Saturday:
Soooo it was Harry Potter weekend on the telyvision this weekend. We started out with a trip to Eastern market
, after which I spent the entire day holed up in the cave (living room),
pretending to accomplish things. Although to be fair, I did get most of the way
through "Its worse than it looks" between naps. And then we mostly
devolved into eating Indian take-out and watching the movie marathon.
Sunday: See above loafing, book reading, paper
proposal writing, szechuan peanut noodle making etc. Also watching Harry
Potter, which is necessary for life. I did not accomplish any touristy things
this weekend. I am ashamed of myself internet, so maybe I will make it up next
weekend (probably not).
Monday: It was warm today, and by warm I mean
humid. Very, very humid. It made for a tough morning run and a sticky metro
ride to work. Pro tip: just expect the red line to have delays. They tell you
that when you get here, I would definitely believe them. Monday went uphill
from there, I spent lunch/ my mental health break reading in the courtyard of
the National Portrait Gallery (I spend around 3 hours a week there, all the
nature, none of the heat) and Olivia dropped by for a visit! After work was
class, we turned in our paper proposals and had the usual brain-testing round
of policy discussions. This week was particularly interesting since we covered
both education and voting structure in the US.
Tuesday: Work work work work. The good news is
I'm getting to know excel better than ever (which was basically none, prior
knowledge nonexistent), and I'm continuing to keep up with current events. That's probably a good habit to cultivate as
I ponder acting like a responsible adult, someday, maybe.... Conveniently, our
policy salon tonight lined up well with that theme. Our speaker du jour
graduated from Ohio State and then went on to get his MA and JD. He had a solid
talk about resumes and interview preparation, both of which are becoming more
and more essential to us as graduation looms closer. Side note: WAIP has been
in DC for almost a month now, which is a crazy long time…...and it has gone by
in the blink of an eye. I have a sneaking suspicion that the rest of the year
is going to go exactly like that and all of a sudden I'm going to be looking at
a graduation cap.
Wednesday: I did literally nothing of note
today after work. Absolutely nothing.
Thursday: So we had constituent coffee with Senator
Brown this morning, which was pretty darn cool. He seems very nice and was
interested to hear about our summers so far/ what we're all doing
internship-wise. I was going to fan-girl slightly and refuse to wash my hands
for a couple hours after shaking his, but then I got on the metro and felt and
immediate need for hand sanitizer when I got off of it. C'est la vie. Rolled
into work a mere 45 minutes late (which I had okay-ed in advance) and the
Thursday whirlwind of projects began. Better to be busy than bored. I took a
break from the madness around one and dragged one of the other interns with me
to go grab lunch at a place Katy recommended called Chinatown Express. It is a
delightful little dive (you literally dive into it if its rainy out, see
today's weather report) complete with fish tanks and ducks in the window. I had
pork and leek steamed dumplings (eight for a mere 5.95) that you can also get
with other fillings or fried! They were delicious, and nicely textured which is
always a good quality to find in a dumpling. My compatriot had the General
Tso's chicken which was reassuringly spicy around the edges and accompanied by
heaps of rice (7.95). I will be revisiting Chinatown Express and not just to
say hello to the fish. Evening was spent loafing.
Friday:
After briefly celebrating our recess from formal dress team WAIP hustled
to the National Archives for our first tour of the day. Having a docent-led tour confers the
advantage of getting in before the crowds, somewhat. The herds of middle
schoolers caught up with us when we were listening to a review on the
constitution. I would have willingly gotten up a couple hours earlier if it
meant dodging the crowds entirely, but we made it through in the end and broke
for lunch. Christening our new Friday tradition, Olivia and I (this time with
new initiates) headed back to Astro's, this time to try both the doughnuts AND
the fried chicken. Better choices could not have been made. I tried the maple
bacon doughnut this time around, and while it was the best maple bacon doughnut
I've ever had, I still put the crème brulee doughnut at the top of the best
doughnuts I have ever eaten list. We enjoyed a leisurely (and increasingly warm) walk back to the mall
from Chinatown to go to the Air and Space museum for our second tour of the
day. I don't know if the doughnut revived me, or if I just preferred looking at
plaaaaanes, but I had more fun during our second tour, despite continuing
galloping hordes of youths. With a new
slightly-more-comprehensive of the development of human flight and sightings of
John Glenn's space suit (what up Glenn School) buoying us, we made it home and
collapsed. Friday night involved a tour around the American University
neighborhood, where the houses bear surprising similarity to much of Seattle's
Queen Anne neighborhood. My dreams of living there someday were crushed when I
got home and zillowed real estate in the
area. Somehow I don't think an entry level job in DC is going to cover the
mortgage attached to a 1.5 million dollar postage stamp of property. I'll end this
week on that depressing note.
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