Semester in Review

So, I realize this is horribly late and that my program ended 15 days ago and I have now been home for two weeks. Whatever. The end of my semester was eventful: I finished work and class and went on one last field trip. The drive home, yes DRIVE, was as eventful as driving through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin can be. The past two weeks have been uneventful. I have been trying to find a job and researching grad schools (but more about that in what I presume will be a later post).

This last semester was amazing and I don't think I fully realized how amazing it was until I was home. In light of this realization I have decided to share my favorite pictures and stories from the semester. These are in no particular order.

My first cupcake from Sprinkles, also the night we watched New In Town. The first time I really walked around Georgetown. Also, the first time I used my umbrella. Basically, the "first" picture.

My slightly fuzzy picture with Lilly Ledbetter. One of the super cool things I got to do that wouldn't have been possible outside of my program.

The box in Ford's Theater where Lincoln was shot. Very cool that is still exists and the play/musical we saw was very good. Also, the faculty reception weekend and the fancy night.

RED PANDAS! and the zoo.

Sunrise Easter Service at Arlington Cemetery: so cool and worth getting up for!

The roommate pic! Mallori, Cynthia, and I at a Nationals Game during our last weekend.

Megan and Cynthia during the lunch that was our last field trip.

Mallori and I during the same lunch.

 The Lincoln Memorial from the World War II Memorial at sunset. Reminiscent of all the time I spent anywhere near the Mall.

Old Town Alexandria-- my day off when I explored all by myself.

A simultaneous low and high of eating. Low: Fruity Pebbles aren't exactly 5-star. High: mega creativity points for using a drinking glass and a fork.

Technically this one is Meredith's but she took it while we were together. The big square thing is the Kennedy Center and we were on the Key Bridge going to Rosslyn from Georgetown. This is for all the adventures Big Sis Meredith and I had in DC together.

That's it for now I suppose. However, my journey has just begun.

Surreality

So I have 9 days left... that's cool... and surreal... but reality. It feels weird to have so little time left. I have 6 days of work left and am very excited to be done.

Last week our field trip was to the Newseum, which was, as always, amazing. However, prior to being able to explore the museum, we had to listen to the Public Relations professor talk...about the importance of the press... because I totally don't know that...whatever. Today we went to the Cato Institute and listed to Tucker Carlson. It was interesting. But the food was good and he was witty. I did learn, however, what "Connecticut" looks like :)

This past weekend was Easter. On Saturday, I planted a tree for the end of my community service with a friend. It was fun, even if it was outside. In the afternoon, we face painted at an Easter Egg Roll at our apartment complex. It was also fun. Sunday, I went to the Sunrise Easter Service at Arlington National Cemetery. It was super cool. After the service, I got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, also super cool. Pictures to come, eventually. For dinner, Meredith and two of her friends came over and had dinner with me, one of my roommates, and one of my other friends. We had Thai. It was good.

That's about it... for now!

Happy April!

So, it's April! That means less than 3 weeks!!! I have only 12 days of work left and 2/3 field trips left! This semester has gone super fast but I'm really excited to go home.

As time goes on, there is less to talk about; work is work and I've done the touristy stuff. I have started/almost finished my community service. Last weekend, I volunteered at the family days event with the Cherry Blossom Festival:

It was at the National Building Museum and this is the middle atrium area. They had a stage on one end and tables on the other end. I was working with the sales people. It was fun; I've never worked with sales but it was kinda exciting.

Yesterday, I volunteered with Meredith and Mallori at the Kite Festival. It was less fun because we didn't really have jobs...or directions of any kind. It was actually poorly organized...but here is a picture:

Next Saturday, I am planting a tree with one of my friends, to finish up my hours, and in the afternoon I am painting faces at an Easter thing my program puts on for the kids at our apartment complex.

But of course, I have not just been volunteering and working. I had Friday the 23rd off and went to Old Town Alexandria. It was so pretty. Because I was the only one with the day off, I went alone. I took a lot of pictures:

 This is an old theater.

 The city square...quite deserted.

 The visitors' center and a free bathroom.

 The Carlyle House and Historic Park. Important for some reason... I took a picture of the plaque but didn't read it...

 I am actually not really sure what this is...

 Houses!

A restaurant on the riverfront behind the old torpedo factory.

My lunch at Hard Times Cafe. Cincinnati Chili Mac and cornbread. It was super delicious but kind of depressing. And that ended my day off!

The next day, Saturday the 24th, was the faculty reception and a play at Ford's Theater. The faculty rep from Augie also took us out to dinner. The faculty stuff was fun but the play was better. We saw 1776 and it was amazing! I was actually not sure how much I would like it but was pleasantly surprised.

 Ford's Theater box where Lincoln was shot.

Thursday, before my day off, Meredith and I went to the Tidal Basin to look at the Cherry Blossoms. They peaked that day.

It was very pretty and I was so glad I could see them!

Wednesday the 28th we had a build your own field trip day. Meredith, Mallori, Megan, and I went to the zoo.

 One of the cheetahs.

 The orangutans on their rope lines across the zoo.

 RED PANDAS!!!! My favorite.

 More red pandas!

 More red pandas!

Normal old pandas... so not as cute as the red pandas.


 I think that's it... for now!

History Happens in Black and White

So this is going to be a bit less about what I've been up to and more an observation on life.

Among my age group, and especially among the history-minded of us, there is a general consensus that the past happened in black and white. We all know this is false, but it makes sense. Movies, TV, and photographs were in black and white for a long time (or in the case of TV, in the beginning). I am a little surprised every time I see a photo from WWII in color...which is odd because I see them more often at work then I do in normal life. However, most of the photos I see are in black and white, even ones from my lifetime... the Navy seems to have a weird obsession with printing in black and white. At the American Holocaust Museum, there is the occasional color photo, and in various other museums (excluding posters, which, of course, are always in color).

As a whole, the "history happened in black and white" statement is a bit sardonic. We know people see in color, and therefore, the past happened in color. We mock ourselves; we know better, but most of the pictures and films we see the past through are black and white. Because of this introduction, we never think of the past in color--it's like Dorothy in Oz. If the past were in color, it would be some fantastical world, not the one we live in.

Let me illustrate. At the beginning of my film class, we were discussing color vs. black and white in film. We stated that black and white movies are assumed to be old. Our professor asked why, as all professors are wont to do. One of the girls, a history major, said because the past happened in black and white, as if it were the most obvious statement in the world. Again he asked why, but not to make us question our preconceptions but because we all laughed and he didn't get the joke, even after we explained it.

And back to the regularly scheduled program.

Last week was OK. Not much happened. Wednesday we had the best field trip of the semester. We went to the Eisenhower Institute and spoke with Susan Eisenhower. BEST FIELD TRIP. She was inspirational--more than really any of our other speakers. She told some great stories about England, Soviet Russia (and non-Soviet Russia), and the US. When she spoke about Ike, she didn't say "my grandfather" but instead "Eisenhower," "the President," or "President/General Eisenhower." She spoke about Ike's work on Civil Rights and his conceptions about compromise. My favorite part was Eisenhower's job description as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, one sentence (shorter than his job title): Invade mainland Europe, and beat the Nazis.

Friday was a movie night and Sunday was a lazy day. Saturday I hung out with my friend Megan, and her sister and mom (in town during spring break). We walked part of the Mall and went to the Holocaust Museum. In the evening we walked the Mall and took pictures (which I will try to get and post).

I have 18 days of work left (yay being able to sleep in!) and 4 weeks from Friday is my last day. This semester is going way faster than I thought it would!

Pictures

Pictures... finally!
However, they are moderately out of order.

This is one of the planes in the Air and Space Museum. I can't remember what kind it is though.

This is my picture with Lilly Ledbetter from March 7. I know it's kind of fuzzy but still cool.

 This is the entrance to the West Wing of the White House. I have close up pictures of the seal but the overall picture is cool too.
 

This is the front of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, or the Old Executive Office Building if you prefer. It is a really cool building, the architecture is sweet. I took this picture from the First Division Monument.

Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity.

Cola Shake from Bobby's Burger Palace.

 Snoopy and the Red Baron display from the Air and Space Museum's WWI exhibit.

A DH-4 from WWI, Air and Space Museum's WWI exhibit.

And those are selected images from the last few weeks. If I missed anything let me know!

Mini Vacation

My parents came for the weekend of March 2. It was nice to see them and get some of the stuff I wanted from home (like my Chacos).

I met them at the Rosslyn McDonald's after getting off from work early, because Fridays I get to leave early. :) After a snack, I went back to my apartment and grabbed some stuff for the weekend. Then I joined them at the hotel and Meredith arrived soon after. That night we went to Ray's Hell Burger Too. It was better than Bobby's Burger Palace. There are like three incarnations of Ray's Hell Burger and, if it matters, President Obama ate at the original, which is like four store fronts down from the one we ate at.

Saturday we went to the National Geographic Museum and saw "The Anglo-Saxon Horde" exhibit. It was cool to see super old gold found by some British guy with a metal detector. The best part, however, was learning that the United Kingdom actually has a legal definition of "Treasure." After that we walked to the Capitol City Brewing Company for lunch. It is a microbrewery, which was not as exciting for me as it was for, well, everybody else. They had pretty good food though (I had their version of a Cuban). After lunch, we walked to Union Station, also pretty cool. It must have been a pretty sweet place when trains were a big deal. I wouldn't mind taking a train to/from there, just for the experience. After Meredith left for a concert, we went back to the hotel for a rest. Being tired, we ended up at a local Red, Hot & Blue, a BBQ joint that we'd been to in January.

Sunday we started out in Georgetown and had lunch at the Tackle Box. It was OK but not the best I've ever eaten. Then we took the Circulator towards Union Station and walked to the National Building Museum. Also a pretty cool place. They had a Lego exhibit. The other stuff was cool too but there was a lot of reading. In the atrium, there was some sort of model plane exhibition. The remote control side was kind of cool but the other side had the ones with rubber bands powering them. Those were cool. By far the best part was the people watching and actually knowing stuff about model airplanes... and they didn't have kids with them... yup. We walked to Chinatown and had a snack at a Corner Bakery on our way to dinner at Ben's Chili Bowl. I'd never had a Chili Dog until Sunday but it was quite good. Apparently, Ben's Chili Bowl is pretty famous, and another place Obama ate, if you're keeping track at home.

Monday I had to work but my class got canceled, so instead of rushing to eat with my parents and get to class, we went to Georgetown. I can't remember the name of the place we ate but it was near the river. After dinner we walked around until dessert at Serendipity 3, frozen hot chocolate. Both were very good. I said bye to them at the hotel after.

Our field trip Wednesday was to the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. We toured the White House in the morning. Everybody else had to wake up early but I actually got to sleep in an hour. The tour was cool. We had 2 hours after the tour before the EEOB stuff so I went to Caribou with some of my friends. After coffee we walked around the block and then went to the Renwick Gallery. It was OK but we didn't spend a lot of time there. We had about half an hour until we had to meet so we sat by the First Division Monument. I didn't know it was there but it is pretty cool. To get into the EEOB we had to go through almost as much security as to get into the White House. A guy from the program that interned at the White House last semester and got a job there coordinated the visit (he went to Augie). After walking around the building and seeing the West Wing entrance to the White House, we went to the room where our panel was. The panel was interesting. Most of the people were in their 20s. One guy was talking and said that even though they were all Obama supporters they were not there to push a message... and then proceeded to push a message... but it was funny. The worst part was their advise on grad school. Everybody says that most people should work first... and other scary stuff that really freaks you out when you aren't quite sure what you are doing with your life and really need to figure it out soonish...

Wednesday night I didn't have class so I went to see Lilly Ledbetter at the Sewall Belmont House. The recent Fair Pay Act was named after her. She was a plaintiff in a Supreme Court case recently. It's all fascinating. I got a picture with her. Hearing her speak was cool because I read about her case in one of my books for my Supreme Court class.

Thursday, my friend Megan and I tried to watch the Exorcist for class but only got 40 minutes into it before we gave up and watch something else. We watched part of the movie Forever Strong before we had to go to bed. It is a pretty good movie, we finished it yesterday. Tonight we are watching Strangers On A Train for class as well.

Pictures soonish...

Museums, Round 2

I know I have been a bit lax recently, but I've been busy. So, rather than write one ridiculously long blog, I'm going to break it up a bit.

The 25 and 26 were pretty boring. I went to the American History museum with one of my other friends and actually read stuff. Sunday, I went to the Air and Space Museum with Meredith and my roommate Mallori. It was cool but there was so much to read. The best part was looking at the different kinds of planes and being able to recognize some of them from work...and then being rather surprised. After that we went to the Hirshhorn Art Museum. The best part of that was the new exhibit based on color and sensation..."Suprasensorial." But other than that it was basically an art museum... so kind of boring.

After the Hirshhorn, Meredith and I walked to Bobby's Burger Palace, Bobby Flay's restaurant. It was pretty good. We split a Cola shake and I'm not sure how much I liked it but the burger was good.

On the 29th, my field trip was to the International Spy Museum. It was cool but I'm not sure I would pay $20 to go to it. It was probably one of the biggest tourist traps in the city. There were parts that were cool but it's not really a must see.

Pictures will come soonish... hopefully.