Day 20: So many things to do...so little time.

I had a very productive day!!  So you're in for a treat today!!!  I made a list yesterday of everything I want to do before I leave a week from Wednesday, and let me tell you, it's quite a list!  With only 2 weekends left, it's crunch time!!  And believe me, I was able to cross A LOT off my list today!!


This morning is when I had my scheduled tour of the Capitol Building.  My tour was at 10:50am, and they asked you to arrive 45 minutes early.  I got there around 10 and had to go through security.  Before I approached the line I almost yelled "WHAT?!  I can't bring my taser in?!"  But I didn't ;)  Oh, and I made it through security...no worries!!  Getting there 45 minutes early was a little extreme....it was a lot of waiting around, but oh well.


At the beginning of the tour there is a 13 minute video you watch.  It was pretty interesting and very well done (except there were too many dissolves, only some people will get that!!).  Then they take you to the Rotunda.  It is the heart of the capitol and its beautiful!  The architecture and the detail is outstanding.  The next place you go is the Statuary Hall.  Statuary Hall is also known as the Old Hall of the House.  It was the meeting place of the House of Representatives from 1807-1857.  This room was very interesting because our tour guide walked across the room, turned her back to us, talked in a normal voice, and we could hear her....and there were about 8 other groups in the room!  That's how good the acoustics are!  But this was a problem back in the day because then representatives could hear each other and it wasn't working out!  They tried a lot of different things to fix the problem, but nothing worked.  Once they started adding more states, and more representatives, they needed a bigger room so they made the gallery they meet in today.  The final stop on the tour was the Crypt.  George Washington was supposed to be buried in the middle of the room, but when he passed away the Capitol Building was not complete yet, so he was buried in Mt. Vernon.  When the building was complete they asked his family if they could move him to Washington, but his family said no, he wanted to be in Mt. Vernon.  In the middle of the room there is a white star on the ground.  This is literally the center of Washington D.C.!!!  This also marks the point in D.C. in which all the streets are laid out and numbered.  It was very interesting and I learned a lot!  I didn't get to see the galleries, where the senators and representatives meet.  1. They are closed on the weekend and 2. you have to get a separate pass from your representative....which I did not do, but that's ok!  Here are some pictures from my tour of my Capitol Building!!

The model for the Freedom Statue on top of the Capitol

The Rotunda

Statuary Hall

Statuary Hall

The Crypt

The center point of Washington D.C.!

After my Capitol tour I took the tunnel from the Capitol Building to the Library of Congress.  I didn't spend much time at the Library, but I did see the Gutenburg Bible!!  The main reading room was closed because there were people doing research, so that was a bummer, but I got to look in the room and it looked pretty cool!  The architecture in the Library (like in the Capitol) was amazing.  Here are some pictures I took of the Library of Congress.

After the Library of Congress I walked over to the Supreme Court.  I couldn't figure out how to get in, but I still got some nice pictures of the outside!!

It was pretty neat :)  

Earlier this week my aunt Lisa told me I should try to go to a restaurant called Good Stuff Eatery.  This restaurant was created by Chef Spike Mendelsohn and his mom and I'm pretty sure it has been featured on Food Network.  I looked it up and it was very close to Capitol Hill so I decided to go there for lunch.  They had (mostly) burgers, fries, and shakes.  It was so good and I'm really glad Lisa told me about it!  It was fairly busy because it was around lunch time, but there were plenty of places to sit and eat inside and outside.  There was even a picture of President Obama eating there!!  So thanks for an awesome lunch, Lisa!! :)

Now, Good Stuff Eatery is on Pennsylvania Ave. and when I was on my way there a bunch of cops shut down the street and were not allowing any traffic to come through.  People were lining the sidewalks and so I thought I should stay and see what was going on.  Then all these police officers riding bikes came by!  There were a lot of them!  I found out later that it was the Police Unity Tour and they have been riding their bikes from New York to D.C.!  How cool is that?!  Here are a few pictures I got.

After lunch I headed back to Union Station and I went to the National Postal Museum!  Woo!!!  It was pretty flipping sweet.  It was everything I had hoped for and then some.  My two uncles are mailmen, so I had to learn some fun facts for them!  I watched a video on how mail is sorted, and that was awesome.  I also learned about zipcodes, stamps, and Owney!  The U.S.P.S. mascot!!  Basically the Postal Museum is the best Smithsonian :)

Mail sorting technology

Mail boxes

Showing me what a bomb could look like

Fun stamps!

After the Postal Museum Lee picked me up and he took me to the National Cathedral.  It is so impressive.  It is big and absolutely beautiful.  It was also really interesting to see how much damage was done from the earthquake last year...and it was a lot of damage!  Oh...and good news.  I get to cross something off my bucketlist!  When we got to the Cathedral there was a wedding that was just starting!  I took pictures, don't worry.  Lee and I kept joking around about how we could crash the wedding.  "I object!!" or Lee could yell "She's pregnant with my child!!!"  Yeah...we're mature :)  But anyway, the Cathedral was awesome.  Then we went outside and walked around.  There are a lot of gardens around the area, so we went into the Bishop's Garden.  It was a big wide open lawn with different trees and flowers.  The wedding party was actually out there taking pictures!  Lee offered me $50 to photo bomb a picture....and I'm sorry to say this, but I legitimately thought about it.  But I decided against it hahaha.  We then decided that since we were in the church for the whole ceremony and we were there when they took pictures that we were basically family and we were going to follow them to the reception, but again, we didn't.  Here are some pictures of the Cathedral....and the wedding :)

Part of the top structures that fell because of the earthquake

Julia and Nathan :)

My day still isn't over!!  After the Cathedral we drove around Georgetown.  I got to see the steps where the Exorcist was filmed!! (But I haven't seen the movie, so it wasn't as exciting).  I also got to see Georgetown Cupcake (from DC Cupcakes on TLC)!!!!  I was VERY excited, but the line was too long, so I will go back during the week some time to get a delicious cupcake :)


After that we drove to the Iwo Jima Marines Memorial.  I didn't know it was so big!!  It's massive!!  It was very cool though, I really liked it.  Here are a few pictures!

The lighting was awesome so I got some pretty cool pictures!  After Iwo Jima we went to Gravelly Point, and let me tell you, it was SO much fun!  It is a park that is just north of the Reagan Airport.  It is just a few hundred feet away from the runway, so it is an awesome location for airplane spotting!  The airplanes were landing so they were flying right above us!  And we got to see a lot of planes land!!  I really enjoyed it and I just kept thinking about how much my Dad would've loved it!!  Here are a few of my favorite pictures!

Pretty neat huh?!  WOW.  So that was today!  It was such a long day and I'm really tired, but it was awesome because I did so much!  Hope you enjoyed reading all of my adventures!  More tomorrow :)


Shelby*

Day 19: Half day!!

I apologize for not posting yesterday, but I got home late!!  So here is yesterdays post and in a little bit I'll post one for today!!


Yesterday on my way to work I saw a guy smoking while riding a bike.....


At work I kept trying to find a student in the D.C. area who is in debt and who is struggling to find a job.  I actually ended up finding a few organizations that help students with debt, so hopefully we will be able to talk to them about how they help students who are in debt.  One of the organizations actually has an office in D.C., so that might work out nicely!!


Yesterday, Lisa was not at work because her husband is visiting, Lori (the secretary) left at noon, Max is still in North Dakota, and Mr. Soric left around 1pm.  Soooo it was just me and Ingo.  Ingo told me he didn't want to make me stay at work so I got to leave around 1:30pm!!  I was very excited because Lee had the day off so we could go exploring!!!


I got home and Lee had a doctors appointment to go to so I just hung out until he got back.  After he got back we headed to the Kennedy Center.  There is a free concert there every night at 6pm so we decided to go to that.  The concert was at the Millennium Stage and it was a jazz singer and her band.  She was very good and her band was very talented.  She had the perfect voice for jazz.  Even though jazz isn't something I listen to very often, I still really enjoyed it!


After the concert was over we went on the roof/terrace level of the Kennedy Center.  It was an amazing view of Washington D.C. and the sun was going down so the lighting was perfect!  We walked around and I got some really good pictures!  Here are a few of my favorites.

Watergate Hotel

Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial 

I really enjoyed the Kennedy Center and I'm glad Lee suggested it because I wasn't planing on going there!!

After that we walked along the boardwalk of Georgetown Waterfront Park.  It was soooo beautiful!  And most of the things in the park were new, according to Lee.  There were some nice restaurants, bars and a lot of people on boats!  It made me really want summer!!  Here are some pictures.

So pretty :)

Fountain in the park

Kennedy Center

Then we headed to Georgetown to have dinner.  We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and it was really good!  We thought about stopping at Georgetown Cupcake (from D.C. Cupcakes on TLC), but we decided not to.  I found out later last night that they were giving out free cupcakes because it was the season premiere last night!!!  Major bummer!!!  Oh well though, I bet it was super busy!

After dinner we walked back and the atmosphere on the river looked like it was a lot of fun!  The bars were crowded and there was a lot of music from the boats!  We headed back to the apartment and called it a night!  It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the Georgetown environment!!

Day 18: So are you a student in the D.C. area who is in debt?

Today I didn't do much at work.  I mostly just kept trying to find a student in the D.C. area who is in debt and can't find a job...which has not been easy.  I can't even begin to tell you how many blogs I've posted on and articles I've commented on trying to find someone!  I was told I might just have to go to George Washington University tomorrow and look for someone.  But I'm pretty sure they are out of school...so I'm not sure how that will work.


Oh right, the photographer at Deutsche Welle has been reading my blog apparently and he was mad at me today cause I just call him "the photographer" in my blog.  His name is Ingo, so from now on I will use his name!  He is awesome....and German!  Oh and the other correspondent who I mention a lot is Mr. Soric.  There now we all know each other!


I got an email from Max this morning saying he is enjoying North Dakota, so that's good!  He also said, after doing research I assume, that strippers in North Dakota make up to $2000 a NIGHT!  How insane is that?!  College would be paid for real quick...I'm just saying...


Oh, so today when I went for lunch I stopped at CVS pharmacy to get a drink.  (My lunch today was a peanut butter sandwich, rainbow goldfish crackers, and Scooby Doo fruit snacks.  I told my mom I felt like a child.  She then said I was a child and that is the kind of lunch she would've packed me if I were going on a field trip......anddddd I'm ok with that!)  So anyways, CVS was super busy, because it was lunch time, and all the check out lines were very long.  Well, I was in line for one of the lanes where you just scan it yourself and there was a lady in the other line throwing a fit about how long the lines were and how they weren't moving.  She started getting mad at an employee who was on the phone (a work phone, not his cell phone) instead of checking people out.  He said to her, "I'm sorry mam, but I'm trying to deal with something bigger than all of this right now."  She threw everything she had in her arms on the floor and stormed out!!  I was in shock!  This was a grown woman!  Then I thought about my "childish" lunch and decided nope, I didn't throw a temper tantrum in the middle of CVS...therefore, I am not a child :)


I'm starting to recognize people on the bus.  It makes me feel like I have friends :)


Oh, and I keep forgetting.  So remember how I mentioned that Bryce Harper played a pick up softball game in front of the Washington Monument last week?  Welllllllll, it turns out that the team he played against was the Fighting Pandas, the WWF team.  Lee (who I live with) plays on that team!!!  Unfortunately when this occurred he was on vacation!  How cool would that have been though?!  Here is a video of it!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuc7_4HkYsU


So recently I have found out who has been reading my blog, and I won't mention names, but it's pretty cool! I thought just my family and a few friends were reading it, but I guess I was wrong!  I was talking to my dad last night and he said what if Obama was reading my blog.....?  Whoa.  So that got me thinking.  What if Obama was reading my blog?!  Mind blowing right?  Then that got me thinking more (never good....)  And I came up with a list of people who I would be stoked about if they were reading my blog.  Those people are (in no particular order):  Barack Obama, Clint Eastwood, Ellen Degeneres, Brian Urlacher, Bradley Cooper, Betty White and Spiderman.  So, if any of you listed are reading my blog, please comment and let me know....cause that would be TOTALLY LEGIT!


So thanks to everyone who reads my blog!! :)  It means a lot!  Tomorrow is Friday!  Who's pumped?  ME. Enjoy the rest of your night and more tomorrow :)

Shelby*

Day 17: Just Say No.

First of all, before I forget....yesterday when Lisa and I were walking to the metro station we were stopped at a corner waiting for the orange hand to turn into a white person.  A guy with no shirt on walked up to us and started asking for money.  We ignored him and kept talking to each other.  Then he got within 2 inches of me and said "do I make you uncomfortable because I have my shirt off??"  Again, I ignored him.  He wouldn't leave and he kept asking for a dollar.  Then he said "come on!  Look at your head!  It's not as expensive as a piercing!!"  LUCKILY the light changed so we were able to cross the street, but I was like RUDE!  I was gonna beat him up...but there were too many witnesses...


There were just so many interesting people I came across today.  The first one was at the bus stop this morning....she was clipping her nails.  I mean, I guess if you're waiting anyway, why not?!  But still...odd.  Then I was on the bus and we stopped at a stop...I looked out the window and thought "no...no no no...please no..."  Yep....a dozen preschoolers were about to get on the bus.  Really?!  Rush hour?!  On a city bus?!  Rent a school bus or a short bus or a van or something!!  The buses are always super busy at 9:30am...but no.  They should have all been on leashes.  "What's that button?!"  "What does this do?!"  "Who is that?!"  I mean, I love the curiosity....cause I think those questions in my head every day too....but it was just a lot to take in.  Luckily and I survived...and I can only assume they did too.


Today at work started off slow, then got really busy, really fast.  I first started making a few "desperate" phone calls, trying to find someone to talk to Max for his story.  I called one lady and her automatic message said that she was gone all week.....so I called her assistant.  Her assistant told me that the original lady who I called is the person I should really be talking to.  I said that I understood that, but she will not be in the office all week.  I was told that she could not help me at all and I would have to wait until Monday.  What kind of assistant is that?!  I finally heard from Max in the afternoon and he said that he found people to talk to, so luckily my search was over!  But I'm sure something will come up tomorrow!


After all that I was told that we will probably not do the Holocaust story, which I'm really disappointed about.  I thought it would've been a really good, interesting story, but it sounds like we can't sell the idea to the people in Berlin.  So boo.  Maybe things will change though!


After lunch I was asked by a correspondent to find a student in the D.C. area who has a lot of debt and cannot find a job...... Sounds simple right?  Negative ghostrider.  1. Most schools are out already or it is currently finals week.  2. Who wants to get on camera and admit they are in debt?!  3. I can't contact the schools directly because that is private information that they cannot release.  Neat.  Soooo I started by contacting the media people for George Washington University, Georgetown University, Howard University and American University.  I asked if they could send out a memo asking students if they would be interested.  I heard back from George Washington and Georgetown right away saying that they are either out already or it is finals week.  So I wasn't sure what to do.  Then some people at work gave me the idea to look up blogs online where students are complaining about debt, comment saying I'm looking for students in debt in the D.C. area to do an on camera interview and see what happens.  So that's what I did.  I posted a message on several Facebook pages and I found recent articles about student debt and I commented on those.  HOPEFULLY tomorrow when I get to work I have something to work with!  If not, I guess it's plan C.  What's plan C?  I don't know yet...


Oh good news!!  No, GREAT news!!  You know how I've been working with Google in German for what, over 2 weeks now?  Well, today I found a link on the Google homepage that says "Google in English."  Guess what?!  It changed it to English!!!  Don't judge.  If only I could find a button on the keyboard that says "Keyboard in English"..... I'll look tomorrow and keep you updated.


So most of my afternoon was spent trying to find students in debt or blogs or articles.  On my way home today, there was this guy.....and at first I classified him as a spy....but then I changed my mind.  Picture this.  He was an older man....probably in his mid 60s, African American, shorter, sweet hat on.  He had on a green shirt that said "Just Say No."  NO TO WHAT?!  I really wanted to know.  But at the same time I didn't want to ask.  He had a tattoo on his forearm that said "Lover Boy."  (That's when I decided he wasn't a spy).  When I saw the tattoo, this is the only thing that came to my mind...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQUmA-F0rkg.  Don't judge.  And yes, I'm A.D.D.  I told you I found interesting people today!


Also, there is a restaurant I pass every day to and from work....Thai Tanic.  How flipping sweet is that for a the name of a thai restaurant?!  Or at least I assume it's a thai restaurant....


Oh, and rumor is, the communication arts center at Wartburg is A LOT quieter without me there.  I take that as "blah blah blah...our lives are boring now."  :)


Wow, this has been way too long for a Wednesday!!  More tomorrow :)


Shelby*