Only in D.C.

I'm awful. It's been a month since I've updated the blog. And now I only have about three weeks left in the District :(

However, I will do my best and keep updating until then. So for today, I am dedicating my blog post to the things that you will only see in D.C. Enjoy :)



Oh hello man with a beaver tail for hair. That's really stylish, I'm assuming you got the style right out of the pages of Vogue didn't you? Oh how I wish I could walk through the District and show off hair that looked like yours...




Apparently being circumcised is a crime. And these lovely protestors decided to make the world know that on the lawn of the Capitol on a lovely Summer's day.



This woman has been living in front of the White House for about 20 years. And there's a squirrel that lives with her. I'm gonna take a wild guess and assume that she never got laid.



Your hair is black and LIME GREEN. I mean you somewhat attempted to blend the colors together but doing that weird zig zaggy thing...BUT IT DOESNT WORK! I mean really? I'm all for expressing yourself and what not, but really? BLACK AND LIME GREEN HAIR??? I think Anna Wintour might actually shed a tear if she saw something like this.



Republican National Party, you're really cool. I'm sure you're accomplishing a lot by having these "Fire Pelosi" signs up in your offices. Real classy. But I'm a little disappointed. Where are your signs calling for the firing of Dictator Obama? Surely you have those lying around somewhere...

I'll continue to post more "Only in D.C." posts as they come to me. Hope you enjoyed these ones!

Come visit me!!

I live in Washington D.C. Which means that you should come visit me. Why?

1) Because you'll be able to stay with me for FREE
2) Everything in D.C. is free. All the Smithsonian museums. The Capitol. The Zoo. The Archives. It will seriously be one of the cheapest vacations you'll have.
3) I'll be your tour guide and take you EVERYWHERE
4) You get to see me!!

Brad came to visit me last weekend and he had a great time. Check out some of our pictures; hopefully you'll be convinced to come visit!



We'll be complete tourists and take pictures like this!



And maybe if you're lucky, you'll get to see someone protesting circumcision in front of the Capitol!



So basically, visiting me in D.C. will be the craziest, weirdest, cheapest trip you could possibly have. Do ittttttt :)

Why am I here?

You can come to Washington D.C. to do a myriad of things. I have a friend who are working for non-profits that help the homeless in D.C., another who is working for a public relations and communications firm. People come to D.C. with interests in every field, be it engineering (the Department of Defense needs someone to design weapons) or Journalism (every news outlet has offices in D.C.). Lots of people want to come to D.C. and they do come to D.C. and they do awesome stuff. But what am I here for? Well I guess we're going to have to go way back to figure that out.

If you had known me when I was 6 years old, you would have known that I not only knew who Bill Clinton was, but also who he ran against in the 1996 election (Bob Dole and Ross Perot). While most of my friends were spending their TV time watching Full House and Step By Step, I stayed up and watched the 1996 election with my Dad. And that's when I decided that I wanted to be President of the US. So I asked my Dad what I had to do. Probably really having no clue myself, he told me that I would have to go to law school and then probably become a governor and then run for president. After hearing that, I decided that that's what I wanted to do. And as they years have gone by, my ultimate goal may have changed, but that foundational path remains.

I've been pre-law since I was 6. I've never changed my mind and there's nothing that will push me into another career path. While I've always had a path and goals, it's a little scary to be here in Washington D.C., actually accomplishing the things I always told myself I would do. I am working for a freaking U.S. Senator. I remember when Stabenow first ran for Senate against Spence Abraham and I can't believe that I actually work for her now. And as proud of myself as I am, it's even scarier to think that there's still a lot more that I have to do before I can be proud of what I've accomplished.

Last week, I got to see Hillary Clinton. While a lot of you might think that she's a scary "monster" or a crazy, power-hungry woman riding on her husband's coattails, I believe the complete opposite. I've loved Hillary since she was first lady. Her crusade for health care and her active use of the Office of the First Lady really made me admire her. And I can honestly say that she was one of my biggest influences in what I want to do with my life. And last week, I was less than a foot away from her. Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to her or take a picture with her, but I was close to her. And it was definitely one of the coolest things I've ever experienced.

Another one of my biggest influences is Madeleine Albright, who I also got to see in person. Albright is pretty bad ass. She was the first female to hold the Secretary of State position (which is now held by Hillary!) and was also the US Ambassador to the UN. Her family escaped from the Nazis and came to America and she really epitomized the American Dream. While I may not agree with everything she did during her term (i.e. Rwanda), I love her. She is a great role model and her work in foreign policy has really pushed my interest in foreign affairs and international law.

So now, here I am. 2o years old and living and working in Washington D.C. I've always wanted to be here, and here I am. But I'm realizing that I've only accomplished about a fifteenth of what I want to do in my life. But that's okay because I'm making progress. And I'm proud of myself for taking full advantage of everything that D.C. has to offer and making the best of my time here. Who knows, maybe my time as an intern will be something I look back on when I'm a Hillary or a Madeleine in my own right :)

The DC Fam

Coming to D.C. wasn't easy for me for two reasons:

1) I've never lived by myself before and I hate being away from people

2) Making new friends.

I'm lucky to have an amazing group of friends back home in Ann Arbor. Spending so much time with people day after day really makes it seem like your friends become your family. So leaving them behind, with no one from my core group of friends in D.C., was really tough for me. My first couple of weeks in D.C. were actually pretty awful because I didn't know anyone here, and I hate being lonely. Luckily, I had Dustin and Charlie, who are two of my co-workers. They happen to live together in a house about a block away from our office, and they have 9 other roommates. And thankfully, I've become an honorary roommate and I actually have friends now. And I'm dedicating this blog to them :)

So I guess the D.C. Fam is comprised of the following people: me, Dustin, Charlie, Shveta, Mitchell and Matthew. Dustin, Charlie and I are all from Michigan, but from very different parts...and they got to State (BOO! :P) Shway (that's what we call her) and Mitchell are both from North Carolina and Matthew is from Alabama. Shway goes to UNC and Mitchell and Matthew both go to Alabama. So basically we're the most random group of people, all with different political affiliations, backgrounds, majors, etc, and somehow we've found ourselves a bit obsessed with each other.

Ever since we've "found" each other, we've pretty much spent every weekend together, roaming around the city and seeing every cool thing that's here. And thank god for that. I don't know what I would do without them. Interestingly enough, I'm the person who everyone makes fun of in this group too...crazy right? People making fun of me, I guess I just have "go ahead and make fun of me" written all over my face. But whatever, I kind of like it :P

I wish I could do a full blown explanation of everyone but that would take forever, so I'm just going to do one sentence descriptions of them:

Dustin- the most ADD person I've ever met, he seriously can't pay attention for more than like 90 minutes or something, and he is OBSESSED with MSU. like legit. he knows EVERYTHING about that school and its campus.

Charlie- I think Charles might be the male version of me. We both love politics and hate Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin (with dire passions)...and we're pros at annoying the hell out of each other. basically, we're made for each other.

Shway- She might be my long-lost twin. Of course the only two girls in our group are both Indian, but by some weird coincidence, we're like the same person. We both want to get MPH-JDs at Emory of all places and the guys get really weirded out when we connect over our love for Taco Bell hot sauce.

Mitchell- The nicest, most polite boy I have ever met. Period. He works for a Democrat (he's a Republican), and when I asked him how he's able to work with a Dem., he responded with, "Well, they have good intentions.." Now come on, how many politically active people are THAT polite???

Matthew- "I'm Matthew. You can't hate me because I have an accent." He is basically my favorite person. We're writing a book together, "In Spite of Charlie," look for it in bookstores next year.

This is the crew with whom I've done everything this Summer. The Newseum, baseball games, random trips to the playground, and the random Wednesday night drunkfest/kings game. Kind of reminds me of home :)

DC v. NYC

The beauty of living in a city like D.C. is how easy it is to leave this city, and visit other awesome places on the East Coast. I know I already talked about how awesome transportation is here, so I won't bore you with those details. I decided, on a whim, to go to New York last week, and $40 and one Megabus ride later, I was in the Big Apple. Little did I realize that I hadn't been to NYC since I was like 13, and while I may be all independent and confident in D.C., I was not like that in NYC.

Luckily, my friend Tina goes to NYU and she graciously offered her place near Chinatown for me to stay at for the weekend. And not only did she let me stay with her, she showed me an awesome time. Going to NYU, she's met some pretty cool people, including someone who lives in the Trump Tower. Which is where she took me on Friday night. Needless to say, it was pretty cool.

I love New York, and I've always envisioned myself living there permanently. I love the idea of living with 12 million other people and the diversity in the city. But while I was walking in the Upper West Side (one of the most expensive areas in the world), I couldn't help but notice the smells and trash on the streets. On my left I had these amazing walk-ups that are probably worth millions, and right in front of them, were piles and piles of garbage from neighboring restaurants and stores. It's completely different from Washington D.C., where streets are pristine. Even the Metro is spotless, which I can't say for the NYC transit system. While I was waiting for the subway, I saw a rat in the tracks. I almost screamed. That about did it for me.

Spending time in D.C. by myself has taught me a lot about what I want in life and what my ultimate goals are. NYC is expensive as hell and I saw a much lower quality of life in the Big Apple. While it would be cool to live in the most famous city in the world, do I really want to start my day off with the lovely view of rat running through sewage?

Don't get me wrong - there's a lot of nice stuff in NYC, but you have to have the money for it. I guess you get a little spoiled when you grow up in a nice suburb and then go to school in Ann Arbor. Everything is always clean and nice. I don't really want to give that up just to say that I live in NYC. While I had a great time on my trip, I came to an important conclusion. New York is not the place for me. I could probably do law school there, but not much more. DC, on the other hand, feels like home. I'm in constant awe of the power and influence in this city. And a little part of me dies when I walk to work in the morning and I see the dome of the Capitol.

Shopping may be more fun in New York (check out www.uniqlo.com, it's H&M on crack and cheaper than Forever), but DC's the city for me. I never thought I'd say this, but I'll take a creepy, unemployed man hitting on me over a rat any day :P

I've been bad about updating the blog...sorry! I'll make sure to post more often! Thanks for reading!

"Hola Senorita. Looking Mucho Beautiful. Welcome to America"

I have to admit, upon my arrival in D.C., I was pretty shocked by the difference between guys in this city, and those back home in Michigan. Maybe its the slightly Southern touch, or possibly the fact that most people here are working professionals, but most of the guys I have met have been incredibly nice and forthcoming. But alas, there is always a downside to every good thing. And believe me, I have found the downside to this.

My first week in D.C., I started noticing random people complimenting my outfit or my smile or something at random points. Sometimes it was the guy who hands me my paper every morning at Union Station, or the guy ringing me up at CVS. And I have to admit, it was quite flattering (these kinds of things really don't happen to me often, you see). But as it continued day after day, I started getting a little annoyed. I mean come on, when I don't have any make up or my hair is a hot mess, I know you do not think I am the least bit attractive. So I started paying more attention and as a result of this, I learned that men have absolutely no shame.

I don't mean to generalize, but this is what I have experienced. And please don't think I'm trying to show off here, believe me, no girl wants to deal with the advances of these types of men. Generally, the men who are commenting on my outfit or how pretty I am, are men of Hispanic or African-American descent. They're usually wearing casual shorts with a wife beater, and are also usually sitting on the side of the street. And they love making all women feel uncomfortable. And they do it without any shame at all.

I was walking my friend's dog this weekend (she lives in a very ethnic neighborhood), and I asked my co-interns Dusty and Charlie to come with me on Friday evening after work. So we're walking down the street, mind you, we're all in our work attire, and I see some lovely men sitting on the side of the street. As we walk past, they just stared at me. As we're waiting on the corner, a car drove past, and the driver, while driving through the intersection, decided that was the proper time to look out his window and look at me from head to toe. I was flanked by two guys for god's sake. For all the driver knew, either Dusty or Charlie could have been my boyfriend, but apparently that didn't phase him. Shocked, Charlie just looked at me and finally understood what I had been explaining to him at work for several days.

The next day, I was walking the dog again, this time by my self, and was greeted by two lovely men, easily in their 50s and driving a nice, beat up Cadillac that needed a wash really badly. As usual, I stared ahead and ignored them as they stared at me. And then, the creepy man with dreadlocks said the following: "Hola, Senorita. Looking mucho beautiful. Welcome to America."

EXCUSE ME??? ARE YOU ACTUALLY SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? You honestly think, that of all things, THAT will get me to fall into your perverted arms??? I can deal with the fact that you clearly think I'm Mexican. Hell, I can deal with the fact that you think that I am a brand new Mexican immigrant. But I will not stand for you objectifying me like I am a piece of meat. Women do not walk around this City for the pleasure of men with no jobs to stare at us. We have better things to do with our lives, and certainly better men to meet.

I realize that this blog has been targetted at a certain group of men in this city, but I will say that these situations are not exclusive to them. Instances of being stared at like a piece of meat have happened at the Capitol, but at least those men are discreet about it. I admit, I'm used to situations like this...it happens every time I walk into Campus Corner. But at least I get a benefit that far outweighs the cost there. That is not the case when I am doing a favor for a friend and walking her dog. I'd like to see how half of these men would react if someone repeated their actions upon their sisters or mothers. Would they still think it's ok? Probably not.

Apologies for the blog post that turned into a rant.

Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan

I've decided to devote my blog entry to one of the most important things in the District...the Metro. Coming from Michigan, where we have absolutely no public transportation (more to come about that later in the post), it is amazing to actually be able to go wherever I want, without having to get into a car. Everywhere I could ever possibly want to go, there is a Metro stop close enough where my walking time is mere minutes.

The Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan stop is my home stop. It's literally 3 feet outside of my apartment building and is super convenient. I get on a train every morning and I'm at Union State in about 15 minutes. It costs about $2 and is incredibly efficient. And the best part of the Metro is really how clean it is. There is no food or drink allowed on the trains, which is great, and the stations are super clean and safe. I've been on the subway in NYC, and it's actually disgusting and perpetually smells like urine. This is not the case in D.C., and for that I am extremely thankful.

I've been assigned to Healthcare and Finance for my topics for my internship, which are both really cool. Healthcare is a huge deal so I'm happy to be learning a lot about it, but I've also taken a lot of interest in transportation and how it affects big cities. That's why I've dedicated this post to the Metro and transportation.

If you're from the Detroit area, you know that there is no public transportation to and from Detroit, but there's also very limited transportation within the city. The SMART Bus, which travels within the city and also to a lot of the suburbs, has cut down its service drastically, making it extremely difficult for Detroit residents to even get their groceries. This is largely due to the vacant fields that literally separate individual residences for miles upon miles. Detroit, lacking funding to support transportation for less than 1 million people, basically allowed all of its public transportation to crumble. The People Mover, which had high hopes when it was first built, travels a short loop and is beneficial to very few people.

What most people don't realize is how important transportation is to a metropolitan city. Not only does it transport people to and from the City, it provides an essential lifeline to those living in the cities. Michigan is in an interesting position because of the Big Three. Back in the 1970s, Detroit so a massive shift of people moving from the City into the suburbs. The only way for people to get back into the City was via the highways. Detroit was the birthplace of America's highway system, and it's something the Big Three hugely profited off of. People had cars, so they had no reason to take a train or a bus into Detroit. But with the recession and growing environmental concerns, people want a better way to travel in Michigan, and a train system is vital to that.

There is a group that is pushing for the development of a Light Rail System that would provide rapid transit all the way from the Birmingham area into the heart of Detroit. If successful, the program would extend around the suburbs, connecting Michigan communities in a totally new, eco-friendly way. While difficult to imagine, this could be the key to the revitalization of Detroit. With easy access to the City, businesses might be more inclined to have offices downtown. More businesses lead to more money. More money leads to better roads and buildings. Detroit has an incredible history and a lot of it has been lost to people who know the city and grew up near it. Investing in the proper developments can have a huge impact on what the City can be.

Every morning, I get off at Union Station (top). It is a hub for Amtrak trains and has a mall inside it as well. It was built in 1908 and is still an important part of transportation for the Eastern seaboard. Detroit once had a similar station, the Michigan Central Station (bottom). Today it is an abandoned station, with broken windows and destroyed ceilings, despite its position on the National Register of Historic Places. People want to demolish it, much like the City demolished the historic J.L. Hudson building. But it has potential. Potential, that, if used properly, can really help to revitalize the City.

It's PANDA time!!

Thank God I've made some friends here in D.C. Getting here so early in the intern season made it really hard to meet people, especially since I live way up in the NW quadrant, a little far away from the Hill and the local colleges. But the guys I work with, Dustin and Charlie, are AWESOME. They both go to Michigan State (which is a bit of a problem, but we're working through our issues), and they're both really great guys. We goof off at work a lot and we spend a lot of time together outside of work too. Charlie and Dustin are lucky enough to work together and live together, and they're even luckier because their office is not even a two minute walk from our office. The did their housing through WISH housing so they randomly got paired together and they also have 9 other housemates, some of whom I met on Friday night.

We decided to go to the D.C. National Zoo on Saturday morning. It's a bit of a joke in the office because I love panda bears. And the zoo has a live-streaming panda cam, which i actually watch in the office sometimes. Yes, I am that cool. So we ventured off to see every nook and cranny of the zoo. And of course, the pandas were the best. People were legit FREAKING out over the pandas. Following them around as they moved, jumping up and down...it was pretty INSANE. But I was pretty excited too so I can't judge too much.

One of the coolest parts about the panda exhibit was seeing the information on how the pandas

were able to have a baby. Tai Shan, was born last year, and recently shipped back to China. But it wasn't easy for his mom to have him. Smithsonian scientists literally stayed up for months making sure that the female panda was actually pregnant after they performed an in vitro fertilization process. Thankfully, a healthy baby boy panda was born and the Smithsonian scientists help provide years worth of data for panda conservation. So while D.C. might be the heart of national politics and history, there's plenty of science breakthroughs that happen here too, which I think is pretty cool.

After the zoo, Charlie and I were convinced to join Dustin and their other roommates at the Nationals-Orioles baseball game. I shouldn't lie, it didn't take me much convincing because I love baseball, and this was a rivalry game. The stadium was nice and you could see the Capitol Building in the distance, which was pretty sweet. The Nationals were having a rough time, but they finally managed to pull it together and beat the Orioles 7-6.

Alright well my apartment is in desperate need of some cleaning so I am off to surround myself with cleaning products. Hope you enjoyed hearing a bit about my day and seeing the pictures!

What took me so long to do this??

Here it is, my first blog entry. It took me a long time to actually decide to blog. I thought about it for a long time when I first got to D.C., but I kept getting hung up on the title, so I kind of let the idea go for a while. But then I realized that EVERYONE wants to know details about what I'm doing here, so a blog will probably be the best way for people who care (which, quite honestly, I don't know why you would), to see what silly shenanigans I'm getting into here in the District.

So most of you already know about my celebrity sightings. It's a big joke here that D.C. is "Ugly Hollywood." And considering my obsession with Perez Hilton, you'd think I'd be pretty mad about that...well, I'm not. Being in D.C. is like celebrity heaven. Every person I see or run into has actually done something amazing and they're really the kind of people who Perez needs to talk about. And for those of you who hate my Perez obsession, I'm slowly being weaned off of his website! I don't know nearly as much as I used to about the world of celebrities :(...Most of you have heard about my sightings so far so I'll just list them here:

1) Neil Armstrong (Yes, the first man to walk on the Moon!)

2) Mariska Hargitay (Detective Benson for Law and Order: SVU...she is STUNNING in real life)

3) Madeleine Albright (Definitely unexpected and a really mind-blowing experience. She was one of the women who really helped influence my political aspirations)

4) Elena Kagan (Yes, Solicitor General and Obama's SCOTUS nomination....SHE SAID HI TO ME!)

I'm pretty lucky. I've seen some amazing people and I have no clue who else I'm going to be seeing in the future, but I can't wait. Washington D.C. is an amazing city. History, parties, politics, celebrities. This city actually has EVERYTHING. And I'm really lucky because I've made some great friends too. Don't worry, you'll hear all about them.

So I don't want to make this post too long, but I'll probably do a couple of posts tomorrow. I want to introduce you all to my co-workers and show you my apartment and the rest the fun things I've been doing.

Thanks for reading!