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!

Two Weeks of News and Spying!

It has been a little while since I posted last, so I have a lot to catch up on!  Work has been great, as I've gotten to do some more exciting things lately.  I finally did the Capitol tour training, so now I will be able to give people tours of the Capitol building.  There are so many interesting and historic parts of the Capitol and lots of fun facts to learn and share with others.  I need to practice a bit before my first one, but I'm excited.  I've also gotten to see the congressman do some interviews.  One was for Martin Bashir on MSNBC.  I tweeted about getting to see the filming of it, and I got retweeted by @BashirLive, which is the show's official twitter handle.  That is kind of amazing!  It is the moments like these that remind me of my importance here.  I also got to sit in on a meeting with the congressman and President Barker from Clemson.  It was great to finally meet him and funny we met in DC, not at school.

I went to a two day training session on how to be an "online activist" using social media and blogging with my roommate, Ryan, at the Leadership Institute.  It was great to finally get an opportunity to learn more about my field, and I'm thankful my office is nice enough to let me attend things like that.  The Leadership Institute is a conservative organization, so I had to ignore some frequent anti-liberal remarks, but overall the training was pretty useful.  I'm proud of myself for being open-minded enough to attend something there, as I knew when I walked in and saw a portrait of George W. Bush on the wall behind the receptionist I did not belong.  There was also a framed newspaper with the headline, "Clinton Impeached!" outside of the training room.  That freaked me out a little!  I felt a bit like a secret liberal spy.  It is always good to know how the other side operates, too...haha.

Two interns in my office are done with their internships now, so it will just be me and one other girl who only comes in 2 and 1/2 days a week.  It was sad to see Helen, my Australian friend, go as we have become good friends, and she was very helpful in the office.  Hopefully I'll get to Australia one day, and she can show me around :]  It will definitely be different and probably busier, being the only intern in the office most of the time now.

Helen and I

Last weekend, I decided to go to the Newseum.  I had heard a lot of great things about it and had wanted to get there for a while.  It was pretty neat.  Obviously they have lots of newspapers with headlines from important moments in history, and those are cool to see.  They also had a pretty large part of the Berlin Wall, and an exhibit on 9/11, including a large mangled-up antenna from the top of one of the twin towers.  There were some fun artifacts from elections, SNL skits, the Daily Show, and the Colbert Report.  They have a great balcony you can go on with a wonderful view of the Capitol and the Mall.  They film ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos in a studio there, so I got to go in there, too.  The tickets were good for two days.  I finished all the exhibits on day one, but they had the chief White House correspondent for Politico come talk on Sunday so I went back for that.  I was glad I did.

Newseum

Berlin Wall

Union is Dissolved Newspaper

Antenna from 9/11

On the Balcony

Thursday we went to another play for theater class.  This one was "Red" at Arena Stage.  It was about painter, Mark Rothko, and his assistant.  He was getting paintings ready for the Four Seasons, and dealing with issues of his relevance as an artist and whether he was "selling out" by accepting a commission for these paintings.  It was pretty interesting and emotional.  He was getting to the end of his career and having to legitimize his life and choices as an artist.

This Saturday we had our White House tour that I had gotten from my office!  It was pretty much what I had heard it would be, which was a bit disappointing.  Obviously, they can't show you any of the really cool places that they use all of the time, as that would be too complicated.  Therefore, you really don't get to see much.  You can peek your head in a few rooms, then walk through a few more, and all of the sudden you're going, "that's it?"  It is also a self-guided tour, so you don't have anyone really telling you about what the rooms or for or anything.  It is still neat to say you've been in the White House, but if you don't get to go, you're not missing out on much.

At the White House

Today I went to the International Spy Museum, which was another I had been looking forward to going to for a while.  It was really great and worth the money.  They take you in and you immediately choose a cover.  I was "Angelena Falcone," a 21-year-old travel agent from Italy, going to Vietnam for 30 days on a "business trip."  Then you go through a section that teaches you how to be a spy and spot people using surveillance or who could also be spies.  You get to see a lot of cool spy gadgets and technology.  Then there are sections about actual spies from the U.S. and other countries and their stories.  I was pretty impressed.  The gift shop had lots of cool stuff, too, including "Agent Double Gnome 7" merchandise - so cute!  I couldn't resist and bought something.  I hadn't gotten any souvenirs for myself  before this.

International Spy Museum

Cool Car!

Agent Double Gnome 7

I also walked through the National Postal Museum before I went home, as it is right next to Union Station.  I walk by it all the time and thought it might be worth taking a few minutes to walk through.  It used to be the City Post Office so it is a really neat building.

National Postal Museum

Old City Post Office

Old Mailboxes

I've been trying to make my posts more interactive with links to the different places I'm going.  That's all for now.  I CANNOT WAIT until Friday when Jake comes!  Woo hoo for seeing him and having a four day weekend with Friday and Monday off of work.  I'm working on a fun list of things to do while he is here.

Halfway There Already!

Wow.  This weekend it really hit me.  I'm about halfway through my time in DC.  There are exactly two months left.  It has gone pretty fast, but I got hit with some homesickness this week because it has been so long.  It didn't help that I had a pretty stressful week and didn't get a chance to talk to my mom for about 5 days, which is probably the longest we've ever gone without talking.  This week was pretty crazy with ups and downs, and I think the stress of this whole situation is finally getting to me a bit.  I cannot wait until the two weekends in March when I will have visitors.  I think that will definitely lift my spirits again.  I'm just trying to stay positive and enjoy every moment.

On a weird side note, I really miss driving my car and singing along to my music, too.  I just realized I really haven't been listening to any music here since I usually do that when in the car or working out.  It is so weird!  I need my music to relax.

A highlight of my work week was that I actually met Clyburn for the first time.  I've seen him around before but never had the chance to officially introduce myself so that was good.  I've been working in the Capitol office more lately so hopefully I will get more interaction with him and the communications director.  I hope to get some PR work soon and make the most of the rest of my time here at work getting some good experience.

A peek inside of our Capitol office

On Wednesday, I got to judge the "We The People" competition at Chavez Prep Middle School here in DC.  The students had to prepare little speeches on different aspects of government like "why is voting important?" and "what would happen if there was no civic participation in government?"  The speech and debate nerd inside of me was so excited to help these kids.  It was a neat little excursion from work.

I also (sort of) went to a committee hearing this week that ended up being big news.  It was the Oversight and Government Reform committee's hearing on "Religious Freedom" or "Obama and Separation of Church and State," but it ended up being more of a hearing on the whole contraception issue that has been going on lately.  It was on the news a lot because there were no women on the panel, which was pretty crazy since it was a discussion about contraception.  It was pretty fiery in the beginning with the Democrats and Republicans going at it about who is credible to be a witness at a hearing and why some people didn't qualify that the Dems submitted.  I didn't get there in time to actually sit in the committee room and a lot of the seats were reserved anyway, so I watched it on a TV in an overflow room.  I wish I had gotten there earlier and I maybe could have gotten a seat and been on national news!  I had no idea the hearing was going to be such a big deal.

On Saturday, I went shopping with my roommate in Friendship Heights.  It is a really nice, ritzy area.  It was the first time I was in a Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, or Anthropologie.  I got some cute shirts at Nordstrom Rack and got some good exercise in with all the walking.  It was a really nice day out, and it was fun just to do some looking and window shopping.

Sunday was another museum day!  I went to the National Museum of the American Indian.  I had heard the Mitsitam Cafe there was a great place to eat from a few people so I made sure to go at lunchtime.  I had an "Indian Taco" which was chili, pinto beans, diced tomatoes, cheese, and lettuce on fry bread.  It was very good, but a bit pricey.  Then I toured the museum.  This wasn't a museum that was top on my list of things to do, but I must say all of the smithsonians are just so well done.  The design of the building and all of the displays is really neat to admire, even if you're not that interested in the content.  The building itself is kind of wavy on the outside, and the displays are shaped similarly.  Afterwards, I decided to go through the United States Botanic Garden and Conservatory since it was right next door.  Obviously since it is winter, the garden wasn't too much to see, but I will definitely have to go back in the spring.  The conservatory was really neat.  They had a big display of different kinds of orchids.  I got some cool pictures there.

National Museum of the American Indian

Indian dress

U.S. Conservatory

Beautiful white orchid!

Purple orchid

Since all federal buildings are closed on President's Day, this was a three day weekend for me, and I had an extra day to explore.  It was nice, and I didn't feel bad that I just stayed in all today working on some schoolwork, playing my uke, and catching up on my TV shows.

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.

Two Plays, Two Museums, and Some Other Things

This week has been fairly busy!  On Tuesday after work, we all went to the SC State Society event.  We were required to help out with the event for our program, but we also got to eat some delicious food and mingle for a few minutes before we left for class.  The SC delegation was all supposed to be there, but as we had to leave early and there was a vote close to when the event started we didn't get to see them all.  I did see Rep. Tim Scott and Rep. Mick Mulvaney there, but didn't get a chance to talk to either of them.  There was a gorgeous balcony that had a great overlook of the city that was amazing to see at dusk.  It was nice out so we were out there for a while and had a little photoshoot.

Class was pretty interesting afterwards.  We talked about oral advocacy and focused on one minute speeches.  I was clearly excited since I am a speech nerd!  Then we had to give our own one minute speeches on certain topics from different viewpoints.   I had to give mine as a republican on the federal debt ceiling so that was definitely a challenge and took me a bit out of my comfort zone.

On Thursday, we went to see Hairspray for our theatre class.  It was a bit of a struggle getting to this theater as it was out in Arlington and not really metro accessible.  It was also a pretty big rush to get there on time since some of us work until 6, and we had to be there by 7:30.  I didn't really get to eat dinner due to the timing.  The show was so fun though!  I had seen the movie before and liked it okay, but the show definitely exceed my expectations.  I loved it!  The stage was one that came out into the audience, so people were sitting on three sides of it.  There were also places for the actors to come out from the back corners of the theater almost right next to us.  We were in the second row in front of the stage, so we were very close to the action.  I wasn't expecting that at all so that was a great surprise.  By the end of the show I had the urge to get up, sing, and dance with the cast, and I've had "You Can't Stop The Beat" in my head ever since we saw it.  I think that is what a musical should do to you!  The actress that played Amber Von Tussle is coming to speak to our class in a few weeks, so that will be neat to get her perspective on things.  This show was the one I was most excited about, and I loved it.  I'm hoping the others are just as good though the bar is set high!

Corny Collins Show sign on the set of Hairspray

All of us before Hairspray

Friday, I went out to dinner after work with the intern in my office who is from Australia and all of her Australian roommates and friends, which was a lot of fun.  I was glad to meet more people in the city, and I've always wanted to go to Australia so I am enjoying learning more and more about it.  I've gotta say, I love listening to the accent, too!

Yesterday I decided I would go to the Natural History Museum and the National Archives.  The Natural History museum was neat, but it was definitely geared more towards kids and there were a lot of kids and families there.  I liked the ocean hall and the gems and minerals section especially.  The gems were super sparkly and gorgeous, and they have the Hope Diamond there, too.  It reminded me of seeing the crown jewels at the Tower of London, which was one of my favorite sights on my trip there. Then, I went to the National Archives to see the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence among other things.  There was actually no line for that part so I must have gotten there at a good time.  The Declaration is very faded and you can barely see anything on it, but the Constitution is actually in really good condition I thought.  It is amazing how just some pieces of parchment are something so valuable and historic to our country and have survived all of these years.

Main Lobby of Natural History Museum

Hope Diamond

Before I went to bed late last night, I was trying to think of something to do today.  I was a bit out of ideas, as I didn't really want to do another museum since I've done many of those lately.  I was searching online for things to do in DC and on one of the lists was to get half-priced tickets to a show on Ticketplace.org.  I have been wanting to at least tour the Kennedy Center and maybe go to a show there, so I looked to see what there was in the next couple of weeks.  I saw that there were tickets for Shear Madness, which I had heard was really great from one of my coworkers, and it was today (and only $28)!  I immediately bought a ticket.  A few of my roommates actually wanted to come too so we went out to lunch then headed there for the show at 3:00.  It was really funny.  The play is about a bunch of people who are in a hair salon, and a murder takes place in the apartment upstairs.  The murderer has to be someone in the salon, as no one else entered or left the building during the time of murder.  So they retrace the events of the day to figure out who did it.  They actually get the audience involved, too. We could shout if something was wrong or off in the replay of events.  We also could talk to the detective during intermission and tell him our theories.  Then we got to question the suspects as well.  The main story is the same each time, but there is a lot of improv throughout and the murderer may be a different character from night to night.  Everyone really liked it, so I'm glad I happened to find out about the discount tickets.  It was a good choice.

This week we will have our first leadership seminar, we'll be seeing Time Stands Still for our theater class, and I'm sure I'll go on another adventure on Saturday.  I'll catch you all up next weekend!

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!