Friday, January 8, 2010

I'm Here/ Alive!

Well, this should be a happy-loving life- awesome first post and originally I planned to have posted at least twice before now. But alas, this is the first time in four days I can get on the internet from my laptop, and of course my laptop isn't charging and could possibly die at any minute. Yay for staying in a first world country and still not having technology!

I've been in DC since Tuesday night (moved in since Wednesday) and other than computer problems everything else is going WONDERFULLY! I don't even know where to begin- life at AU, my semester program, the beautiful city, gahh there's just too much. I will post about AU life so far and, I'll post about DC exploration after more adventures tomorrow (and tonight).

Sooo I live on Tenley Campus, which is about 3 blocks away from the main campus of American University. We have our own dining hall that is surprisingly an upgrade from Alliot at St. Mike's. They have signs everywhere about their goals for local, organic food and they make all their own sauces and dressings from scratch (delicious!) I also found out that they have made-to-order eggs for breakfast, my favorite part of Alliot, so I'm glad I won't have to sacrifice that!

My Dorm! Well living with Kim from St. Mike's has been very enjoyable! We found out we have a lot of fabulous things in common like music by Imogen Heap, favorite animals like elephants and big puppies, and obsessively quoting Jersey Shore. The other people on our floor are great. One downside is that the majority of people I have met are from NEW ENGLAND! What the heck? My neighbor is from Nashua and two UVM girls live down the hall! Oh and speaking of down the hall.. another BIG downside to my dorm is the girl's bathroom is no joke 5 miles away. I have to go around three corners! It's a hike. But the buildings on Tenley have a lot of character, especially where we live in Capital Hall because it has a giant marble staircase.


Yesterday we had a bunch of meetings to learn about campus and our specific programs. As much as I had trouble giving up studying abroad in the "normal" sense, I'm starting to see that the Washington Semester Program is a perfect fit for me. We have field trips and speakers all over the city as well as to NYC next month! (and Ghana in April)Professor Heckle is amazing and emphasizes how we are going to see the whole spectrum of development/environment issues- from DC to NYC to Ghana and everywhere in between. Bad news, I have to write a 45 page research paper. (Trish, yet another project to haunt me!) Good news, I go on a million field trips so I guess it's only fair I have some hard work. As my classes officially start I will talk more about the issues we discuss and the speakers I hear. Just be really excited for all that fun stuff to come.

I guess that's where I'll leave it today. I will definitely be blogging (hopefully) tomorrow and much more frequently from here on out. Moral of the story is I love DC and cannot wait to live up every moment of being here.

I'll leave you with probably the most boring pictures of DC- my dorm room- so you appreciate all the good ones to come!


Our room! That's Kim! It's an "L" shape so you can only see my side.

Almost like Pont 301? To the left is the window/desk and
Kim's bed is behind me to the right.

Our view! Not quite the green mountains but I'll take it.
To the left is St. Anne's Catholic Church and in front is Nebraska circle. (Yes, that's snow!)

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