Work, Smithsonian, and Other Things

As some of you know I am interning for the National Crime Prevention Council in their Training and Children and Youth Department. I have been working there for 4 days now. I love it. It's pretty busy, I have a lot of projects that were given to me for my first week.

What's even better is that I am left to do my own thing. I was assigned about 6 projects and left to schedule them on my own. I'm glad it isn't the kind of internship where I'm running around doing menial tasks like getting coffee and such. In fact, I don't even know where the coffee machine is in the office. But I am doing actual work that will eventually (hopefully) be published on their website. That's the coolest part to me, I am doing something that so many other people will get to see.

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Today me and my roommates ventured to the Smithsonian... I'm not repeating the name because it's just too long. But it is a HUGE museum. We walked around for about 3 1/2 hours. And let me tell you, after a while you just get all museumed out. But there were a ton of rooms and they seemed to have a plethora of bones

This guy, is a Giant Ground Sloth

They also had a whole room full of different kinds of Orchids. It was beautiful and smelled so good. I took so many pictures of the flowers.

One display I was excited to see was a forensic display. This guy below is and actual dead guy and you can see all the things they state in the description of how he died. I was so intrigued  It was definitely one of my favorite displays.

And Other Things

Now on Weeknights we don't go out much (mainly because everything is closed) but I have gotten into the habit of watching the Washington Capitals on TV  (only because I don't get the Blackhawks out here easily...). And boy... they are terrible this season. I mean I thought I missed Hockey because of the lockout... but I preferred the lockout to this kind of playing. Well at least the Blackhawks are doing well.

.

Presidential Inauguration

                              Presidential Inauguration

Today I had the opportunity to go to the Inauguration of President Obama. As you can see by the picture below I was surrounded by people, and the screen only goes to show how many people were actually there. (I don't know if you can tell, but yes, those little dots are people) .

 We stood outside from 8:00am until the end of the Inauguration at about 1:30- 2:00 pm. It was a long chilly morning to say the least. I thought I had lost one of my toes, but it's ok now... she just needed some warmth.

President Obama was sworn into office on two bibles, the Bible of Abraham Lincoln and the Bible of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 I don't know if going to this was a once in a lifetime thing (I kind of hope not) but It was definitely an amazing experience, despite the frostbite I may have gotten.

There were people walking around handing out American flags, and every time you would normally have clapped the flags would go crazy instead. It was cool to see on screen sure, but even cooler to see in person.

 

Look at the snipers on top of the building!

We did get to see Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce preform at the event, although I don't care much for either of them so I didn't take any pictures. But some people were more excited when Jay Z and Beyonce showed up than when the President himself got out of the car. I wish it wasn't as cloudy, a lot of my pictures would have turned out better. But you get the point.

                                                                                                          Love
                                                                                                                     Becca

First Week In Washington DC

 Well hello everyone,

I have never done a blog in my life so I'll do my best to keep it up.  But I wanted an easy way to share with everyone what's going on with me in DC! So here goes!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The National Aquarium

(1/16/13

The National Aquarium was the first stop I made in Washington DC. And despite it's glorified name, the National Aquarium was about as big as my bedroom. Still, I love aquariums so it was fun to walk through, and we got to see the sharks get fed!

Sharks at the National Aquarium

I don't know if you can tell by the pictures here but I love me some yellow fish ( well yellow is my favorite color!). 

But the National Aquarium was just a short stop on  the many things I did in the first week, and definitely a good way to kick of the semester!

My Apartment

 I got all settled in to my beautiful new apartment. It really is a great place. I mean sure there are a few things that need a bit of fixing up, but its about 20x better than a dorm. (and I got the Master bedroom).

My roommates are really nice. The girl I share a bedroom with is really awesome and I'm glad she chose to move into the same room as me.

 The Kitchen is great! Just like being at home! Except I don't trust any of the disgusting dishes they left behind. I went through the cabinets and pulled out all of the dishes I didn't think would kill us, and then washed them each 3 times... They really were that bad..

My side of the Bedroom

                                         MONUMENTS!

 On the first night after moving in to my new apartment a group of WII students took a long (and I mean long) walk to see some of the monuments. Unfortunately I have yet to see the White House. It was very difficult to see behind all the Inaguation set up!

                                      The National Zoo

I was happy to find out that my roommate wanted to go to the zoo just as badly as I did! So we planned to go on Saturday 1/19/13.

 This place was the biggest zoo  have ever seen! They had so many enclosures that my roommate and I were there for over 4 hours and still did not manage to see them all!
 I do have to say I was impressed with the size of the zoo, but knowing where you were going is impossible unless you've been there a million times. we managed to see most of it. But we did see a few of the animals twice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Besides the fun stuff, DC is  all about transportation! The Metro system here is really easy and I actually enjoy taking the train everywhere. Its still amazing to me that I am a short train ride away from some really amazing things.

I never thought I would love DC so much, and I cannot wait to start my internship and to go to the inauguration. I still have so much to see, so hopefully I wont have any troubles keeping everyone up to date.

                                                                                                                               Becca