Events and Adventures

Every day I experience something new. I am becoming more familiar with DC and its bustle and style. I am also getting better with the directions (Hallelujah).

My Second Family came to Visit
In August, my best friend was able to come visit when her family stopped in DC as part of a cross country road trip. They were absolutely amazing and allowed me to tag along with them for the weekend. I even got to spend the night in a tent. Lexi and I of course stayed up till about 2:30am talking. It had been over a year and half since we had physically seen each other so it was necessary to do so. We also got to go to the Washington DC Temple and they came to church with me on Sunday. It was a wonderful visit that was not long enough and made me really excited for December when we could see each other more often.

This is Marvalo, the hippo. He lives in the Potomac River and is a descendant of the hippos that supposedly lived near Mount Vernon when George Washington lived there. We wanted to go swimming with him, but didn't have time this trip. 

Ouch

During the a vigorous cleaning session in July, I caught my middle finger nail underneath the lip on the microwave and ripped part of the nail. I handled the situation like a mature adult, and proceeded to hop around the kitchen, saying "ouchouchouchouchouchouchouchouch". The nail was only ripped partially and so I squirted some antibacterial ointment on it and wrapped it up, hoping that the nail would not fall off. 

Happily, my nail did not fall off and is recovering quite nicely. About half of it turned completely white (that was the part that got ripped from the skin). But now there is only a small part of it that is still white. Needless to say, I am much more careful cleaning under the microwave now. 

Macon and Me

I have a good friend that goes everywhere with me. I call him Macon. He's a can of mace. 

Technically, under DC law, you are suppose to register with the police if you buy a can...but since I bought it in Utah and I am not a resident of Washington DC (I technically live in Maryland), I haven't bothered to do so.

He lives in my bag and tags along on all my adventures. I have never come close to needing it. But it does provide a bit of peace of mind as I travel around to different parts of the city and at different hours of the day. 

Finally!

Once upon a time, roughly 11 years ago, my dad, two oldest siblings, and I were visiting Washington DC and were told that we could go get a library card from the Library of Congress. Well who wouldn't want to do that?

However, we were told that we were not allowed to get one because we were just visiting (never mind that our taxes were paying for the upkeep of said library).  Disappointed, we left and hoped that one day we would get our cards.

Well, I got mine.

A few weeks ago, I preregistered online to go get a library card. I was worried that they wouldn't give me one, but apparently being a student at a local university is a great reason! So one free morning I wandered over the river and through the ghetto (on bus and metro) to the Madison Building of the Library of Congress.

I filled out a form, and then sat and waited.

My name was called, I smiled for the camera, and signed my name. 

HAHAHAHA!

Minus the stretched out picture (but my hair is relatively calm so I'm happy), I have a library card for the Library of Congress!!!! I have not gone to the reading room yet, mainly because I have had no free time to do such things these past few weeks. But I am planing on going quite soon and secretly taking pictures to document my adventures. 

And when my Dad comes to visit, I am taking him to get one. We will be working on an important research project together. ;)  

The White House

Apparently times flies by in grad school. Surprise! It's been nearly 4 weeks since I've posted anything for which I do sincerely apologize...for the masses that clearly read these inspiring posts (ha. ha. ha.)

Anywho, once upon a time, at the beginning of August, one of my classmates contacted us and told us that he could get us into the White House for a tour.

Be still my beating heart.

We had to provide a bunch of information: our full legal names, address, identification, social security number, blood sample, a brief essay outlining our understanding of the Constitution and how the government works, a list of our favorite presidents, and a brief training exercise on how to drop to the ground and cower in fear if something happened while on the tour.

Haha just kidding. We just needed to provide the first 4...although when I'm president...

The tour was amazing though! We went on August 29 and met bright and early to stand in line for 40 minutes. We were not allowed to bring any bags with us or cameras. Just our IDs and sparkling personalities.

Of course when you unleash a group of museum educators on a site such as the White House, there will be a lot of squealing, telling of historical facts, and other museum-ish behavior.

There were four checkpoints we had to go through to get into the actual building. The first two was a simple ID check to make sure we were on the list. The third one, we got sniffed by a dog to make sure we weren't packing any explosives on our beings. The fourth one we walked through a metal detector and were scrutinized by a pack of guards who get a kick out of telling tourists to do random things as they are checked (such as "stand on one leg").

But after that, you are there..,in the White House. It is so incredible and historic that you nearly miss all the secret service and the nice men with machine guns on the roof.

The rooms are huge in the White House. The pictures you can find do not do them justice. I got to see so many historic rooms and famous pieces of artwork. I stood on the same floors and rooms that these amazing men and women stood on. I did my best not to squeal and giggle. I got to see the famous paintings of presidents from George Washington to John F. Kennedy. It was amazing.

And then as soon as it had begun, it was over.

Oddly enough, they don't let you wander around the entire White House...bizarre. But as soon as we were outside, we pulled out cameras that we had stashed on our persons and began to take pictures of the exterior (that was allowed).

 

So close to everything! and yes, that man is wearing a USU shirt...it's nice to have reminders of home.

It was a wonderful experience, I hope to be able to go again before I am done with my program. However, the tours can be tricky because even if you register, they can be cancelled at a moments notice if there is a security problem, a press conference, or the first lady wants to have a tea party.

But it was so much fun and I am glad that I was able to finally go inside the White House.