Monday, April 30, 2012

Day 8: "When did you first realize you were Canadian?"

Good evening :)  Not a whole lot to report today, but I get angry texts from people when I don't post anything, so HERE!! (hehehe just kiddin :) )


I didn't see Ruth today...it was disappointing :(


Today at work I did research all day again.  This morning I touched base with Max to see what he needed me to do with the Alberta oil sands story he is doing.  He asked me to turn my attention to the oil rigs in North Dakota.  He plans on visiting the Williston oil rig in North Dakota and then heading to Alberta.  Luckily, the Williston oil rigs have been in the news A LOT recently because there has been a huge boom in business and jobs, however what I was doing research on I could not find much information.  I was supposed to find environmental groups in North Dakota who are opposed to the Williston rig, but all I could find were environmental groups on the east coast against oil rigs.  Soooo I'm still working on that.


The NHL story fell through because there are no teams left in the playoffs with players from Germany :(


One of the other correspondents is doing a story on the increased popularity of model airplanes with video cameras attached to them, also known as FPV planes (First Person View).  The correspondent already went to New York and interviewed a man from Germany who does this as a hobby.  The footage is awesome because there are great views of the New York skyline!  He asked me and the other intern to get research to write an article to go with the video.  Lisa and I started doing research and we are each going to write up an article and then on Wednesday we are going to combine them into one article and she will translate it into German.  That way we both get our names on the article, which will look awesome in my portfolio!!


I get told a lot "maybe it will be easier for you, because you are an American," when I am asked to do something.  I guess that's a good thing?


The stupid German keyboard got to me today.  I had 4 days off and then boom....it's like it's in a different language again!!  It's seriously confusing.  All the symbols are in different places.  Rude.


Oh and when I was doing research I came across an article that was titled "When did you first realize you were Canadian?"  I giggled, to myself.  Hence the title of this post! :)


Tomorrow we have the day off because it's a German holiday.  They gave me some ideas as to what I should do.  It was suggested that I visit Capitol Hill....tour the Capitol Building and the Library of Congress and what not.  Well, to tour the Capitol you have to go through your representative....sooooo I filled out the "I want to tour the Capitol" form on Manzullo's website and later this afternoon I got my confirmation (thanks Manzullo!!  Or Manzullo's people!!!), but my tour is on Saturday May 12.  So I figure I'll just cover that and the library all that day, makes sense, right??  They also suggested Roosevelt Island.  I was told there is a museum there and what not so I checked it out.  Yeah....that's in New York City..... Which, is somewhat do-able....it's like a 4 hour train ride I was told......but....I'm still trying to conquer the train in one city....I'm not sure if I'm ready to take on multiple cities!!  Soooo I think I'm going to go with my original plan of going to the zoo tomorrow!!  It's supposed to be hot and there's only a 30% chance of rain!!  Hopefully I have a good day :)


Well this post is longer than I intended so I think I'll cut it off here!!  More tomorrow :)

Shelby*

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Day 6/7: Weekend!!!

My first weekend in D.C. was a success!!

Yesterday (Saturday) I decided to just have a relaxing day after I spent all day Thursday and Friday sight seeing!  I slept in (which I haven't done since....winter break!), then I walked to this little cafe for lunch.  After I ate I went back to the apartment and relaxed for a little bit.  Then I decided to go to Union Station, it is still a bus/metro station, but there are a lot of stores and restaurants.  I had to take TWO metros to get there!  But I made it :)  I walked around a little bit and it was a pretty good time.  Last night I watched 3 movies!  Hahahah it was great fun :)



Today I headed back to the National Mall/Smithsonian area.  I started the day by going to the Air & Space Museum, and it was awesome!  Half the time (okay more than half...) I had no idea what I was looking at, but hey, everything looked pretty neat!!  I also decided to see an IMAX movie while I was there.  There were a lot to choose from but I chose "The Dream is Alive."  This movie was shot by 14 NASA astronauts on three shuttle missions.  It included footage of launches and landings, satellite captures and repairs, space walks and an inside look at the astronauts living in space.  It was really cool!  It was fun to see how the astronauts lived in space...it showed footage of the men shaving upside down and some of the astronauts eating...their food was just floating in the air!!  I also like the footage of them sleeping...they were in these sleeping bag looking things attached to the wall...but the funny part was all their arms were straight up in the air! hahaha.  I also really liked all the different views of Earth they showed, it was super interesting!  I also saw some other neat things, here are some pictures!


Viking 3:  While Viking 1 and 2 were on Mars, this vehicle was used on Earth to stimulate their behavior and test their responses to radio commands. 

MISSILES! 

Hubble Space Telescope!! 

Actual Apollo Lunar Module 

I'm not exactly sure what this is, but there were a lot of
buttons, so it looked official!

Actual airplane built and flown by the Wright brothers in
1903!


One of Amelia Earhart's planes!

Mars Exploration Rover
Airplanes!

I was a little disappointed in the planets section that they didn't even mention Pluto!!  Back in my day Pluto WAS a planet!!  Rude.  I also got glow in the dark nail polish....needless to say, I'm VERY excited about it!!  So that was the Air and Space Museum....it's too bad my Dad wasn't with me :(  He would've LOVED this!  Actually, I'm pretty sure it would've taken him AT LEAST 4 full days to get through the entire museum, he loves this stuff.  And 4 days is not an exaggeration (he likes to read everything! LOVE YOU DAD!! :) )  

I saw 2 leash kids today!

After the Air & Space Museum I started walking towards the Capitol building.  I found a big pond and sat there for a little bit and got some good pictures :)





It was a really pretty view and it was a gorgeous day so I really enjoyed just hanging out by the Capitol!!  

Next to the pond was the United States Botanical Garden so I decided to check that out.  It was BEAUTIFUL!!  There were so many flowers and plants and it smelled so good!!  I was a little disappointed when I walked in the Hawaii section...there were NO flowers!!  Now, I have been to Hawaii and they have lots of flowers!!  But anyway, I really enjoyed the garden, especially all the orchids!!  Here are some of my favorite pictures (and don't ask me what the flowers/plants are...I have NO idea...but they looked neat!!)










Yayyy for pretty flowers!!!  To see all the beautiful flowers I saw check my Facebook!! :)


And finally, to end the day I went up as close as they would let me to the Capitol building.  I got some really good pictures and it was such a nice day that I sat in the lawn area for about an hour!!  (The grass wasn't mowed very well, my father would've been quite disappointed!!)  






After that I headed back to the apartment and now I'm just watching some tv and uploading pictures!!


Oh, and I got the dates mixed up.  I actually work tomorrow and I have Tuesday off because of the German holiday.  I'm absolutely fine with that!  Tuesday it is supposed to be like 80 degrees and sunny so I'm thinking about going to the zoo!!  Hopefully rain stays out of the forecast!!


Hope everyone had a great weekend and for any Wartburg students/faculty reading this, enjoy your first day of May Term class tomorrow!!  More tomorrow :)


Shelby*

Friday, April 27, 2012

Day 5: Fishy fun!!!

Today was my second day of exploring D.C.!!  It was just as awesome as yesterday!


But, before I get started with my adventures today, I have a few notes about the metro.
1.  PDA on the metro is NOT OK.  It is also not necessary.
2.  Sunglasses are not needed underground.  Take them off.
3.  The "metro police" will really arrest me if I have food or drinks?
4.  Taking pictures of the trains makes you look more like a tourist than you already are.  Take it easy, killer.


Oh, and another side note.  This makes me sound like an old lady, but children are out of control.  They all need to be on leashes!!  (P.S. I saw 5 leash kids today)  But, the thing is, it's not the toddlers who are out of control, they are just FHA (Future Hooligans of America).  The ones we really have to watch out for are ages 7-17, particularly males.  Three boys (probably about 15) ran passed a security guard...she told them to stop running...so they walked passed her, got around the corner and started sprinting again.  Then I tried to get on the up escalator but there were 4 boys (about age 17) who were running DOWN the UP escalator.  Then there were a group of girls (age 14 I would guess) who were going up to statues and putting their fingers up the noses of the statues and taking pictures.  THESE are the kids we need to leash up!  Or just not take out of the house, either one works.  Sheeesh.


Now onto my sight seeing.  I started my day by going to the American History Museum.  For those of you who really know me, I am not a big fan of history.  Never have been, who knows if I ever will be.  BUT I really enjoyed this museum!  They make history fun!  I saw a lot of really cool exhibits, here are some of the highlights!
The original Washington Monument.  Did you know there was an original?!  I didn't! 
Part of Plymouth Rock!!  According to my dad seeing Plymouth Rock should be "complete" for me now! hahaha
Babe Ruth's autograph on a baseball!  How neat is that?! 
Dorothy's ruby slippers.  If they remade the movie they would probably have to be about 5 inches!
The dress Michelle Obama wore on Inauguration night! 
The top hat Lincoln was wearing the night he was killed. 
Part of the American flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner!! They wouldn't let you take pictures of the actual full flag, but it was one of my favorite exhibits! Way cool!
Part of the Berlin Wall.
I really liked the Star Spangled Banner exhibit (like I mentioned before) and I really liked the President exhibit.  The First Lady section was really cool as well.  They had a lot of the dresses the First Ladies wore on Inauguration night which was really neat.  Again, to see many more pictures check out my Facebook page!

After the Museum I went to the National Aquarium...and I had a BLAST!  I actually walked through it twice because I liked it so much!!  Some of the fish were so interesting and really pretty!  I got a lot of great pictures, it was like a little fishy photo shoot :)  It's hard for me to narrow down my favorite pics, but here are some!  (Check out Facebook for all of them!!)
Alligator!!  AHH!!  I got there right in time for them to feed him!! 
Cute lil frog :)
Polka dot fishy!!
Colorful fish!
Dory!!!!
Stingray!
Seahorse!!  There were a lot of them! 
Turtles! They were buddies :)
Blue!
More colorful fish :)
Well, I hope you enjoyed my pictures today!! :)  I had so much fun taking all the pictures of the fish and ocean creatures!!  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do tomorrow.  It's supposed to rain, so I may stay around where I live and go to a few shops downtown, or I may go back to the National Mall/Museum area and do a few more things!  We'll see!!  More tomorrow :)


Shelby*

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Day 4: It's not too often you get this much neatness in one location...

Today was my first day of exploring!! And I had a blast! :)  And pictures are included this time!!!

It was pretty good weather for exploring today.  The high was 68 but it was cloudy.  So it wasn't too chilly but since it was cloudy it wasn't too hot!!

My day started and I had to ride the metro for the first time.  Yayyy for being underground!  It was really easy to understand and I didn't get lost!  Success!

Once I got off I was right by the National Archives.  I decided just to start walking and see where I ended up.  (Actually, I had nothing planned for today, I decided to wing everything!)  The first thing I came upon was the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.  I walked through that and saw this really cool fountain with a great view of the National Archives (see picture).  I plan on visiting one of the art museums tomorrow!

After that, I made my way to the mall where I saw the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument.








I then went towards the Washington Monument.  Unfortunately, they are not allowing people to go up into the Monument for the time being because when D.C. was hit with the earthquake last year the elevator was damaged.  I still got some good pictures, regardless!
After the Washington Monument I headed towards the World War II Monument.  I really enjoyed this Monument because while I was there a ton of veterans were there.  I wish I could have said "thank you" to all of them but there were just too many!  Here is one of my favorite pictures from this site.  A veteran looking at the wall of stars.
After that I went to the Lincoln Memorial.  Unfortunately, the reflecting pool is under construction.  So it was kind of a long, boring walk.  BUT I found this cool squirrel...so it was all good :)
Then I went and hung out with Lincoln for a while...walked around, got more pictures!!  (Note: Do not ask a security guard if the statue is life size...)
So, let's see....after Lincoln, I went over to the Korean War Memorial.
After this I decided to just start wandering and see what I stumble upon!  I found the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.  I really liked this one because of the quotes on the wall and also because when my family and I were here a number of years ago it was not, so I got to see something new!!
After MLK I decided to really wander....which probably wasn't a good idea.  I just started walking and then I noticed I was seeing more "business people" than tourists....so I crossed the street and started walking a different way.  I came across a gated area, I didn't really think anything of it so I just kept walking.  Then I found an entrance to a park.  It wasn't blocked off or anything and there were other people walking around, so I decided to enter.  There was a big field and some people were playing soccer.  I kept walking and all of a sudden I turned around and this is what I saw...
Oh....oh hi Mr. President.  No worries, it's not like I was in the backyard of the White House or anything...and no secret service tackled me (then again they're running a little low on secret service men aren't they?? Too soon??) So yayyy for randomly finding the White House!!!  

After stumbling upon the home of Barack, I decided to go to the Natural History Museum.  It was so big and so much fun!  There was so much to look at in so many different exhibits!  I probably could've spend all day there!  Here are a few highlights:

 Ahhhhhhh! Just kidding :) We are friends now!











I decided this is what I look like after a few Rip-Its! hahahaha













The Hope Diamond....I swear I saw this necklace in the Titanic....



Oh and irony at it's finest...The Orkin Insect Zoo...REALLY!? 

Well, that was day one of exploring Washington D.C.!!!  I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!  I plan on going on more adventures and seeing more awesomeness!!  

Oh yeah, I saw a leash kid today...poor kid :(  I want to make a shirt that says "FREE THE LEASH KIDS!!!" And just wear it around whenever I go on trips.  Kids are kids, not dogs!!  Let's be honest though...my kids are going to be so out of control I'll probably need to leash them up!!

PLEASE check out my facebook page for many more pictures from today!!!  More tomorrow :)

Shelby*