Lady Gaga at the Verizon Center

Monday May 12^th I went to the Lady Gaga concert at the Verizon Center. For those who don’t know, the Verizon Center is a 20,000 seat arena home to NBA’s Washington Wizards, NHL’s Washington Capitals, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, and the NCAA’s Georgetown Hoyas’s men’s basketball team. Along with athletics the venue hosts concerts, family shows, and special events making an average of 220 events.

Verizon Center is in China Town, which is a really busy area of DC with a lot of restaurants, bars, and stores. I think it’s the perfect location for this type of venue. It was really fun to experience China Town on the night of such a large concert. There were tons of people all over the place, and since it was Lady Gaga lots of them were in crazy outfits (including my friends and I). The evening was really nice outside and there were people everywhere going from restaurant to bar. It was so fun a fun spectacle to see, a busy and fun China Town night.

My friends and I had really good floor tickets so were very close the stage. We all had so much fun singing and dancing along with Lady Gaga. She is a really amazing performer live. It was the best concert I’ve ever been to, I had a blast! It was also really great to be with all the other costumed fans on the floor, we met a lot of nice and fun people.

Overall it was great to experience Lady Gaga at DC’s largest concert venue. China Town is a really fun area, and we went out to a few bars after. The energy and town were great and I’m really happy I was able to go. Maybe I’ll see another concert at the Verizon Center sometime this summer! A night I will always remember.

Andrew Zuk

Bike Ride to Mount Vernon

I've always enjoyed cycling and am participating in Pelotonia this August, so of course I brought my bike to DC this summer! I have been investigating the DC area bike trails for the past two weeks and luckily bumped into a trail guide and got a bike map. Today I went on my first long ride to Mount Vernon and back, which was about 45 miles.

It was a beautiful day today and great to experience DC and Virginia by bike. I started out by going all the way down the mall to cross over to Virginia at Arlington Cemetery. Then I was onward south on the Mount Vernon Trail. I passed the Ronald Reagan airport and got to see some planes take off as I rode. Then I got to ride through Alexandria, which was really fun. The downtown area has a nice riverfront and a lot of stores and restaurants, there were a lot of people out and about on this beautiful Sunday. I would like to go spend time exploring Alexandria. I got to go under the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, which has a park and nice facilities. Most of the trail is right along the Potomac River offering really great water views.

After about an hour and a half I made it to Mount Vernon! I took a water break and rested for a bit before starting my trek back to The Congressional! I am excited to go to Mount Vernon and explore next Friday on our study tour.

I had a lot of fun biking down to Mount Vernon. It was pretty surreal to be doing my usual bike ride I would in Columbus but now passing some of the most historically significant sites in Washington along my way. I’m excited to test out all the different bike trails and routes over the course of the summer.

DC has a bike share program that charges $7 for 24 hours or $25 for a month for anyone who wants to go out and explore DC by bike! 

Andrew Zuk

Under Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge

Alexandria

 Made it to Mount Vernon!

EU Open House

Last weekend I was able to go to the EU Open House, a fantastic event where from 10am to 4pm, many embassies of the European Union opened their doors to visitors. The event was wonderfully set up with several different loops which each had their own free busses. Each of the embassies provided some local foods, beverages, and cultural tidbits.

The first Embassy I visited was the Austrian Embassy. I have always loved travelling through Austria because of the beautiful landscape and this Embassy Tour did not disappoint. They had my favorite chocolate wafer snacks which are unbelievably delicious (I might have taken a couple extra), Apfel Strudel for sale, and a chef who was making the Apfel Strudel in front of the audience.

After this we took a bus to the Dutch Embassy. Because I am a dual citizen (American and Dutch), I really wanted to visit the embassy to see what they would have from my home country. As soon as we came in we were given tickets for several different types of snacks. Someone came over with a cheese plate with three types of Dutch cheese on it. There was a long line at a stand that was making poffertjes (mini pancakes about an inch in diameter). When we walked inside we were told we could get a free Heineken sample, which was also great. After perusing about a while and meeting some of the people who worked in the Embassy, we moved on.

All in all, this was a great experience and really showcased the amazing opportunities D.C. has to offer. While I am still bummed I missed out on the Italian Pizza due to transportation difficulties, I could not have wished for a better day. 

Anne Maria van den Berg