First Weekend in DC
Trip Start
Jan 11, 2006
1
5
15
Trip End
May 05, 2006
Washington, District of Columbia
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Break down of the long Weekend:
Friday
The day started as my roommate Cal and I went to main camous to get our IDs. It's pretty nice because they have a shuttle (that's free--yay!) that goes between the 2 campuses and teh metro station. Got my Id so I can finally print my resume and be prepped for the internship bazaar. There were several interesting places (approx. 100 organizations) and some random/ obscure places as well. The dean was right...It really is like a buyers market. I was parusing the web of organizations in teh beginning so I could formulate a gameplan to maximize my time. As I was doing this, a guy grabbel by elbow and pulled me toward him, asking, "Would you like to Save the World?" In such a setting, the only appropriate response was "Yes, why of course." Then he went into his speel about his organization catologing and posting online species in pars and reserves across the world. Sounds interesting, imporatant, but perhaps a bit monotonous. He does work for a prestigious organization, but I doubt that my prof. would like an econ student to intern there with the intern duties. Eventually I was able to make a hasty exit, but took awhile. He would work well at OSPIRG. I was able to talk to several interesting organizations, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Federal Trade Commission and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. As it was on Friday, I havn't heard back from them yet, but hopefully I can set up an interview next Thursday or friday. I just hope I don't get in over my head.
I talked to several other organizations, handed out a lot of resumes and have 3 interviews this week so far. The first sounds pretty interesting. It is with a documentary company that makes documentaries for PBS and other networks. They are currently reserching and filming documentaries on several economic issues, so it is highly applicable. On Thursday I have an interview with a consumer advocacy group that deals with savings and the various economic benefits. Not as high profile, but interesting still. The last interview I have scheduled is for Friday and is w/ the D.C. Law Students in Court Program. They provide legal services to residents of D.C that are stratified into lower socio-economic classes. Not sure if this one is as applicable, but I'm sure I could make it work. Sounds fascinating, I might have to testify in court for people and stuff. It would be good prep for law school.
Still doing more follow up to try and secure a good internship. I have to have one by the 25th so I'm focusing on that more right now than sightseeing. Sad I know. But I will soon. I took a break and explored Tenleytwon, which is the neighborhood that my campus is in. Got stuff for the room that I didn't feel like shipping, and other logistical stuff.
Later in the evening I went with Kathleen yalung from GU and some of her floor mates to duPOnt Circle via Metro. They were looking for some dinner so we asked a cop about good and cheap places to eat in the area. Because I was wearing my Poli-Sci sweatshirt, he directed us to a Greek restaurant called Zorba's. It must be a favorite of the cops in that precint because there must have been like 4 of them in the restaurant. Great food and cheaply priced. Cool beans! We walked around a bit, admiring the architecture and the area's diversity. As you might expect, there are many more African-Americans, but there are many other ethnicities as well. Not nearly as homogeneous as GU. I love it! Two of the guys we were with are 21 and they decided to go to the Lucky bar. We walked around a bit more and headed into Starbucks to warm up and load up on caffeine. John (from Syracuse) and Jered (from NYU) met us there and we went on our way to Adams-Morgan to meet up with Jerod's ( from Tulane)friends at a hookah bar. The directions they gave us were horrid, but after a few wrong terns and passing the place, we made it. This area was even more diverse and hopping. It was kinda odd, because the streets were full of men, and not too many ladies. Much different than your typical college gathering or party, atleast in many of my expiriences. Passed a multitude of bars, clubs and a cosmopolitan mix of restaurants. We got to the hookah bar, although I didn't have any hookah. There was enough in the air to make me dizzy w/o having to smoke any of it myself. It was really odd though, they had Middle Eastern music playing (which isn't odd I suppose) but they had the Hallmark channel on with none other than the Parent Trap with Lindsey Lohan. I found it quite amusing given the surroundings and the clientele of the place. It got kinda late and Jerod and Jered were done with their hookah, so we left and trekked back to the Metro. We got there just fine, with just 1 directional disagreement and i didn't even have to pull outthe map and look like a total tourist. Yay us!
Wow that was kinda long...I'll try to be more terse from here on out.
Saturday:
Saturday was not as eventful, went back to Tenley town to get more stuff people need. Back to campus to strategize the day and our plan of attack for the city. Probably around 2pm we (Kathleen, her roomie Tanya from USF) headed back to the Tenley Metro to board the metro to Union Station. It was very cold with a biting wind. It is suppossed to warm up in a few days, but hopefully soon. Trekking across the city on a daily basis will be less enjoyable otherwise. Darn anti-cold temperment. We got to Union Station, whose architecture is absolutely gorgeous. I've been there before and have many pics from then that are much better, but I took more just because I can. Unfortuantly I never read the user manual for my camera, so the pics were kinda dark. I'll figure it out though. Y'all can notice my progress through the semester. It will be like a virtual journey in Rachel's self-improvemnt re: camera skills. Or not. Anyway, much of the building has been renovated and shops and restaurants have taken up residence. Admired teh architecture and all the marble on the inside. It was too cold to go outside so I'll have to visit again.
Loaded the metro again to Silver Springs, MD. It was a relatively long jaunt on the Metro, but a short stop in the town. As we were walking towards the mall to get cold weather stuff, I saw a kiss and ride sign for Metro. I was going to take a pic on the way back, but the snow flurries and intense wind made me forget. The wind was so strong, it was actually pushing us down the hill. Crazyness. I might go back just for a pic of that sign. I wonder if it is literal, or an acronym. I mean the Metro fares add up a lot.
Metro to Chinatown. Didn't see much because it was cold though. We went to the nearest Chinese restaurant that had a sign for cheap dinner and headed in. Took a few quick pics of the arch, which is beautiful, but due to cold induced laziness I didn't find a good location to take the picture from. When they have the Chinese New Year, I'll surely take better ones of the parade and such.
Back to campus, where I was finally able to pick up some of the stuff I shipped, and a couple of my books as well. Luckily the homework I have for Tues is on one of the books that came. Yeah me! Unpacked a bit, relaxed watched the GU-Pepperdine stats online, (not nearly as exciting as watching the game on TV or at the arena) but that's the best I could do.
