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!

Jake Came to Visit! Woo Hoo!

Last week at work was fairly uninteresting other than a few sightings of some famous representatives.  I walked by Barney Frank in the hallway and saw Dennis Kucinich get in an elevator!  I also got to work the door for an event the boss was having and caught a glimpse of Al Green, Whip Steny Hoyer, and others walk in to that.

Thursday for theater class, we went to see "New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza" at Theater J.  It was about the Dutch Jewish philosopher, Spinoza, and his excommunication from the Jewish community for his philosophies about religion and God.  It was pretty interesting.  It really took me back to my philosophy class last semester.  Unfortunately I had a headache so these deep world concerns were a little much for me at the time.

Finally Friday came, and I got off of work for the day.  I went to go meet Jake at the airport and brought him back to the house to drop off his suitcase.  We then headed over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for a tour.  You get to learn a lot about how the money is printed and inspected each step of the way before it goes into circulation.  You also learn a lot about the different security features of the bills and how they are trying to prevent against counterfeiting.  There are a lot of different layers of ink printed on the bills to make them so colorful and safe.  It is incredible how much money you get to see in big piles right before your eyes. 

Jake with $1,000,000 in $10 bills

Afterward we walked around the Tidal Basin area where the Jefferson, George Mason, FDR, and MLK Jr. memorials are.  None of the cherry blossoms out there were blooming yet, but it was a gorgeous day out besides being a bit windy.  Eventually we walked back towards the mall and decided to go in the Natural History Museum.  We did the dinosaurs, mammals, and ocean exhibits.  We got through part of the geology and gemstones exhibit, then we had to leave as they were closing.  We ate at We the Pizza for dinner, which was delicious as always but pretty crowded and hot.

Saturday we headed to Eastern Market to get pancakes at the Market Brunch I have heard so much about but never had a chance to get.  We ended up having to wait about 45 minutes to get them.  I was expecting a wait, but that's a bit crazy.  They were just as great as they were hyped up to be though I'm not sure I'd want to wait that long for pancakes again.  We walked around the market for a bit, then headed to the National Aquarium.  The aquarium had some cool fish, tree frogs, an octopus, and an albino alligator, but we are definitely spoiled at home with the Georgia Aquarium being as big and wonderful as it is.  This didn't compare at all, but it was only $10!

Blue dotted fish

Awesome polka dot stingray

Baby Sea Turtle

Blue Tree Frogs

Then we went to the American History Museum and checked out some of the exhibits.  We weren't that impressed with it.  I don't think the exhibits we went to was stuff we were really that interested in, and we both felt like for as big of a museum as it is, there wasn't enough in it and the displays were kind of odd.  We didn't spend a lot of time there.  After that we walked down to Chinatown to see what we could eat for a snack, as the pancakes weren't holding us until dinner.  We got some shakes at Fuddrucker's and walked through the Presidents section at the National Portrait Gallery before heading home.  For dinner, we went down to Barracks Row with my roommate and her friend and got some Mexican.

Of course we went back to Eastern Market on Sunday for my favorite crepes!  I also got some awesome mini donuts with powdered sugar from the cart next to the crepes, which tasted a lot like funnel cake or beignets.  I also broke down and finally bought a painting from a booth (Turbopolis) I had looked at a couple times.  I think it will be a great souvenir from the trip for myself.

My Painting

We decided to go back to the Natural History Museum to go to an IMAX movie, as the tickets were pretty reasonable at only $9.  We saw Tornado Alley 3D.  We liked it, but we would have liked to see more shots of tornadoes and less of the team driving around trying to find them.  We also finished up the geology/gemstone part we didn't get to finish on Friday and made a stop at the gift store for some secret things for people we love!  We happened to see part of a St. Patrick's day parade on the mall when we left.  We toured the National Archives and saw the Constitution, Declaration, and Bill of Rights.  We tried to go about 3 or 4 different places for dinner that night which were all closed, as it was Sunday.  I'm always surprised with that, since DC is such a big/tourist city.  It seems odd that so many places are closed.  We eventually just decided to try an Italian place we walked by on Barracks Row.  It was a nice romantic meal and a great choice.

I was off again on Monday, but we went by my office to print Jake's boarding pass and so I could give him a tour of the U.S. Capitol.  I hadn't given one before so there were a few glitches with getting different places and passes for him, but it was good practice.  I wasn't able to take him on the House floor, which my office thought I could do, as we didn't have a staff member with us.  Unfortunately we were a bit tight on time too, so we couldn't really have a staffer meet us over there.  That was a little disappointing, but we did go on the Speaker's Balcony, in the gallery, rotunda, and everywhere else.  Next time I will know to have someone from my office meet me so I can take people on the floor, which is a really great privilege of going on a staff-led tour.

At the Reflection Pond with Capitol in back

Jake on the Speaker's Balcony

On the Speaker's Balcony

Then we went back to the Natural History Museum again (3rd time) for another IMAX movie.  This time the tickets were only $6 each.  Since we had gone to the one on Saturday, we got a discount, which is why we came back.  We went to Coral Reef Adventure, and this one had a lot more visually stunning scenes so we liked it better than the other one.  I think it is pretty clear that we love the Natural History Muesum!  There is really a lot of cool stuff in it.  I enjoyed it a lot more with Jake then when I went on my own.  We stopped at California Tortilla for lunch, a new restuarant for both of us.  It was a lot like Moe's or Chipotle, and we love Mexican/Tex-Mex so it was great.  Finally, we went to the Crime and Punishment Museum, also new for both of us.  We spent a little over 3.5 hours there and we still weren't done, but we had to leave so Jake could get to the airport.  There was a LOT of info and a lot of reading.  It was very interesting.  I hadn't heard such great things about it so I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.  I think I may have liked it better than the Spy Museum, and it was definitely worth the money.  There were sections on famous medieval torture, pirates, mobsters, robbers, serial killers, and the like.  Then the second part of the museum was a "CSI Experience" where you had to solve a crime.  There were lots of hands-on activities like quizzes and simulators.  We cracked open a safe, drove cop cars through crazy traffic, and had to shoot down a gunman in a home invasion.  I got him in the head on the first shot!  I had no idea I would be so natural with a fake gun!  I would definitely recommend this museum, maybe not to kids due to some of the gruesome nature, but to any teen or adult.  I didn't realize crime and punishment could be so fascinating, and I'm glad Jake picked this one, as I probably wouldn't have gone otherwise.

Crime and Punishment Museum

Ted Bundy's Car

Learning how to crack a safe

Cop Car Simulator

Firearms Training Simulator

Needless to say, we did A LOT!  It was a whirlwind of a 4-day weekend, and we definitely got some exercise in with all the walking we did.  We had lots of fun.  Some of the things I had done before, but we did different parts of them or they were just more fun to do with Jake. We also did some things new to both of us.  It definitely went by too fast and was bittersweet in that it made me a bit homesick again when he left.  I'm at a weird point now, because I only have a couple things left on my to-do list.  I don't have as much to look forward to as in the beginning, which makes me want to go home more.  I also just realized how much more fun it is to do these sightseeing activities with someone else, especially my family and Jake.  I've pretty much been doing everything on my own here, just because all of my roommates do their own thing and it is easier that way.  So I'm definitely looking forward to seeing my aunt and cousin this weekend and doing some things with my parents on move-out weekend.  It is probably a good thing I'm almost out of sightseeing to do though, as I need to get to work on my research paper for the political science class as well as my final project for theater class.  Plus, DC is getting crazy with tourists since it is prime spring break time and soon to be cherry blossom time so I'm glad I did a bunch of sightseeing early on in the semester.

Today I gave a tour of the Capitol to the Mayor of Orangeburg, his wife, and some of his staff.  It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad to be done with one (two if you count the less official tour I gave Jake) so I feel more comfortable giving them.  That was a good way to start off my work week!  Happy Saint Patrick's Day, and I'll catch you up after!

Exciting Times, Visitors, and Growing Up

There are now four interns (including myself) at the office and two high school students that come help out on certain days.  That's a lot!  That has been a bit crazy as there aren't even enough desks for us all to sit at sometimes, and there was some confusion with a lot of things going on.  I'm glad I was the second one to start, as I got to claim a desk and don't ever end up sitting without a phone or a computer.  It is also nice just because I know how to do everything and the whole office knows me fairly well so they ask me to do things for them usually before they ask the newer girls.  It definitely puts the pressure on to stand out when there are so many of us though.

I got to sit in the gallery in the house chambers on Thursday morning, which I've been wanting to do since I've been here.  It was a great time to be there watching.  When we got there, they were debating on the Stock Act which would outlaw insider trading among congressmen.  It was pretty unanimous that insider trading should be illegal, but the democrats were struggling with some of the other stuff that was stuck in the bill they didn't like.  Nancy Pelosi then got up and gave a speech urging the dems to pass it and send it to conference, as these negative parts of it could be changed then.  Watching votes is pretty exciting.  Most of the time there aren't many congressmen in the chambers, but when they vote, they all have to be there so an alarm sounds and they all come from their offices to put in their vote.  The room is really bustling when there are 400+ congressmen in there.  The vote lasts 15 minutes, and when it gets to the end of the time it is pretty nuts as the last few come rushing in and everyone basically shouts at the speaker of the house to wait for one or two more!  These panels above the press box light up with all the congressman's last names and either a green Y or a red N to show how they voted.  Then afterwards they had a 5 minute vote on whether to send it to conference.  Both votes were pretty uncontested at 400 something to less than 10.  Then, there was discussion on next week's schedule.  Eric Cantor (House Majority Leader) and Steny Hoyer (Minority Whip) were going back and forth about different timings for at least 30 minutes.  It was AWESOME!  I could sit in there all day, and it was great that I got to see a lot of the leaders speak.  Unfortunately, you can't take pictures in the chambers so I can't show you all what it was like.

I also finally got to meet with our office's communications director and talk about PR for a while and some ideas I had come up with.  I've been hoping to do that for a while, and it is a great reminder of what I want to do and how much I love it.  I also got a recommendation for a pretty interesting sounding book about PR so I ordered that right away and am excited to read it when it comes in the mail.

Another exciting piece of news from this week is that Jake is coming to see me!  I am thrilled!  I left to come here thinking I wouldn't get to see him for four months, as we didn't know if either of us could get off any time from work.  It was a great surprise that things worked out, and I will have to start planning some exciting things for us to do while he is here.

I guess I never wrote about it on here, but my aunt, my cousin, and my cousin's partner are also coming to see me!  They have never been to DC and thought it would be a great time to come while I am here.  I have been getting ready for them to visit, too.  I haven't seen my cousin since I was really young, and I've never met her partner since they live in California so that will be a lot of fun.

Thursday we went to see our second play for theater class.  It was called Time Stands Still.  The story is about a couple who are a photojournalist and writer, and they just got back from a war zone.  The woman was severely injured and almost died from a roadside bombing so they have to reevaluate putting their lives on the line for their jobs.  It really made you question why people would put themselves in danger to take a picture, film something, or write about it.  It is amazing the dedication people have to a profession like that.

Yesterday, I went to the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum.  They are in the same building, which is basically divided down the middle.  There is an entire section of portraits of the presidents and many other portraits, including some of pretty recently famous people.  The American art was neat too with some older parts and some more modern art.  It was actually snowing when I left the museum, and it was very very cold today.

Front of the Museum

Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts

Different portrait of Bill!

Cool piece of American modern art

On a separate note, I've realized this experience has already helped me in some ways.  Before this, I was so scared to graduate and have a real job.  I was scared of the real world and wished I could stay at Clemson forever.  Being here is a step closer to being on my own and having a full time job.  I think I'm ready, and I am actually excited about graduating and looking for job possibilities.  I'm ready to be done being a student and an intern.  I want to be able to produce results on my own that I'm proud of and help an organization be successful.  I want that responsibility and the fulfillment of having a real job.