A job, an assignment, and a social life

Hi! Sorry it's been a few days since I last wrote, but I have been very busy!

First of all, I got a job last week at Starbucks. It was as much from boredom as from the need for money. I basically just walked in there and asked them to hire me. The application and interview process was really tough though. It consisted of, "Wow, you worked for a radio station? You're hired!" I'm not even joking. That is all it takes to get a job serving coffee in Northern Virginia. Looking at the other employees there, I was struck by the thought, "They don't take their coffee seriously in this crazy place." Really, none of the Starbucks I've been to here have the same feeling, if you will, as their counterparts back in Washington. They are not as clean and the service isn't as good. It's weird. But starting on Monday I will be bringing some of that Seattle flavor to NOVA (that stands for Northern Virginia. It actually took me over a week to figure that out) coffee houses. I'll call it the "west coast roast", and it will be good.



I also had my first week of classes. It was overwhelming, to say the least! There is tons of reading and tons of writing. I think that over time I will get used to it though. If other people can handle it, then I think I can too! It helps that some of the things we are doing are really cool. Take, for instance, the final assignment in my Governance Post 9/11 class. We are writing a Memo to the President Elect, kind of like Madeleine Albright did. This memo will be edited and sent to the President. Let me say that again: Something that I wrote is going straight to the oval office. How cool is that?! My teacher was talking about us getting invites the White House and eveything. It is impossible to tell what will actually happen with our papers, but I know that ICAR has the connections and the name recognition on Capital Hill to really make this project worth doing a good job on!



And last, I just wanted to report (for anyone who I have called over the last two weeks either completely bored or somewhat lonely and needing to talk) that I am finally making some friends out here! Yesterday I went to the mall with my neighbor and classmate Ajla, then I went dancing with my new roommate Alison last night. Today I went to a school picnic where I met a lot of people from my program and made plans to hang out later this evening.

So in conclusion, I have a job, I am doing exciting things in school, and I am starting to meet people out here. Things are looking up, and I can't wait to see what next week will bring!

Things are really about to start!

It is finally sinking in that school is about to start. Maybe that's because I endured NINE HOURS of orientation over the last few days. It was everything you would expect from an orientation - meaning that there were awkward "get-to-know-you games", presentations from various members of the GMU community, and lots of information that can easily be learned by glancing at the website or reading any of the information they send out in the mail. Even so, it was nice to actually be there, meeting people and seeing the facility.

It was also kind of intimidating! There are students from the Balkans, various African countries, Canada, Switzerland, and probably some other places too. And it seemed like everyone had a really interesting story. From Israeli university graduates to former ICC interns or UN employees, I felt like almost everyone had already done these exciting and impressive things! No wonder I almost didn't get in... Nevertheless, I have already made note of the few people who seem even less prepared than I am, and that makes me feel a little better :)

As a reward for spending two days at orientation, I decided to spend Saturday at the National Zoo. It was sad that my camera ran out of batteries half-way through the day, but I still saw tons of interesting animals and took some pictures. Here are some of the highlights:


I <3 pandas! The ones at the zoo were particularly lazy, but they were still pretty cute.


I think the zoo may have received a large donation of Golden Lion Tamarins, or else they are admirable breeders, because there were like eight exhibits of these monkeys. Also, although I didn't have any nightmares about them (see spider story below), I think they were the scariest animal at the zoo. I have never before felt afraid of monkeys, but these little guys had creepy humanlike, shrunken faces and they raced around their cages in such a way that you just knew they would be impossible to catch with your hands. And in the exhibits where several were together, I couldn't help but think that if they ganged up on you, you would not stand a chance.


I know this isn't a good picture, but it's a sloth in a box! Adorable! This is an example of a nice monkey. (Although I'm actually not sure if sloths are monkeys at all...)


A Komodo Dragon! I actually don't care about it either way, but I think it is kind of exotic.


I'm not even kidding, this spider was one of the few animals that was NOT CAGED. There were two spiders that I saw, each of them pretty big (maybe two fingers together) and they shared a corner exhibit that was full of webs and plants. There was NO GLASS. Seriously, I had my camera only inches away from this thing. I can't figure out how the zoo knows that the spiders won't take off! I acted brave, getting all close and everything, but then I went home and had a nightmare about that spider! I dreamed that somehow the zoo spider's eggs (and there were thousands of eggs in there) got on my clothes and I took them home where they hatched and my room was overrun with HUGE spiders! It was very scary.

A Good Sleep and some Old Bones

Last night I got my first good sleep since arriving in Virginia. That's right, I have a bed. It was purchased, it was delivered, and it was good. Also, I figured out how to work the air conditioning upstairs in my house. It was like a double-bonus. In my excitement about the new sleeping arangements, I decided to take some pictures of the house and my room:






Well rested and feeling much less sick/cruddy than I have felt over the last few days, I decided to spend my day at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I was there for about five hours and still didn't get to see everything. I bought a book about the Hope Diamond (pictured below) and also saw an IMAX movie about dinosaurs. Here are some highlights from the museum:





After I left, I went back to the Lincoln Memorial for a concert. An Air Force orchestra played Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait along with several other works with a Lincoln theme. It was really nice to just sit out there on the steps of the memorial, looking down the reflecting pool (and Sarah, I have to admit that I saw a reflection today) to the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building behind that. A soldier was passing out American Flags. I'm planning on keeping mine.

I'm Finally Here!

I arrived in Virginia yesterday, after long hours of conservative talk radio to keep me awake and angry, rainforest-like weather patterns in Pennsylvania, and (having bested Minneapolis) the worst traffic and most confusing highway system I have ever seen.

Nonetheless, I am here and I am alive.

I wish I could post pictures of my house, but I actually haven't taken any. Unfortunately, I am also not very good at description. Suffice it to say that the house is BIG, very clean, and has hardwood floors. My room is on the top level (there are three in all) along with three other bedrooms and three bathrooms. All are vacant right now, with my housemate occupying the one bedroom on the main floor. My room is the biggest (although all are fairly large) and has three windows facing the street (which I said a silent "thank-you" for, having gained an appreciation for windows after my last residence). The ceiling is TALL and peaked, and even with all of my things in there the room still echos loudly whenever I talk.

I don't know my roommate very well yet, but she helped me move in and was very nice to me. And she gave me a Dr. Pepper and a roll of toilet paper. She works as a reporter and is from Greece, so I figure that she is probably interesting and I will have things to talk to her about when we next meet awkwardly in the kitchen.

For my first night, I didn't really do anything of note. I was tired and headachy and irritated at the (lack-of)internet situation. I ended up renting episodes 4-9 of Mad Men and eating Pad Thai take-out. Although I am currently sleeping on the HARDwood floor, I was tired enough to pass out early and sleep late.

Today I was faced with a choice: Buy essentials, such as a shower curtain and flatware, or load up my backpack and go sightseeing. What do you think I chose?

I got off the metro (which was super easy to figure out) at the Smithsonian stop. The first thing I visited was the Washington Monument, which is what the mass of people in which I was enveloped was generally moving toward. I found out that you can go INSIDE the monument, but the tickets were sold out. This is something I will have to look into for the future.

Next I followed the line of the Mall to the WWII Memorial, which I had never heard of before (it's pretty new, I think). It was really beautiful and I enjoyed people-watching there.

Next I walked along the big pool of water (which probably has a name, I'm just not aware of it) towards the Lincoln Memorial. This is the pool of water that Jenny runs through on Forest Gump as he is giving a speech at an anti-war rally. The water was full of ducks and slime. It was murky and not very attractive. No one was cooling their feet in it. I couldn't stop thinking about how gross it was that Jenny actually ran in this water. Maybe it was a fake pool made for the movie. Maybe she got paid a lot of money to do it, so it was worth it....

As I walked up the steps to the Lincon Memorial, I realized that I probably shouldn't be thinking about movies. I WAS IN WASHINGTON DC! I felt like I should be thinking Patriotic Thoughts. This lasted for all of 5 mins, until I realized there was a gift shop. Goody!

After this, I walked past the White House and meandered around downtown DC for a few hours. There were many more things to see, but I mostly just wanted to walk and figure out the city. I made a game of trying to distinguish the locals from the tourists. I stopped at random metro stops just to see what they were like.

Eventually, I went home. I still have no shower curtain, but I have some pictures and the satisfaction that I am really doing this. By myself, I crossed the country and stood in front of the White House today. If that's not patriotic, I don't know what is.

The Last Few Days

I'm sitting right now at the Holiday Inn Express in Wauseon, Ohio. I wanted to make it to Cleveland tonight, but heavy traffic has a way of changing plans...

On the plus side, I have wi-fi! Unlike all of my friends on the trip so far, the Holiday Inn has embraced the 21st century and provided me with internet access. It's a good thing too, because I am excited to post a picture of my room. It was the only one left in the whole hotel, and it has no room number at all. Instead, it is just labelled "Meeting Room". And it's huge.

I don't have much time to type (plus, gymnastics are on the Olympics!), so here's a quick recap:

Going to Anne's

On the drive from Kelly's house to Anne's, I drove through the coolest landscape ever. There were these weird rock formations, and I spent a good hour taking pictures through my window while using cruise control to maintain my 70 mph. I soon came to Teddy Roosevelt State Park, where I learned that I was in the Badlands. Weirdly, I listened to the last essay on my audiobook right after I left, and Sarah Vowell spent a good 15 minutes talking about her trip to the Badlands - to the Exact Same Lookout that I went to. Amazing.

I got to Anne's house pretty late, but we still had time to go on a walk at her campus (including seeing the tallest point in the city - a tiny hill not any taller than me!) and hang out for awhile. The next morning she made me breakfast. I love Anne!

The Short(ish) Day

After leaving Anne's I got a nice respite from entire-day-long drives. I arrived to Jessica "Jdub" Ward's house in the afternoon and was happy to actually have time to hang out with one of my friends!

We went to the Mall of America. Wait. WE WENT TO THE MALL OF AMERICA! I felt so touristy taking pictures and spending too much money, but I didn't really care. Here are some pictures:

After this, we spent time driving around town and making a few stops. I got to see where Jess grew up and spend some time with her friends. We also visited the town of Hugo where a tornado devasted a neighborhood last Memorial Day. That part was kind of eerie, in a way, but it was heartening to see that most houses had undergone repairs, men crawling on roofs like worker ants even while we were there!

As I heard time and time again while I was there: I can't see the twin cities in one day! I'm going to have to go back.

Today

I slept in this morning and then drove. Forever. And got stuck in traffic. For hours. Nothing particularly exciting happened today. So, I will leave you with the following advertisement from the restuarant that Jess and I had breakfast in this morning:

"Put some more syrup on those cakes, kids! It's good for you!"

One day down....

I am writing now from a McDonalds in Livingston, Montana. I just drove four hours from Kelly's house and think that I deserve a break. I'm just hoping they don't kick me out once they realize that I don't plan on buying any food here. I think six years of my hard work really should buy me some wi-fi, don't you think?

So, I was hoping that I would have some really cool roadtrip adventures to write here.... but none so far. I made really good time yesterday and had a long lunch with Beth and then got to Missoula around 5:30. The only exciting thing that happened on the trip was that one of the hand dryers in a gas station bathroom produced gale-force winds that almost hurt to dry your hands under. I took a picture of it anticipating that nothing else nearly as exciting would happen on the trip - and I was right.



When I got to Kelly's house, we had dinner with his mom and then went for tea and a long walk around Missoula with Heather. I have to admit, the city was much prettier than I had anticipated (the picture at the top of this post is from our walk). I got home and watched TV with his parents and then went to bed early. And for all you haters - I finally got my graduation gift :)



Today I am making the long trip to Minnesota to see Anne. Wish me luck in making there before midnight!

The Map

Here is the map! All of my overnight stops are marked (click on the image to see it better). I will be leaving at 5am Monday morning and (hopefully) arriving on Friday the 11th. Here's to hoping I make it there in one piece and without any car trouble!

Ice Queen

In less than 24 hours I will be driving to Virginia! OH MY GOODNESS. I am so excited/nervous/anxious/happy/AHHHH!

The past week has been full of goodbyes. Yesterday, a Norwegian boy who I barely know called me an "ice queen" when he saw me leave my roommates for the last time. I presume that it was because I didn't cry or act very emotional about it. But really, I'm planning on seeing my friends again! I don't feel like I'm leaving anyone for good or that there is reason to be too upset about going away. And it was sad to leave my roommates - I really couldn't have asked for things to be any better this summer! I also had the chance these past few weeks to see some old friends and say goodbye to them too. For better or for worse, this was important to me. Here are some pictures from my last days in Washington:










Maybe I'll put some more pictures up later.

Anyway, I am off to church now and then tonight some family is coming over for dinner. My next update will be from the road!

Select a Candidate

Apparently I'm voting for Nader...




**Edit: In case there is any misunderstanding here, I'm NOT actually going to vote for Nader.

Countdown!

The countdown has begun. In exactly one week from now I will be on the way to Montana, my first stop on this crazy cross-continental trip I am planning.

It's weird to be leaving - everything feels like a "last" (i.e. my last Sunday at Jazzbones) or a "going-away" event (there have been multiple going-away or even pre-going-away parties so far). I can't say that I'm sad to be leaving, exactly, but it will be tough to be gone from this whole network of people that I care about and have grown to rely on....

....But enough about that. Things are all coming together nicely so far. I have started packing up my room and will soon start to pack up my car. I will be sending out money for my rent tomorrow. I am mapping out my driving route. Mentally, I am getting prepared.

As soon as I've got my trip finalized I will post the map here, that way the two and a half of you who will be wondering where I am along the way will be able to check it out. Also, I will post pictures and updates if I have a wireless connection along the way.

If anyone wants to hang out before I leave, just give me a call. I'll be around all week. Also, Friday night is the going away party. If you are free and can make it out to Tacoma, I'd love to see you! Call me for details.