alors on danse

I know it's july 3rd.

I really do enjoy blogging. Not really because i get to share my entire life on the internet, but because I can document my adventures and friends and family can follow along if they choose.

This summer has been crazier than other summers for some reason. It's been more like a school semester, with five classes, a play, and a job. The past few weeks have been particularly crazy to meet deadlines for scholarships, but now there's more deadlines for the beginning of august and then mid-august for the GMAT, and literally my entire life is on full-speed ahead, running into senior year.

Kyle's really excited to get back to school. We keep talking about social events and classes and life after college. he's excited, and I'm mostly freaking out. As soon as I hit my apartment at Trinity Commons (and we're talking hit as in run into, slam into, head first, diving in, no turning back), life is going to be business school deadlines, interviews for scholarships and school, plays, classes, a 25 page history research paper, choreography, throwing social events for friends, dancing, and spending every last second I can with the people I've met at duke that can't bear to part with just yet. Every time kyle says something about not being able to wait to get back to school, I wan't to scream off the top of the Washington Monument "I'M NOT READY!! CAN EVERYONE JUST STOP MOVING SO FAST? I'M NOT READY."

To be honest, I think I am ready, heh. I just don't want to be there yet. I don't want to be making decisions that are determining where I go after college because I don't to leave Duke just yet. I only had half of a junior year, after all. But regardless, yes, I've hit a comfort place. Little did I know that being at Duke I would eventually feel like I was on top of the world like I did in high school, not just a little fish in a big pond. I've found my place. I've found where I can excel and push myself. I've found how to make me just a little bit more the me I'm going to be. I want to keep learning and growing. I guess that's why I'm planning on heading into more school after I suppose.

Regardless, this summer feels like it's moving at 100 mph towards Duke. My internship is amazing, and I've been working hard and making legitimate decisions for these events called Portraits After 5. I finally got an entire proposal out to Mingle at the Museum last Thursday and felt pretty proud of seeing a glimpse of everything coming together. Though I do hope to do more in my last four weeks there.

My job at the gym has been so miserable that I've decided to starve myself a little more rather than work for the next three weeks to make another $180. Instead, I've gotten in the contact with the Office of Government Relations at the Smithsonian and am meeting with the Head of the department on Tuesday to create a pseudo internship for the next three weeks. Turns out they're way understaffed right now... hmmm....maybe they'll pay me too.

Then I've been re-learning stupid small shortcuts for math that I had totally forgotten while studying for the GMAT... like finding the smallest multiple of a whole bunch of large numbers by counting who has the largest number of prime factors and such. It's actually been useful. We were trying to decide something the other day and Kyle said, "let's both think of a number, if they add to an odd number, let's do this, if' they're even let's do that." and I said, "that's not fair because there's a greater chance of it being even" (Even + Even = Even, odd + odd = even, even + odd = odd.)

The GMAT is also kind of weird because it has these data sufficiency questions which are annoying, and these essays that are totally stupid. All they want you to do is give two paragraphs showing insufficiencies of an argument and then one paragraph about something that would make the argument stronger. dumb. Anyway, all I need to do is jump 100 points to be the average of most business schools. Average is good, because I have good grades and lots of extracurriculars. haha

I have also been collecting songs for social events and have created an ipod totally dedicated to songs just for social events (mom's red ipod, thanks mom!), which is now called PhRED, unless someone comes up with something better. right now it only has 7 hours of music on it though, so I definitely need to keep working on that.

and then I think other than that has just been museums and cooking and fun. Kyle and I made omelets for lunch and then had ben and jerrys ice cream.....brunch for champions), and then we did the national gallery of art before I had to work at the gym. He got a roommate today, he was pretty bummed haha.

I've also become pretty good friends with a couple girls I intern with. We're all Nik's interns, but we're working on different projects. We want to get tshirts that are hot pink with black writing that say "Nik's Little Ladies" I wanna get PA5 on the back. " OH HEY HI I'm Rebecca Stone with the Associate Director of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery."

I've become a big fan of sushi since the Perinis took me out for it, though Kyle claims I can't say I eat sushi because I only get vegetarian ones. Wasabi and ginger might be two of my favorite flavors. We also watched Shashank Redemption this weekend because I hadn't seen it yet, which was apparently a horrible crime. Anyway, loved the movie, I'd love to read the book, but there's about ten books on my shelf right now to read... Right after I get through four GMAT books, an online course, 10 essays for scholarships, and work.

Tomorrow is the fourth of july. I'm thinking it's going to be weird, so I don't feel like talking about the plan until afterwards. However, the only thing I am certain about is that we're going to see the Declaration of Independence read the National Archives tomorrow, and i am very excited.

Kyle and I talked about this really cool idea I've had for awhile today. I was thinking it would be cool to have scheduled workshops in Phred throughout the year to better people's skills. It started for me with dance, because of my frustration with hoof 'n' hornies not wanting to come within a mile of musicals that have dance in them. have a basic workshop on Tap 101, popular musical theater choreography 101, and then we came up with ideas for vocal skills, improvisational games and activities, reading sheet music, learning light/sound board etc. I think it would be cool to have one or two a month. and maybe talking to people in On Tap or Def Mo. Maybe even charge $1 or $2 for them to go towards HnH. It could be pretty cool.

I am sad Robert Francis is going abroad this semester.

Anyway, it's hard to blog when your life is moving this fast, but I was thinking about coming up with an idea for a blog that can continue, even when I'm at school. Willa (roommate) has a fashion blog and Sierra has a food blog that they keep all the time and write in whenever they have a good story, and I would love to come up with something that I can regularly write about and that doesn't end whenever I go back to school. I want it to be completely original though, because there are lots of shops, fashion, photography, music, food, etc blogs. hmmm. and speaking of hobbies, I've gotten four magnets so far this summer and I love all four of them a ton. they are great additions to my collection and my fridge at Trinity Comm is going to be super hott. :D

Museum shout-outs since I've last written: Newseum and Spy Museum were both great (did 'em with the rents). Newseum may be one of my new favorite museums. I loved it. Yesterday, Kyle, Jill and Alex (nik interns) and I went to the zoo and had an amazing time, even though a lot of the zoo was under construction. got to see a huge giant panda eat for like an hour and giant turtles, and pretty lions etc. also got to watch a gorilla throw up and then eat its vomit. there are some ways that monkeys will just never be like us. We also did the corcoran which was very nice, and very modern. I loved the national gallery of art today.

and the ok go / pomplamoose concert over a week ago was awesome. we were in the front row and had a great time, and kinda made friends with the people around us. biggest regret was not remembering the "A million ways" dance well enough to go onstage and do it while they played it. so sad. but we had a great time.

all for now

love

bec

Did I say too much? Did I say enough?

I think the theme of this week has been realizing that it truly is possible to hate half of your life and love the other half.

The Nats game ended up being a ton of fun. They played horribly. We went away for like an hour and got food, and then they ended up winning!! it was kyle's two roommates and my roommate Sierra. Mostly it was just fun to sit there and talk and get to know everyone.

Thursday, the american art museum held an after hours event with jazz music and people could pay $40 and paint on an easel in the courtyard. Kyle and I had a great time just listening to the music, checking out the new exhibit at NPG, seeing the rest of the museum, and watching people paint.

Friday we went to dinner at a place called Matchbox which was super cute and had a brick wall and was really narrow (like a matchbox!) we got a thin crust pizza and then went to see Super 8! at the huge movie theater in Verizon Center, though the theater itself was pretty small.

Saturday we went to the National Museum of American History and the Holocaust Museum. Of course I loved them both. I couldve been in the American History museum for like three days, and the holocaust museum was very moving. It was very similar to the holocaust museum Catherine and I went to in Berlin. Kinda interesting trying to recognize different perspectives. They also had an exhibit that was just for kids which was kind of fun to go through.

In between the two museums we went to POV, which is a lounge/cafe on top of Hotel Washington. The hotel was super chic and modern. The terrace was very stylish and there were lots of pillows. The food was not very good, but we had a great time just sitting up there and enjoying the view. And speaking of the view, we could see the top of the White House!! We saw what we think was the switching of the sniper team on top of the white house. we could even see their huge guns. pretty exciting stuff.

Sunday, since it was supposed to rain (though it never did) we ended up going to the Hirshhorn which is modern art with a lot of sculpture. The building is shaped like a donut and we got through it way faster than we thought we were going to. So fast that we actually did the Freer and Sackler galleries (Asian art) before I had to leave for work!

My internship, it's a little difficult to say right now, but is going very well. What happens is I call all of these people and set up meetings with them. This upcoming week is going to be very exciting because I'm in meetings all day wednesday and thursday. But hopefully when all is said and done, i'll have created something superb for a whole bunch of people.

My rents are coming this weekend, got most of it planned, should be a lot of fun. I'm excited for good food and good museums and good company.

The past two nights have been movie nights in Amsterdam Hall 102. Last night was a french movie that's english title is Love Me If You Dare, and tonight we watched 500 Days of Summer (phoo-ee, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt...). Anyway, enjoying the roomie-ness.

Tomorrow, I have work in that horrible place, then im getting shots at that horrible place, and then kyle and i are going to see an IMAX at the Natural History Museum about monkeys and then we're making banana, chocolate chip, reeses peanut butter chip, and walnut pancakes.... FOR DINNER.

Becca

The Rat Race

(Yes, I know it's been over a week)

The other day on my way to Kyle's apartment I saw a HUGE rat, probably the size of shoebox for flats, run along the side of an office building. I jumped like ten feet in the air because it got within about a foot of me, but as I kept walking I realized the rats....mice...and rodents... in DC, make perfect sense.

People come here following the Pied Piper of the government and cool legit jobs, and next thing you know they're all a part of a huge rat race that may not actuallybe doing anything, and if it is, things are happening very, and I mean very, slowly. You start to realize that offices here don't run like a doctor's office, where everything is immediate, minus a half hour wait, but that's just because your dad is just slow with patients. Offices here are getting things done (at least from my personal experience they are), but very slowly. I've also heard from fellow interns that governmental buildings are particularly guilty... guilty of doing nothing.

I've found that there's a blog dedicated entirely to bashing interns. dcinterns.blogspot.com. Mostly it's about interns on Capitol Hill, but it's entirely written by staffers and supervisors. People who are supposed to be LEADING us, and giving us work to do. Interns come to Capitol Hill eager and seeking and ready to do ANYTHING to make a difference, to find something that interests them, to get a job, to be at the intersection of all of their interests, to live in theculmination of action. And there staffers turn around and write a blog making fun of how stupid they are and how they can't do anything right. Maybe you gave them something to do other than answer phones or get coffee (something they actually don't have college courses on), they would surprisingly know how to do it and would be successful doing it. The bio of the blog says something about how they hope interns will come here and read and learn how to not be the stereotypes that they are, but each story written just confirms that it's a stereotype that staffers have created and continue to uphold by writing in this blog.

Us interns are excited. We're diligent. We're intelligent. We're focused. We're looking for anything but a menial summer job. We will work without pay and do anything you ask us to do. It's a strange situation, to have free labor that is so pumped to be a part of what you do, so I suggest that you take advantage of an opportunity for slavery that you might not otherwise have had.

Anyway, there's a dead mouse outside my apartment building, and as I slowly watch it decompose on the sidewalk each day that I walk by, I hope at least it's the one we saw in our kitchen. In other news, I saw the same woman going to work this morning as I did going home. I'm sure of it because I noticed how she was wearing a particularly cute skirt, but the top with it just didn't work at all. She was doing the same exact thing as me, going to work and going home from work. like I said, rat race.

However, unlike some of my fellow interns, my internship is incredible, and I don't have to ever be bored (unlike my menial summer job the other days of the week). My boss isgreat, but super busy (he is the Associate Director of Operations at the NPG after all). Anyway, for those besides the ones I've told, I'm planning these events called Portraits After 5, which areopportunities to get more people into the NPG after normal hours and have music, artists, food/drink, all focused around a specific current exhibition. Should be incredible, and boy do I have a lot of work to do! I can't wait to be there tomorrow! And I have a meeting with a potential collaborator so that should be good.

Do not ever work at a gym.

Friday night Kyle and I went and saw Tree of Life. Weird movie, but it sparked some intense discussion afterwards, which of course we both like. If you're a visual person, I definitely recommend this movie. The filmography was beautiful, and there was a ton of imagery, symbolism, etc. And all I can really say is that it is about Life. and Love. In pretty much the most abstract sense you can think of.

That night we also got dinner at a place called Zaytinya. It's owned by this guy Jose Andres, who owns five restaurants all over DC. Jaleo (which there are a few of), we've already been to, which is tapas style. Zaytinya is mediterranean, small plates, and we just about died over everything we ate. we got an asparagus salad, falafel, chicken, lamb, and dessert and loved every minute of it. I have a feeling we'll be hitting up the majority of his restaurants this summer. For anyone in DC, go to one of Jose Andres' places. You won't be disappointed.

Saturday we went and saw the Capitol building. You really only got to see a couple rooms, but we had an amazing time and learned a lot. Our tour guide was this woman probably in her late twenties or thirties, and she was hilarious and very smart. We got to see the room where the original house of representatives was before they were over 200 people and couldn't fit in that room anymore and had to expand. It had a really cool echo effect. Click The Whispering Spot. There were also a bunch of statues that each state chose a person to represent them. Florida chose the guy who invited air conditioning, go figure. My favorite statue was of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Susan B Anthony by a female sculptor Adelaide Johnson. Click Here to see the statue. It's cool because it is only their busts, sorta signifying the fight for women's equality. We may have gotten women the right to vote, but we're not all the way there yet. :) Our tour guide then said "76 cents to the dollar, am I right, ladies??" We had a really good time. There was also a cool video at the beginning.

I had never thought about how symbolic the Capitol building is. I know, dumb, but you can't really name a more symbolic location representing the people of the US. by the people, for the people, this is where laws are made that represent true democracy. Talk about US history!!!!! gah, pretty cool.

the capitol dome.

(sorry it's upside down) The place where John Quincy Adams sat.

After that we went to lunch at the Good Stuff Eatery, I'd mentioned it to Kyle. Now he wants to go back so I guess I might end up there again, but man it's delicious. Fried portobello mushroom sandwich, oh hey.

Then we went to the Library of Congress and just checked it out. You could overlook one of the reading rooms, and it was so cool. I was wondering if I had gone to GW and become a history major if I would've had to do any research in the Library of Congress. There were also some other cool things to see at the Library of Congress: There was a photographs miniatures exhibit from the Civil War, just a whole bunch of creepy tiny photographs in small gold boxes and lockets. Very cool, also kinda sad thinking about how that was really the only way that family members could remember each other. You could also see part of Thomas Jefferson's library, which he donated to the Library of Congress (though a lot of it burned down in a fire). Man he had a lot of books, and he probably read all of them, too. crazy. They were beautiful. It's weird how bookmaking actually using to be an art form. There was also an exhibit about building the nation and founding fathers and junk which was fun to go through, seeing as we did a play about it. We especially liked the part about the Election of 1800, and seeing the actual letter that Alexander Hamilton wrote to betray John Adams to get him replaced which sparked Kyle's line of "F***" in the play because the letter was published in the papers. hehehe. Pretty cool.

me in the Library of Congress

That night we went to the Kennedy Center which is the big performing arts center here. it's pretty big and very nice, got your general broadway shows going on (Wicked is up this summer. woohoo [sarcasm]), but the cool part is that they have live concerts every night at 6 pm. They can be anything from classical to decently popular bands. When we went it was a few violinists playing, and everyone just sorta sits around the lobby and listens to them (they don't play on the huge stage, but on a smaller stage in the lobby). OK Go and Pomplamoose are going to be here in a week and we got in the lottery for that to see if we can so that too, for free! so, crossing my fingers on that.

Finally we watched My Best Friend's Wedding that night. Remember that movie?? for some reason, we were somewhere, and I started singing "Wishin and hopin and thinkin and prayin'" and no one had any idea what I was talking about and so we watched that movie. Still cute, sooooo 90s though haha.

Sunday we went to the National Building museum, which is about exactly what it sounds like, buildings. We did four exhibits there: one on World Fairs which was pretty cool to look at all the different new and exciting inventions for each world fair, and then we did on building structures in DC. Then there was a lego exhibit that had a whole bunch of famous buildings made out of legos. that was fun (sears tower, one of the twin towers, empire state building, and a whole bunch of others from around the world). Finally we did one on mosaics done in American cathedrals that was based on one primary artist, which kyle really liked. Then I had to go to work and that was Sunday.

Hooray, we're all caught up! Tonight, Kyle, me, Sierra (one of my roommates), and potentially both of Kyle's roommates (Baruch and Zach) are going to a Nats game. I sorta had to convince everyone, and I'm pretty sure the girls are more excited about it than the boys, but it should still be fun. Apparently the Nats just got a brand new stadium and it's really nice. We'll see if it lives up to the Rays' indoor one!

Tomorrow I'm back at my internship for the rest of the week, minus a bit of gymming tomorrow, bleh. Thursday, I'm going to a jazz event held by the American Art Museum to get a feel for events at the Reynolds Center (houses both the NPG and the AAM). And then it's the weekend! this weekend we want to see Super 8 (kyle has a gift certificate to the movies), and do the Zoo, and do the Natural History Museum, I'm hoping to get in one more, hopefully the american history one. we'll see!

Over and out!

Becca

You's a Hobo (In DC this summer)

Things have been pretty eventful as of late which makes it a little difficult to blog more. I was super busy while in London and Florence as well and still managed to blog, but it is just much easier to call someone while in America haha.

We've been seeing some really great things though. We've also become quite the little chefs, trying to go out to eat only a couple times a week. I had leftover homemade pizza tonight that was delicious.

Saturday was kind of a lazy morning. I've started to realize that the fact that everything closes at 5 or 5:30 makes it difficult to actually get anything done in this city, especially weekdays. Nevertheless, we went to the National Museum of the American Indian Saturday, thinking we would only have time to do part of it and somehow managed to do the entire museum in like 1.5hrs. Overall, it was not one of our favorite museums, though we did love the architecture of the building. As for the information, it seemed poorly organized and just sorta tossed around (a hidden statement about native culture?) But we had a good time calling out CORN wherever we saw a cob used as decoration, and believe me, it was used as decoration a lot.

that's the building. After that, we took a lonnng metro ride out to UMD to see Idaliz and Zack. We all got dinner at a pretty crappy restaurant and went and saw the new x-men movie. I liked it a lot and the four of us had a really good time. Probably our last hoo-rah, since Zack is moving to Florida soon to be an adult with a real person job at a nuclear power plant. Super bitter sweet, thinking about him not being there in the fall, but I know he'll come visit.

Sunday I had work which was awful as usual, though 4 hour shifts are easier to bear than 6 hour shifts. The fourth roommate moved in, who again is very nice. I'm still somewhat surprised that I ended up with three roommates I really like, and am very secretly hoping that we become friends over the course of the summer.

1. Liz goes to one of the SUNYs but is actually finishing her degree in Brussels. She's interested in international relations and is interning at the state department this summer.

2. Willa was adopted from Nepal and is working at some company that has a long acronym (USCIS). She goes to Wooster.

3. Sierra goes to UT austin and is doing a short internship at the dept of the interior

Our apartment has a mouse. Liz saw it the other night crawl under the oven. Today, a pest control man came and set up a bunch of traps and said to call him if one of them catches it. Gross. Florida doesnt have mice problems. I'm not used the idea of living with a rodent. Fortunately we're all so exhausted though, we don't have time to think about it.

Sunday night, Kyle and I took a walk around DC to see ALL of the memorials. And I mean all. Order:

Vietnam

Lincoln

Korean

FDR

George Mason

Jefferson

WWII

Top that! It was tons of fun, since they're lit up at night and we got to work off our dinner and ice cream while at it. I remembered all the memorials pretty well, except everything was smaller than I remembered it (Kyle claims it's not only that I'm bigger now, but that I'm used to how tall he is, haha). The soldiers at the korean memorial were especially smaller than I remember. And for some reason, I thought there was like a whole field of them, and there were really only like 10-15 in a small triangle.

The other cool ones were George Mason, because no one goes to see his memorial, and the WWII one because it wasn't here the last time I was in the city!! and it was a really neat memorial. Controversial (though they all seem to be), because they say the neo-classical design makes it look "as if Hitler won." but really it is just gorgeous. There's a wreath for every state and US territory and the memorial is split between the Atlantic side and the Pacific Side. There was a whole bunch of yellow stars in a fountain representing 100 dead each. It was beautiful.

My fave is probably the FDR memorial, just because it seems so interactive. And I like how you trace through all of his terms, and the fountains are all really cool.

picturessss:

Someone taller than Kyle!

Korean

Fala, us, and Franklin

Ellie and myself, acting stately.

George Mason!

As for the job front... I don't even wanna think or talk about it tonight. I start at the NPG on Wednesday. I canNOT wait.

Love,

Becca

Life on H Street

I am so sorry it has been so long since I blogged. Adjusting to DC may not be exactly like adjusting to Florence, Italy, but it sure has been a crazy week!

I got a job at a gym as a floor manager. It has great hours and decent pay ($9/hr). The only problem with it: I don't have anything to do, and what I do have to do takes about five minutes every hour. It'd be nice if I could read a book or play on my computer... but I actually have to act like I'm doing something for my four or six hour shift each day... with no lunch break! It's pretty awful. I also got a job at a ice cream place called Mr. Yogato, which I would personally rather work at... but they're only offering two shifts a week. :(

Besides all that business, I've been more or less figuring out a pattern to get into around here. Kyle and I have cooked a bunch which has been fun (spaghetti, fajitas and tonight pizza!), and we have a list of things to cook. He likes his internship a lot, but starting at 8 am is really taking a toll on him. He has to go to bed at 10 pm! Ugh!

We went and saw a play with our friend Julian on Memorial Day. It was a ton of fun, and we only paid $5! We also ate at a really yummy restaurant called Jaleo. The chef owns a bunch of restaurants around DC, and I think we're going to try to hit up a few more this summer.

We've officially gone through 3/4 of the NPG and American Art Museums (they're split between one building) over the course of two visits! I'll probably try to go back sometime before wednesday when my internship officially starts. I LOVE the museum though. The architecture is incredible, and I like most of the art, too! I loved the presidents gallery. It was really fun for kyle and I to walk around and see how much we knew or remembered about each president. Then the top floor of the american art museum is full of all this really weird but really awesome stuff. Most of the time I don't really like the weird stuff, but we both thought all of it was really cool and interesting. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone in the DC area!

Up this weekend: monuments, zoo, and a couple museums. and work on sunday.

I took my first gmat today. considering i didn't really put too much effort it, I thought I did okay. It's very similar to the sat, though shorter which I'm thankful for, except for these math questions that just ask you if you have enough information to answer the question, which I'm going to have to figure out how to do. I knew the rest of the math, and as usual, my verbal was pretty poor in comparison. surprise! not.

I had a dream last night that Liberty of the Seas was going for $149 a person in march 2012 and I was dying trying to get ahold of everyone to book spring break. I would really love to go on another one next year...

I feel like I've been in a transition mode for about a month now, giving my living situation and then finding a job situation and then not starting my internship until june 8th situation. Meh.

DC is nice, though already not my favorite city. The metro is clean, but that's about all that the metro can say about itself. It's definitely a working city, unlike any other city I've seen. the city goes to sleep at about 10 pm, and you only every see people in business attire or bums. And that's it.

Oh! I made of list of things to do this summer... It's 48 numbers long. We'll see how many I get around to doing! Knocking out a whole bunch of memorials tonight! At least most of it is free.

That's all for now. I'll probably write again this weekend or early next week.

Ciao!

Becca

Now Breaking New Ground

Today was the first day that I almost felt that things were settled. They aren't, of course, but the fact that I was able to feel that way today definitely means something. It was probably my busiest and most productive day yet. But to catch you up on everything else first:

Things could not have gone more smoothly with fixing my housing. Well, smoothly probably isn't the right word, but they came out much better than I had expected. That isn't to stay lost money is ever a good thing (especially a lot of lost money!), but the fact that it could have gone much worse and didn't, as well as the ease and lightness I feel with my new housing situation indicates to me that I did what I had to do, and should feel okay about it. I lost a lot of money and Idaliz as a roommate, but I gained a pretty cool opportunity to live smack in the center of everything that's going on. A ten minute walk to the White House. Surrounded by shops and restaurants. Twenty minutes walk from the Mall and everything else it seems like. It's truly incredible. I get chills just thinking about my new life this summer.

I walked by the NPG today. It's HUGE!!! It takes up like a whole city block, I'm hoping to go back tomorrow or the next day and take the whole museum on. :)

As for the rest of the week, I definitely have some job options that are falling together, more or less at the same time, which is causing just a tiny bit of anxiety. I don't like turning people down. But I'm excited about these options nonetheless and can't wait to tell you about the one I finally settle on. :)

Today I learned to never go shopping in the city early in the day, because you will then carry it around the rest of the day and your shoulders will hate you. Also, if you wear flip flops, your feet will hate you, too. Noted.

I got some business attire clothes today that frankly I'm really excited about. It's not much, but it's enough to look pretty spiffy (and keep up with my hott, businessman, Washington Analysis boyfriend and his Jos A Banks suits). But I'm excited to look professional for work, and I think I will be able to combine my new clothes and what I own to give off a very legit appeal. :)

I also got sheets (full-size for the fall... on a twin for the summer haha, oh well), since I now have a bed that doesn't come with sheets (oh how I wish I had my feather pad that is currently sitting in phred...). Hopefully GW likes their students to sleep better than duke does? Meh.

I also got some cheap plates from BB&B because I told my roommates I would. Since I don't really have any of my own, I figured I'll need them in the fall when I'm living at Trinity Commons anyway. And yes, I did say "told my roommates." Two of my roomies this summer and I have gotten in touch. They both sound very nice. :) Kyle and I are going to try to plan a Quad v Quad hangout. I think making some friends this summer would be cool. Plus, we are living on an entire campus that is going to be FULL of students. I actually talked to one today just randomly on the street. She asked me where the H&M was because she just moved here for the summer, and I was like "Me too!!" I think the city will then be full of businessmen, political men, and interns.

I did see the outside of my housing building yesterday, and it looks pretty nice. Hopefully the inside is just as nice. But, honestly, at this point, I am just happy to be where I am.

I had my first DC Dining experience today. I was really sad because I couldn't help but critique everything about the place as if I was going to be writing a review for Rollinglobe. :/ Kyle thought maybe I could still give my reviews here so we'll see how this goes. But this one comes with a story.

I texted Zack's sister while on my way to town asking her if she wanted to ride back to her house together. I knew she was coming in later for an interview (which she got! Hooray for Becca and the Perini children!). She invited me to dinner with a friend she met while abroad in Rome. We first ended up going to a pub called the Hawk 'n' Dove because GOP leaders were hosting the place. They were walking around talking to people about their projects going on, the Madison Agreement, and giving more power to states rather than the federal government. It was really interesting, though kind of weird. Hawk 'n' Dove is on 329 PA Ave SE, right on Capitol Hill. Its name is from the partisans in the debate over Vietnam (when it opened), and it is apparently the oldest irish pub in DC. It's known today as a political man hangout, of all parties (though GOP was hosting today). Obama apparently held a fundraiser there when he was a senator (cough, promoting alcoholism at the same time, cough) haha. Anyway, it was pretty cool, seemed pretty irish, and we got to talk to GOP people! It is unbelievably cool to be on Capitol Hill in DC where everything about this country is literally happening.

Then we went to Good Stuff Eatery, which is at 303 Pa Ave SE. It's Chef Spike's restaurant (from Top Chef!), which was pretty exciting. Some customers get to see him on occasion there. Anyway, I was really nervous because as soon as we walked in, all I saw was a menu of burgers. That was it! I saw one turkey burger and one vegetarian option. I went with the vegetarian option (no tomatoes please!), and was surprised with a delicious sandwich of fried portobello mushroom, onion, lettuce, pickle, two different types of cheese, and the "Good Stuff sauce," whatever that was. It was very yummy, and their french fries are covered in rosemary and herbs and they have a bar just for different types of condiments (Go for the Old Bay one, super weird, but super good and with a kick!). For a semi-vegetarian who accidentally ended up in a burger joint, I ended up with a pretty great meal. I also got to meet a couple new people who go to American, which was cool as well.

Overall, it was quite an adventurous day. Even when Kristiana and I sat on the Mall for an hour just people watching. We watched a softball league practice and a kid on a DC trip get yelled at by a chaperone who then proceeded to call his parents and tell him that he's thinking about sending him home because he stuck his head outside of some window and threw rocks at a girl. Kristiana did point out that maybe the girl deserved it. haha. Good old field trip days. Was I ever that small and young looking?

I also got a cupcake for breakfast/lunch today from Hello Cupcake, right around the corner from Dupont Circle Metro Station. I got a Dulce de Leche cupcake. Let's just say that I don't need to describe it. All I need to stay is that I walked down the street with that cupcake all over my face and hands and loved every second of it.

Fun Facts:

1. The Metro is outrageously expensive here. And I walked so much today :(

2. It is illegal to talk on the phone / text while driving here, and you could get up to a $500 fine. Gooooood toooo knooowww

3. I can't wait for my best friend to get here on Sunday!!!

Con Amore,

Becca

What I get for thinking I'm such a grown up.

I tossed around the idea of starting up a new blog for this summer. For the third time, I would be in an interesting place (When you're comparing to Ocala and Durham, it isn't that hard), and having yet another adventure. However, Washington, D.C. just didn't seem to fit with London and Florence to me, so I assumed I would never get around to doing it. I thought it would be just as day-to-day as being at Duke was/is.

However, after today, I'm pretty sure this summer will be just as much a learning experience and incredible adventure as any other summer or semester I've done in a new city.

Today, of course, didn't really go according to plan, and instead of sleeping in my new apartment I'm sleeping in my friend's sister's room well outside of the city. I can't express my gratitude enough to the Perini family for taking me in, no questions asked, and then proceeding to cook me dinner and help me with my situation all evening (including his sister!)

Long story short, I'm hoping that by tomorrow night, I won't be living where I thought I was going to be living this summer. Then again, it is very possible that I might still be living where I thought I was going to be living this summer. But we're hoping for the former.

Tomorrow should be super eventful, involving driving all over to DC, testing out how long metro rides take, and making some extremely difficult phone calls.

And, god-willing (cross your fingers!), by Tuesday I'll be back on the job search, which was the original plan for Monday.

For everyone else, I am in DC this summer because I am interning at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in the Administration Department. I just found out that they still haven't gotten some of my paperwork yet, but since the internship doesn't technically start until June 8th, I have time to find a bed and a job (for the other three days of the week that I am not interning) first, and then move on to redoing that paperwork and bringing it directly to them. I would love a day or two to do a little bit of sightseeing as well. It is DC, after all.

Right now, I'm thanking God that Duke's giving me $3000 (Mary Duke Biddle Scholarship for summer internships in museum studies) because I'm REALLY, and I mean really gonna need it.

I made a pretty poor decision and have no one to blame but myself and may very well be suffering the consequences for the rest of the summer. But maybe, just maybe, everything will work out all right, and I'll be in for one heck of a summer. Something tells me I will be no matter what.

An American City Girl this time around,

Bec