DC Quickie: a Package From Home.

I've been waiting with bated breath all week for this package to come.

Ever since I arrived I've been making a list of things I forgot to pack, things I didn't think I'd need but really did need, and things I took out of my suitcase so it wouldn't be over the 50-pound weight limit. (My suitcase was just 2 pounds over and they slapped a "heavy" sticker on it--I can't imagine what they would have done to me if it had weighed more.)

Then I skyped with my kind parents who dug through my bedroom and got together all the things I needed. I requested mom add some 'treats,' then sat back and waited.

It arrived!

Ohmygoodness treats! My mom is the best. 

It was a much-needed bit of home, including fun things to do! Also, I've never been so excited to see my own clothes.

There was so much awesome.

P.S. If you too would like to bring a single, glistening tear of joy to my eye, send me a message and I will give you my address. (provided I, you know, know you in real life)

The Great Roommate Debacle of 2015

I'm not going to spend all of this blog complaining about roommate issues.  I might mention the weather too.

Roommates. I've been extremely lucky so far that all, let's see, all six roommates I've had throughout college have been awesome, awesome people. Maybe it's Morris, maybe it's sheer luck. I only knew one of my roommates before we moved in, the rest were barely acquaintances or complete strangers. And we all got along great. I'm really great friends with some of them, I have learned a lot from my time with them, it's been great.

Fast forward to now, here I am, sharing a one-bedroom apartment with three people. Three. I knew what I was getting myself into. I knew it probably wouldn't be super fun, but I couldn't quite prepare myself for what happened. I didn't think about how disparate personalities would clash or blend, how friendships would be forged and then broken in a matter of weeks while others just puttered along just fine, or how someone could live in a place and yet not spend more than 7 hours there a day.

I didn't quite prepare myself for the ball of stress and introversion that would wallop me in the evening, leaving me angry at the world and especially my roommates, unable to put together a friendly sentence, and getting more and more freaked out that I don't have a quiet space I can call my own.

That wave of emotions passed, and I made sure to go to the library tonight, which was at least quiet, if not empty.

I also wasn't prepared for living with someone so completely inconsiderate, so hard-headed, so utterly self-centered. I didn't know they existed in the world. You'd think most people understand that when at least three people are against you, perhaps you're in the wrong. You'd think.

I've decided roommates are great, people are great, just so long as they're considerate (which most people are, I've learned. So far 8 out of 9 are) and as long as I have a place to get away from them when I need to.


Anyone have a closet I could borrow?


The man upstairs strumming guitar singing muffled sad songs understands how I feel about this roommate business.
It's cold but not quite enough for the sleet to stick.
Tomorrow the winter storm everyone is scared about
May or may not piddle some rain on us
And we may or may not get a late start
Because apparently I work at an elementary
School and not the largest library in the
World.

Things That Have Happened Recently. So Many Things.

Gosh, it's been a few days since I've told you what's going on here, and so much has happened that I don't even know where to start.
So, since I got to see my significant other, the Washington Monument, what have I been up to? How have I been feeling? What's going on? Honestly, everything is such a whirlwind that I hardly even know. Maybe if I retrace my steps or something. Or leave breadcrumbs behind me.

Work
I'm loving it in the office. Really. I'm starting to get projects that are more complicated and ask more of me, and it's really fun to test myself. Also I'm learning the tunnels slightly better. A right turn and a left turn. If I can remember that I'll be okay. The thing about the tunnels is they're twisty enough that if you haven't seen them enough to become familiar enough to learn landmarks, then it's like walking down a blank hallway. Which way should I go? I have no idea! One way will take me where I need to go and the other will get me hopelessly lost! But I'm working on it.

I went into the Capitol building for the first time today! That was awesome, and it looked different than I expected. I thought it would be clean white marble mostly, but it was a warmer pinkish and tan, with crazy tile floors. Super elegant, and I can't wait to get a real tour in there. I just feel special walking around there. I bet everyone does.

I went to a presentation on preservation at the library the other day, were they taught us all about paperboard thicknesses and the correct way to remove unwanted staples from fragile documents and how exactly to fold the flaps of your document containers. And the dimensions of folders. It's a big deal. (It definitely was not the most boring presentation I have ever been to.)

Food

Ted's Bulletin. Was it a newspaper place? Stock trading
center? I haven't bothered to look it up.

Ted's Bulletin-- We went here for their shakes, and if I had a bit more money in my pocket, I would come back here again and again. The atmosphere was perfect: it was sophisticated and casual, and so very comfortable. They are famous for their all-day brunch and mile-high cakes.

Dunkin Doughnuts-- This is cheating, I've had Dunkin before, I just want to brag that we've got a Dunkin Doughnuts in the basement of the building I work in. No, really. I'll let this buzzfeed article take it from here.

Baked by Yael -- cake pops right at the entrance of the National Zoo. They don't have prices on their baked goods, and for good reason. If I had known that the single bite of undercooked cake goop covered with some tasteless frosting was $3.50, I would have cackled forcefully as I backed out the door with wild eyes.

Pi Pizza-- We were desperate for food at the end of a day of sightseeing, and this was the first best place we came across. Great atmosphere, pizza consisted mostly of tomatoes. I can make better pizza than this place can. Really. Ask my roommate Miranda.

Good Stuff Eatery-- I stopped here for a shake and it was a transcendental experience. So Monday was MLK day, and I went to a concert at the Kennedy Center all by myself (I felt very grownup and slightly lost). On my way back home, all buzzed on the shining atmosphere of the concert hall and the music, I treated myself to a shake, and I do believe it was the best thing I've ever tasted. The milk must have been made by holy cows. So. Good.

Pitango Gelato-- Props go to Miranda for adventuring and finding this place and dragging me there. It's a classy little place, with pretty high prices, but you know what, it's worth it. I had their cardamom (I think?) gelato, and the consistency is not as smooth as some gelato I've had, but the flavor, the flavor is top notch. Miranda and I went back tonight, and had their hot chocolate, which was divine. It's simple: just high-quality chocolate, milk, and a touch of sugar. Plus Miguel is friendly ;). We decided we'd try to go there no more than once a week, but that promise might be hard to keep.

Tourism

I've never spent so much time watching elephants;
They have so much personality! There was
food in that swing, but this one didn't care.

National Zoo-- I have two words: Bao Bao. That baby panda is worth the trip, the rain, the wait.

Arlington National Cemetery-- I could spend all day just wandering the paths and looking at the gravestones. It's a different world, and even if you don't see the signs demanding quiet and respect, you can't help but quiet down and realize that most of the things you wanted to say don't matter at the moment. All becomes silence. The changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknowns was one of the most powerful experiences I've had in a long time. The part that got me was when the guard on duty relayed the orders, saying, "Post and orders remain as directed." Since 1937, the post and orders have remained as directed, and that just breaks my heart into tiny pieces.

Memorials-- We decided to walk home after Arlington--a good 4.5 mile walk--and to take detours to see the memorials and monuments. We stopped at Lincoln (an elementary school shoebox diorama), MLK (stunning), FDR (super cool, definitely recommend it. It's half maze half outdoor museum), and Jefferson (glorious). I hope to go back many more times and just chill and wander.

BAO BAOOOOOOOO

Fun
I've already mentioned the concert I went to for MLK day. It was really awesome! My first concert by myself, and I was previously told by a friend that they cried the first time they went to a concert alone, so I prepared myself for the inevitable loneliness. The concert was part of the Kennedy Center's free concert series (365 days of free music. No joke. I'm nerding out), and featured the Georgetown University choir and Natalie Cole. The focus was civil rights and MLK's legacy, and it was uplifting, exciting, and sobering all at once.

On Saturday, I volunteered at the Capital Area Food Bank with a group of fans of a YouTube show that I watch. I've wanted to meet up with fans of the various things I follow for a long time, but I'm always too far away from a big city, so I figured now's my chance. There were 12 of us, and it was about as awkward as you would expect a meeting of introverted internet nerds to be, really. But we were all happy to be there, and we helped pack a lot of food for the food shelf, so in all, it was a successful trip and I've already signed up to go next month. Here are pictures.

I don't even feel like I've been too busy, I don't feel socially exhausted like my introverted self usually gets when I do lots of things. The balance has been pretty good. At work, I'm sometimes chatting with people and other times just working on my own. My roommates aren't tiring to be around (well, one of them is, but I'd better not talk about that here. Plus, I can give as good as I get when it comes down to it. Don't worry about me). Though I should be doing more job hunting and resume work, I'm trying not to be too hard on myself; I'm trying to relax a bit. It's quite nice, after the last semester of school I had.


Oh, and I got off the elevator on the wrong floor TWICE today because it stopped for someone else and I didn't pay attention. But I recovered better than I did on my first day: I just walked confidently to the next closest bank of elevators and took that the rest of the way. So I'm not really learning how to be a city girl, I'm just learning how to disguise my mistakes better. Is that how city girls do it? Maybe.


Maybe my next blog will be something more in the typical blog "existential crisis" style, but right now, I'm enjoying soaking in in the big city and stumbling across evening Tango lessons on portable dance floors in empty markets.

What does DC feel like?

What I always take away about places is how they made me feel, what they felt like. New York felt tall, and exciting, and made me very very happy. San Francisco felt unstable and open and varied and Morris, Minnesota feels squat and brown and deep. So what does DC feel like?

Way back when I visited as a kid with my family, I remember it feeling exciting (staying down the street from the White House, first time riding a metro, awesome museums, getting to be a fighter pilot in a simulator, spy museum, all the monuments). My strongest memory is that it made me feel hot and exhausted. We did a ton of walking, and I was still kinda small and slow (some people would argue that I still am. *cough* my brothers *cough*); I remember one of my brothers wrote that I was constantly red like a cherry because of the heat and exhaustion.

You never know what's around the next corner:
things like these weird cabbage flower plant things.

Now, I'm a big girl all by myself in the big city. But that's the thing: it doesn't feel like a big city. Or maybe I'm just really adaptable, I'm not sure which, but the riding the metro and the bus feels like second nature and I'm already used to walking to get my groceries. My neighborhood is quiet and homey except for the occasional emergency vehicle flashing by sounding more like an air raid siren than something driving along the road. But the main thing I'm noticing is that DC doesn't feel real. It hasn't sunk in that I'm living a block away from the Capitol building, that I can go to any of the Smithsonians any time I want, that I have practically unlimited access to the largest library in the world, that I am meeting real members of congress and all sorts of people who directly run our country. It doesn't even feel like a fairy tale or anything, it just feels like normal life, which almost worries me. If I can walk onto Capitol Hill and think "this is normal," then where do I go from there?

I hope it sinks in with time and with more experiences.
I have to keep reminding myself that I haven't explored all that much, and there's a whole giant city all around just waiting for me to get out of my comfort zone and stop following the same routes I know too well already. It's already the title of my blog, but I think it's true: DC feels most like a hidden adventure that I just haven't found yet.

Adventure. I'd better start planning it, because otherwise it'll never happen. What are your DC must-do suggestions?

First Weekend Away, no, First Weekend Home

My life comes in little

bits and

chunks

These days.

I'm slowly sharing bits of myself with roommates and people in the office,

I talk on the phone with my parents and my grandma (Hi, Grandma!),

I message my friends on Facebook, where conversations are made
up

Of a few words at
a time
Separated by spaces
And pauses
And those three little dots
That mean "they're typing."

It doesn't make me feel disconnected, but loved and appreciated:

I'm writing poetry with my life.


(the above happened because I am realizing how weird it is for me to write full sentences that aren't in that special brand of "text speak" I use with my friends, and also how practiced I've gotten at using line breaks for dramatic effect. File under: surprising things you realize when you move away)

Things I did this weekend: Friday night was a joy and a half. My roommates and I decided to go out to dinner after work, and so we tried out Bullfeathers, a well-known DC pub. The bar side was packed with staffers and interns letting loose after a long week, but the dinner side was cozy. The food was nothing to write home about, but the atmosphere was something to come back to someday. We did try their bacon pancake flavored shake, which sadly didn't live up to expectations :(

Then we walked to the Washington Monument! It was fun being tourists and taking tons of pictures, and I finally for the first time in the week I've been here, really felt like I was in DC. I fell in love with the Washington Monument (Again? My parents swear I've been to the top of it, and I sort of believe them, but have no memory of it happening.) and I can't wait to get a tour to the top!

Saturday Miranda and I went to the National Museum of American History and wandered around. We saw the First Ladies' dresses exhibit! It was super cool.

Then we went to the National Portrait Gallery, which, man, that was the coolest thing I've seen in a while. I will definitely return and spend a lot more hours looking at those portraits again. Plus it has this great indoor courtyard that one could spend an afternoon reading in.

Other highlights: riding the metro packed in like sardines, eating a delicious meal of fried chicken from Popeyes courtesy of my Mississippi roommate, finding the hotel my family stayed at when I was a kid, getting a selfie with Benjamin Franklin, and oh yeah, getting my READER'S CARD FOR THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

The Main Reading Room has been unlocked to me.
This is where you can find me from now on.

#nerd

Yeah, I now have full access to all of the library's collections. All 150 million items and counting. Okay, not every single item, but still, way more books and maps and sound recordings than anyone could fathom, really. You can't check things out of the Library of Congress (unless you're a member of congress. I'm quickly realizing the perks Members have here that I never thought about before.), but you can spend as much time you want in their reading rooms and you have access to all their online databases. Yep. So that was my weekend. How was yours?

So bright and gorgeous! And the Capitol Building too!

Tried to take a selfie but that bright thing photobombed it.

Me and the bae.

Me too, guys. Me too.

Julia Child's actual kitchen! I guess she got tired of cooking.

This is my new favorite picture ever.

I'm an Intern Now, so People Assume I Know Things, but Really I'm as Clueless as Them

It's been new intern week at the Congressional Relations Office!

Hah.

Guess who's more important than me!

Members of Congress.

Guess what happened yesterday!

Swearing-in day.

Guess what my office did!

I dunno, like 8 events and tours and handed off dozens of sacred texts to members for their ceremonial swearing-in photo ops.

Guess what I did!

On my first day I mostly got lost, dazed, confused, stuffed envelopes, and tried to gather wisdom from the giant white binder called the "Intern Handbook."
I only got two minor paper cuts. It was a successful day.

The next day, Tuesday, was actual swearing-in day. I attempted to make myself useful and things.

Oh, and I worked Speaker Boehner's party at the Library last night. I smiled at people and pointed out the coat check as they came up the stairs, all the while standing next to the sign that said "coat check -->." But the event was fun, and I got to up my count of number of members of congress' hands I have shaken from zero to at least five. And there were free drinks and hors d'oerves brought around by friendly waitstaff, AND near the end of the party we got to go through the buffet line just like normal people and eat as much as we wanted. Everything was delicious and cooked perfectly (three different meats, potatoes au gratin, green beans and squash, wild rice salad, and rolls. Oh, and a dessert table!). Morris food service, take note! It IS possible to cook food for people that the people will actually enjoy.

Anyway, everyone at the office is so friendly and nice and kind and they've really been taking good care of me--in between running around doing important things. I'm enjoying getting to know them, and I'm excited I've got a whole four months to do so! Holly has been a great mentor and on top of her regular work has found me things to do and walked me through so many tasks and has tolerated my endless questions like the wonderful human she is.

I started answering the phone on my second day out of sheer necessity, since hardly anyone else spent any time in the office. I didn't do half bad. In fact, my director thanked me profusely and said I had taken one of the most important calls in intern history after she got the message I took from my second phone call. It was a major scheduling change to one of the events that day, and if I had gotten any of the information wrong, well, someone's party would have been less fun. (Thanks, Mom, for drilling proper phone message-taking into my head as a kid! And thanks, Culver's and McDonald's for sticking me in your drive-thrus for the majority of my shifts over the years.)

Well that's enough blathering. Now comes the part you all have been waiting for!

The stupid things I’ve done so far include but are not limited to:

• Getting off the elevator at the wrong floor because I forgot elevators stop on other floors to pick people up.
• Turning left down the hallway when Holly expressly said to turn right.
• Forgetting the name of the office I work in multiple times.
• Not noticing which floor the main entrance was in when I first arrived, so when I left for lunch I wandered the wrong floor until someone took pity on me.
• Been too friendly with people.
• Not been friendly enough with people.

Tune in next time for, I'm sure, more additions to that list.

I don't remember taking this picture.

So, um, my feet and my shoes haven't been getting along.
This doesn't even show all the damage.

I went for a stroll around the Capitol. What did YOU do Sunday night?

Check out the Crazy New Year's Resolutions This Girl Made!

If you'd like to make all those new year's resolutions that most people make: losing weight, exercising, reading more books, making new friends, then moving to DC as an intern is probably the perfect thing for you!

Let's take a look at how this lifestyle change can work for you:
1.  Exercise.
I've got one word for you: walking. When you live three blocks from your workplace, that's a good start, but add on 12 blocks to the nearest grocery store, and then you're beginning your full-body workout. Let me spell it out: walking to the bus stop, working out your legs as the bus jolts around so you stay upright and don't fall into a poor unsuspecting citizen's lap, biceps curls to hold your basket of groceries that gets heavy surprisingly fast. I just bought 12 items! I swear! Weightlifting the bags back to the bus stop, on the bus, and the 6 blocks home. Seriously, your arms and shoulders and back will be sore tomorrow. Guaranteed. Oh, and let's not forget tourism! That adds in lots more walking.

2. Eat well. 
When you're on a shoestring budget, you can't eat out all the time, and you've gotta cook/make sandwiches for yourself at home. That means you're more in control of what goes into your body, how much, and when. Double plus good.

3. Read more books and write more.
Library. Of. Congress. If there's anything more inspiring to us writerly types than the largest library in the world, I'd like to see it. Seriously, can you imagine the nooks and crannies, the amazing books, the comfy chairs they have for your research and reading convenience? I'm more excited to get started than I ever was to do research projects in college. Add to it this blog to make me write more, and bam.

4. Make friends. 
I made two friends yesterday: my roommates. Today, my friend Holly is showing me around town. Tomorrow I start work, and will get to meet whole bunches of people. When you're new to town, you can't help but meet people, because if you didn't, you'd end up fully becoming one with the blanket nest you made on the couch.

5. Have adventures. 
This is the easiest one on here. When you're new, just stepping out your freaking door is an adventure. Getting groceries is an adventure. Finding lunch is an adventure. EVERYTHING IS AN ADVENTURE AND YOU'RE GONNA LIKE IT.

Please Stow all Personal Belongings, Return Tray Tables to an Upright Position, and Compose your Tearstained Face: You're in DC Now

I made it. I'm here in DC and it is one of the most surreal things to happen to me. It just hasn't hit that I'm here to STAY for the next four months. Miranda and I toured around the Jefferson Building of the LOC this afternoon and I just can't believe I am going to live within spitting distance of such fancy, historical buildings. Where are Morris' rickety little brick buildings or Rochester's sterile Mayo Clinic?

What am I doing here? That's what I've been killing myself with over and over. Was this a good decision? To spend every penny I have to work this unpaid internship at the Library of Congress? Will I learn enough to make it worth it? Will I meet people and make contacts who will help my future career? Will it help me figure out how to live in big cities? I'll let you know what I find out.

The trip itself was everything I expected: long, boring time spent in airports and on airplanes. I hadn't flown alone before, but it wasn't difficult, and I felt very grownup and a little bit extra paranoid finding my own gates. I arrived at about 7 p.m., and after waiting at the wrong carousel for my suitcase (hey, I'm not stupid--the board and the intercom both said it was coming out at that carousel), I made my way to the metro. I haven't been in DC since I was about 10 years old, back when I didn't pay attention to things like metros except to wonder how people ever got on the right trains. Well, thanks to Google Maps and my stellar ability to read signage and sit at attention on the train with one ear cocked for the names of the stops like a newbie, I made it to the hostel where I stayed for the night, ready to check in to the apartment today.

My first plane out here almost taxied onto a runway where another plane was touching down. I can't decide if the fact that it made that wrong turn or that someone in the cockpit slammed on the brakes in time is more symbolic of my trip to DC. We'll find out!

It is a good reminder to look both ways before entering an intersection. Yes it is.

I've always wanted to live in one of these adorable little brick row houses.
Now I do, or, I will when my brain finally realizes that I actually live here.

I absolutely can't wait to start work on Monday. The routine will make me feel less like a tourist.

I've already fallen into the superiority complex that comes from considering myself a "local," so now I can safely look down my nose at those silly tourists, even though I join their ranks every single possible moment I have off.

The Magna Carta lives four blocks away from me. Yes, that Magna Carta. That's better than a celebrity, (aaaaaand that mindset is why I'm interning at a library, folks).

I cried as I lifted off from Minnesota and as I landed in DC. Even the jaw dropping sight of the Capitol building and Washington monument couldn't really distract me from the panic. What did distract me was, in fact, being proud of myself for riding the metro.

It has begun.

Here's me on the metro being a big girl

Here's the great hall of the LOC Jefferson Building