Home Sweet Home

I have never been so excited to see that building in my whole life...Hello Jeff City

Well this is it...this journey has come to an end and so has this blog. My days of being a world traveler this summer are over. We crossed the bridge into Jefferson City at about 4:00 this afternoon. I have officially been home for four hours. It is a strange but good feeling. It is weird to not have to depend solely on myself right now. Someone else cooked me dinner. Someone else put gas in my car. Someone else did my laundry. But in only six days, I will be on my own again so I guess I can allow someone else to take care of things for now. Classes start in a week and a half whether I am ready or not. I think that school will seem really different this year. I have learned tons of things this summer that listening to a professor never would have taught me. I know how to ride a metro in the United States and in a foreign country and not get lost..or too lost anyway. I have learned how to budget. I have learned how to be professional..when I need to be...and I have also learned how to let go and meet new people, try new food, and visit new places even without having any idea of what the outcome will be like. Life was crazy and unexpected this summer and now it is comfortable and normal once again. It is time to settle into a routine again for my third year of college. But the one thing I know for certain is that Kia and I sure know how to get to the East Coast if at some point in the next few months I am in need of an adventure. To all those faithful followers of this blog, thanks for reading:) 

Beauty is Pain and Sandals were Not Meant for Sightseeing

Today was my last day in Washington DC. It is crazy to think that I won't be riding the metro again for a while. I won't be seeing the monuments. I won't be stuck in traffic for hours. I won't be the only car with a Missouri license plate.

My family and I started the day off by heading to my work so that they could meet everyone in the office. We then went to the White House for our tour:) We were yelled at for trying to take pictures twice but overall we weren't kicked out or anything so that was a good sign. From there on, we hiked all over the National Mall to visit all of the monuments. My choice of footwear was terrible. Never, ever, ever wear sandals when walking 8 miles. My legs are killing me and my right ankle keeps popping which cannot be good. DC you win this round.
I have to completely pack up all of my things in the morning so we can hit the road for 8 hours. I am not looking forward to waking up early again. I only hope I can bribe either my mom or one of my siblings to do the driving for a while. This time tomorrow I should be in Kentucky and one step closer to Missouri!
I apologize for such a short blog post. I am thoroughly worn out from today and all I want to do is nap, sleep, and nap some more. I also am just really excited to be home. Have I mentioned that yet?

As Much as I Want It to be See Ya Later, It's Probably Goodbye.

Iwo Jima Memorial

Happy Wednesday! Today is my second last day of my internship. My family is heading towards the East Coast around noon today and they should be here by the time I get off of work tomorrow! I can hardly believe that I will be seeing them tomorrow after two months of only seeing them over Skype which is just not the same.

Yesterday I went to the Sunset Parade that the Marines do in Arlington Cemetery in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial. Unfortunately I wasn't able to talk to any of my Marine friends after the Parade and tell them what a great job they had done. They remind me of toy soldiers when they are out there on the parade deck because they all look identical and they all march or whatever in perfect sync. The band did a really good job as well. They even played music from the movie Grease which was entertaining because you almost expected them to rip off their uniforms to find leather jackets underneath and take off their hats to reveal slicked back hair. Sadly, neither of these two things happened. One of my friends from the Washington Center went with me and it was extremely hard to say goodbye to her. It is strange how you can only know some of these people for two months or less yet they seem to have learned everything about you. It is even harder to think that we might never see each other again. We both had to take different metro trains but we spent the last minutes up until they arrived yelling at each other across the tracks to the opposite platforms we were waiting on. Then we waved sadly to each other as the trains showed up and cut us off. I think I have avoided most other goodbyes with the other friends I made here because I won't get as upset if they just don't happen.
I avoided saying goodbye to most of the Marines I befriended this summer too because I know for sure that I won't see most of them again. They all are moving to new stations in a few months and you better believe that none of those are going to be near Missouri. I am really afraid that I am going to cry when I have to say goodbye to everyone at my internship site. That would be very embarrassing and very unprofessional but I can't help it! On a completely random but positive note, I ate at Bojangles yesterday with someone I work with. It is like southern/ Cajun style food and I think I will be writing a letter to the President/ CEO/ whoever is in charge to ask if they can build one in Missouri. It was so good...so unhealthy...but so good.

The countdown is on: One day until I see my family. Two days until the White House Tour. And four days until I am back in the lovely land of Missouri!!! Take note of this, I am actually excited about going back to the Midwest...unbelievable haha.

"Train, Train...Let's Get on the Train" (A Remake to the Song Plane, Plane)

One sketchy train station

Did you know that a person or vehicle is hit by a train roughly every three hours. Yeah that was the message on the sign posted on the wall across from my seat on the Amtrack to North Carolina. Clearly the trains in this world are out of control.

The lady who sat next to me was also hilarious because she talked in her sleep. At one point she started talking to me about the extremely important difference between Waffle House and IHOP. That really just made me super hungry but I was not about to spend $4.50 on a hot dog. I finally arrived in North Carolina at 9:30 Friday evening and had scrambled eggs for dinner...and I was definitely okay with that.

I think the more and more I travel the East Coast, the more I fall in love with it. California has some tough competition.

On Saturday morning, we all woke up and ate breakfast together. It is so embarrassing how little I can cook compared to my cousins - even the 15 year old ones. I have a lot to learn if I plan on living off campus this year. We went to the Duke Gardens which were so impressive - but at a tuition of $50,000 a year per student they really should be breathtaking. This weekend has also made me kind of want a big family someday. Like the Brady Bunch except with better clothes. For some reason the Addams family comes to mind too but I definitely don't want a family like that...although having a butler would be cool..Lurch, are ya looking for a new job buddy?...I am currently headed home on the train today back to Virginia. My one complaint is that I really wish they didn't keep the air conditioning so cold. I need like sweatpants and a hoodie on this thing yet it's probably over 100 degrees outside. I am so tempted to just sit in the little area between cars because it doesn't have air conditioning. I bet I would get yelled at if they found me there though.

Duke University Chapel...holy lord

There are four more days left of my internship. That doesn't even seem possible. Right now all I can focus on is my desire to take a nap. My bed in Virginia is going to look so nice when we get there in two hours.

Wish Upon a Blog Post

Today I have 888 page views...is that kind of like when the time is 11:11 and you get to make a wish? Am I allowed to wish on the number of page views I have? Well I wish that no one ever got sick. I wish that hospitals weren't necessary. And I wish I could teleport because then I would be home with my family where I feel like I should be right now. Life is a tricky thing. Just when you think you have all the steps figured out, life steps in and changes the song so that your moves are all wrong. But I do know that I am a very lucky girl who has been granted too many unbelievable opportunities this summer to count.

King Street Metro Stop...this is what I picture heaven to look like..kinda



I finished my portfolio today. It is almost 30 pages, and it is one of the most beautiful assignments I think I have ever turned in. Two months of work and I can hold it in my hands. This is such a good feeling. It is crazy to think back to how I felt before I came to DC. I was nervous and just so unsure of what to expect and how I would handle everything. With one week and two days left, I can't believe that it's almost all over.
Tomorrow I leave for North Carolina! Hopefully there is an outlet on this train because I know my phone will die and that will be very unfortunate when I reach my stop and I don't know how to find anyone.
Today it was confirmed that I have a White House tour set up for my family and I for the East Wing I believe. If that doesn't win me the daughter/sibling award of the year I'm not sure what will. I am not sure my family is ready for what is in store for them next Friday. The walking is going to be killer for sure. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

Oh hey end of my neighborhood State Park...where have you been hiding this whole summer?...oh yeah at the end of my neighborhood...

Slices of Cheesecake and Secretaries of State..What an End to July

This has nothing to do with this post but what a good-looking man, am I right? This is my DC crush for sure.

Happy last day of July! I am pretty sure I mean it when I say it's a happy day. This summer has flown by, and I think that has to do with the fact that it wasn't a typical summer at all. August means that school is starting and I just don't know if I'm ready for that yet. Yesterday was National Cheesecake Day so of course we had to make an appearance at the Cheesecake Factory where all of their cheesecake was half off. What a deal! Yesterday was also the Commencement Ceremony at the Washington Center. I was hoping for a cap and gown which didn't happen but there ended up being something even better. I was sitting in the back and honestly I was not paying attention at all because I was so excited about the cheesecake when they started announcing awards. Let me remind you that there are hundreds of Washington Center interns. The Washington Center has three pillars that it outlines in its mission: leadership, professional achievement, and civic engagement. So do the math, an award for each means that there is only three awards for three out of hundreds of students. Well all of a sudden they call my name. I have no idea why I was given the Professional Achievement Award because at this point I was so in shock that the only thing I could do was awkwardly stand up and head to the podium to receive my certificate. Everyone at work told me congratulations because they got an email from a corporate member who was at the ceremony and she told them all about it. It's funny the way news will travel. It really is an exciting thing to receive especially when I think back to what I was doing last summer..waitressing in little ole Jeff City. And to think my faculty advisor had told me that I used the word "like" too much which made me sound unprofessional. I guess I'm more professional than everyone thought. Even me. Today was the other intern's last day. I now have an office all to myself which means I get to play any music I want without wearing headphones. Whoohoo! We all went to Happy Hour after work to celebrate her last day. We had a table right by the window and guess who just casually strolls on by. None other than Colin Powell. (The 65th Secretary of State for all those political failures out there like myself). Everyone I work with got really excited when they saw him. I, of course, played along although I didn't recognize him at all. I think living in DC works the same way as studying in a foreign country. You go to Spain to be immersed in the Spanish language and you come to DC to be surrounded by political language, most of which I did not understand when I first got here but it makes a little more sense now. By no means will I become President someday, but I will hopefully be informed enough to have a serious political conversation with someone someday..maybe. Also today, it is confirmed. I have train tickets to North Carolina for the weekend. Just when you thought I was done traveling..tsk tsk you should know me better than that. Now that I have had a taste of this world, I am addicted. The question is: Where should I go next?

Who Let the Dog Out?...Not This Girl

Even my dog back home doesn't look at me with those eyes...

Well I can say that I have officially been a pet sitter now AND I did not kill said pet....go me. Just go ahead and ask me what I haven't done this summer. Anyway yesterday morning, the neighbors dropped off their Irish Setter named Riley. He is almost 100 pounds which is actually very terrifying because dogs and I have not always gotten along. AND a 100 pound dog could kill me if he wanted to. When I was really, really young, a dog supposedly snapped at me when I went to pet it and, although my mom had to tell me that story because I don't remember it myself, I was kind of scarred all the way through childhood. It also didn't help that a few years later I was with my mom when she was bitten by a dog, so overall just some really awful experiences with the canine variety. From then on, I ran in fear of any kind of dog: small, big, ugly, cute, loud, quiet, you get the picture. As I've grown up, I've had to remind myself that I am now usually much bigger than most dogs so they are probably scared of me and yadi yadi yada. I do have to say that I was worried for nothing because Riley has ended up being a complete sweetheart. He even laid by my bed all night. What a gentleman. What I did NOT appreciate, though, was being woken up at 6:30 this morning because he was hungry. I rolled over and hoped he would let me sleep. He did..for maybe half an hour..and then woke me up again. I grudgingly stomped downstairs, put food in his bowl, and then let him outside. After that I crawled back into bed and thank god I was able to get back to sleep.
Today I also went to pick my cousin up from the airport. I don't really know why I bother even using a GPS because I usually end up missing exits and then getting kind of lost. Today that also happened but somehow I stumbled upon a different way to get to the airport and it ended up being much faster. Maybe I have somehow gained a sense of direction here..or maybe I'm just extremely lucky. Anyway, she is now home, and I am no longer here alone WHOOOHOOO. I leave DC in exactly two weeks. And my family will be here in less than two weeks. And I have an entire portfolio to put together of all the work I have done here sooner than that. Alright leggo! (According to Urban Dictionary, using "leggo" instead of the phrase "let's go" is the most unintelligent thing to say and my IQ must be very low..well it's not and I'm still going to use it so ha)