So, if you couldn't gather, life has been pretty filled up with school and internship lately, hence why no posts have been posted. I seriously do not have a life right now and it is not good. I need to start trying to make time to go and do stuff as I am starting to get all twitchy and lifeless without doing touristy stuff. So hopefully this will be a change for me. But who am I kidding really.....in a month this semester will be over, I will have a couple of weeks of internship and then I will be home for Christmas. And then the gong show will happen all over again. But for now, I am giving you something to read.
For Canadian Thanksgiving my brother and sister in law decided to come down to check out the sights of Washington. And in particular, the Air and Space Museum. It was going to be fantastic. But then the government decided to go ahead and take a break. Shut down all the museums. Tape off all the monuments. Basically close down everything I was going to do with my brother and sister in law. Thanks a lot government!!! The day they flew in, the weather was not good. In fact, the weather was pretty bad the couple of days prior to them coming and the weekend they were here, it was supposed to be rainy. So another thing to work around. I go and get them from the airport and make our way back home. They got to see one of my favorite views of the entire city - the Basilica at night, which is so astounding. It reminds me of a castle one would see in Disneyland/world. Just amazing. We get home and we have supper here and then crash. The next morning, I am working on my project due for school and suddenly I notice that my battery is no longer charging and I lost my internet connection. I poke my head outside the bedroom door, notice my brother moving around to go shower, but then also notice that the microwave isn't on nor are my internet lights. We had lost power. Great. I do some googling on my phone (thank god for that) and find out that power has gone out in our area and that people are trying to fix it, with an estimated time of 2 hours for fixing. No good. So we go old school - light a bunch of candles in the bathroom for them to shower with and light candles up around the place (thank god for my love of candles). Thankfully power comes back on shortly thereafter so we get a slight plan in mind and head out the door.
First stop - Ihop. We all share a love for breakfast, so that was pretty good. And now that I have actually gone to that Ihop (yes, I used my brother and sister in law as guinea pigs), I will probably frequent it again. From Ihop, we made our way down to the White House. Took them via Freedom Plaza and the nice hotels. Walked all around the White House, paused, then walked on by. From there we were going to go to the Newseum but plans got changed, so then we decided the Spy Museum, but the line up was too huge for that one so then Crime and Punishment Museum it was. Spent some time there and then off to Fado for the obligatory yet wonderful visit. My brother was slightly excited (he does not show excitement at all really but I think he was excited) to have Guinness from the tap and I had to show them the fantabulous potato quesadillas. From there we went and caught a movie to kill some time before the hockey game and then went to a place where I thought they would be showing the hockey game since they are supposed to be known for being a hockey pub, but alas, they did not carry the Canadian stations, so off to home we went for some beers and to watch the game here. In the end, not a bad day, but I feel like we did a lot of walking without anything really being accomplished.
The next day we had breakfast at home and then went out to do the monuments walk as a friend had gone the weekend before and said that even though they were taped off, people could still go up to them. She lied. We did the "tidal basin" walk, but it wasn't the walk really. We went past Jefferson, which had people on the steps saying that the monument was closed. So then we were going to head over to Martin Luther King and Lincoln, but they had closed off some of the pathway so we had to detour around the basin to get back to the main strip to go see Lincoln. Went up to Lincoln, paused, sat and did the obligatory reflection over the pool, then made our way back to Washington and cut over to the White House to find some coffee and a bathroom.
Had a little break then went for some cupcakes and spent some time at Madam Tussuad's. Then went for some wonderful supper and back home for some drinks and Uno. The next day, went for some breakfast again at Ihop and then took them back to the airport for their flights back home. It was a whirlwind of a trip and I hope they had a good time. I felt so bad with the government shut down, the weather being how it was and the loss of power the one morning. It seemed like really nothing was going in our favor for their trip, so if they decide to make it down again, hopefully it will be a much better trip and then my brother can finally see the Air and Space Museum.
Another thing that I did was go and see a college football game. College football down here is crazy - people get so into it and take it very very seriously, so when the opportunity came up for me to attend a game, how could I pass that up. So up to New Jersey I go to see Rutgers v. Houston with my dear friend Riya. We left right after internship on the Friday and made it home in somewhat but not good timing as we hit traffic a lot along the way, but it was okay for me since I got to see a lot of sights. The Friday we got to her house, we just ate and then went to bed as the next day was going to be quite long. Her mom had supper ready for us and oh my goodness, these potato spicy pancake type thingys she made were amazingly good - I felt like such a pig as I ate so many of them but they were delicious. The next morning we get up and start outfitting ourselves in the Rutgers gear and make our way down. The plan was to get there early to tailgate some and then head into the stadium for the game.
There were people everywhere. It was insane. The excitement and atmosphere was crazy as it was their homecoming weekend so that amplified everything. The game itself was not that great as Rutgers got absolutely tromped, but the experience was pretty good. After the game we went for some ice cream and then back to the house to get ready for a birthday party that night where I got to meet Riya's friends that she always talks about and it was quite the evening hahaha. I can say that her friends made me feel quite welcomed and they are a bunch of characters hahaha. Got home, absolutely crashed/passed out, then the next day we went to Princeton and wow, such a gorgeous campus. So romantic and old school and just beautiful. Makes me in awe of people who can afford to go there. After Princeton, we made our way back to DC. It was a huge whirlwind of a trip, very action packed, but wonderful. Good memories all around.
Practicum has been going good - many stories and many interesting experiences are happening there, but we are surviving and judging from other students' stories about their places, we got one of the better spots for experience wise. Very draining though - usually when I get home, I am beat and do not have the brain function to do anything. I got spoiled last year with having so many days off that my brain is finding it hard to adjust, but I am doing it. School is also going good - I can't believe how fast this semester is flying, this year actually. Christmas is right around the corner, which means this year is almost done. So scary of a thought really. It means I need to start thinking of what I am going to do with my life once I am done and graduated. A very scary thought indeed. Maybe I should start looking into the next degree I am going to get.....hahaha. Just joking. Maybe not though.......
I hope you all take care and know that I miss you very much and cannot wait to see snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!
