First blister, first glimpse of White House, first spiritual experience (having to do with safety, of all things!)

Happy Monday to all! Both Valerie and I had a little trouble falling asleep last night, but it sounds like she had it worse; I was asleep after about 45 min, while she tossed and turned until 1 something. Probably due to our extended Sunday naps :) Anyway, I woke up at 2:10 this morning, but then somehow managed to miss my alarm for 6:15, sleeping instead until 7:30. So there wasn’t any time to exercise before eating breakfast and going downstairs to the Great Room for our meeting. Grrrrr! Little did I know at this point that I would spend roughly 4 hours of the day just walking from place to place.

The meeting was long, as I expected, but Dr. Goss gave us a few welcome breaks, and we got to eat some yummy bagels (I had cinnamon/raisin; there were also chocolate chip and regular), which were nicely filling after my orange, banana, and 1 packet of apple-cinnamon oatmeal (which I thoroughly enjoyed, by the way; I only wish I had brought the maple packs with me too!).

I tried to put on my name tag at the meeting, but it wouldn’t stick, so I put it in my notebook. Then, after Elder Blanchard began to harrass me about not having it on, I decided to peel it off and put it back on. Great idea...except that it was stuck to my notebook now. I spent about 5 min. trying to make as little noise as possible tearing the sticker off the notebook. But I finally got it off, the irritating noise stopped, and I put on my no-longer sticky nametag so that at least one part of it was secure. But later that afternoon, Elder Blanchard confronted me again about not wearing it...so...sigh. I guess he’s not going to just let this go.

I took about five page of single-spaced notes in a small notebook, and most of them are from stuff we had already covered in the prep class or in the Washington Seminar handbook. It was good stuff, good to know, but a little dry. It was more interesting once Dr. Goss stopped talking and we learned a little bit about our professor, Dr./Prof. Bowen (who becomes Sister Barnes—her husband is Dr./Prof./Brother Barnes—in church/casual situations. I get the idea that she’s a feminist...), our classes, Institute, and, of course, safety. Captain Darrell Johnson from the George Washington University Police Department gave us a nice lecture (which he had only had that morning to prepare!) about where we should and shouldn’t go in D.C. and how we should behave. Most of it is common sense—don’t give money to people, don’t use ATMs outside, don’t carry a lot of stuff, let people know where you’re going—but I was surprised by a few of the things he said, such as that we should look people right in the eye (rather than avoid eye contact, as I usually do), to show them we are watching them and that we belong here, and that we should always swipe our credit cards ourselves if we eat out at restaurants. He warned us about two types of people—the overly aggressive, and the outwardly friendly (with inwardly bad intentions). It’s hard to judge every situation, but the best thing you can do is walk where there are crowds and not be out after dark.

Institute looks like it’s going to be fun. There are three classes: Elder Blanchard will be teaching the second half of D&C on Thursdays, Sister Blanchard (the general favorite) will be teaching Presidents of the Church (and coincidences with Presidents of the United States) on Wednesdays, and Brother Rowberry, our enthusiastic Institute director who walked into the Great Room with a sword and banged it down on two guys’ table before giving his speech, will be teaching on Tuesdays on the second half of the New Testament. This first week, there won’t be a Tuesday class, and I’ll be at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, so it looks like I’ll be attending the Thursday class. I hope to attend the Wednesday one most regularly, however. Sister Blanchard is super nice and so sweet and cute!

After the meeting, we were supposed to divide up into groups and find our internships, but the groups were kind of...not. I didn’t want to go looking for mine by myself, so I got one guy, Brad (of the previous post) Meehan, to go with me and help me find it. On our way, we passed the Watergate complex and the Kennedy Center, saw the back of the White House and the construction of platforms for the inauguration (by what I want to say is Lafayette Park), bought ourselves some SmartCard passes (they were only $10, Dad, with $5 already on the card; you can add money at any station and use it as long as you want), were accosted by a tall, bulky gentleman who wanted our signatures (and money) for a presumedly noble cause (which escapes me at the moment), and FINALLY found the museum on a fairly crowded intersection on New York Avenue, past the White House. I wanted a picture, but my camera wasn’t working (when I got home, I found that the battery card was a little loose; once I pushed it in all the way, the camera worked fine—snort!). So we just walked back to the Barlow Center and timed how long it would take (come to think of it, it was during this walk that we were accosted by said gentleman). It turned out to be a little over a 30 min walk, so I’m going to be safe and plan for a 45 min. walk tomorrow morning (given that I don’t sleep in—*roll eyes*). The museum is supposed to be fairly close to the Metro Center station, but I’d really rather walk as much as possible; it’s cheaper and more beneficial.

When Brad and I got back to the Barlow Center, we both had to rest a bit. I had a nasty blister on my right heel—ugh. Brad took off to find his internship and stay there for a while. He told me later that it was only a 7 min. walk away from the Barlow Center. !!??!@?#???!?!??!??! Some people have all the luck. Anyway, at the Barlow Center I determined my budget for the rest of the semester. It comes to about $90 a week, which won’t be possible every week but should be for the majority of them; I can cover groceries for the next two weeks with less than $20, and then will probably have to spend more as my ready-to-eat dinners run out. I ate my last MRE for lunch today—it was spaghetti, shortbread, crackers and strawberry jam. As for other expenses, so far I only plan on using the Metro on Sundays, but that could change if I get in a group that wants to go somewhere. I would like to see some of the great shows at the Kennedy Center, but probably won’t see very many if they turn out to be as expensive as $40-70.

After recuperating for a sufficient amount of time in the Barlow Center, I got ready to head out again. I wanted to find the Health and Wellness Center, then stroll down 23rd street to the Lincoln Memorial, then take that side street that appears on the map to the Kennedy Center, where I could catch the free concert at 6 and buy my tickets, then head over to the Watergate complex and Safeway to do some shopping, and then go home. That isn’t quite what happened.

Remembering my blister, I wore my sneakers to go walking; it turned out to be a good thing I did, since I spent the next 3 hours or so doing nothing BUT walking. In the beginning, I tried to figure out all the streets on Washington Circle, which was supposed to be an easy round-a-bout, but turned out to be quite frustrating. The signs are very small and hard to see, and even my printed-off map (yeah! I found the computer room and we can print stuff for free!) was so crowded with streets that you can hardly tell which is which. It didn’t help that the streets and landmarks themselves look nothing like my mental picture of them... But I eventually found 23rd street, and kept walking straight. I found the gym without any problem, and kept going to get to the Lincoln Memorial. It became apparent soon that it was getting dark (it was about 4:45) and that everyone was walking in the opposite direction as me. I didn’t like this...but kept going. Eventually, there was no one walking in my direction, which made me nervous. Still, there were plenty of lights and cars, so I felt okay. Then the sidewalk got really short and small, which I didn’t like at all. Then I saw construction signs up ahead, and I was not happy. This was having all the signs of being a bad neighborhood. But I could see the Lincoln Memorial in the distance, and that gave me some security—I knew I was in the right place, that my map told me how to get out, and that I could keep walking without fear of the road closing.

I walked up to the Lincoln Memorial, but not around to the main side where you can see the statue and everything; it was getting darker and I wanted to hurry up and get to the Kennedy Center. I took the first turn-off to the right, as my map suggested I should...and then promptly found myself in a long windy path with a few trees, and an interstate close by, and no other people or buildings to be seen. I was coming towards a bridge, and I could see the Kennedy Center across it, so I thought I was headed in the right direction, but it turned out that I was not. AT ALL. It was getting darker now and I was on the wrong side of the bridge to see any signs, so I just walked across it as fast as I could, hoping that I would find some kind of sign on the other side. The bridge turned out to be very long, crossing the entire Potomac River. It was a gorgeous view, but I was so scared and upset and tense to be walking across a BRIDGE by MYSELF when it was getting DARK and there were CARS whizzing past me at something like 70 mph that all the beauty was lost on me (or at least, 90% of it). Luckily, there were no other people on the bridge and there was a barrier between me and the cars for most of the walk (although they were all going way too fast probably to even see me, let alone slow down).

Well, after what seemed like the longest walk in history, I got to the other side of the bridge, and there, to my utter chagrin, I saw a sign for the “Dulles Washington airport.” Uh-oh. The place that was “quite a ways from here.” I had no clue what to do, but every instinct I had said I would just have to turn around and go back. So...I did. Back across that long, scary, noisy bridge (which I at least saw from the signs this time was the “Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge”). I found it on one of my three maps while walking back, and, while relieved to know where I was, I was not at all excited about being so far from my destination!

I was pretty much panicking now from being lost and alone, and very tired from walking (thank GOODNESS I was wearing my padded sneakers instead of the blister-givin’ business shoes!). Fortunately, I was able to calm myself down by talking out loud to myself, and—here’s the spiritual experience—I did get a good strong feeling that I would be in the Kennedy Center by 6:00 pm (when the free concert started). I found that hard to believe since I looked at my watch and it was about 5:40 at that point (and getting a lot darker). But I put my trust in the feeling, and walked back as fast as I could to the Lincoln Memorial. To calm myself down even further, I took out my cell phone. I thought about calling the Blanchards, but I knew they couldn’t just hop in a car and come get me while I waited by the Interstate, so I decided just to talk to myself like a random, chatty girl would, while walking as fast as I could back to the downtown area. It was quite ridiculous for me to hear myself blabbing away, but it did help to calm me down some.

I walked back up good old 23rd street, which somehow looked a lot safer and non-threatening in comparison to the empty field of grass and trees by the Lincoln Memorial and the whizzing cars on the Theodore Roosevelt bridge. On a daring whim, I crossed Virginia Avenue, which my map said was a shortcut to the Watergate complex. Was it right? YES! Even better, there were two other women headed in my same direction on the street. It was soooo good to not be the only pedestrian on the street. I will never complain about the crowds again!

Virginia Avenue took me right to the Watergate complex (I was NEVER so happy to see the word “Watergate” in all my life!) and from there it took me only 3 min. or so to get to the Kennedy Center. In familiar territory at last! And I looked at my watch...it was 5:59. A miracle? Well, I thought so.

I could hear the concert starting, but I was still a bit flustered from all the walking and worrying, so I first went to the restroom, then to the office to buy my two expensive tickets (one for Legally Blonde: The Musical this Wednesday at 7:30, and one for the Mariinsky Ballet’s Don Quixote next week). Then I called Dad, just to let him know how I was and to hear his voice. Thanks for talking with me, Dad!

I listened to the concert for a little while; it was two music professors, a male pianist and female violinist. Their first number was very lively and fun to listen to. The second one was a “modern” piece which was a bit grating on the nerves, but still endurable. I left at that point since it was about 6:40 and I wanted to get back to the Barlow Center.

I walked out by myself, feeling confident again, and then noticed a guy standing at the corner of the Kennedy Center all by himself. I then noticed that I was all by myself, and that he was kind of walking out away from the corner as I got closer. I didn’t like that at all, so I decided to turn around and walk back. As I was going in the other direction, a couple suddenly came out of the Kennedy Center and started walking in my prior direction. Aha!!! I joined the group and we all walked past the guy without any problem at all :) Whew! Maybe something would have happened, maybe nothing. I was pretty antsy right then and now I’m just fine with not knowing the “What-if” on that point. The man in the couple was friendly—he asked me what I thought of the concert, and when I told him I had a bit of trouble with liking the second piece, he laughed and said he thoroughly agreed with me. We split up soon, and I went to the Safeway in the Watergate complex to do some grocery shopping. I got oranges, apples, bread, sponges, a water bottle, broccoli, and carrots. I was going to get bananas but they were all sooooo green, so I decided to wait and get those at Trader Joe’s tomorrow. On my way out, I was lucky enough to notice two guys (Trevor and Jared) from the Seminar walking out with groceries, so I hurried and caught up with them. We all walked back to the Barlow Center, and I barely had time to unload everything before it was time for dinner and a meeting with everybody downstairs.

We had Papa John’s pizza (Papa John’s is just across the street) and Sprite to start out the meeting—hooray for free dinners! It was so good and the Blanchards were so encouraging about finishing up ALL the pizza that I actually confiscated two slices afterwards and took them up to our refrigerator for tomorrow’s dinner.

The “meeting” was more of a general group introduction. We all told our names, what city we were from, where we were interning, and had to answer one funny/stupid question. I drew a card that asked me what toy I would like to slam repeatedly against a brick wall. I’m sure there are many good answers to this question, but the only one I could think of off-hand was a Barbie doll. And even that wouldn’t be that much fun. I guess I’m just not a toy-hater. Valerie, my roommate, answered the question “I can’t help but think it’s funny when people ____” with the word “trip.” I suppose I will have to try not to be clumsy around her!

Br. Rowberry and the Blanchards talked to us some more about the Institute program, and then we dispersed. I will be going to bed after reading my scriptures and some more in Home. So, for the daily list (which is really more for me than any of my readers, but hey, you’re welcome to be interested): Tomorrow I have exercise, breakfast, a lunch to pack, shower, a 45 min. walk to my internship, shopping for bananas at Trader Joe’s, homework (hopefully finish all the little nitpicky stuff we have to do for Friday), free concert at 6, and more reading to do in Home and the scriptures before a dinner (of leftover pizza—ha ha) and bed. Whew!

Before I forget, I forgot—hey, that sounds weird—to write yesterday that I was pleasantly surprised at church to see Ginette Methot, who graduated in American Studies and Editing from BYU just a semester or two ago. We were on the American Studies Student Council together and also took AmSt 360 together. She also got me started with working on the Americana journal, and so we became pretty good friends. Of course, Ginette is so fun and friendly that it’s almost impossible to be her friend; I think we met about an average of 6 people she knew every time we walked from one building to another on campus! The last I knew, she was doing an internship with editing the Church magazines in Salt Lake City, so I was really surprised to see her in Washington! She said she’s looking for an editing job now and just living in D.C. Pretty neat. I am upset that I forgot to take a picture of the two of us—perhaps next time.

Oh, and one last thing. As I was heading out of our room to wash dishes tonight, I noticed a little red-orange rose outside our door, with a little tag stuck on it, which said: “Good luck tomorrow! From the guys.” Isn’t that SWEET?!?