Day at Dupont!

Today was definitely a wake-up call to how busy we'll all be here this semester. We had to be up in Dupont by 9:30 for orientation. I LOVE the area. We had to walk a ways after the Metro ride, and the neighborhood has a lot of foreign embassies and historic buildings, and the actual circle is surrounded by some really cool shops and specialty stores--but I didn't have a chance to explore any of them yet...Hopefully soon. Orientation was long---3 hours. The highlight: Roberto from Panama brought everyone in the program a Panama key chain. How sweet, right?

We were on our own for lunch so Erin and I ate with new friends Chris and John from Houston--yup, they say "ya'll." It's pretty sweet. They say I have a very clear Chicago accent--I wasn't really aware that 'Chicagoans' had accents... apparently it's in my a's? Then we had class for almost four straight hours...econ and my internship seminar. Econ will probably be the death of me--right KittyKat? (and no clever Peter Olson jokes to lighten the mood). BUT, my seminar professor is awesome; he's retired but wrote for USA Today for over 20 years as a White House correspondent and covered four presidential campaigns. He's got really great connections and has set up some really great tours and guest lectures for us, including Condoleezza Rice! holla

Of course I forgot my keys to the apartment--and got back before everyone else...so I sat outside at Cosi on the corner of our street and people-watched until my roommates got back. I love everything about this place, but I'll admit I had my first homesick-like feeling today. I miss Bloomington and my people--you know who you are--but I'm excited to get in a routine here and experience so much more of the city. I have to get a cord to connect my camera to the comp and uploads pics---so they'll be coming soon!

xoxoxo

On the Hill

I officially moved in yesterday, the 28th. and... I love it.

The apartment is very "D.C."--well, that's what I'm calling it. It's old, and so far everything that could go wrong...has gone wrong. (no hot water in the shower, failing Internet, air conditioning leak, and faulty washing machine)..but, I think it has a lot of character. It's furnished, but it's furnished to the bare minimum. As in, they gave us mattresses, but no bed frames. Classic. The nice thing is that the whole building is occupied by students in the program, so we've already met everyone in the building and it should make it easier to get to know everyone over the course of the semester.

I have 3 roommates, and I love them! We're all very different, but I like it; seems as though we've known each other a lot longer than the barely 24 hours that we've been here. Maryam is from Chicago, Jessica is from California, and Ashea is from Maryland. Yesterday we all unpacked, went downtown to get some bedding and apartment stuff, then arrived 40 minutes late to orientation. nbd--at least we made it for the cheesy icebreaker session:) where... I met Erin, who lives upstairs. She's the only one that reminds me of anyone from home--I'd say most like Natasha:) (Cheers to Copey!) Then last night we had a roommate dinner at a small Thai restaurant around the corner.

The neighborhood is exactly how I imagined it. I went for a run this morning to explore a bit and it's soo perfect. There's a nice little park nearby, and the streets are quaint and quiet. And I'm on Capitol Hill--literally steps away from the Library of Congress and the Capitol Building. Like if I walk outside and walk to the right for a minute, I can see it. SO cool. And there are "Capitol Police" stationed on practically every corner so the neighborhood seems verrry safe.

I wanted to explore a little bit downtown this afternoon and it turned into a 3 hour adventure around the city (and my camera died within the first 5 minutes so I have no pictures to show for it--but I'll go again soon:). I realized just how close everything is--I can walk to the White House in 25 minutes! I looked like a total tourist with my "Official Visitor's Map" (Kel, remember my first-day map incident at IU? haaa), but I didn't care.

Tomorrow is the first day of class, but we have a lot of program stuff to do this week (tours, meetings, etc.), so I don't start my internship until Wednesday. I'm actually relieved that we'll have a little bit more time to settle in before we start working; but, I'm already behind in my reading for class..no surprise there. It'll be interesting to see if I can find my way to the Georgetown campus with no problems. The Metro system is great, but soo confusing. So many lines, so many colors, so many stops. gahhhhh. BUT, I've never seen Georgetown so I'm really excited; I've heard it's beautiful, with great shops and restaurants, etc... so I'm sure Ill end up spending a lot of time there outside of class.

And then tonight we're doing a big dinner with people in our building so that should be nice. More updates to come! Special shout out to my 306ers who I miss so much!