Weekend with the Stonehillers!

Hey again folks,

In the middle of the work-week here in the nation's capital. But before we get too lost in the daily grind, I think I should recap some exciting things that happened to me over Labor Day Weekend. I was fortunate enough to meet up with some fellow Stonehill students, who I know quite well, that are also in D.C. for the semester. Some of the them are in The Washington Center program, like me, and others are part of American University's semester in Washington program.

Brenna and TJ are interning in Senator Ted Kennedy's office (Brenna actually started the day after he passed away). Sam is interning at the Department of Homeland Security and Jen is interning at the Center for Education Reform. We all decided to meet up in Chinatown Friday night for some dinner. It was so good to see everybody again. I hadn't seen Brenna, TJ, and Jen since school got out in May! We all caught up pretty quickly and we were swapping stories from our summer and what it was like to finally be in D.C. It felt so odd; we had talked about it in the abstract for about a year now and here we were-right in the thick of it!

We headed back to where TJ, Brenna, and Jen are living: the campus of American University. I was able to meet many of their friends. Surprisingly to me, many of them were from outside of the country. For example, both of TJ's roommates are German.

The next day, I woke up early with my roommates Alec and Russel to head to a few Smithsonians. We decided to conquer the American History and Natural History buildings today. I'm a big fan of the American History museum. For both a political and pop culture junkie like myself, it's exhibits could keep me there for days. I particularly enjoyed seeing the American Flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner, Abraham Lincoln's suit, and...the original Kermit the Frog! (Hellooo, Kerrmit deeee Frog herrre!) A personal favorite from my childhood, as you can see! The Natural History museum is pretty cool too! They have plenty of stuffed wildlife including a grizzly bear, panda, and a giant elephant to greet you at the door!

(I have no idea what the heck kinda animal this is, it was on display at the museum and just makes me laugh)

The grand foyer of the Natural History Museum

The famous Hope Diamond, on display at the Natural History Museum

Brenna, TJ, and Jen invited Alec and I to a Washington Nationals game that night. The Nats are D.C.'s baseball team, but they are pretty bad. Getting a good seat usually isn't a problem. We all bought tickets at the stadium for about $10 and just kept moving up a few rows an inning. (Shhh!) Also during the game, mascots of different Presidents race in the outfield. It was a beautiful night for baseball though! And what a beautiful stadium; it just opened last year!

But the most exciting moment came towards the end of the game. We had just hunkered down in a new row of seats when Nationals outfielder Elijah Dukes hit a foul ball that was headed right for me! I reached out my bare hands and...caught it on the fly!! The entire section stood and cheered! After waving my prized ball in the air and thanking the crowd, I sat back down in awe of what just happened! I still can't believe I caught a foul ball! It now has a home on the nightstand next to my bed.

Me and my foul ball and all of us with Thomas Jefferson!

Sunday, we made a daytrip out to Six Flags America in Maryland. Supposedly by car it only was only 15 minutes away, but our auto-less selves had to make due with public transportation. After about an hour on the metro and another 45 minutes on a bus, we arrived!! I had never

been to a Six Flags before in my life so this was a huge thrill. I was really excited because I had also never been on a roller coaster that went upside-down before. Let's just say I'm a pro now! Superman: Ride of Steel is a favorite of mine. It has a 200 foot drop! Another is Batwing: it's is a roller coaster that you lie on your back for. Once you go up the ramp on your back, you turn over and are suddenly 100 feet in the air, soaring as if you are flying. The entire ride you are either on you back or on your chest. It was nuts! Brenna, who is not a fan of those types of rides, was a real champ all day and did most of the rides that we dared her to!

After such a whirlwind couple of days, I spent Monday relaxing at my cousin's Ed's apartment. They live in Arlington, just a few short Metro stops away from me. Both diehard Yankee fans, we were in luck since they were nationally televised that night. We ordered some Chinese food with his girlfriend and watched the Yanks put a beating on the Tampa Bay Rays. I had to call it an early night though, my internship would start in the morning!


More to come from D.C.! Stay tuned in the next couple of days. We will have a "Guest Blog" from some friends at Stonehill and a whole lot more! Take care!