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.

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!

Getting into the Swing of Things

Continuing where I left off last time, Sunday I took a me day.  I finally got a Smartrip card, which will make riding the metro so much easier, and I took a stroll around Eastern Market, which is a wonderful farmers and flea market with lots of fun food and arts vendors very close to our house.  It was pretty darn cold, so I didn't stay too long.  I will definitely be going back there though.  So many great scarves, jewelry pieces, hats, and other cool things.  I've also heard they have a great brunch.  Then I took some time to catch up on my TV shows online, write some letters to pen pals, and call family.  It's a little odd not having any alone time really, as I'm always with some of my roommates since there are so many of us.  I need to take some time for myself, and I always love it when I do.  Monday was a pretty chill day, too.  We went to the Washington Wizards game, then I came home and did some laundry.

Washington Wizards vs. Houston Rockets

The rest of the week I worked, of course!  It's really the most important reason why I'm here, but it is very easy to forget that with all the fun I'm having.  It's been amazing and stressful at the same time.  I feel like I've adjusted to working a little better than I did when I began my internship over the summer, because I have had that experience.  However, of course there are the times where I'm unsure of myself and feel like the new intern that doesn't know anything.  I put a lot of pressure on myself to make an amazing impression and exceed the highest expectations.  As I've learned with internships, it's what you make of it.  You have to ask, ask, and ask some more to do things you want to do and gain those opportunities.  I'm trying hard to make all of my time here as productive as possible, even when I don't have a specific task assigned to me.  My Friday was pretty amazing.  I got to actually go into the House chambers, walk around the floor, and sit in the front row.  I will have to go again when they are in session.  I went into the members only cloak room inside the chambers, and I got to stand on the speaker's balcony, seeing the view a president would see of the mall on inauguration day.  It was absolutely amazing.  Even though I get to go inside the Capitol on a daily basis, I feel like it will never get old.  The inside of that building is so elaborate and wonderful.  I am constantly looking around in awe, thankful of the privileges I have.

Clyburn's Office in Rayburn

My Badge!  Not the greatest picture, but it gets me to some amazing places!

It snowed a little last night, which looked pretty but also made things a little slippery today.  I wanted to do something since it was Saturday, so I decided to shop.  There is a Forever 21, H&M, and Zara, all right next to each other in Chinatown.  Can you say shopping heaven?  They all had some pretty great sales, too, so I got some cute things I needed.  Then went to a Chinese place in Chinatown with my roomie and got a cupcake after as well.  DC has a lot of cupcake places, so I've been wanting to try one. It was a really really fun day.  Things are great, and I feel at home in DC and at work.