Entry 7 (June 17 - 23) Feelin at Home
Monday, June 17
Due to my concussion, I've been waking up at odd hours. Today I woke up before the sun was up...which is pretty early in June. To make the most of it, I went upstairs and knit on the rooftop. Watching the sunrise, while knitting in DC is one of my favorite moments here so far.
Around 8am I finally got sleepy and went back to bed.
I did more work on my internship, just readings and summaries.
Later in the day, I accepted a scholarship through The Society of Physics Students from the Association for Women in Science Kirsten R. Lorentzen Award! This was super exciting because they said they would mention me on their LinkedIn Post! Which is great because my linkedin is severely underwhelmed.
So due to my concussion, I didn't trust myself to get groceries by myself. Thankfully the other intern was kind enough to go with me and so we took the usual walk to Trader Joe's and he was very nice and helped me carry my groceries going back home. It was really cool because we got to talk about how it is going to different schools (he goes to UMadison in Wisconsin) and I thought it was really neat because I don't get to hear much about what undergrad is like in other parts of the country. I'm very jealous because apparently their campus has less hills than the U's on the side of a mountain.
I do tend to pick the hottest part of the day to go shopping and such which was not great for my concussed brain. I'm starting to learn that the heat here is not like the heat back west. Covering yourself in long sleeves and pants will not block the sun and wick the sweat. Instead, it insulates the humidity and makes things worse...that counterintuitive to my desert-rat mindset, growing up.
Later that night, either the sleepiness (from the early morning) or the concussion got to me, but I was a bit wild: burning grilled cheeses to a black crisp and spazzing with the roommates. I did have some really good bonding moments with two of them and I am really appreciating being able to be young and free - laughing with other young adults. Moping about boys while being super bad at cooking. I feel like these are going to be core memories for me later in life.
Oh I have to tell you guys about one of my favorite housemate moments from a couple weeks ago. I just keep laughing about this interaction. So a trend as of late is to do "power-point night" with friends. It's where you and besties each make a surprise power point about anything you want and then present it. It's often humorous and it's a nice way to get the thoughts out of your mind after you've gone down a rabbithole of information on a certain subject. Ok so it's just an average night. I walk into the kitchen. Now there's a couple housemates that I don't hang out with as much. They're all super sweet, and they're kind of their own clique. So they're doing a powerpoint night. Apparently. Because I only got that from context clues. So I walk into the kitchen right as one of the housemates opens his slideshow on RuPaul. Now RuPaul already has such a screen presence in any pictures. But to just walk into the kitchen right as he's opening with "Who Is RuPaul?" and there is already so much tension in the house about who stands where politically. So they all whip around and stare at me, and I'm looking at them and at this huge picture of RuPaul on the screen, while trying to gather context clues. But I realize they're all like waiting to see what I do so I just say, "slayyyyy queen!!!" in my best drag impression for a 20 year old girl. And we all chuckle and I finish getting my late night ice cream and honestly that presentation was 10/10. Very well thought out!
Tuesday, June 18
So yesterday turned into a late night when I reconnected with a friend from high school. She and I met on trek and were trek sisters (for those of you who haven't participated in these outdated mormon activities - sorry I'm still bitter over how bad trek was). She was so lovely and I hadn't realized how much of an impact I made on her; I was dealing with pulling a handcart on a dislocated foot after the wagon wheel rolled over it. But we reconnected last night and were texting and she said that I had really helped her through a hard time and inspired her. My heart was so full. It was very good timing because hearing that I make a positive impact even while injured. My concussion has taken a bit of a toll on my mental and emotional health, so that reminder was very sweet to hear. I am very excited that she is working so hard and doing so well for herself!!
I rested most of the day to try to help my brain recover.
If you guys will remember from my earlier weeks: at the Air and Space Museum in Virginia I ran into a kid from my physics class this last spring. Super out of the blue, but quite on brand for me? Anyways, so I invited him to the baseball game with the ward for FHE tonight.
I wore my "uncle sam outfit," as coined by my roommates. He and I met up on the metro and went to the stadium. On brand with the stadium, I ran into so many people I know (from church and utah and and political science conferences). So he and I ran into the Elders and Sister missionaries. They knew where the ward was sitting better than us so we walked with them.
Though I've never served a mission, I will say, walking through a crowd in DC with four missionaries was an eye opening experience. They got glares, side eyes, and insults but then they also got a lot of people in BYU hats coming up to them saying hi and lots of general excitement. I've always been in the 'excited to see the missionaries and yell HI at them across a crowded area' camp, but I realized they are a walking controversy. Anyways, along the way, the Sisters wanted a photo-op and I took their pictures and they took mine. Note the Elder photobombing is the one who spiked the volleyball in my face and is the one who gave me the concussion.
The game itself was another Nats game as any other, but it was really cool to be so high up in the nose bleeds: watching the sunset on the Potomac and the top of the Washington Monument while chatting with my community. I really love my ward and each one of them is such a hoot! I swear DC is a magnet for the most interesting and ambitious people. I feel really at home here, and with them. It was also really fun to actually hang out with the friend from physics. He was interning with the NSA and living on GW campus, which explains why he wasn't in the Hatch House with other UofU interns. He's really great and I'm still so surprised to run into him in DC! Like I said though, it wouldn't be my life if I wasn't running into people I know in unfamiliar places across the country.
Oh and also about the game, we did the wave there and watching thousands of people from an eagle eye view do the wave reminded me how silly humans are. It was a lovely moment in the golden of a summer sunset, while life size bobble heads of President's Washington, Lincoln, and the Geico Gecko foot raced each other for entertainment.
When I got home, I facetimed mom for some quality time with the cat :)
It was a good, full day.
Wednesday, June 19
Today, I woke up feeling refreshed and heart-happy.
I braided my hair in one of my favorite styles from middle school that I haven't touched since. It made me happy to do the waterfall braid again.
Today was more about menial work and house tasks.
I meal prepped, and you guessed it! I made more breakfast burritos to freeze. They truly are the food of the summer.
I did some laundry and threw in some of my roommate's for the half loads I had.
I worked on the blog.
I did more readings, research, and summaries for my internship. My supervisor is working on teaching us to be more efficient in our writing. She says to use the "BLUF" method where we put Bottom Line Up Front. She says it's best when briefing busy people.
Thursday, June 20
Ok today was the day. The big scary day that turned out to not be very big or very scary...
So my internship entails so much less than it was built up to.
But! Today we met the main guy in charge of the organization. He invited all the interns (even the Maryland based ones) to lunch at the Army Navy club in DC (no, not the country club one a bit further south...there was much and constant confusion about that distinction)
I was so crushingly nervous.
After that first presentation, which confirmation biased my idea about sexism in the military, I really didn't want to come off too feminine but I didn't want to be so bland in my outfit. I turned out to be a mess in brown shoes and black pants and a grey blazer. I apparently am not a good stress dresser. But either way, the other intern and I walked over to the Army Navy Club. Turns out everything is within walking distance when you live in Dupont ;)
The place, though fancy, was actually very relaxed. This was mostly due to General Cooke's relaxed demeanor as well as acquaintance with the place. After a bit of struggles with the difference in location with the Army Navy Club and the Army Navy Country Club, the Maryland Interns arrived.
They. were. fabulous. I totally adored the girl. She was so cool and fun and professional. And, I won't lie to you guys, the guy seemed straight out of Chilton from Gilmore Girls. I don't have a better explanation.
The Army Navy Club dining room was really interesting because they had an Army side and a Navy side. Depending on the branch you served in, you sat closer to the wall on your respective side. We sat with General Cooke on the Army side. It was very relaxed. The servers were pros and most of us, including The General, actually had hamburgers! I unfortunately am a silly goose and somehow managed to spill ketchup on myself around the cloth napkin in my lap. Besides being very uptight and nervous and racking my poor concussed mind to try to remember how Jackie Kennedy would act in this situation, I enjoyed the lunch! General Cooke and I bonded over Utah pioneer family connections and us interns talked about the organization.
General Cooke thanked us for the work we've done, and despite not knowing the Maryland interns, all four of us interns shot confused looks at each other wondering what work we've even done so far? It was good to know the confusion ran from DC to Annapolis.
After lunch, General Cooke showed us the library upstairs. It was beautiful! Full of white shelves and light and so many books. All of us interns were nerds of all flavors, but we all bonded over our love of books.
Oh! and we were just walking and General Cooke pointed to a very old and dark wood bar in a corner of a ballroom and said that is where the Daiquiri was founded. Like oh. yeah. of course. why wouldn't it be. And there were plenty of other historical facts like Teddy Roosevelt regularly had lunch there, ect.
I'll include pictures and the website I found online of the grandeur I experienced at the Army Navy Club.
So at lunch, we learned that General Cooke was like a huge part in making the Hatch House happen. Apparently a European country wanted to buy it for their embassy (since Dupont is Embassy row) but The U outbid them. And hallelujah! Because living in Dupont for so cheap is once in a lifetime! He really built the Hatch House up the the Maryland interns, so after lunch the other intern in the House and I we walked them back to the Hatch House for a tour. They were impressed, as they should be!
It was really cool to just hang out. It was like a searing hot summer afternoon so we just chilled in the upstairs kitchen. They were really great to meet and like I said, hanging out with the other intern - who goes to UMadison - and these two from Maryland, I got to hear a lot about what it's like to be a 20 year old all over the country!
After the hang, I needed introvert time. So I hemmed my roommates slacks for her. Honestly, it was one of my better hand sewing projects because I had to make the stitches hardly noticeable on the outside. It looked really nice. I made sure to iron press when I was done, to redo the creases. Give it nice finish.
The day was still young as it was the summer solstice! Light is quite plentiful, as it tends to be on the solstice. If you don't know me too well, the solstice is a very special day to me. It symbolizes hope for a brighter future and it fills my heart with love and peace. I wanted to celebrate, but also I was concussed and tired. I was too tired to go to Thursday night institute, so instead I went to the Dupont Circle Park. It's a spectrum of crack heads and white collar friend groups, topped off with old men playing chess. Very urban. I pulled up one of the park chairs and read my book in the sunset.
However, apparently I'm solar powered because I was filled with energy after awhile. I was motivated to go on a wander walk with the last 45 minutes of sunlight. I went wherever my feet took me (which seem majestic in the moment, but looking back being concussed this was not a cutesy as I felt at the time). I walked past all the shops, old houses, people walking their dogs, and eventually found myself on this huge bridge in the last couple minutes of golden hour.
My Maryland Friend laughs at me saying this so much, but it was SO GREEN!!!
So very, very green. I felt so...at home. So settled. These suburban houses under these tree canopies and ivy covering pull at my soul in a way no other place I've visited has. I stumbled on a neighborhood park, with wild flowers, hoops, playground, lawn, and a community garden. I walked through the community garden - briefly - before my desert rat mind reminded me how many spiders and ticks also exist in all this greenery.
To quote Hunt for the Wilder PeopleI, the walk was "magestical." It was the perfect ending to the 2024 Summer Solstice.
https://www.armynavyclub.org/The_Club_(1)
Friday, June 21
This morning, I woke up ready to party!!
I did some weekend prep Trader Joe's shopping for a fun dinner I had planned.
Then, I decided I was fed up with seeing all these pretty girls with their pretty sun dresses and I needed to be a pretty girl with a pretty sun dress. So I went shopping and I swear I tried on a million, but I found one! The shapeless dress isn't typically my style, but I really loved this one! Summer fashion is so fun and flowy, I love it!
In the evening, it seems most of the Hatch House went to a party hosted downtown. The Harvard girl who lives in the Hatch House is seriously the best at networking. She made friends with some people in the ward and helped them throw a house in their multistory house that's like a block away from The Capitol.
The roomies and I, and other Hatch Housers we picked up along the way, headed to the party!
I think a combination of the summer air, the feeling of wearing a new summer dress, being 20, and having a concussion all accumulated into a fabulous night! I socialized on the rooftop while the sun set. Crowded with a million people and a bad boy/girl ratio. And then tried to do smores outside, but too many mosquitoes. The sweet spot turned out to just be with my roommate. She and I did karaoke by ourselves and had suchhh a blast (someone gave me a tambourine) and then migrated downstairs to the living room/dance room.
It was kind of funny, so the hosts are established DCer's by now. They're not just interns. However, the connection was through the church and the church is connected to Utah so when we walked around the house, the hosts had all this Utah merch on the walls. And I kept getting confused because I was like I am in a party in DC, but there is all this Utah stuff everywhere. I guess the moral of the story is you can never escape Utah OR it is you always have connections every where you go, especially if you're connected to Utah. Still to be determined, but I lean more towards always having connections :)
We sang and danced our 20 year old hearts out. Around 10pm we decided we had ran out all our energy.
Before leaving, I dapped up the host guy and thanked him for a great party. He had never met me before. His confused face was hilarious. Roomie and I acquired a tall man to walk us home, who happened to be my physics friend who I went to the game with earlier this week! I don't think I mentioned the party to him, so it was cool that all roads lead back to Utah for him too!
I had taken a handful of vegetables for the road (walk) so you can see me posing with my broccoli in front of The Capitol on the way home.
DC is so beautiful at night. And so busy! There was a blockade on a street in front of the metro. Probably for some important person. It made for a fabulous background for pictures though!
Roomie, and physics friend and I were walking home together and we did many photo-ops (my ideas mostly) and there were these flowers that were very soft and smelt good so we wandered a bit smelling these flowers and having a good time.
day time:
walking to party:
Saturday, June 22
Hahaha, so if you are thinking by now what is she doing? doing all this running around, she has a concussion! I seen the Elder who hit her in the head myself (in that picture)
then just hold your horses...because someone has to. I sure wasn't. Today was the craziest day I think ever (besides every 4th of July back in Nevada)
Ok so my Maryland Friend and I had planned to go to the Solstice Festival on The Mall, because it is important to me. I love the Summer Solstice. And I thought it would be fun to share my astronomy nerdness with him.
But we wanted to spend more time together so our day plans just grew exponentially.
Early in the morning we went on a hike to this waterfall you could like swim in in. Which I later learned was called Kilgore Falls. It's about two hours away from Dupont, and we had to drive through Baltimore. So yay for my first time in (through) Baltimore! It was a bit weird because it was only a couple months after that bridge collapse. You always hear about things that happen on the East Coast but all of a sudden, we were taking an underground tunnel under the water instead of the bridge because it had collapsed. It was a weird feeling for a West Coast girly.
He did not properly prepare me for the hike, so I wore my walmart flip flops and though they are great for somethings, I was missing my crocs.
The waterfall was gorgeous!! Some parts you couldn't touch the bottom in. And it was such cold water. The forest around it seemed just like the Red Woods in California. It had the same kind of foliage vibe, if that makes sense. And the waterfall itself just pelted you with water. My Maryland Friend and I stood under the waterfall, tempting our contacts to fall out.
His mom took this beautiful picture I love of myself experiencing just this pure joy while being pelted with this freezing water in Maryland.
Later, we hiked around the waterfall a bit and just enjoyed the scene. It was this beauty that I just couldn't seem to compress into a memory or into words. It was like a mix of the Red Woods, Hells Half Acre Waterfall in Nevada, and the feeling of your grandma handing you a cold lemonade while sitting on the porch of her homestead.
After that, we drove to his house to change and get ready for phase two of the day.
I was absolutely amazed to learn how much of Maryland is farmland, and the small towns are akin to Alamo.
Driving through truck country added an extra layer of hominess that I already feel in the East Coast. It was like combining the comforts of the West (like seeing herds of Angus cows - which I was not expecting to see for a couple months - and John Deere tractors and diskers). Ah I loved it even more than I thought I could!
After some more driving and meeting some lovely golden doodles at his house, we went to the temple. My stake had a temple day planned, so I had planned to go while he was on the hike, but we combined all our day plans into one.
This was my second time in the DC temple, and it was as beautiful as ever!
We went back to the Hatch House after a quick charge for the Tesla, and started on cooking dinner!
I'm not the best at cooking, so I've been experimenting a lot and the learning curve has been huge. We did chicken alfredo. I was excited to make him teach me how to prepare and cook raw chicken.
We ate while watching the sunset on the roof of the Hatch House.
Unfortunately, all this running around for the past 48 hours straight made me so tired, it was better to not push myself and my poor brain. So we didn't go to the Solstice Festival.
I found out later that some of my physics friends from my physcis conference last September were hosting telescopes there, so I am still a bit disappointed but it was still such a fun and exciting day.
Sunday, June 23
I went to church, had a lovely time like always and lived out my day quietly and in sunglasses because my eyes are sensitive to light because I'm still recovering from my concussion.
I watched the beautiful sunset on the roof, and I think I slept all day.
I did start to feel a bit sick though...
There's been plenty of excitement for one week.
