Bye!

I can't believe it's over, and I can hardly believe this is the last time I'm going to write. I've made new friends here and have done all those things you do when people leave: promise to email, to call, to keep up on each other's lives-- but you always wonder what's going to really be going on in another year. Will we remember?

I think sometimes when you make friends, they last forever, and other times, it's like you've met, and never knew one another, so, they pass on through just as if they were never there at all.

This weekend I made up my nice fat portfolio of all the work I've completed this semester and was surprised that it was actually over a hundred pages long! There are things here I learned that were as a result of just being HERE, not simply being in a regular classroom, and that's why I'm going to chalk this experience up as the one that changed my life more than anything else ever has.

I highly recommend it to anyone.

It's like a countdown

I wonder if it's because there are a lot of seniors, and it's the end of the Spring semester? I've seen people counting down the days till it's over, happy and excited, yet sort of freaked out that they're going to walk out of here, ready to tackle life.

By my count, there are something like a couple of weeks left. It's kinda nuts, because the weather changed, the cherry blossoms came out, and then the crazy election season is all that people are talking about. I noticed the difference between living in Washington, and NOT living in Washington, when I left a few days ago to hang out in Philadelphia.

They were talking about poodle salons, and stuff like that. I noticed how strange it was, immediately. I'm so used to being able to walk down the street and talk to any one about policy, or stuff going on in Congress, or what's up with the nominations- but not there. Most people outside of DC seem to not be as tuned to politics as I am!

Yesterday it was pouring rain, so it was kinda crazy. The weather makes no sense sometimes. You can be in DC and it'll be freezing, wind blowing around, and dark. And then you can get on the metro, go a few stops, and pop out into the sunshine (or vice versa). Someone told me it's from the altitude. At first I thought they said "attitude" which made me laugh. Ah, yes- attitude- we got it :)

Candidates, anyone?

I have now seen two of the three major candidates for the Presidency. I went to a speech at the Communication's Workers of America conference, and both Senators Clinton and Obama were there. Clinton is pretty darn petite!! I'm really tall myself, so, she seemed even shorter :) Obama seemed very tall and really slender. They both sort of swooped in and then scampered out after the speeches. It was SO cool. I'm still waiting for my chance to see Senator McCain.

While I wait for that, I'll just get to see everyone else, lol. It's really bizarre that I'll be walking down the hallway of one of the office buildings around here, and a very well known Congressperson will wander by. I mean, yeah, they work here, but it's still sort of weird when Senator John Kerry or Senator Kennedy just randomly passes you by. Someone was excitedly telling me that they were eating a burrito at the taco place on Pennsylvania Avenue, and Supreme Court Justice Alito came in. My question? What did he order, burrito, taco, or plate? Unfortunately, they didn't know :(

Right now Capitol Hill is totally hopping. There is a debate between the Dems on Wednesday, and that's all people are talking about, other than the Pope. Yup, the POPE is here too. Wow, crazy! The greatest part in all that, is the part where I'm standing in the middle of it!!

It's a little amazing to me that there are only four weeks left. One of my roommates was baking cupcakes today, so it's smelling all cake-like in here. My fourth roomie is bouncing off the walls, because she got a job in Fairfax (Virginia). I've been hearing stuff like that all over the place.

Craig was just over here, stuffing in one of the cupcakes, and telling us how he got accepted into grad school back in Ohio. It's really sad that in a few weeks, we'll be leaving each other, but at the same time, it's really good how well everyone made out. I'd say that I'm just happy for all the friends I made while I was staying here.

April already?

It's amazing that the semester has flown by so fast. These last few days, my roommates and I realized that we will only be together for a few more weeks and that's really sad!! So we're running around enjoying ourselves as much as possible.

I finally got a bike but it keeps raining :( There are bike trails all over Washington D.C. and the surrounding areas, and there is even a website just for bicyclists to join up on and get maps. I think it is very wierd to bring my bike into the elevator and then roll it into my enclosed patio, but that's because everywhere I ever lived before, I had some sort of outside to play in. The apartments building I live in is a high-rise, and I'm just not really used to that.

Since it's been winter and the weather has been refusing to really act like spring much, it was always sort of cloudy until a few days ago. That's when Cassie and I realized that not only was our bedroom facing D.C., but that from our window vantage point, we could see both the Capitol building, AND the Washington Monument. Right out of our window!! Of course, I'm thinking Vicki finds the view to the right to be more interesting. We can see the McDonalds, LOL. We walk there quite often and get french fries and she gets nuggets. Cassie, Vicki, and Craig are apparently addicted to McNuggets. I don't eat them, myself.

I was walking down the street yesterday and found it really weird that just your normal average person standing on the corner would be talking about policy. Strange. I've never been in a place where you could be just anywhere, and people would be talking about Congress or laws or whatever it was that was in the news for today. The area around here is so in tune with what is happening on the Hill that it's just part of a regular conversation. We live and breathe politics around here I guess. Of course, I guess it also depends on what you do.

Craig works in the Library of Congress. I personally am quite happy I have a "researchers card" and can go on it and look at books. I've only been in there twice so far (no time!) but I like that I can go in and actually get to read things. The regular tourists don't get to do that. But ha! I live here.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Today, Cassie, Vicki, Eric, and I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival. We met up at different points on the metro and got off on the Smithsonian Metro stop, with about a zillion other people. There were so many people crammed in there it was amazing we could even get off!

Everyone was gravitating towards the Washington Memorial. There were little tents set up for food and t-shirts and stuff like that, but pretty much I really didn't see much "festival" about it. It seemed a lot more like an invitation to the general public to come see the trees all at the same time.

There were people on the paddle boats out in front of the Jefferson Memorial, and ducks and seagulls were all over the place. I don't think I've ever seen so many porta-potties in a row!

Mostly the vendors were food. I personally went in for the "cinnamon and sugar toasted almonds," which was a four dollar baggie of nuts. They were hot, which was good! Then the four of us went looking for Fuddruckers but ended up at some place called Henry's instead. It was weird in there because there were so many TVs turned to sports at the same time, it was in stereo!

The trees are gorgeous, and I thought it was sorta strange that it could be predicted so accurately in advance when they would start blooming. I think I noticed them blooming about a week ago. My roommate Cassie noticed too, because she has allergies!

Student Activities

Ah, one should never blog at two in the morning, yet, here I am, sitting on my bed with a tummy full of steamed broccoli, wiiiiiiide awake.

Today I covered an event at American University. At the time of this writing, that means it's actually yesterday, but whatever. The event was about Darfur, Uganda, and other regions that are being oppressed. Specifically, Darfur was spoken about because it is considered to be in the middle of a genocide.

I'd say the biggest issue is the lovely Washington D.C. weather. It was overcast, windy, and drizzling. I originally went to the event without an umbrella, but I bought one from the bookstore because I was carrying around a lot of recording equipment and I really didn't feel like letting it get all rained on!

Fortunately, people actually did show up, and I took some pictures of them:

There are constantly protests, marches, discussions, forums, whatever- going on all over the place here. Sometimes no one shows up, other times, it can be terrible weather and there are a million people there. I guess it's whatever people find to be important!

Whew. I have been up all night, helping my roommate do stuff. She's working on a paper and I'm the sounding board. My other roommate is a night owl and cleaned the bathroom, lol. We ended up as three tired people with the scent of Pine Sol up our nostrils!

Next!

When I went back to college at a crusty old age, I already had two jobs. I was a freelancer, and I worked for a movie company. Decided the best way to get farther in life, was to go back to school :)

It's very, very bizarre to be a working professional, student, AND an intern too. I'm doing it all at once, actually. I'm still working for the movie company, I'm staff at somewhere else, and I'm also poking around as an intern, all while still being enrolled in college! It's amazing, and amazingly hard all at once.

I'm certianly not your typical intern, I guess, but I've discovered that most of the interns with TWC are not typical interns either. Everyone has some sort of story, whether it be working on the side (like me), getting hired somewhere else in the middle of the semester (my roommate Natalie), or being given a job offer for when they are done (my neighbor). I'm one of the lucky people that already has a job and having an internship is just making it BETTER! I really liked being an intern. Being a "student" always made me laugh, because then people got really confused about me. I look twenty-four, LOL. Oh, I'm certainly not, but it's rather fun how much that confuses people.

At the moment, my roommate and I are laying around. I ate cookies for breakfast, and we're talking about walking down to the beach. Cassie wants to stay here, and since I already AM staying here (hey, I work here!), she's looking for a job. The amazing thing is, because she is at the moment an intern, she's already IN. She's got proven work experience with which to either get hired where she's at, or use as a reference. I'm patting her on the head and telling her she's got six weeks :)

I'm glad the crazy weather seems to have un-crazified itself. The sun came out yesterday and I rode my bike all over the place. I'm considering riding my bike all over the place again, but at the moment, I'm feeling like laying around in my jammies all day!