The Highlights

I’ve noticed lately that I’ve been so busy meeting deadlines for my internship, I pushed my own deadlines to the side.  It’s been a while since I last posted and a lot has happened!  Rather than going through every painstaking detail of what I’ve been up to these past few weeks I decided I’d take a page from ESPN’s book and just give you the highlights.

Rather than going back to Charlottesville for the Fourth (which was quite tempting) I decided to stay in DC and witness the nation’s birthday celebration in the nation’s capitol.  A few friends and I braved the Metro and went to the parade.  It was great!  (Well, the last two floats were great.  Unfortunately, we got a little distracted by the ping pong table in our apartment and had an intense ping pong face off that lasted a while.)  After that we decided to take a peak in the National Gallery of Art.  It’s not only deceptively large but it’s filled with absolutely beautiful things. We spent a little over two hours wandering in and out of different exhibits.  Some of the exhibits even seemed to transport us into another time.  After we exited the museum, stepping back into 2014, we went for lunch and headed to the American History Museum, my personal favorite.  We only got to three of the exhibits, but it was a lot of fun!  We concluded our expedition in Washington with the Concert at the Capital.  We got to listen to some great music and see some gorgeous fireworks!  I can honestly say that spending the Fourth in DC was a great decision! (That picture is from the NGA and is titled House of Cards.)

There are two other trips to DC that stand out in my mind: nighttime monument hopping and what I like to call “The Great Flood of the Reflection Pool.”  I’ll start with former.  A good friend of mine and I went to DC one afternoon and just happened to reach the Washington Monument at sunset.  It was absolutely beautiful and I would go again in a heartbeat.  For the rest of the night we went to the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and a few other statues that I, embarrassingly, can’t remember the name of.  Now for the story of “The Great Flood of the Reflection Pool.”  A few days ago my older brother and his girlfriend surprised me with a visit and, naturally, I wanted to show them all the amazing things DC has to offer.  We started with dinner in Chinatown at the best ramen place I have ever been to (and I promise I’ve been to more than one).  After much groaning over our full, heavy bellies we decided to walk over to the reflection pool.  The sun was shining happily in the sky when we took a detour through the Sculpture Garden.  As we sat at the fountain the sun began to tuck itself away behind some dark clouds so we ended our detour and continued our journey.  As we arrived at the Reflection Pool rain began to sprinkle for a few seconds and then faster than you can pull out an umbrella the sky opened up and released an ocean of rain.  My brother’s girlfriend pulled out an umbrella and the three of us carefully walked through the small lake that was forming.  After snapping a few pictures we hurried back to the Metro station and went our separate ways, dripping rainwater with every step we took.  We might have been soaking wet but it was actually quite fun.

Now, for the internship highlights.  Kaitlyn (the intern that I work with) and I have been working on three videos that will be online soon!  One is a draw my life video, one is the most intense Power Point I’ve ever made in my life with a voice over, and one is a Prezi (which I have now determined is the hardest presentation software ever invented).  When they’re complete I’ll be sure to post a link to them so you can watch them whenever you can!  (Shameless plug I know but, hey, a girl has gotta do what a girl has gotta do.)  Most of what I’ve been doing is editing the Power Point and the Prezi to the point of perfection.  I’ve gotten to see the approval process media has to go through and I now have a lot more experience and appreciation for constructive criticism.  I’m learning that when you create something you actually WANT that criticism from multiple people to help make it perfect.  I’ve put a lot of time and effort into these presentations and I have to say I’m proud of my work.  At times it’s been frustrating but the reward is worth it!

If you can’t tell, I’m having a lot of fun in DC!  There’s never a dull moment and I can’t wait to see what these next two weeks have in store.  So far I know I’ll be meeting a Washington Post reporter (EEK so excited!), going to a talk at the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting (aka the people I’d love to work with one day), and meeting a woman from PBS for coffee (again, so excited!).  I’ll be sure to post a fun update about all of that in the upcoming weeks!

P.S. If you like funny stories, and I’m sure you do, I have one for you.  Thursday I was walking off base and I got about half a mile away from the building I work in when my shoe broke.  Literally broke to the point where I could barely walk in it.  I decided to handle this with a sense of humor and positive thoughts.  In the words of my step-dad Warren, “There are no problems, only solutions!”  So what’s a gal to do when her shoe brakes and she still has about a mile and half till she gets to the metro, a train transfer to make, and the long walk home from the metro station?  I decided to use a plastic bag to tie my shoe back together (it didn’t work as well as you would think but it did the job) and wear it proudly.  I got some funny looks but, hey, it was probably one the funniest and strangest things I’ve done in DC so far.  Don’t believe me?  Here’s a picture of my masterpiece (please excuse my foot, feet are gross, I know.)