I could write a book on all I’ve done this week…

This week has been insane! You know that saying, “when it rains, it pours”? Well, it’s true. I went from being busy at work with smaller projects to being incredibly busy with big ones. All of a sudden Conference of Leaders, our weekend long conference in D.C., is right around the corner. Oh and I’ve been here for a month... WHAT??! Where has time gone? I always thought people were lying when they said time flies when you get older, but now I agree. I feel like the last month has been whir wind. Between, getting acclimated to my internship, settling in Rockville, and exploring the city time has flown by with little regard to my personal feelings.

Even though work has gotten very busy lately it continues to get better and better. There is so much to do and I’m getting really excited for Conference of Leaders. I’ll be staying in the city, meeting tons of new people and participating in our day of service. I think its going to be a great event and I can’t wait to meet people from across the country working with Share Our Strength to help end child hunger in the U.S. Having an internship where you are given the freedom to work on a variety of projects and encouraged to take roles with more leadership is pretty phenomenal. A lot of people I know working down here don’t have that opportunity so I’m pretty pumped to be a Share Our Strength Operation Frontline intern. TWC is really proving to be a great program and my time here in the city has been pretty wonderful.

My class this week was also pretty phenomenal. We met at the FDR Memorial and read his speeches out loud. We talked about FDR’s presidency and his influence during World War II and the way history has portrayed his presidency. It was really interesting to listen to his different speeches and it was fun standing on the rocks at the memorial reciting them out loud to the class and to visitors passing by. This class is seriously one of my favorite parts about being down here. We get to see so many cool sites and we have real discussions in class. No one is afraid to share their opinion and our professor encourages us to say what we really think and feel. It’s really amazing to have a class where it’s no holds barred and everyone just says exactly what they think.

On top of having a lot more to do at work and having a pretty rad class, I’ve seen some pretty cool things again this week including the start of the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon on the National Mall.

(check next week’s post for more info on this awesome event), the movie “Whip It” which was phenomenal and has one of the greatest soundtracks…ever, and to top it off a new frozen yogurt shop opened up in Rockville!

I also visited the Eastern Market and wandered through vendors selling jewelry, clothes, food, and crafts. As you all know I have a love of markets and this one was great! It reminded a lot of Camden Market in London. Camden Market is full of vendors selling, literally, anything you could imagine, dresses, bags, scarves, Doc Martin boots, sunglasses, tattoos, body jewelry, it’s never ending and it’s wonderful. Camden is my all time favorite part of London and going to a market that was similar to the one in Camden was pretty great.

I also made the National Museum of American History this weekend and let me tell you that it was AMAZING! There were two exhibits in this museum that really moved me. The first was seeing the Greensboro Lunch Counter

where the first sit in took place during the Civil Rights Movement. It was unbelievably powerful and it blew my mind to think that something as insignificant as a lunch counter was such a powerful tool. The people who sat there started a movement and that movement helped thousands of people across the country.

After seeing this exhibit I made my way to the “Americans in War” exhibit. Go see this; it’s so well done. My favorite part of this exhibit was the section spanning from World War II to the Vietnam War. The way the exhibit is designed is incredible. There are History Channel clips playing on TVs footage from old USO shows and photographic timelines everywhere. The Vietnam section opens up with two 70s style couches with plastic covers in front of a dozen TVs stacked on top of one another.

On these TVs war footage and facts scroll across the screens. It was so moving that I nearly cried. I could go on and on about how wonderfully done this exhibit was but I don’t think there are words to really describe it. For me it was powerful and moving. As a history major I have to say this is one of my favorite places in the city and it’s an absolute must if you come to D.C.

This Week’s Top 2 Places to Visit:

1. Cavalia: Now I’m not particularly fond of horses but this show is pretty awesome. It’s like Cirque du Soleil, but with horses. There are women flying over the crowd on trapeze wires while men do acrobatic tricks while riding horses. There is a live band, a group of men that jump so high into the air you don’t think they’ll come back down and it snows. This show is visually stunning and you will leave wanting to be a horse riding acrobat, I promise.

2. National Museum of American History: I know I’ve already raved about this place but its a history major’s dream. Four floors are filled with artifacts and information about everything you could ever want to know about American history. The “Americans in war” exhibit is must see on any visit. It’s incredibly well done and incredibly moving. While at the museum you can also see the inaugural balls of all the first ladies, Kermit the Frog, Dorothy’s red slippers, and Julia Child’s kitchen.

This Week’s Top 5 Songs:

1. The Ramones: “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”
2. The Clash: “London Calling”
3. Lupe Fiasco: “Daydreamin’”
4. Josh Ritter: “Girl in the War”
5. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: “Gwyneth”