After some problems with my flight reservations (by which I mean that I realized a few days before I was set to leave that I didn’t have flight reservations, because I apparently never confirmed them, or JetBlue screwed up, one or the other), I took the red-eye to DC and arrived at 6am on Tuesday. My day thereafter looked like this:
-Take bus ($10) to Metro
-Take Metro ($3) to Farragut West Metro station
-Walk one hundred miles (6-8 blocks) to UC Center, dragging huge suitcase and huge backpacking backpack, get looked upon pitifully by kindly older woman who pointed me in the right direction of the UC Center.
-Take long, long nap
After that I just went exploring, getting lost enough that I was apparently heading the exact opposite direction of where I thought I was going for a while. But it was something of a “learning experience” in the sense that I learned that I should never walk around DC, ever again, because it is insanely hot here. Kidding! I have to walk places because it is free. But it is really hot here, in the sense that it is actually probably mid-eighties but the humidity makes it such that it is something like walking around in the steam from boiling water. Or, like in a sauna. Also, my walking around experience helped me grasp the layout of streets here, which is to say that numbered streets run perpendicular to the UC Center and lettered streets run parallel to the UC center, and streets named after states and famous people exist entirely to confuse you. Also, there are two 17th Streets, that run parallel to each other. (And no, they are not one-way.)
I plan on uploading pictures of my roommates and apartment when I get a chance, by which I mean when my mom sends me the camera cord from home (hi mom! work on that please!). Also, I will try to take secret pictures of the EPA offices. Where, by the way, I started today! Because I arrived yesterday, and this blog post is one day late. Next post will have more updates on that subject, so read that I guess. Also, check back on this post for the pictures.
In the meantime, the EPA office that I am working in is located here, which is right near the Smithsonian Natural History and American History museums, in the “Federal Triangle” area. The UC Center is located here.
In the next blog post:
Chaka Khan performs, I get a security badge(?!), I get to eat in the top secret VIP government employees-only Smithsonian cafe, and I do some EPA stuff. Stay tuned?
I know that heat. Uhh! I had it last summer when I was there and I remember it from when we were kids visiting my grandparents in Potomac. Nothing like hot in Calif. Sweat city! Have fun! This is great! Looking forward to more postings! I’m checking every night! Megan asked me if you were going to see the President and I said I wouldn’t put it past Kate! She’ll find a way!
Go girl!
By: Jenny on June 4, 2009
at 4:00 am
Thanks for the update. You had me nicely oriented to the DC scene until the Chaka Khan thing. Check your ticket, you may be in a giant Washington-themed Las Vegas casino. You did say it is really hot there!
By: Mom on June 4, 2009
at 5:09 am
But most importantly, the Giants are in town! Did you go see Randy win #300?
By: Uncle John on June 5, 2009
at 12:01 am
Kate, not sure you noticed, but you mentioned two words in your last blog that are, well, classified: “secret” and “top secret.” Do you realize the NSA computers have already kicked in and are now reading every word you write?! Slowly turn around, look out the window. See that car waiting on the other side of the street? It is them.
You really have the acronym-speak down! Good job! Important in a government job. Make up a few of your own, and maybe they will give you a whole department (hey, get a piece of the $1.5 trillion when you can!)
Ah yes, the weather. Why do you think we all live here??
Have a great time Kate!!
By: Uncle Jon on June 5, 2009
at 4:58 am