First Weekend in DC Recap

Hi All,

While I'm sure everyone has given up on this blog (to be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure I'd ever post anything more), I've decided to use it to keep track of my experiences in DC. I'm doing this as much for myself as for others, so bear with me if some things seem unnecessary. I arrived in DC on Saturday the 22 and made my way from BWI airport to the Boston University Center in DC, which is where ND students stay, via DC Metro. This was an excellent idea from a financial point of view, the trip from the airport was only about $6 rather than $30 for a shuttle or $60 for a cab, but kind of a pain in the but from a convenience standpoint. After getting checked in at the BU Center, my four suite-mates and I decided to take a look around the area we'd be living in for the next four months. We live in the Woodley Park neighborhood of DC, about a block or two from the National Zoo. It's a pretty nice neighborhood. Unfortunately, it was raining while we did our exploring, which made the whole experience a little less fun. We did manage to find several restaurants and a CVS, which more or less took care of our needs. We then came back and said hi to some of the other ND students in the building before trying to walk to a target about a mile away in the rain. Needless to say we got hopelessly off track and wound up taking the metro instead. After that excursion we pretty much called it a night on Saturday.

Sunday we were able to sleep in before setting out on another day of exploration. Being the bold Domers we are, we decided to turn right out of the front of the building, which I had not yet done at that point. We walked past the zoo, and up two or three more metro stops, finding shops and restaurants along the way. We then hopped the metro down to union station for lunch and sight-seeing. After lunch we went to the US Postal Museum, which was actually pretty cool. It talked about the early formation of the US Postal Service and had some interactive, although kid themed, exhibits/games. From there we headed back to the BU Center for our ND orientation and some pizza. We hung out with some of the other students on our floor that night (last night), which include students from ND, Grinnell, and Ithaca College, before calling it a night.

This morning, I decided I should bite the bullet and go figure out where my internship office actually is. Fortunately, its only a short metro ride away and then about 2 blocks from the metro station. I start work tomorrow at 9:30 AM, so I'm looking forward to that. Besides finding Congressman Braley's Office, I pretty much just hung around the apartment the rest of the afternoon. We're having dinner with a couple of the girls from down the hall later tonight and then I've got to take a look at some readings for my class tomorrow night. Hopefully all goes according to plan and I am able to update this reasonably frequently.

Later,
Jes