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
1) I hope it all works out! I'll be in DC starting next weekend so let me know if you need anything. Let's FAC this town up!
ReplyDelete2) Photo thief.
It is heartening to hear you say all the right things, and to accept responsibility for the results of your own actions and decisions. In fact, if anything, it makes me even more proud of you. It was a costly lesson, but it was a lesson.
ReplyDeleteYour previous adventures involving setting up shop and taking care of yourself in large and unfamiliar cities, with little help (other than financial) from anyone else, and accomplished by someone relatively young and inexperienced, proved so remarkably successful that each one expanded my confidence in your abilities. This is particularly so in light of some of the extraordinary situations you got into during your travels. However, the problem with continued expansion is that it may sometimes lead to overexpansion and a touch of complacency. For now, I will be more vigilant. Nevertheless, experiences such as this form the basis for wisdom, and I have no doubt that you are much wiser, and recognition of this leads to renewed confidence.
I am extremely grateful that Zack’s family so generously pitched in to help and to do the things that I wished I could have been there to do for you. I am truly in their debt. I take some consolation in the knowledge that had the situation been reversed, your mom and I would have done the same thing for one of your friends.
I hope that the chaos and distress generated by this initial experience will be as brief as possible. Its quick and successful resolution should help to insure that it does not become a distraction that prevents you from enjoying and appreciating all the valuable experiences that you have come to DC for in the first place. In the years ahead when you recall your internship in DC, it should be nothing more than an incidental anecdote that is trivial when compared to your other experiences there.
Your blogs from London and Florence are priceless, and I am delighted that you have decided to write the DC blog. I look forward to each installment; they enable me to feel as though I am there sharing them with you.
XOP