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!

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!

Class Time and Art Appreciation

I guess I'm getting into the habit of blogging on Saturday or Sunday nights.  It just works out that way, as that's when I have the most down time.  So last Sunday, I went to Eastern Market again with some of my roomies, and we had some delicious crepes for brunch!  I got one with bananas, cinnamon sugar, and pecans.  It was so tasty.

The main news from this week is that we started our classes.  On Tuesday nights, we have a debating contemporary washington issues class.  That one will definitely be interesting as there will probably be a lot of intense political discussions, and our house is so diverse in our beliefs.  Hopefully they will be fun discussions, and it won't get too personal.  It is always interesting to hear different perspectives though, and we are all intelligent so we have good explanations for our opinions.  I already feel as though I've had some smart talks about political issues with my roommates and come out of it with a better understanding of the other side.  For our first assignment, we had to watch the State of the Union and write a paper on one of the issues.  It was very exciting to be in DC that day.  When I walked home from work, Capitol Hill was just buzzing with excitement and lots of people were around.  I would have given anything to be there, but only a select few get to go.  I thought the speech was really pretty riveting for a SOTU.  As always, I admire Obama for his skills in oration, since that is my passion.

Night of the SOTU!

On Thursday nights, we have our theatre class.  I think that will be a really interesting time.  We are going to see Hairspray, Time Stands Still, The Interrogation of Espinoza, Red, 1776, and Taming of the Shrew.  Hairspray is our first one, which is this Thursday.  I'm sure it is going to be so fun.  I've heard 1776 is a neat historical musical, and we are seeing that one in Ford's Theater, which is such a historic place.  Taming of the Shrew is a classic.  I don't know much about the others, but I'm sure they will be enjoyable.  Then, on five different Wednesday's over the course of the semester, we have a leadership class.  We won't see what that's all about until next week.

Yesterday, I decided to spend the day at the National Gallery of Art.  I think I'm going to dedicate every Saturday (and hopefully some Sunday's, too) to a different museum I want to go to.  When it gets warmer in the springtime, I will probably do more outdoorsy things and there will be a lot of other things to do.  So now is a good time to dedicate to museums when it is still fairly cold out on weekends.  I think I had only been to two of the Smithsonian's before I moved here, so I have a lot I want to see.  The National Gallery of Art was really great, and I picked a wonderful day to go.

National Gallery of Art

They just reopened the 19th century French galleries and were having concerts there this weekend in honor of that.  When I first heard the organ music playing as I walked around that gallery, I thought it was maybe just being played off of a speaker to set the tone, but I realized as I walked closer to it there was actually a concert going on.  It was so nice to have that background music while looking at the art.  I like that better than how silent and stuffy art museums typically are.  I eventually found my way into the beautiful concert room, and I sat down for a while to listen.  It was so beautiful.  It really moved me, and I actually got a little emotional.  I closed my eyes for a while and just took it in.  I felt it, and I haven't felt that way in a while.  It made me want to find the nearest piano and just start practicing away.  I love that music has the power to really get to you like that, and that is what makes me want to play more.  I really slack on my piano playing, and moments like this make me regret every time I put watching TV, browsing the internet, or anything else higher on my priority list than practicing.  There were some gorgeous Monet paintings there, which were a favorite of mine.

gorgeous fountain in the concert room

Organ player

Me and my favorite Monet there

This museum is actually two buildings.  So then I went over to the East building, which has more modern art. I love modern art in a totally different way than the older paintings.  It's so interesting and unexpected at times.  I really enjoyed that part of the experience as well.

Inside the East building

Andy Warhol of Marilyn Monroe

Today has been pretty chill as usual for a Sunday.  I just went grocery shopping with some of my roommates and have been catching up on my favorite TV shows.  So that's all I've got for now.  Talk to you all next week with hopefully some exciting stories and pictures from another Saturday museum adventure!