10 Days of DC

Welcome everyone to my Intern Abroad blog! My name is Stephanie, and many months ago I applied for The Washington Center’s internship program and wondered if anything would come of it. I still can’t believe I’m really here. I arrived in Washington on May 18 and was thrust into a whole new incredible experience.

But it didn’t start off so incredible…

On my way to Washington, Murphy’s Law kicked in full force. Almost everything that could go wrong went wrong.

1. Bags were overweight. - Packing an entire 10 weeks of your life into two 50-pound bags is a lot harder than it looks. Luckily, my parents were there to take some things home.

2. Almost late for my flight. - The little snafu with my bags set me back 20 minutes.

3. Delayed in Detroit. - An “irregularity” kept us in Detroit for a good extra 2 hours. I entertained myself by walking up and down the moving walkways and visiting the indoor fountain.

Airport fountain in Detroit

4. GPS lied. - Before I left, I looked to see just how far my apartment was from the Dulles Airport. Unfortunately for me, my iPhone thought the address for Dulles was really the address for Reagan Airport. Needless to say, my cab ride was a whole lot more expensive!

5. Didn’t pay? – Due to a small paperwork mix-up, it looked as though I had not paid for the program.

Happily, these events were not predictors of how the following weeks would go.

I met my three wonderful roommates, Crystal, Kendra, and Marilei. Our apartment in Virginia was extremely nice and located right next to the Metro station. Blue skies and puffy white clouds welcomed us along with the friendly TWC staff. The great weather even made our homework enjoyable. One of our assignments was to really get out there and explore the city… so that’s what we did.

We visited the tourist-y sites at Capitol Hill as well as other lesser-known areas like Eastern Market and U Street Corridor.

Me in front of the Capitol Building.

A lively Eastern Market

The African-American Civil War Memorial at U Street Corridor. The flower wreath attacked me shortly after this picture was taken.

We tasted truly authentic AmeriChinese food in Chinatown and listened to jazz in the sculpture garden near the National Gallery of Art.

Chinatown in DC – known for not being all that Chinese. In fact, many Chinese people have never even heard of a fortune cookie!

A crowd of people gathered around the pond for Jazz in the Park

We’ve been running around like crazy, our cameras are dead, our feet are blistered, and our necks are burnt, but it has all been worth it. It looks like this is shaping up to be one incredible adventure! Now… it’s off to London!