Signing Off

So the time has come.  This is my last week here.  The only thing I have left to do is pack.  I hate packing.  I also hate unpacking.  Which, I guess you can’t really hate one without hating the other.  You’re pretty much doing the same thing just in reverse order. 

Living in DC these past 10 weeks has been a marvelous experience.  The things I’ve seen, people I’ve met, and places I’ve been have truly made me a more cultured and enlightened person.  However, I find it odd that I choose to be down here the summer when there’s an earthquake, tornado warnings, and we have what was probably the hottest summer on record.  I would check into that.  But reliving some of those over 100 degree days is a little… too hot to handle right now… See what I did there?  Yea, you saw it.  But seriously, I think some supernatural force is out to get me.  WELL HE FAILED!  You hear that nature demon?!  I’m still here!  For now… I’ll be gone soon though.  So I guess he’s getting what he wants.

I still remember when I first came here and navigating the city was still a little confusing.  Now it seems like I have a map permanently in my head and I get anywhere I want like my body is on autopilot.  I feel like I have become fully ingrained as a citizen of DC, except I don’t pay taxes to it so I guess it’s not really official.  But who knows, maybe after I finish my last year of grad school, it could become official.  After being down here this summer, I would have no problem coming back and living in the DC, Maryland, or Virginia areas for good. 

Oh, you already know I’ve been to Maryland.  Well, I also visited Virginia for a friend’s birthday party.  That place wasn’t bad either.  They seem really big on karaoke though.  That comes off a bit scary. But we’ll see what happens.  I try not to plan much and just go with the flow.  Or, as my man Bruce Lee would say, “Be Water.” That’s the only reason I’m in grad school or decided to come here because I assure you. Graduate school was never in my plans and working for a summer in DC was not on my radar either.  Not until the opportunities presented themselves.

I have few little tidbits of knowledge for the next batch of cats rolling in:

• Ask as many questions and learn as much as possible.  Knowledge is power.
• Attend as many conferences or discussions as possible.  You never know what you might learn or who you might meet.  Even if you didn’t like it, you might still get a free lunch out of it.
• If you’re unhappy with your internship, let your supervisors know.  Voice to them what you want to learn, what you want to see, and what you want to do.  If they don’t know, they can’t help you.
• Attend as many events in the city as possible.  DC offers so much as far as free events.  Take advantage of all of it.

One Saturday, The Washington Center offered students a trip to Atlantic City, NJ.  Since I had never been there, I decided to go.  I didn’t gamble because I only had 40 bucks cash and refused to use their ATMs.  No way are you going to hit me a huge fee to take out money that you’re probably going to end up taking anyway.  That’s double theft.  I can’t have it.

The U.S. Small Business Administration set it up so all the interns could go on a trip to tour the Capitol Building.  Living in the RAF, you tend to walk past the Capitol a lot.  Also, I watched a concert on the lawn of the Capitol during Memorial Day.  But I had never stepped foot in it until now.  After you go through the line, you sit down and watch a 15 minute movie about the history of DC and the Capitol.  It used to be much smaller than it is now.  Here are some pictures from the tour:

Oh, I bet you thought I was done.  Nope, there’s still more to come.  Prepare for the last and probably best. An OMNIBUS NATE’S FOOD REVIEW! 

This is a jumbo slice.  I trust the picture really emphasizes the sheer girth of this slice of pizza.  My roommate and I got one while we were in Adams Morgan.  I literally had to roll my slice up like a burrito in order to eat it like a semi sane person.  It was a purely joyous occasion.

This is a jumbo fish sandwich from Horace & Dickie’s.  It’s a small little fish joint down on H Street which isn’t very far from the RAF. I learned about it because Adam Richman from Man V. Food went there when he was in DC.  I wanted to get some macaroni or potato salad as sides but they were out.  In case you are wondering, there is bread, it’s under that heaping mound of fish.

This was a sandwich called “Time Square.”  I got it from Loeb’s New York Deli, which is up the street from the office I work at. It has pastrami, fried egg, cheese, slaw, "special recipe" Russian dressing. Just reading these ingredients I knew I couldn’t lose. I was not disappointed when I picked this off the menu.

These are oysters from a restaurant called DC Coast.  During the month of June, they had a deal where you could get 12 oysters for 12 dollars during happy hour.  Every Friday in June, I went to DC Coast after work to enjoy these oysters.  Before this I had never eaten raw oysters. They were always cooked.  I must say, they are delicious.  They added some chopped up celery to each oyster, I assume it’s for some people that want some crunch with the slimy soft oyster.  That on top of some lemon juice and Tabasco sauce was an absolutely awesome.

We finally come to the Coup de grace.  Yes my friends.  One weekend, I decided to take a trip up to U Street.  After walking around Howard University’s campus, I stopped by a place I have seen on many food and travel shows.  An establishment so ingrained in Washington DC history that you can’t talk about DC without someone saying “You have to check out Ben’s Chili Bowl!”  So check it out and I did and I might have to say that it was one of the best decisions of places to go in this whole city.  I can’t even express how good this food was.  I decided to only get the chili dog but next time, I’m going to go for the half smoke.  After that hearty meal, I spent a while just walking around the rest of the U Street Corridor.  There is a lot of stuff going on in that area. 

One Sunday, one of my roommates and I went to the Waterfront and walked around for a bit.  Our main goal was to check out the Cantina Marina.  It’s a bar/restaurant on a boat.  I had a crab cake burger.  It was very tasty.  My roommate told me he’s had bigger crab cakes at other places though.  This made me a little upset but just gives me a new quest for a later time.

I also took a trip to the Jefferson Memorial.  It was well worth the journey.  You also have an awesome view of the Mall and river from there.

So there you have it, my last testament of my life in DC this summer.  I hope you were able to live vicariously through my exploits in order to get a taste or idea of what DC has to offer.  I hope it inspires you to get out there and do something with your time in a great city such as this.  Please don’t feel obligated to do as much stuff as I did.  I’m from Pittsburgh.  There is absolutely nothing to do there.  So when I came here, I felt like a kid in a candy store and pretty much have been on a sugar rush ever since.  On my first post I said we were going to have fun.  Am I or am I not a man of word?  Yea, you’re welcome. PEACE!