Friday
After a FIVE HOUR bus ride, we finally made it to DC around 1pm. We took the Subway to our hotel without any problems. It helped having several girls with us who had been in NYC before and understood the system. The Millennium Hilton was directly across the street from Ground Zero, and our view from the 24th floor of the hotel was priceless. Although it is still just a big hole in the ground, we were able to put it into perspective a little better having seen it from above.
We walked around the financial district in downtown NYC...we got to see Trinity Church (where the treasure was found in National Treasure), Wall St., the NYSE building, the bull statue, Battery Park, and the bay. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were tiny from the distance, but we had missed the last ferry out for the day.
New York pizza was our food of choice for dinner. It was pretty good, but the garlic rolls were even better. I suppose I can see why David was raving about it, but I couldn't really tell that big of a difference. After eating, we headed to Times Square. We got off at Grand Central Station, just so we could see it all. Everything was all lit up and crazy. Just like you see it in movies or on tv. Some guy tried convincing us to come to his comedy show, but we opted to go to the Laugh Factory where we already had tickets reserved. Although none of the comedians went on tirades like Kramer did in Hollywood's Laugh Factory, a few of the audience members caused just about as much drama. They were a little too drunk for their own good, and they eventually got kicked out. However, it was only after they had ruined nearly everyone's acts. The final comedian was the only one who didn't have to deal with them, but he got caught up in conversing with a lesbian couple in the crowd. It wasn't the greatest experience for me, especially as I was not feeling the greatest, but everyone else seemed to enjoy the night.
Saturday
We got up bright and early to make it out on the first ferry to see the Statue. Although it took us a while to figure out where the free commuter ferry to Staton Island left from, we did finally make it (no thanks to the mean policeman on the pier). I'm so glad that we decided to do this, because we went right out past the Statue and Ellis Island. Our journey to Staton Island took 25 minutes, but we were able to get off the ferry, make a U-turn, and get right back on to head back to downtown NYC.
Everyone went shopping together after we got home. Nearly everyone purchased designer knock-off bags and sunglasses for knock-off prices in very shady circumstances on Canal Street. The whole thing way too sketch for me, so I bought a cute hat for $10. I was happy with my purchase!
After our shopping extravaganza, we all split up. Kristine and I got tickets for Rent from the TKTS stand, but only after quite a lot of trouble trying to withdraw cash from ATMs using cards we couldn't remember the pin numbers for. This seemed like such a small issue though, especially after I couldn't get a key into my hotel room to change my clothes and when we took the Subway off the map. You'd have to have been with us to fully understand the story, but I'll give you a short recap.
We tried taking the 2 or 3 train, but that line was closed. We ended up getting on an E train, but it went the opposite direction we thought it would go. By the time we figured this out, we went over, under, or through the water and into Brooklyn. Kristine was convinced we'd never find the correct train, so we headed out to call a cab. We figured this would be easy in the city of cabs, but we were very wrong. It had gotten dark since we left our hotel, we had no idea where we were, there were very few lights and moving vehicles outside the Subway, and we only had 25 minutes to make it to the Theatre District for our show. We ran up and down the streets searching for a cab with nobody in it for at least 10 minutes, and then were forced to have our cab driver risk our lives to make it to our show on time. Kristine and I literally had to sprint several blocks to the theater, but we made it half way through the opening number. What a relief! If we had missed our show after having spent over $80 on each ticket, we would have cried for weeks. Instead, it was definitely the best experience of our trip to NYC!
Sunday
Several of us got up and went to mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was gorgeous, but we definitely had a drive-through mass. That was ok, because it allowed us to eat breakfast at a diner, stroll through Central Park, make a few last souvenir purchases, and visit the church used for relief efforts after 9/11. Then it was back on the bus for our long ride home. I was able to get some sleep, even though there were some extremely loud, annoying passengers behind us, and I was so glad to be *home* in DC at the end of the day. Although we had a great weekend trip to the city, it really made us appreciate how nice and clean DC really is. I'm happy to call this home.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Recess: Week 2
I was only asked to give a few tours this week, so it was a lot more difficult finding things to keep me busy all day. Kathy was back from her trip to London, so that helped a little. She can usually find something to give me to work on. I can't wait for next week when we are back in session!
I did have some down time to do a little research on NYC, for the girls adventure to the city this weekend. I'm extremely excited to see a show on Broadway! Hopefully the 10 of us are able to make it through the weekend with little to no drama, especially since we will all be sharing just two hotel rooms. Keep your fingers crossed...
I did have some down time to do a little research on NYC, for the girls adventure to the city this weekend. I'm extremely excited to see a show on Broadway! Hopefully the 10 of us are able to make it through the weekend with little to no drama, especially since we will all be sharing just two hotel rooms. Keep your fingers crossed...
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Easter Weekend
Friday
No class this morning was a nice break. Rather than cramming a bunch of activities in, I decided to have a restful day. I spent some time cleaning the apartment while I was home alone. It needed it!
Both Kristine and Abby had friends from Nebraska visiting, so we took them out to Hawk 'n Dove. Several co-workers of 510 Cers also joined us, so we had quite the gang. David's best friend TJ was also in town and celebrating his 21st birthday. It was one of our better nights at that bar, so everyone had a great time. We even got flashing rings from the bartenders. It was good stuff!
David and TJ challenged Kristine and I to a competitive game of pong when we got home. We made a friendly wager, and the guys were forced into wearing Husker apperal when we won :)
Saturday
Mercedes and I hung out and watched tv while some of the other girls went shopping. Then a few of us decided to go out to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Justine took forever curling Mercedes' hair, so we didn't leave until after 8. After our commute to the Chevy Chase Pavillion and a short wait, we didn't end up ordering until 9:30 or so. We had to have cheesecake for dessert, so our trip ended up taking a majority of the night. By the time we got home, we decided it was too late to go out. Plus, we had to wake up early for Easter mass in the morning!
Sunday
Easter in DC!
I woke up quite early so I could get a few things from the corner market to make deviled eggs for our picnic on the mall. As I'm used to having help pealing the eggs from my mom, it took a bit longer than I had expected. We rushed out of the house a few minutes after I finished in order to make it to church on time. Our favorite priest gave mass, so it felt like we were at our home parish. Everyone who didn't fly home for Easter came to the picnic I planned, so we had a 510 C family gathering (plus a few extra friends, including David) for the holiday. It was absolutely gorgeous outside, and some of the cherry blossoms were already blooming!
David and I hung out on the mall for a while after everyone else had gone home. We caught some live music and hung out at our spot in front of the Capitol before heading home. Although it was hard being away from my immediate family and missing Lexi's first Easter, I had a very enjoyable day.
No class this morning was a nice break. Rather than cramming a bunch of activities in, I decided to have a restful day. I spent some time cleaning the apartment while I was home alone. It needed it!
Both Kristine and Abby had friends from Nebraska visiting, so we took them out to Hawk 'n Dove. Several co-workers of 510 Cers also joined us, so we had quite the gang. David's best friend TJ was also in town and celebrating his 21st birthday. It was one of our better nights at that bar, so everyone had a great time. We even got flashing rings from the bartenders. It was good stuff!
David and TJ challenged Kristine and I to a competitive game of pong when we got home. We made a friendly wager, and the guys were forced into wearing Husker apperal when we won :)
Saturday
Mercedes and I hung out and watched tv while some of the other girls went shopping. Then a few of us decided to go out to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Justine took forever curling Mercedes' hair, so we didn't leave until after 8. After our commute to the Chevy Chase Pavillion and a short wait, we didn't end up ordering until 9:30 or so. We had to have cheesecake for dessert, so our trip ended up taking a majority of the night. By the time we got home, we decided it was too late to go out. Plus, we had to wake up early for Easter mass in the morning!
Sunday
Easter in DC!
I woke up quite early so I could get a few things from the corner market to make deviled eggs for our picnic on the mall. As I'm used to having help pealing the eggs from my mom, it took a bit longer than I had expected. We rushed out of the house a few minutes after I finished in order to make it to church on time. Our favorite priest gave mass, so it felt like we were at our home parish. Everyone who didn't fly home for Easter came to the picnic I planned, so we had a 510 C family gathering (plus a few extra friends, including David) for the holiday. It was absolutely gorgeous outside, and some of the cherry blossoms were already blooming!
David and I hung out on the mall for a while after everyone else had gone home. We caught some live music and hung out at our spot in front of the Capitol before heading home. Although it was hard being away from my immediate family and missing Lexi's first Easter, I had a very enjoyable day.
Friday, March 21, 2008
West Wing, Baby!
Yesterday afternoon, I had several frantic texts and messages from Kristine saying she needed my birthday and ssn immediately, as we were going on a WEST WING tour at 7pm. Of course I would be in the middle of giving a two hour tour when something so important was going on...no worries, everything worked out!
As the end of the day is approaching, I had to finish a copying/stapling job before heading out for the weekend. Although this was an easy task, it was extremely time consuming. When I realized there was no way I was going to finish all of the stapling by myself (mind you, Joe had left hours before in order to go home to NY for Easter), I started delegating piles to be stapled. Unfortunately, Anne was the only other intern available to help. Because of this, I had to delegate to full-time staff members so I could get out of the office on time. Crazy, but once again, it all worked out!
Our West Wing tour was postponed because some VIPs were still in the White House when we got there. So we had a drink with our favorite WH security guard (who was taking us on our tour) at a bar down the street, and then had our tour around 8:30. After standing in a *holding cell,* we walked straight up to the West Wing and got to use the same entrance that Condi and other Cabinet members use!
The first few halls were lined with extremely recent pictures of the president's adventures. We were able to walk out into the Rose Garden, and even take some pictures. Cameras were only allowed to be used when we were outside and in the press room. So unfortunately I don't have pictures of the Roosevelt Room, the main conference room, or the Oval Office. However, I did sneak my foot under the museumy ropes just to say I'd been in these places. The Oval Office was much smaller than I would have guessed, and so was the Resolute Desk. But it was a scene straight from the movie National Treasure II. I LOVED IT!!!
Although we will be forever grateful for Officer Willie D for getting us a West Wing tour, he wasn't very knowledgeable about the things we were seeing. I tried listening in on the other small tour groups traveling through the West Wing, but they got suspicious quite quickly. Nonetheless, it was an amazing visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave :)
As the end of the day is approaching, I had to finish a copying/stapling job before heading out for the weekend. Although this was an easy task, it was extremely time consuming. When I realized there was no way I was going to finish all of the stapling by myself (mind you, Joe had left hours before in order to go home to NY for Easter), I started delegating piles to be stapled. Unfortunately, Anne was the only other intern available to help. Because of this, I had to delegate to full-time staff members so I could get out of the office on time. Crazy, but once again, it all worked out!
Our West Wing tour was postponed because some VIPs were still in the White House when we got there. So we had a drink with our favorite WH security guard (who was taking us on our tour) at a bar down the street, and then had our tour around 8:30. After standing in a *holding cell,* we walked straight up to the West Wing and got to use the same entrance that Condi and other Cabinet members use!
The first few halls were lined with extremely recent pictures of the president's adventures. We were able to walk out into the Rose Garden, and even take some pictures. Cameras were only allowed to be used when we were outside and in the press room. So unfortunately I don't have pictures of the Roosevelt Room, the main conference room, or the Oval Office. However, I did sneak my foot under the museumy ropes just to say I'd been in these places. The Oval Office was much smaller than I would have guessed, and so was the Resolute Desk. But it was a scene straight from the movie National Treasure II. I LOVED IT!!!
Although we will be forever grateful for Officer Willie D for getting us a West Wing tour, he wasn't very knowledgeable about the things we were seeing. I tried listening in on the other small tour groups traveling through the West Wing, but they got suspicious quite quickly. Nonetheless, it was an amazing visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave :)
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