soloing the mall.

so as is the plan every weekend, i was supposed to do something washington-esque.  i meant to go to the library of congress and do research but after waking up and eating a tasty lunch at Eastern Market (my new favorite breakfast spot on the weekends.....it turns into this really cool farmer's market outside and fresh meat and produce market inside) I decided to slack off today instead.  I ventured out to the museums on the mall by myself to enjoy a rare afternoon of solitude.  being on this program with so many new and different people has been great and i love the friends i've made, but after awhile of living in the dorm-like setting again it was good to be on my own in the city.  

work continues to be exciting and sometimes frustrating but i'm enjoying being surrounded by the politics and policy-making.  i can't wait to actually be here (hopefully) doing something i really love.  sorry there haven't been a lot of exciting pictures....i still need to buy a camera cord. but they will come. much love.

cityliving.

after two short weeks, i've decided that i love this city. i'm sure this incredibly rapid decision will alter during the course of the next couple months but for now, indulge me.  the lights, the sounds, the constant hustle and bustle of men and women in long black peacoats over suits....it all becomes a little intoxicating for a kid who used to want to be the president.  there's something about wondering who every person walking down the sidewalk works for and who they'll be someday...knowing that there's a chance they'll be a senator, congressman, or the next president.  i've definitely caught potomac fever...it's an epidemic.

saturday my roommate and i spent the day at the holocaust memorial museum, a place i've wanted to see for a long time.  it was a great memorial that gave lots of background information and history and also paid tribute to the millions of victims.  there was a certain room where it all came together for me....a hall you walked into after going through the section that was set up like a concentration camp.  the hall is only really lit by a skylight and on either side of you lie thousands of shoes. discarded shoes taken from jews as they exited the trains and entered into the camps.  on the wall is a poem and the rest of the hall is just filled with shoes.  the smell of the leather and musk and dirt overwhelms you as you walk in.  i spent twenty minutes frozen in that hallway finally feeling like i had one millionth of an ounce of understanding of what happened.  

i hope that some of you will feel the need to come visit me and i can bestow on you some of what i love about dc. miss you all and love you much.

inauguration2009.

so in case anyone wasn't glued to cnn today, the inauguration did in fact take place and i was lucky enough to be there. last minute i got a ticket from a fellow intern in my program and was able to join the 2+ million people on the mall watching the 44th president be sworn in. the experience was definitely one not to be forgotten and i'm so grateful to have been able to be there. after fighting through a mile and a half of lines my roommate and i finally got through the gates and to a spot where the capitol in all its grandeur could actually be seen. only one woman fainted near me so i guess that was a success and i'm pretty sure the economy is back on track with all the ridiculous obama-nirs that were being sold all over the city. i have never seen so many assorted items with someone's face on them being bought up...hannah montana would blush. aside from the disrespectful booing of past presidents that took place, for the most part everyone was just happy to be there and witness the changing over of the office of the Presidency. no matter what your party lines or political ideals, it was objectively one of the coolest moments of my life. i'm still waiting to get to a camera cord so i'll upload better pictures later but for now here's a taste of my point of view.

democracy.

so life on the hill continues to go at rapid pace and i'm running to catch up.  networking is the name of the game up here and it seems like everyone we meet up here stresses how important who you know can be.  so i'm working on being awkward and impressing on people that are far more important than me how good of an intern i am and hoping they hire me one day.  i put my networking skills to use today as a childhood neighbor from Virginia came into my office today.....she is now a press secretary on the hill so i thought she'd be the first person to try out my networking skills with.  she has yet to respond.  in other news, pretty soon i'll be cleared to lead tours of the capital so if anyone needs to know that the the original supreme court chamber is intact and lighted the way it was in the late 1800s you know where to go.  the inauguration is upon us and excitement fills the air as millions of people will flock the capitol to catch a glimpse of the change that's come to washington.  in case anyone was wondering, president bush leaves office on tuesday....a frantic caller informed me of that today. thanks for the tip, bud. 

urban groceries.

so aside from the obvious differences between washington, d.c. and athens, ga or even brentwood, grocery shopping is incredibly more difficult in the city. after having our fuse blow out in our kitchen for the 4th time we went ahead and ordered groceries to be delievered anyway. a message from katina at safeway told me that due to an error with the typing in of my credit card number she was forced to cancel my order and that i'd have to repeat the task...this was only after talking to every other employee at safeway and discovering that the online department only works 3 hours a day and if you call back when they're not there no one else can help you, period. it's an amazingly efficient system. our groceries finally came this morning but with the multiple orders there was bound to be some mishaps...after valentine (the al green of delivery men) left we found that we still needed some supplementary items so i ventured to the store. a metro ride later i ended up in trader joe's in georgetown with every other person in washington, d.c. after spilling a box of blueberries i was pushed into a lady and accidentally ran my cart into her ankle. in polite southern manner i apologized profusely and asked if she was alright. after assuring me she was NOT alright and limping/whining away i recieved death glares throughout my entire checkout. walking to the metro in the rain proved to be hazardous for the paper grocery bags i had and by the time we got out of the metro to walk the 5 blocks back to our apartment my sweet friend jake had to take over and carry one of my bags. all in all the experience was just that and in the future fabric bags will be required.

arrival.

so apparently becoming a cab driver doesn't necessarily require one to be familiar with the city in which one is taxiing people around. but after an hour and a half flight, a cab ride that involved me using my own GPS to direct the cab driver to my destination, and a rickety elevator i made it to my apartment with 100 lbs of clothes in hand. the congressional is a cool old apartment building turned into dorm style living for interns. Leanna (my roommate) and i's apartment is a little lacking compared to everyone else's but we're not too disappointed; looking out the window by our beds and seeing the capital lit up at night makes up for any thing we may be lacking. we're still working on getting our kitchen appliances (like the fridge and...oh wait that's all) to stop blowing the fuse on the right side of our room but we hope to soon have a fully powered apartment and ice cubes that are actually frozen. here's to efficiency apartments and new adventures.