Sunday, May 12, 2013

Summer Adventure 2: Washington, DC

So, I realize I did not post much over spring break. I blame that on my boyfriend, who came to visit during the second week off. But you know what? Between blogging and spending time with the significant other, I am glad I spent more of my time doing the latter, and not the former. So no regrets.

Rather than blabber on about what we did, I will give you the sparknotes version, and post some pictures from spring break. For context: one day we went to Monterey, CA. The next day we went to San Francisco. The last day, we went to Napa, CA and Berkeley, CA. The pictures are assorted pictures from those trips. Here they are:

View of the Pacific from The Great Highway, San Francisco

View of ruins along the coast. They look ancient, but are only about 50 years old. Used to house pool complex of some sort

The Cliff House. Iconic and old San Francisco establishment, dating to before the 1906 earthquake. Used to be quite built up and fancy, back in the day

Awesome view of the sunlight setting over the Pacific

Wildlife chilling off the coast of Monterey, near the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Beach and ruins of an old dock at Cannery Row, Monterey, CA

Famous Chinese gate at the entrance to Chinatown in San Francisco

I did accomplish one nice thing over spring break: my ongoing quest to find a legit Chinese wok finally came to an end. The boyfriend and I finally found one in Chinatown in San Francisco. The nice lady even threw in a free pair of long Chinese cooking chopsticks. So you know, that only took looking in three different Chinatowns in three different cities over a 3000-mile span of the entire country.

Then spring break ended. And I came back to school. I arrived the day after Easter; I guess some people were getting in the spirit over break, because I found this on display in the library when I got back:

"Jury of your Peeps"

Not going to lie, seeing that was kind of awesome. Whoever made that is my new best friend.

So school started, went on for about five more weeks, and then reading week and finals. I am now done with another year; another one bites the dust, and only one more to go.

I finished on Thursday with my last final, and by Saturday I was on a plane to Washington, DC, to settle in and start my internship with the government. In theory I start on Monday, but some of my paperwork hasn't cleared as of Friday, so I may not be able to go in until later in the week. Kind of annoying, but if I can't go to work, I guess I will go to the National Gallery or something.

Haven't done much since arriving here. I got in later yesterday evening, so kind of just hung out. Today I unpacked and ventured to the nearby Target, to stock up on some supplies I didn't bother packing. Then I went on a reconnaissance mission to figure out how to get to work, so I do not end up lost and late for work on whatever day it is that ends up being my first day. I have been to DC before, but I always forget how epic some of the buildings are. They aren't very tall (due to a rule in place since the city's founding that no office building or anything, can stand higher than the Capitol Building. But what the buildings lack in height, they make up for in heavy stone architecture of imposingness, engraved quotes of weightyness, heavy quasi-Greek/Roman statutes of allegory, and intense-looking, huge doors.

The other thing I forgot, but then was reminded of, about DC is the absurd crosswalk timers. When the "walk" sign is on, it also helpfully counts down the time you have until the light is going to change. While most crosswalks I have seen counting down in other cities give like, 10-ish seconds, it is not unusual for the timers to give 30 second, 45 second, 60 seconds. And it is not just a few crosswalks. Like every crosswalk gives a ridiculous amount of time to cross what, 10 or 15 feet. I don't get it; are there a lot of really old, slow people in DC? I remember when I was last in DC, the spring break of my senior year in college, my boyfriend and I were endlessly amused by these crosswalks. Glad to see not much has changed.

Anyway, that's all the news that's fit to print. As I get around the city more I will post more pictures. So it all begins.

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