to watch it.  That night, I had to present my white paper.  It went well until the question period, where my roommates completely grilled me.  Thursday, we had an end of the semester breakfast for our program with all of us and our supervisors.  The dean of the USC honors college also came, as well as the director of our program and some of our professors.  We each had to say a few words about our offices and our supervisors had to say some words about us.  I was wonderfully surprised at the things my boss had to say about me.  He said I was more like a staffer than an intern, and the reason they may have overworked me is because they trust me and that is a big deal.  It was really nice.  Thursday night in theater class, we had to present our final projects.  I think my presentation went fine, but there was some drama with everyone else.  I don't understand why people couldn't let things go during the final week, when we all would be home in a few days, but then again, I don't understand why anyone would have acted the irrational and immature way they did over the course of the semester either.  Anyway, I don't need to go into all of that on here, but I went to bed Thursday night, joyful that it would be the last time I'd have to wake up in that house.

Discovery Shuttle on 747 over the Library of Congress

Friday was my last day of work.  Mom and Dad came around 2:30, and I took them on a tour of the Capitol and our offices.  I really showed them everything, and that was fun.  We got done around 4:30, and my office said I could just leave then.  I chatted with everyone for a while before I actually left.  It was a nice talk, and I hope I showed them all how truly thankful I am for them.  Everyone in my office really made it a great experience for me.  How great they were really meant so much more than they know since I had so many issues with the roommates, the house, the professors, and the classes.  It was so nice to know I could look forward to coming to work, and my coworkers showed me so much respect and friendship.  I am already missing them.  Then we headed to the house and got my stuff packed up in record time (an hour)!  I am so glad I never have to set foot in that house again, but I am going to miss Charlotte, Seth, and Angelica terribly.  They were the best roommates I've ever had, and quickly became my best friends.  I seriously could not have survived this semester without them.  I'm so glad they were there for me, and we could vent to each other about anything.  I hope we really do stay in contact.

Charlotte, Seth, and I

Saturday, my parents and I went on a riverboat cruise to see the monuments.  I had gotten some free tickets at Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton's Ask Me About DC event on the hill a while back, and I was really excited to go.  Seeing the city by water was a really great way to conclude my DC semester.  It reminded me of how majestic and historic DC really is, which I'd maybe forgotten in living there for four months with everything else I had going on.  It was perfect weather, too - not too hot, too cold, or too windy.  I got my last amazing views of the monuments with my parents on a perfect day.

U.S. Capitol Building

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center

Watergate Complex

Next, we went to the White House for the Spring Garden Tour!  I wanted to get my parents a White House tour, since we didn't get to go when we came to DC when I was in high school.  A few weeks before this, we found out the White House would be closed on my move-out weekend.  It was odd, because they didn't say why.  Then a week or so ago, we found out they were closed because this would be the one weekend a year they do the spring garden tours, and we were able to get tickets from my office.  That was a great surprise!  The tour was awesome and so much better than the regular White House tour I went on, so we really lucked out.  The presidents plant trees on the grounds every year they are in office, so they had all of those trees labeled with the picture of the president planting it.  We also go to see the rose garden, beehive, children's garden, and kitchen garden that Michelle Obama started.  We also got to see Sasha and Malia's swingset and the oval office right next to it.  We got to walk so close to the house and that famous fountain!  It was really cool, and there were tons of great picture opportunities.  Then, when we tried to leave, they wouldn't let us out for some reason.  They were holding a bunch of us inside the gates.  Eventually, we learned it was because Obama was coming back from an event and his motorcade had to drive where we would be exiting.  We couldn't see him or even the cars too much from where we were in the crowd, but it is neat that he was so close.

So close!!!

My parents and I so close to the White House!

Me with the South Lawn

Rose Garden

Sasha and Malia's swingset and Oval Office

My parents and I with the full White House

Me at the White House!

Me with the famous fountain

White House Kitchen Garden

We grabbed a bite to eat, then headed out of town.  The drive went well, and we got home around 1:30.  To wrap up my DC semester, I thought I'd do a top 10 list of my favorite experiences, so here goes:
10. National Gallery of Art
9. Holocaust Museum
8. Natural History Museum
7. Hairspray at Signature Theater
6. Eastern Market
5. Cherry Blossom Festival (blossoms themselves, fireworks, and parade)
4. Monuments River Cruise
3. Crime and Punishment Museum
2. White House Spring Garden Tour
1. Sitting in the gallery during a vote

I'm so grateful for this semester and all it brought - the good and the bad.  I think I'm a much stronger person, because of it.  I got to do a lot of amazing things.  So I guess I'm done with college...now on to graduation and the job search!

Going Out With a Bang!

The end is in sight!  This time next week I will be home, sweet home.  I've had a pretty good week, and I think I did as much as I could this last weekend in DC!

Yesterday, I got up early (for me, on a Saturday) and walked down to Union Station to get some coffee and a delicious baked good for breakfast.  Then I headed over to Constitution Avenue by the mall for the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade.  It was a good time, though it felt kind of weird to be at a parade without my parents, especially my dad.  He is all about the parades.  There were some fairly famous people in it including Debbie Gibson, Javier Colon (winner of The Voice), Haley Reinhart (from American Idol), Gymkata (America's Got Talent), Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton, Kristi Yamiguchi, and Marie Osmond.  There were also some neat balloons of Miss Piggy, Kermit, cherry blossoms, Japanese lanterns, Scooby Doo, and the tomato and cucumber from Veggie Tales.  Of course, there were lots of marching bands, police, military, and clowns, as well.  It was pretty long (10am-12:30pm).  I was a little disappointed in some ways though.  They had all these famous singers in the parade, yet they weren't singing.  They were only riding in cars or on floats.  The gymnastics teams like Gymkata didn't stop to do any routines really either.  They just did a few flips as they walked by.  There were also some pretty big gaps in the parade.  Sheboygan's 4th of July parade has me spoiled!

Cherry blossom balloons

Cool old-fashioned dresses

Scooby Doo

Kristi Yamiguchi

After that, I headed over towards downtown and ate lunch at Potbelly's.  I then met up with one of my roommates and her sister to go to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.  We bought discounted tickets through Groupon a long time ago, but didn't find a time to go until now.  It was a lot of fun to come up with fun pictures to take with each figure.  The first section was the presidents, then there was a Hollywood section, musicians, some athletes, and news anchors.  Obviously, since its in DC, the presidents were the emphasis, and those are cool, but I think the Hollywood stars and musicians are a bit more fun.  It didn't seem that big to us.  We finished and all looked at each other and went, "that's it?" but it was definitely worth $10.  I might have been a bit more disappointed if I had paid for the full price $20 ticket.

Lincoln and I in his box at Ford's Theatre

Bill, Hillary, and I

Just making some phone calls from the Oval Office

The Obamas

George Clooney and I on our first date

Thriller!

Being interviewed by Oprah

Then, Angelica and her sister had talked about going to the Washington Nationals game since there were some discounted tickets, so we headed that way.  We got free t-shirts for filling out surveys, and the game was lots of fun!  I hadn't been to any professional sports games before I came here, and now I've been to three: basketball, soccer, and baseball.  The Nationals beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-1.

Washington Nationals vs. Cincinnati Reds

At Nationals Park

Today I started packing up some stuff in my room, went for a walk/run on the Mall, rehearsed my final presentations, and relaxed.  Only a few days of work and classes left!  I'm listening to the new Jason Mraz album as I write this (which is wonderful of course), and I just bought tickets to see him in August, which is also exciting!  I'm feeling happy and excited.

Am I done yet?

Well, to be frank, this week sucked.  Work has been really stressful and crazy.  This is one of the busiest weeks of the year for tourism in DC, since it is Easter week, and the Capitol was so packed.  I gave one tour, which turned out to be a nightmare since part of the group was late, and it was the last tour of the day so everything was closing up.  People are so rude.  They were late then complained that they didn't get to see enough.  I'm not sure what people's expectations are, but I think the Capitol is really cool!  I hate feeling like I let anyone down, but I think these people just had a bad attitude, and it wasn't me.  I guess the crowds are getting to everyone.  There were a lot of people gone from the office this week, too, so I was doing a lot.  It was nice to have more responsibility and things to do, but also not so fun since I barely had time to take a breath or eat.  I was also told I was going to be attending the Easter Egg Roll at the White House on Monday, but then a few days later learned that I couldn't go as an intern.  That was a huge heartbreak.  I mean, I never in a million years thought I would get to go to something like that so I was seriously ecstatic when I found out.  Then after being so emotionally drained all week and looking forward to that to keep me going, finding out I wouldn't be able to go was really tough.  Thank goodness I had Friday off, or I might have really gone crazy!

Thursday for theater class, we went to see Taming of the Shrew by Synetic Theater, but it wasn't typical Shakespeare at all.  It was silent!  There was music, but no words.  It was also supposed to be a modern hip hop version set in a very smutty Hollywood-type city.  It was bizarre, kind of crude, and I did not like it at all.  I don't think anyone in the house did.  It wasn't a great way to end my week or a good play to end this theater class on.

I came home on Thursday to find the cutest popcorn tin from my Aunt Jean.  I definitely needed a pick-me-up so that was just perfect!  She spoiled me too much when she was here, so I can't believe she sent me this popcorn, too!

Popcorn tin from Aunt Jean

Friday I decided to go to the Smithsonian National Zoo.  I made the mistake of waiting to eat lunch until I got there.  The zoo was crazy busy, and I had to wait probably almost 30 minutes in line to get food.  I almost felt awful and faint, because I had to wait so long.  It is not fun to feel that way when you are somewhere by yourself.  Moments of weakness like that and being surrounded by so many families at a place like the zoo reminds me of how much better it is to do things with other people instead of alone.  It is the times like those when I get a twinge of homesickness again and can't wait to just be with the people I love even doing the little, mundane things.  In general, it was hard to walk anywhere without a person or a stroller in your way as it was so busy there.  The zoo itself was cool though.  Its very big, and the big draw is the Giant Panda habitat.  I had never seen a panda before and seeing one up close was neat.  I also liked the meerkats - really cute.  There were some peacocks, which are just breathtaking, as well.  It is a lot of walking though so I was beat when I finished.

Panda!

Peacock

Flamingos

Meerkat

Saturday, I was kind of at a loss as to what to do with myself, so I decided to check out the Pentagon City Mall.  It was a pretty nice mall.  I just did a lot of looking mostly, but I did finally find myself a graduation dress at Forever 21.  I had been looking for a few weeks but didn't see anything that really hit me.  I love what I got.  I will be able to wear it to work and for other nice occasions, too.  The best part is that its bright purple!  Go Tigers!  I also bought myself a Cherry Blossom Festival shirt at Union Station on my way home.  That night there were fireworks down at the SW waterfront for the Cherry Blossom Festival, so I gathered up some of the roommates and off we went.  It was a nice show, but then the metro was crazy for a while with the huge crowd leaving the area.  We decided to try to find a restaurant or coffee shop to hang out at until the rush died down, but that was ultimately a failure so we just walked around for a good bit.

Red fireworks

Tons of gold fireworks during the finale

Today I was pretty bored and again didn't know what to do with myself.  I did my fairly regular Sunday tradition of going to Eastern Market for my favorite crepe and to look around.  I ended up just doing a work out video and watching some movies on my computer after that.  I'm really getting to the point where I'm just ready to go home.  Other than the few things I have planned for next weekend and when my parents are here to move me out the weekend after that, I'm done with everything I wanted to do and see here.  Living with 14 other people in this tiny house is wearing on a person, this week at work was crazy, and I'm done with all of my schoolwork, so I'm counting down the days.  I'm excited to get back to SC soon and be with my family and friends.  I swear this experience has made me appreciate the South so much more.  I'm craving some good BBQ and summer time fun.  It is also scary though as going home approaches since I literally have no plans after graduation day on May 11.  This has to be the first time in my life that has ever happened, and to a planner like me, that is pretty inconceivable in my mind.  As much as I'd like to relax and travel before I land a job, like everyone is telling me to, there is no way I can just sit around and not be stressing until I find something.  I want to start my life, and I want it to be the right thing, not just the available thing.  I can't rest until I find it, but the job search has been pretty sparse so far.

With the semester drawing to a close, some of you may be wondering what this blog will be afterwards.  Maybe you're not...but I guess I'm trying to answer myself on that question right now.  I still want to keep it up, though I likely won't have as many sightseeing adventures to document.  I'll probably do some general life update posts infrequently when something big happens or I take a trip.  I definitely want to write more about PR and social media related topics.  I've always wanted to since I started it, but I let the DC posts take priority for the time being.  Maybe in my unemployment I'll finally have time to be as crafty as you would think I am from looking at my Pinterest boards and post about that!  And I'll put it in writing right now so I stick to it - I want to try a diet when I get home, and I may write about how that goes.  We'll see!

Sorry for the mildly depressing post, but no worries!  I'm bringing out my favorite Coldplay and James Morrison tunes, which always feel so right and have gotten me through a lot.  I'm hoping the next two weeks are much better than this one, and I'll be home before I know it.

Official pic with Congressman Clyburn

Historic Places and a Soccer Game

Work this week was good.  I got a fairly large project to work on.  I am doing the first quarter media report, so I'm basically going through all of the news articles and interviews he has been featured in since the beginning of the year and organizing them.  I also got to take my official picture with the congressman.  I didn't have any warning so I wasn't exactly wearing what I wanted, but hopefully it looks good!  I'll put it on here when I get it back.

We saw 1776 at Ford's Theatre on Thursday night for theater class.  I had been looking forward to it all semester as I thought it would be really fun since it is a musical about the founding fathers, and its at Ford's.  The costumes, set, lighting, and singing was fun, but I was a bit disappointed overall.  It is pretty long.  The whole thing is basically about John Adams trying to convince all of the states delegates at the second constitutional convention to go for independence.  So its a lot of intricate discussions and arguments.  It was also just frigid in the theatre so it was hard to concentrate since I was so cold.

Ford's Theatre

Lincoln's Box, where he was shot

Friday night, I went to a DC United soccer game with some of my roommates.  We had gotten an email from our housing place about discount tickets for that night so we decided it would be fun to go.  It was a really good decision.  The atmosphere was so fun.  It reminded me a bit of being at a Clemson game, though not nearly as crazy, as there were a lot of college students and people my age, and everyone was really pumped.  They won 4-1 against Dallas FC.  Then we took a bus back home, which was also an entertaining choice since most of the people on it were drunk and really excited about winning.  There were definitely some DC United chants going on.

DC United soccer game

Yesterday, I went to the Library of Congress to finish up my schoolwork for good in the main reading room.  I don't think I've ever been so excited about doing work.  I could not believe I was actually sitting there just working on stuff in such an amazing room and building.  I've been meaning to go there ever since I got my reader card when I first got here, but never bothered to go.  It was another thing to check off of my to-do list, and I did it!  Now I really am done with all of my work.

I went on a run on the mall afterwards, which is the first time I've exercised since I got here (oops).  That was pretty awesome, too.  I love the mall.  There is always something going on there, too, so I stopped to watch some intense African drummers on the steps of the Natural History Museum for a few minutes in the middle of it.

Then, Charlotte, Seth, and I decided to go out to eat to celebrate us being done with our work.  We went to Ted's Bulletin on Barracks Row.  It was a really neat experience.  The decor, music, and waiters' outfits all have a 1930's feel.  The menus look like newspapers, and The Wizard of Oz was playing on TV's all around the place.  I had a burger and an orange push up milkshake.  They are also known for their homemade pop tarts, so I got a strawberry one to go to eat this morning.  I would highly recommend Ted's Bulletin.  The atmosphere is enough of a draw in itself, but the food turned out great, too.  Also, this is the first restaurant in DC I've been to that has actually split a check!!!  I don't know if I've written my rant about this on here, but it is so weird.  DC restaurants will not split checks, even when you ask ahead of time.  Usually, we end up scribbling all over the back of the receipt what each person had and their credit card number, and they end up giving it back to us 3-4 times before they actually process it to get the right amounts.  I do not understand why it is such a big deal, especially in a city full of broke interns who are eating together and obviously not paying for each other.  So them splitting the check without us even asking was pretty monumental and another reason to love it!

Today I didn't really know what to do with myself so I finally went down to Georgetown.  I have heard a lot about the area, but it isn't very metro accessible and I didn't really know what was down there so I hadn't bothered to go before this.  First, I went to a bagel place in Dupont Circle, where I got off the metro, and I had a banana nut bagel.  Interesting and delicious!  Georgetown is amazing.  It is clearly where all of the trendy people in DC hang out, and I definitely should have gone before this.  There is a lot of shopping, much of it more high class.  There are also a lot of neat little restaurants, and it is just a cool historic area.  I walked through a lot of shops, and got a couple shirts at H&M.  It was a good day.

Line as far as you can see down the road at Georgetown Cupcakes (DC Cupcakes on TLC)

This week at work will be interesting.  We are in recess so it should be pretty chill from that aspect, but a bunch of people in my office will be gone so I will have a lot more to do.  I get Friday off since it is Good Friday so I will have a long weekend, then one more weekend here before I move out!  It is April so its almost over!

Last Visitors and Wrapping Up

The House wasn't in session last week so it was pretty slow at work.  My Aunt Jean, cousin Judy, and her partner, Olivia, came to visit over the weekend.  I took them on a tour of the Capitol on Friday, and we had a nice lunch at Cosi afterward.  Unfortunately it was a bit of a gray day, as you can see in the picture.  They headed to the National Portrait Gallery, and I headed back to work.  I met up with them later to eat dinner in Chinatown.  We tried Nando's Peri-Peri, a Portuguese restuarant.  It was very good, and I'm impressed with myself that I have now tried a type of food that Ben hasn't.  That is a pretty incredible feat if you know my brother!  Their menu was mostly chicken and sides, and you could get it at varying degrees of hot.  I had a chicken breast and a grilled corn on the cob.  Then, as you must do in DC, Judy was interested in getting a cupcake somewhere.  We were all much too stuffed right after dinner to go, so we took a walk back to Union Station to help with that.  There is a cupcake place in Union Station, but by the time we got there they didn't have much.  So we had some treats at possibly my favorite place ever, Au Bon Pain, instead.

All of us in front of the Capitol

Saturday I got some errands and school work done in the afternoon.  They went on a bus tour around to some of the famous monuments and places in DC.  Judy and Olivia had some friends in DC they were going to have dinner with so I got Aunt Jean all to myself for dinner.  I introduced her to Potbelly's (yum!), and we had a good time.  Then I got home and saw a story on Facebook on Obama celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the Dubliner.  I could not believe it!  It is an Irish pub in the Phoenix Park Hotel, where Jean, Judy, and Olivia were staying.  I had just gotten home from taking Aunt Jean back to her room there, and it's only a few blocks from where I live.  I can't believe he was so close to where I was, and I missed him! Oh well.

On Sunday, they decided to rent a car and go to Mount Vernon as well as drive around to a few other places.  I went along, too.  I absolutely loved Mount Vernon when I came to DC in high school so I definitely wanted to go back.  It was a gorgeous day - cool in the morning and sunny in the afternoon.  We first ate lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn, then walked around the gardens and some of the surrounding little rooms, and finally toured the mansion, went to the tomb, and everything else.  Afterward we tried to drive through Arlington National Cemetery, but it was already close to 5 and they were closing.  We went to the Pentagon Memorial and drove past some beautiful cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin!  We returned the car, had dinner at Armand's across the street from my house, and watched The Descendants at the hotel. 

Me at Mount Vernon

Aunt Jean at Mount Vernon

Gorgeous flower in the Mt. Vernon gardens

Picture of the Capitol my aunt bought me

Me and Aunt Jean at Dinner

Aunt Jean, Judy, and I at Dinner

There's less than a month left!  I got most of my remaining schoolwork done this week so I can relax the rest of my time here and not feel guilty about doing fun things.  I just have one 2 page theater review to do after we see 1776 next week, a short journal entry to write, and then my two final presentations for each class.  Things are really wrapping up.  I am getting excited to go home, be with my family, graduate, hang out with my friends, and do some summer activities!  Hopefully I'll find a job somewhere along the way, too :]

Everything is blooming in DC, including the infamous cherry blossoms, so I decided to go out this weekend to get some pictures before its past the peak.  Mother Nature is being a jerk though, as it was rainy all today and will be tomorrow, too.  The rain didn't deter me, but the sun would have really made for better pictures.

Awesome purple tree in front of Capitol

Tulips at Library of Congress

Tulips at Capitol

Cherry Blossoms at Tidal Basin

Jefferson Memorial and Cherry Blossoms

Me with the Cherry Blossoms

Washington Monument with Cherry Blossoms

Thankfully I went when I did, because it started to rain pretty hard around lunchtime when I was finishing up and going to go eat and do some shopping.  It was only sprinkling when I was walking around in the morning.  Shopping was a failure.  I didn't get anything I was looking for clothes-wise, though I did get groceries.  Tomorrow I may attempt to shop again a bit, then probably just relax and do some final edits to my research paper and final theater project.  I can't believe next time I post, it will be April!