Fun at Work and on the Weekends

Sitting down to write this long-procrastinated blog post, sitting in Starbucks, listening to 50s cafe music, and watching young professionals walk by on their way home from work I thought for a moment that I had finally become one of those quirky, coffe-shop writers; but then I realized I'm sitting in the world's biggest coffee chain, about to go meet friends for burgers, and will wake up tomorrow and go to work at a lobbying firm based out of Southern California. In short, no, I have not gone hipster and I have not become an urban city-dweller.

It's been over a week since my last blog post, but there isn't a lot I have that is new and interesting enough to share. The most exciting tourist destination I went to recently was the Newseum which those of you who know me should know is right up my alley. The museum itself had its ups and downs and some random exhibits that seemed out of place, but for the most part, it was an awesome look at al aspects of news, from history to digital and foreign media. My two favorites included an exhibit on the assassination of Kennedy and how it was covered in the news and an exhibit on 9/11 that featured the front pages of newspapers from around the country and the world from the day after the tragedy. Even though it is one of the few museums in DC that you have to pay for, I would definitely suggest stopping by if you ever visit DC and have even a remote interest in news.

A withered piece of the World Trade Center from the Newseum's 9/11 Exhibit

Newspaper front pages from the day after 9/11

In my attempt to act more like a true resident of DC, I've also tried out some of the local events, most notably Jazz in the Garden, where every Friday afternoon in the Sculpture Garden on the Mall there is jazz music and always good company. The last two Fridays I have met friends there for a picnic on the lawn, in an exemplary showing of our class and attempt to appear older and more sophisticated than we actually are. 

Jazz in the garden with friends!

Besides all the fun things that happen on the weekends, I do have some exciting news to share on the work front! Because I was only working four day a week at PeacePlayers International, the nonprofit I came here to work for, I decided to reach out to a company called Townsend Public Affairs that I had originally talked to about working for over the summer. After a rapidly scheduled interview and some negotiating of work schedules, I started my part-time (2 day) internship with TPA on Tuesday and so far I absolutely love it. TPA represents mostly cities and counties in California so I have had the opportunity to do a lot of writing letters on behalf of cities I have actually been to for grants for important things including police officers, school resource officers, grants for city vehicles, and funding for community colleges. Yes, it's lobbying, but it's the good kind of lobbying and I'm learning SO much and enjoying every minute of it.

For now, that's all I have for you. I have an exciting week coming up so the next blog post should be on its way soon and I promise the next one will be more interesting. If you read this far in this post, thanks for the support! Miss you all at home and I hope your summer is less humid than mine!

Subscribing to the Blog

A few of you have asked how you can sign up for the blog so you receive emails when I put up a new post. I'm sorry I haven't been able to figure this out until now, but I have added a gadget at the top where you can input your email address to automatically receive a notification when a new blog post has been added. I promise I'm not being presumptuous and arrogant; people have been asking!

I am who I am because of them

I'd like to take a minute this morning to write to you on the importance of the people you surround yourself with, a topic that's entered my mind time and time again this week. Even though I'm in DC, I'm not talking about networking the way that so many desperate, power-hungry interns view it; I am talking about real, true relationships that make a lasting impact on your life.

This week, many of my fellow Claremont McKenna College students arrived and I was overjoyed to see familiar faces. Tuesday evening, I met a friend over dinner to catch up, Wednesday, a bunch of us met for dinner on the hill, and Thursday we checked out We the Pizza before heading to the Congressional Baseball Game where the Republicans were quite effectively destroyed by the democrats (we left when it was 14-0). Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting up with my former suitemate at the house she is renting with some of her friends from home. I have never before felt so grown up; not just because we were a bunch of 20-22 year olds on our own in a townhouse in Washington, D.C., but because I finally felt like I discovered what it means to be a mature adult on a typical Friday night in the city.

Sure, there were some of your typical college shenanigans going on, but there were also deep, insightful conversations about the costs and benefits of intervention in Syria, the role of the State department in foreign affairs, legislation involving the agriculture industry, and Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency. Do you spend your Friday nights with people discussing things like this? I walked away from the party amazed at the group of young adults I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with that evening, with the distinct knowledge that in the few hours I was there, I not only learned as much as I would in a normal day of classes at CMC, but I established relationships with people who, some day, will be doing incredible things for this country.

But last night's event was only the most recent of my realizations that the people you surround yourself with dictate who you are. The Congressional Baseball Game on Thursday evening with my fellow CMCers reminded me how lucky I am to be surrounded by such amazing people every day at school and what an incredible, inclusive community it is—they let me sit with them even though I was the only one in the entire section with a red foam finger! Not only was the game a fun event to catch up with people I haven't seen in some time, it was an event filled with who's who of Washington D.C. We didn't know it for most of the game, but a member of the House of Representatives was sitting in front of us the entire time! And of course, my CMC friends were starstruck when members of the House leadership walked by. Most college students would go crazy over people like Lady Gaga, but not CMCers; they ran like children following an ice cream truck toward House Minority Whip Steny Hoyner.

Besides reflecting on the incredible people I have the honor to call my peers this week, I had a chance to thank someone who has served as a mentor and role model for me since my freshman year of high school, someone who meant a lot to me. We all have those people we look up to, who have helped us through hard times, or who have guided us in the right direction and I am a big believer in telling those people how much they mean to me. That little message that says thank you for being who you were and who are now can mean a lot.

The people you surround yourself with are more important than almost anything else in shaping the person you become, especially in your formative, young adult years. Whether those people are your role models, mentors, coaches, friends, or friends of friends you who met one night in a townhouse in Washington D.C., they all play a key role in melding you into you. I have been blessed to be surrounded by some incredibly people in my lifetime and I hope that with the remaining weeks I have here in Washington D.C. I can continue to meet people who inspire and challenge me, even in the most informal of settings.

Below are some photos from my adventures last weekend when I took a tour of the Capitol, went to the National Archives, visited the Old Post Office Pavilion for an amazing view of the city, walked by the White House, visited Ford's Theater and museum, the house where Lincoln died, the International Spy Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

Inside the Capitol

Reagan at the Capitol building!

View from the Old Post Office Pavilion

The box in Ford's Theater where Lincoln was shot

The bed where Lincoln died

Face to face with American history

As I sit down to write only my third blog post of the summer, I can't believe I've only been in D.C. for two weeks. The city already feels like my second home! The last week has been so busy with sightseeing and work I'm only just now taking a minute to catch my breath and fill you all in on the awesome things I've gotten to do since we last talked.

Last Friday I took advantage of my day off work and decided to channel my inner history nerd and visit some of D.C.'s most famous museums, starting with the Holocaust Museum. Upon arriving at the museum, I learned that I wouldn't be able to get in until later that afternoon, so I took my ticket and had an incredible lunch at Potbelly's sandwich shop. If any of you are coming to D.C. in the future, I definitely recommend Potbelly's; it seems to be a staple around every neighborhood in the city. Following lunch, to kill time, I wandered through the Smithsonian Welcome Center Castle and the African Art Museum. I'm not a huge art fan, but I appreciated the different mediums presented in the African Art Museum.

When my time finally came to enter the Holocaust Museum, I was prepared for the emotional journey I was about to take. If you haven't been to this museum, you need to go, because regardless of how prolific my prose are on the subject, you'll never understand its power unless you experience it for yourself. I followed up my visit to the Holocaust Museum with a trip across the way to the National Museum of American History, where I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my journey through American history. The museum featured exhibits on everything from American wars to the First Ladies to the history of Food in America. Below you'll see some of my favorite highlights from the museum.

Michelle Obama's Inaugural Ball dress. Just as beautiful in person as in all the gossip magazines.

From the wine section of the Food in America exhibit.

I started my Saturday off with a run to the World War II memorial and brunch at Le Pain Quotidien, an amazing little boulangerie. I fully intended to explore Georgetown following brunch, but I changed my plans when I was invited to meet my cousin at the public pool near her apartment. Who knew that public pools actually existed?? Even though it had to have been close to 100 degrees outside, I enjoyed the refreshing pool water and catching up with my cousin.

Sunday, I made the fifteen minute trek to the Georgetown neighborhood, which I immediately fell in love with. As you can see below, it looks like a little New England town, or the Hamptons—I couldn't decide. I spent most of Sunday shopping, taking a quick break to grab a cupcake at what I've decided is the most incredible bakery in the entire country, Baked and Wired.

My red velvet cupcake from Baked and Wired

Georgetown

Georgetown

Work at PeacePlayers International continued this week with more fundraising and blog writing. My fellow intern and I also attended a conference on social media marketing for nonprofits in Alexandria on Tuesday, so I guess I can say I've been to Virginia now, even though it was only two metro stops away from my dorm.

By far, the best part of my week was having the opportunity to visit and explore Arlington Cemetery on my day off Thursday. I visited Arlington Cemetery when I was here after eighth grade, but I don't think I fully grasped the magnitude of what I was seeing at the time. The sheer number of tombstones in the cemetery is beyond overwhelming when you think that each one represents someone who fought for our freedom. I only wish the middle schoolers running around the area could have grasped this sentiment. My visit began with the typical tourist stops including the Kennedy gravesites, Arlington House (the Robert E. Lee Memorial), the Memorial Amphitheater, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. While these sites were interesting, I had a hard time enjoying them with the masses of obnoxious tourists surrounding me.

I finally was able to break free from the tennis-shoe-wearing, backpack-toting tourists and wander through the newer sections of the cemetery, where I was honored to have witnessed a funeral procession which included the full army band and a horse-drawn coffin. Every so often, on my two-mile-plus walk through the grounds, I could hear shots fired and knew that yet another American hero was being laid to rest in the same ground as so many who had fought years before them. Walking through the newer part of the cemetery, I was struck not only by the freshly dug graves, but by the expanses of open fields, knowing that those sections of perfectly manicured grass will soon be filled with more young men and women who have given their lives to their country; some who may only be children now, but will make the ultimate sacrifice. 

I made a special detour to visit the Pentagon Memorial, as it is one of the few events memorialized in the cemetery that I was old enough to remember. While the memorial itself was impressive, I found the adjacent section of graves even more powerful. Behind the rows and rows of fresh, white tombstones, I could see a wall of the Pentagon. Something about the presence of this building among the expanses of graves brought a wave of emotion over me which I couldn't quite understand. It seemed to signify that those buried here did not die in vain; that their sacrifice would never be forgotten by future generations of American soldiers and citizens; that they would always be in the minds and hearts of those working in that great building in the distance. 

Maybe this is what America represents: a past which we remember and honor and a present in which we try to do justice to those who came before us. Clearly our country has its issues—anyone who has been remotely conscious the last few weeks knows that—but ultimately it is still our country. We may be the most politically divided we have ever been, as a nation, but every American wants to do right by those who laid the groundwork for the life we live today; some simply have more effective ways of doing so than others. I can only hope that in the remaining time I have here, in our nation's great capitol, I can  come to better grasp the history of this country which I am learning to embrace in an entirely different way and see positive change worthy of those laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery. 

Kennedy gravesites

A funeral procession at Arlington Cemetery

The Memorial Amphitheater where President Obama spoke on Memorial Day 

Wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Memorial of the Shuttle Challenger

The Pentagon Memorial

The Pentagon in the Background of Arlington Cemetery

Soldiers paying their respect to a fallen comrade