Winding Down

This is my last week here in DC. This past weekend I visited all the DC monuments with R and Katharine. Monday night I then had the chance to go to Screen on the Green with Katharine, which was showing Dog Day Afternoon. Good movie.

I started packing on Tuesday. It's been hard. I said goodbye to my first co-worker yesterday because he is going on vacation Thursday and Friday, and my first roommate who is visiting friends Thursday and Friday. It's crazy.

The only thing that is keeping me down is the fact that K, my horror-story roommate, has been absolutely dreadful and we came head-to-head last night. My roommates told me to ignore her and enjoy my last few days but its easier said than done.

R, who is amazing, is organizing some great goodbye events. For example, we're going to jazz in the sculpture garden Friday evening. Hopefully it's going to be a good last week.

"Bad Democracy Breeds Corruption"

This week has been all over the place.

Monday I attended an event that included three governors from Venezuela and the Mayor of Caracas. It was very interesting, as they are "opposition leaders," according to Chavez. Most people don't know what is going on in Venezuela - I didn't. If you're interested in learning more, read this Washington Post article. It's well-written and quite informative. Mayor Ledezma (on the left) actually led a hunger-strike outside of the Venezuela OAS office until the OAS agreed to meet with him and other "opposition leaders." They were in DC to meet with the OAS on Tuesday, which is why I was able to go to an event to see them on Monday.

Tuesday was supposed to be a hearing on Iran in the Western Hemisphere, but it was canceled (unfortunately). Wednesday made up for it because my dad visited DC! He was in the city working on getting a patent approved, so we were able to get dinner, along with our dinner guest, Katharine, at a great restaurant called 1331; and then we saw Harry Potter.

Today I was at the hearing mentioned in this article. It was very interesting. I really don't think I can comment on what I found interesting, because it would require me explaining what I believe is sensitive information. Yeah, it's not classified in any way, but it would not be good for me to let the info out. But it was definitely weird to come home and see this article. Makes me recognize that the media likes to focus on the quotes and not the context - it's all about causing a stir to get the attention, not so much the actual information. It's frustrating.

Tomorrow's forecast:

• - Holocaust Museum
  
• - All the DC monuments/memorials
  

Mr. Smith and his dog, Jane

So to counteract my continuing stressful feelings of... well, yesterday's post, I shall finally tell the story of Mr. Smith and his dog, Jane. I know you all have been anticipating this post.

Let me give some background and describe my two characters. To get to and from my internship, I take the metro. My metro station is a good 12 minute walk from my apartment resulting in a nice, peaceful walk to and from my apartment.

If you walk back at a certain time of the late-afternoon or early-evening, you walk by a small redbrick apartment with an iron-cast gate enclosing a brick patio. There's a small white and blue plastic folding chair that sits outside and, in that chair, Mr. Smith sits to greet those who walk by.

Beside him lays Jane, a rotund black and white dog, which reminds me of Watney, a dog who was owned by our family friends. Mr. Smith is a thin elderly man who always wears a baseball cap and shorts that look too big on his frail legs. They make a brilliant pair and compliment each other well- big and small.

And I have found, when I get home earlier, that he always walks around the block with his dog before he sits down outside his house. Sometimes Mr. Smith is chatting with someone but he's always with his dog.

What I love about Mr. Smith is that he is so nice. Even when he is chatting with someone, he always makes a point to stop and say "hello". We've had nice chats about the day and I've even stopped to pet Jane and talk about her. I don't realize quite how much I can miss my silly dogs at home until I see one every day after work.

So that's Mr. Smith and his dog, Jane. I will remember a lot about DC and I know I will always remember them. Even with how small a role they played in my time here, they have stuck in my mind as an example of why I love my neighborhood and the DC locales.

--Hopefully this post did not let anyone down, as I have been touting this post topic for a few days.--

Roommate Woes

Instead of writing about Mr. Smith and his dog, Jane, I will write about something that has been quite a challenge for me - my roommate. Hopefully this will not turn into a snark, so much as a reflection of lessons learned.

I am going to give some background to this first...

When I moved into my apartment there were three of us in two rooms (two of us in one, and one in her own). Over time we gained two other roommates. We got along great - some of us grew closer than others but we all enjoyed each others company.

About 3-4 weeks ago suitcases showed up in the room that I share with on other girl, R. We figured we got another roommate but no one showed up that night... or the next few nights. Now this apartment has been lived in for over a month at this point... so it was not exactly clean. When the cleaning lady showed up yelling at us for calling to complain about the mess, we realized our new roommate, K, called and complained without talking to us first. Strike 1.

She had not moved in at this point though, as she was living with her cousin. Then she told us she was going to move in on a Wednesday night. Everyone said they were going to be gone that night so I decided to forgo a networking opportunity so that she would not have to move in with no one around. She never showed. Strike 2. Then she decided to move in the next night - at 10 pm (I go to sleep then, as I have to get up at 6:25). Who decides to move in at 10 pm?

After she moved in, she turned out to be the most inconsiderate roommate I have ever had. Yes, I know I have only had two roommates and they were amazing, but still. She takes 50 minute showers, if she wakes up late and gets in the shower before you claim it, expect to be late that morning. It has happened to both me and R more than once. She answers her phone in bed and does not leave the room (I finally confronted her about that today). And she expects people to do stuff for her - dishes, waking her up, cleaning, etc.

So the point of this. I have realized I was very lucky with my roommates at school, I never really had to confront them about anything and when I did they were happy to receive feedback and did not give attitude (a concept lost on K). Also, being an RA last year, I have not had a roommate in over a year, so this has been extra hard. Finally, before K, I was living with 4 other girls without issue.

But I think the hardest thing for me has been realizing that as an RA I have had to give residents advice on roommate conflicts and it is so much easier to say "just go talk to her" or "confront her about what she is doing", than actually doing it yourself. It is hard to confront someone who does not want the feedback and has no intention of changing. At this point, I would suggest to the girl to talk to KB about a room change... but this is not college, I have to suck it up. Luckily, the amazing roommates outnumber the one.

I will definitely remember this as I give advice on roommate conflicts in the future, which I know I will have a good chance of having to do on a floor of 20-30 girls. It has been a learning experience here in DC, not only in my internship but about life in general. Yeah, it stinks right now having to live with K, but it is teaching me more about life and myself. It is better to find the good in the bad than dwelling on the problems.

Monticello

The story about Mr. Smith will have to wait. Before I head to bed, I'm going to post some pictures I shot at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. They wouldn't let us take pictures in the house but the outside of the house and his surrounding land was more than picture-worthy. I'm particularly proud of these.

Monticello - Thomas Jefferson's home

Jefferson's viewing pavilion

Beautiful purple flower. Great shot of a bee in the center flower.

I love the color in these!

My high school's colors- Not a good shot, but it reminded me of home.

The color could probably be adjusted to make this even better; but even unaltered, I love the shot of the bee on this flower and the way the flower fits into the frame!

Well I hope I don't secretly suck at taking pictures and some of you actually enjoyed these. I think, in another life, I'll become a professional photographer... or after I retire.

Long Owed Update

This week has had its ups and downs. My being sick continued until late Tuesday. My cough resumed again Sunday, unfortunately. Anyway, this past week kept me very busy as the Senate and House passed bills dealing with the defense. I also had the excellent chance to go to part of the congressional hearing on Foreign Affairs, specifically to the hearing on Guatemala. That was very interesting- especially since it was the first hearing that did not seem staged. Meaning, not all the congressmen agreed and not all the witness agreed either.

This weekend I went to Monticello with Katharine. It was amazing! I'd post pictures but I - gasp - forgot my camera. Katharine brought hers though, so I took some with her's so I'm just going to have to wait until she posts them.

Yesterday I was able to go on a tour of the Pentagon. It was really interesting! Did you know about 1/3 of the signatories of the Declaration were military? Did not know that!

Also, in the middle of the pentagon there is a courtyard. In the middle of that is a little building. During the Cold War the Soviets had satellite pictures that showed hordes of people going in the building and left with bags. So that Soviets assumed that it was some sort of intelligence hub and trained all of the missiles on it. - It was a hot dog stand. People joke that it's the deadliest hot dog stand in America. Now I think it's just a general cafeteria.

Today I got a chance to tour the diplomatic rooms. The above picture is from the more intimate diplomatic room. The one to the right is the largest diplomatic room, which was set up for an event that will take place tomorrow. My goal is one day to be invited to both of those rooms... and not as tourist.

This week should keep me pretty busy. I have various events and more House/Senate work. I love working with House/Senate affairs. It actually might come in handy too, because the Marquette Office of Public Affairs is looking for a student to work part-time as a government relations intern. With all the money I failed to make this summer, a part-time job could be perfect. I put an email into the contact to find out how many hours a week the job is and the hourly wage (all information they failed to post), but I think I'll also call tomorrow. I'd love to be able to keep working on government relations work even when I return to school. We shall see.

Tomorrow I shall try to write a post on my amazing neighbor, Mr. Smith*, and his dog, Jane*.


*Names have been changed... especially since I don't know their real names

Sicky

I am sick. Not strep, but it sure feels like it. Cough has now moved into my chest. Fabulous. My office coworkers keep telling me to go home and sleep but I have less than a month left! I don't want to miss any time of my internship. Out of the office, all I want to do is be home (real home). However, my roommates are being amazing. Alrighty, time for sleep.

"That's so American"

First off, I have changed the settings on my blog so people can comment without having an account. I thought the settings were already like that, but apparently not. So comment away!

Secondly, 4th of July in DC - amazing. The morning started out slow but around 4 pm my roommates and I headed over to our friend's house (well, the house that she's house-sitting in). The place became packed within an hour so around 5:30 I headed out to meet up with Katharine and her roomies on the National Mall. Her roommates had been there since 3 pm so they had scored a nice spot right in between the capitol building and the Washington Monument. Katharine and I met up with them around 6:30 and over the next 2.5 hours, the place filled up to be incredibly crowded (see picture to the right).

Katharine and I had a nice time catching up, chatting about residence life, an organization we're both a part of, and other stuff as well. I really like her roommates. They're really nice. We also chatted a lot about our friend T, who has jetted off to Africa and who we both miss a lot.

Around 9 or 9:30 the fireworks began. I managed to get some pretty awesome shots (like the one to the left). It was a really great show, and the crowd's reaction was amazing (for example, heart fireworks issued a crowd-wide "awwww"). The show was shorter than I expected, 15 minutes or so, and the music didn't make it's way to us like we expected. So for next time, because there will be another time that I will be in DC for the 4th, I will know to bring a radio to play the music if we aren't at the capitol building.

After the fireworks, I met back up with my roommates and enjoyed the rest of the night with them.

I cannot believe that I only have 4 weeks left. I love DC so much and I love my internship. It makes me so excited for the possibility of graduate school and for all my career possibilities. However, I am also getting equally as excited for my senior year. My first grad class... as an undergrad, all my other classes, my student orgs and my job, and spending my last year as an undergraduate with all my friends.

Life's so Sweet Right Here in the Passenger Seat

I have completely failed when it comes to keeping up with this blog this week. So, I shall try to make up with a quality post and lots of pictures.

The picture to the left is the brand-new, re-opened Eastern Market. It's a huge farmers market that's open Tuesday-Sunday every week. It just opened on Saturday after a two-year renovation following a fire. The next picture shows what it looks like outside on the streets surrounding the building. It's filled with tents that has clothes, furniture, jewelry, hats, etc. It also had some unique people, like the woman bellow to the left who was pulling her dog (decked out in clothes) in some sort of rolling contraption. Priceless, no?

It was pretty amazing. The work week has definitely had its ups and downs. I am really enjoying working in Congressional Affairs. One of my co-workers there, who has worked as a staffer for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, told my supervisor that I have a knack for the section and that she would have assumed I'd been working in Congressional Affairs for years from the work I've done. -- Pretty amazing.

On another note, I have been able to settle in quite nicely here. Last Saturday or Sunday I made -- Garlic Parmesan Chicken (which is to the right). It was absolutely delicious and I cooked 4 of them (yummy left-overs all week). I learned how to cut garlic and it turned out excellent!

This weekend should be pretty amazing and it's going to be starting tomorrow. Federal employees get tomorrow off. Heck yes. I also get Monday off because no one will be in the office. Heck yes x2.

This weekend will be epic- 4th of July in DC, fireworks on the mall and my roommate's get-together. Pictures will be taken to capture the amazingness of this weekend.