So I love the above quote (which has been wrongly attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald). But I love it, because it's how I feel about life here! I LOVE IT HERE! To those who are reading this, I wish you could hear me say that because this has been the best 3 weeks of my life. For me, DC is all about discovering who I really am as a person away from my close niche of friends and thus far, I still like myself! And I absolutely love discovering all these incredible things!
Anyways, I usually write SO SO SO much that today I decided to be my new professional political writing self and write less (well less than I normally would. It's still a lot because my life is so incredible). I'm going to use the quote to help guide my thoughts! (yes, I know I'm an English major)
Things that startle me:
Seeing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in real life. I've been waiting to see those since I was ten! And it happened!(I wish I had a picture, but there's no photography allowed)
The church choir in the National Cathedral. I so wish that we could have the choral arrangements that Catholic churches have because it was absolutely stunning!
Being in 3 different states- Our church is technically right on the border of Maryland, so I walked over. And Virginia is one stop away. SO FLIPPING COOL! Especially for my travel bug self.
Blueberry buckwheat at Eastern Market. Chels and I went for breakfast on Saturday and it was incredibly delicious. They're famous for a reason!
Hearing Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce perform live at the inauguration.
The amazing people here. Yes, many of them are the insane A type personality, but most of them are entirely incredible people who are going to change the world. I'm so lucky that my roommate Chelsea is also insanely awesome (it might be because we're both INTJs)
Having Elder L. Tom Perry come to my ward. He was here for inauguration and I shook his hand! He's the first apostle I've had the opportunity to shake hands with, so he'll always be one of my favorites now!
Seeing so many cool things in museums: The Hope diamond, Hillary Clinton's inaugural dress/suit for when she announced she was running for president, , the Wright brother's first plane, Dorothy's red slippers, a piece of the Berlin Wall, a Nauvoo sun stone, the moon suit from the moon landing, and the original Kermit the frog puppet. It's so cool to see all these pieces of history.
Having 'class' as briefings with incredible speakers and attending a lecture at the Newsuem. Although difficult because I am not a poly sci major, I LOVE class. Yes, you read that right. It's probably because everything about it is not a traditional way of thinking.
The Capitol, especially the rotunda. It's gorgeous and just makes you feel so proud to be an American.
How nice all of my bosses are. Seriously, I LOVE it here. Also, I got to meet the newly nominated district judges which was pretty sweet.
The amazing love of this sweet boy for his brother:
Yeah, I cried hard core. I only wish I can impact one person that way as much as he has for his brother. It also made me realize how much I want to be a child advocate. In fact, my boss encouraged me to set up an informational meeting with a child advocacy agency and she send me a link to the Children's Defense Fund. I looked up where it was and it's less than a block from my work!(Does that not sound like a sign that I am on the right path. Also, Hillary Clinton worked here in her early days... so yeah. I think I'll go check that out!)
Things I've never felt before:
intense patriotism- Yeah, I've always loved America, but when you're here, it's impossible not to just be so grateful/proud to be an American. All of the statues/memorials/museums are pretty much all focused on the great people that have made up our great nation and I'm just so grateful I grew up in a country where I can do what I want.
reverence for the military/thankfulness for freedom- I felt this hit me for the first time at the Arlington Cemetery. It's HUGE! When you get to the top of the hill and look at all those lives that died protecting your freedom, you would have to be a robot to not feel the emotion. But in a weird way, it reminded me of all the good in the world fighting evil and it again made me feel so grateful for the military/my freedom.
People with a different point of view:
Obama- I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Inauguration. Although I don't support Obama's policies, I have come to respect him because he is still the president. I really respect how good of a father/husband he seems to be, which is one of the best qualities a person can have. Being at the inauguration for me wasn't about political parties or agendas, it was about the pride and the hope associated with being an American. It was such an incredible opportunity to be a part of history!
National Cathedral- Today I had the opportunity to attend a Catholic service at the National Cathedral. Since I've never had the the opportunity to do so, I was really excited. It's amazing how different, yet how similar the ideologies were and the music was GORGEOUS. It made me realize that I need to get out of my Mormon bubble and experience more religions because it's not only interesting, but highly spiritual.
Hillary Clinton- Yeah, I know what you're thinking. She's crazy. But she's really not in her personal life. Fun fact: She was a child advocate after she graduated from YALE (meaning she could have gone anywhere to practice law). She was a child advocacy champion and for that, I admire her. She is just such a boss regardless of her politics. She is definitely her own dog and gets incredible things done. As such, I asked my boss if I could attend her House hearing on the Benghazi tragedy. I walked my cute little self there, waited for an hour and then was only 20 people away from getting in. I was a little sad, but I saw her in person while I was walking past the door to go back to work. Ever since creeping extensively on her Wikipedia page, I may have a slight obsession with her.
Live a life you're proud of:
One of the reasons I love this quote is that it's so hopeful. No matter how bad your life currently seems to be going, something epic is just around the corner. It also helped me come up with some goals for this year and re-evaluate what kind of a person I am. One of our institute classes was about finding the perfect wife and Elder/Sister Brown talked about the qualities to look for in a wife. After reviewing some of them, I want to execute some of these so I can be the best person I can while waiting for my future spouse. I want to be able to have my judgment and review all of my accomplishments with a smile instead of a grimace.
Now onto some pictures of "things that startled me":
The Archives! I finally saw the founding documents in real life!!
Chels and I at the Capitol!
In front of the reflecting pond!
The moon suits from the 1969 moon landing!
Capitol rotunda
I successfully went to Virginia (to go to Costco!)
National Zoo!
Arlington Cemetery- JFK memorial
National Zoo with Chels
Arlington Cemetery
Chels and I at Arlington Cemetery.
Inauguration!
Pieces of the actual Berlin Wall
The Capitol+Pro life march! So cool!
They had a newspaper from every year going back to the 1700s. This is the Columbine one.
They have a sun stone in the American History exhibit!
National Cathedral!
Part of the group at National Cathedral!
So yeah. LIFE IS FLIPPING AWESOME! My life is crazy busy between working 32 hours, class, institute, FHE, working out and socializing, but I love it here. Also, as if life isn't already insanely amazing, Maya Angelou is speaking at the Smithsonian. Yeah, just one of my top 5 people to see in real life! We're also going on our tour of the White House on Saturday. #maybeI'llseethepresident I hope you understand the depth of my love for D.C. I'm not sure I ever want to leave! :) To close, I'll quote my favorite couple missionaries, Elder and Sister Brown: "Brothers and sisters, the gospel is true, and so are you!"
So I found the above quote on the ONE time I went on Pinterest since I've been here. (Yeah, I realize how pathetic that just sounded). But anyways, this is me proclaiming to the world that I AM HAPPY! Seriously. I love it here. I've only been here six days, but I already feel a love for it. I got here last Saturday and thankfully, a guy from my homeward, Jaren, and his girlfriend, picked me up from the airport. It was so nice and reduced the stress of having to figure out everything right away. My flight was awesome as I had an aisle seat in the 7th row. (7 being my lucky number, and the aisle being a favorite because of easy access to the restroom!) I moved in and got everything squared away and met my roommate Chelsea. The first night, we figured out she was the cousin of my bishop's daughter-in-law (confusing, sorry) so that was really cool. I already love her. People from our program think that we had already known each other. So that's good. On Sunday, I experienced my first D.C. adventure: church. To get to church, we leave an hour early and bus for 40 minutes. It's only six miles away, but that's how long it takes to get there. You then get off the bus stop and walk up a hill (who knew there were hills here?) but the church is gorgeous. It was Fast Sunday, but a congressman donated cake so we could break our fast at church. Yeah, only in D.C. :) I think I'll really like the ward here! After that, I grabbed two girls, Elyse and Miranda, and we did some touristy stuff. The Lincoln Memorial (and things like the Jefferson Memorial, the White House, Vietnam Memorial, etc.) are only 1.1 miles from our apartments, so we just walked. To say that I was excited to see the Lincoln Memorial would really downplay it. I was almost in tears. Embarrassing, but true. I have never actually checked off a travel bucket list item, and here I was! The memorial is just how I envisioned it: huge, peaceful and beautiful. We also had the opportunity to stand in the exact place where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, which was so cool! I took pictures of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Yeah, I just reread that sentence because I am feeling so awesome right now. We then meandered through the Vietnam Memorial, which was also very beautiful and moving as well. After walking through the park a bit, we walked to the White House. It's so much smaller than I was expecting it to be! This being said, it was still really cool to see and considering it's a house, it's still very grand! :) It's just that after walking downtown, all the buildings are MASSIVE and it was weird to see the White House after that. Being the adventurers we are, we took the Metro home. I like the Metro because it's underground and you don't have to worry about traffic, but it is rather noisy and crowded sometimes! Monday was spent doing our final prep class and then we were assigned 2 other people to go find our internships. I went with two other people from the program, Emily and Jared, and we hit up their internships. I also had the opportunity to meet my supervisor, and I LOVE HER! She is seriously the best, but more on that later. We then had FHE here at the Barlow which involved introductions and pizza. It was actually really fun! Tuesday was my first day of my internship and the whole day was crazy. I am not supposed to reveal where I work (whoops!) or identify anything I do, so I won't (which is so hard for me!) but I absolutely loved it there. I got on the Metro for only the 3rd time, and made it there plenty early even thought I have to transfer. For those who know me and my sense of directions, this was a minor miracle! I owe it to riding the bus in Provo freshman year. I work in the best department and have the best supervisor. She is definitely a words of affirmation person and I absolutely LOVE IT! As bad as it sounds, I am a gold star junkie and she is definitely willing to give them out. She is also one of the most positive people ever. The first day I was here, I made a minor error and apologized for it. She sent me back an email to just focus on what I did right and that my first job was incredible. She also sent me a list of websites to check out for free things. I think she may be still as excited about D.C. as I am! I like all of the other interns (4/8 of us are with the BYU program!) and a few of us even went to Chipotle (the first thing I saw after I got off the Metro!!!) which was really fun. Later on that night, a group of us went to DC Cupcakes so we could celebrate our first days as interns. They were so good, and only about a half mile from our house... So I burned off the calories, right? :) We also had our first institute and it was on... you got it: how to find a perfect wife. But I actually really enjoyed it. The class is taught by the senior couple missionaries and they even printed off a pamphlet on some really different ways to tell if you should marry someone. I'll have to figure out how to put part of it on here because I actually really appreciated it. Their honesty and experience really enriched the class. I also really appreciated the orange rolls Sister Brown made! :) Wednesday was also really good, in fact one of the best days I've ever had. With all the training done, my job actually started. Most of the stuff I am doing is so cool and I am so privileged to be working on! It is also helpful that several of the things I do involve skills I learned at the MBA office. After talking to other interns, who spent their day answering phones and emails, I KNOW I made the right choice. My supervisor (and everyone on my team) really care about making the internship a quality one with awesome skills. Two awesome things about my job that I am fairly certain I can tell you: 1. I get to have a Library of Congress Readership Card which allows me to research there and 2. I get to sit in on a oral hearing at the Supreme Court! All of the things I am doing here are like a pre-law student's dream! I LOVE IT HERE! On Wednesday night, Chels and I (it is pretty precious that we are Chelsea and Kelsey) walked to Serendipity. I discovered that DC had one while on the bus to church (and about had an aneurysm People probably thought I was crazy). Again, I am not used to actually doing things on my bucket list and this was pretty much at the top! It was just how it ought to be. I loved the cute little menus and the sign on the door and all the cute people. We ordered their famous frozen double hot chocolate for two... and discovered how huge that actually was. I have to say, I am glad that I had never had one before so that this could be my first experience with frozen hot chocolate. I LOVED IT! It was just exactly how I thought it would taste and it was probably one of my favorite moments ever. If I ever have a bad day here, that's where I am going. Today was also really awesome. My supervisor and her boss asked me to lunch so we walked over to a Japanese restaurant. It was really cool talking to them about all of their different experiences. The boss boss's wife works in the Supreme Court building so he has had a LOT of really neat experiences. I also get to work on writing an article for federal bankruptcy judges!!!!!! So it was a good day at work! I came home just in time for Tracy's birthday celebration... aka eating at a place called BTS which stands for Burgers, Taps, Shakes. It was delicious! We then all headed out to Sprinkles Cupcakes where we consumed free cupcakes! They had a special promotion where all you had to do was say "1600 Penn" (ironically not because of our location, but because it's a new TV show) and then you got a free cupcake. Chelsea and I then read all 115 pages of our reading assignment because we have our first class tomorrow! It's only 2/12 hours and then we can do some awesome touristy stuff! So just to recap all the places I've eaten out:
Subway (conveniently located ACROSS THE STREET from where I live!)
Chipotle
Serendipity
DC Cupcakes
Kyoto Japanese
Sprinkles
BTS
So yeah, I am gaining weight! And going broke! Good thing I found out that my building at work HAS A GYM WITH ZUMBA CLASSES! Yeah. And it's only $25/month.
Below are some pictures of some of my adventures recently:
My half of the room!
First day outside the Barlow Center!
The awesome picture of the Lincoln memorial that I took!
Outside of the Lincoln Memorial!
Probably one of my favorite things I've seen thus far!
The White House!
Outside of the building I am interning at
My cute little work space!
So official!
First day of work!
DC Cupcakes with some girls here!
Chels (my new roommate) and I at Serendipity!
The view from the top of Lincoln Memorial!
Our cute little church building!
BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!
BUT REALLY!
Lincoln Memorial. I almost started crying because I was so excited to see it!
Sprinkles Cupcakes! Today it was one of our students birthdays so we went to celebrate AND we got free cupcakes just for saying 1600 Penn. LOVE IT!
I told my mom that I was surprised that I hadn't gotten nervous. I think it's because I know 100% for sure that this is what I am supposed to be doing and this was even evidenced in little things throughout the week, like the fact that Subway is across the street from where I live.
I just want to take a moment and thank everyone who was supportive of this because I couldn't have done it without you! I'll keep you posted on how class goes and all the other touristy things I do this weekend. I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!!
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