Saturday, June 9
I worked on my prior blog entry until 3:30am and consequently woke up at 11am on Saturday morning. I bummed around Guthridge 409 for some time before deciding to abandon my original plans (Kennedy Center and Arlington Cemetery).
I instead spent the afternoon wandering around what is known as West Potomac Park. First, I met this friendly squirrel:
I then walked past the Vietnam Women's Memorial:
Next up on the monument list was the Three Servicemen Statue:
Finally, I made it to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial:
The granite has reflective qualities that allow the Washington Monument to be seen when the sun hits just right.
I took this picture of the Reflecting Pool before moving on to the Lincoln Memorial:
The Gettysburg Address is carved into the left wall of the memorial. I never realized that the following lyric from Believe (a song about September 11th) by Yellowcard was taken from the speech:
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
I took in the Korean War Veterans Memorial next:
My grandpa fought in the Korean War. He was on the "wrong" side of the ocean, though.
I wandered the banks of the Potomac River for a while:
I eventually found the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and visited that as well:
I liked the FDR Memorial. Famous quotes by FDR were carved into the walls next to waterfalls, copper statues, rocks, and trees. The memorial is quite expansive and contains four "rooms," one for each of Roosevelt's terms in office.
I continued walking around the Tidal Basin (so pretty) until I came to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial:
I walked back to the dorm, where Chris, Saurabh, and Jason convinced me to see the third Pirates of the Caribbean with them. The most exciting part for me was running into my friend Ariel at Metro Center! She and I had linear algebra and journalism together at Case; her boyfriend (also a Case grad) recognized me as I ran to catch a nonexistent red line train to Glenmont. Once the two of them flagged my attention, we had a most lovely chat.
Ariel (who hails from in between Erie and Pittsburgh) and I randomly decided that we are Great Lakes Girls. We are too eastern to be Midwestern and both have quirks only found in young women from western Pennsylvania, northern Ohio, and maybe Michigan. Economists and engineers can take stabs at sociology ;)
The boys and I got into the 7:15pm viewing of Pirates at the last possible minute. After the show, Chris, Saurabh, and I set out to meet Chris's friends in Dupont Circle.
The first bar we went to was Big Hunt. We enjoyed lively conversation on the patio along with delicious cajun fries. I tried a Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat, officially my new favorite beer. We did some shots and dancing at The Front Page before winding down at Buffalo Bill's and heading home for the night. Definitely a super, super fun time!
Saturday spending total: $28.50 (movie ticket and assorted alcoholic beverages)
Sunday, June 10
I slept in a great deal following the festivities of Saturday night. Luckily, I wasn't late for my 1pm lunch date at Oriental East in Silver Spring. I met up with signal processing James and his friends (some of whom were also Case alumns) for the most amazing dim sum ever:
Afterward, a bunch of us walked around downtown Silver Spring and went to the Whole Foods. I bought some delicious blueberries and strawberries :)
I came back to GWU for a bit and snapped this picture of WISE guy Travis:
I went to church later in the evening before stopping in at Paper Source in Georgetown. Pure nirvana. I could easily spend hundreds of dollars at this stationery store.
Sunday spending total: $18.35 (lunch and Whole Foods run)
Monday, June 11
Another mostly uneventful day at the office. We had a speaker from the Department of Energy and then had free time to work on our papers.
Emily, her friend Celine, myself, Erica, and others hit up Madam's Organ for dinner:
I really wanted to get the Bill Clinton Burger, $1.00 off for all women who have slept with the President. The waitress could not guarantee that this would be Sarah-safe, so I passed :(
Monday spending total: $5.00 (fries at Madam Organ's)
Tuesday, June 12
I started my morning off with a visit to the GW Student Health Clinic. A nurse practitioner confirmed my thoughts regarding my knee and made me agree to the following:
1. No more running
2. No more swimming
3. I will take lots of ibuprofen
4. I will wear an ACE bandage
5. I will walk less than 10 miles a day
Gahhh. I am so stubborn that I had to hear it from a medical professional, though.
I surfed the internet/did work at the IEEE office for the remainder of the morning. I actually did have two phone interviews, one with a professor at MIT and the other with a local activist.
The WISE gang traveled to NIST in the afternoon for a lecture on fire prevention engineering. I never knew that preventing, fighting, and modeling fires could be so complicated.
I stopped into GW's Gelman Library later on in the evening. I had wanted to check out three books for my research, and the person with whom I spoke over the phone assured me that I could get a GW library card. Oh no, NOT MINE. That's ok, because the Gelman Library doesn't have movable shelving:
Tuesday spending total: $202.89 (GW Student Health Clinic visit, CVS run, AMTRAK tickets, Safeway run)
