If you get a day off, don’t waste it! My first week at work, there was an off-site full staff meeting scheduled in Baltimore. My supervisor told me to take the day off since everyone in the office would be in Baltimore. It felt weird to accept a day off when I’d barely started my job, and I didn’t really know what to do with my time. I debated taking it easy and giving myself a day to settle in more since we’d just moved in, but I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to kickstart my DC experience.
I scheduled my first informational interview for that morning (but not too early because let’s be real, there are very few days this summer when I’ll get to sleep in past 7:30am). I met with someone from the UN Foundation, which is just down the street from the White House. After my informational I walked around the EEOC and the White House and totally fan-girled about being in our nation’s capital. Next, I stopped at a Pete’s and grabbed a coffee and a table (a prime people watching location). While I was there I wrote some notes about my informational and brainstormed ideas for my capstone paper, and made plans to grab lunch with some fellow interns who work downtown.
After I'd taken a moment to relax and enjoy my coffee I met up with two other interns and we adventured into the wild world of Roti. You can find fast-casual, chipotle-style, restaurants with just about any kind of food you want in DC, and I am on a mission to try them all. I then proceeded to just barely avoid slipping into a food coma, at which point I thought some more walking would wake me up. I walked back up towards the White House and went to the Renwick Gallery. After I thoroughly explored their “WONDER” exhibit, I was feeling particularly motivated so I decided I would walk home rather than taking the metro.
I set off from downtown and decided to take a route that would take me by the Ronald Reagan Building and then onto the Mall for my stroll home. On my way home I walked by the Natural History Museum and the American History Museum, both of which had dauntingly long lines, so I made a mental note to come back on another day. I finally came up to a museum that didn’t have a line outside of it so I decided to go take a look. I had no idea what I was walking into until I got inside, but it turned out to be the National Gallery of Art West Building, which houses European and American works spanning from the 13th century all the way to post-impressionism. The museum was amazing, I got to see the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci that is in the United States. By the time I walked out of the museum, 2 hours later, I was exhausted. I walked the rest of the way home and collapsed on the couch about 30 minutes before everyone else starting getting home from work.
Lessons Learned:
- Try to avoid spontaneous and excessive walking in flats, I wish I’d planned on doing this and brought comfortable shoes to walk in.
- Contrary to the above, if you’re just exploring WALK EVERYWHERE. Despite my feet’s hatred for myself by the end of the day, it was totally worth it. DC is super walkable if you have the time, and it’s a great way to get to know the city better.
- Definitely go do and see all of the things, but you don’t have to do it all at once. It’s okay to take a more leisurely pace every once and a while; sleep in, hang out at coffeeshops, relax at home.
- You can get a lot done in a day; I did all this and made it home before dinner!
Summary of 5.12.16
Informationals: 1
Bomb Meals: 1
Museums: 2
Steps: 24,092
-Kylie Tien
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