DC Chronicles Part I
So.....I'm here in DC and life is pretty sweet. Right now my roommates and I are having a discussion on race/school/money/awesome stuff. It is refreshing to be in a place where EVERYONE is quite articulate and educated. It rocks my socks.
So, a day by day synopsis will commence, because I have had some awesome fucking adventures!
Thursday: Woke up (never really slept) at 4:00 in the morning. I got to the airport by 4:30 and left at 5:35. The early morning flight was fairly uneventful, basically, but it was the next flight that was memorable. I took a 7:45 flight out of Houston bound for DC. When I was getting on the plane, a man in a biohazard suit exited the plane, carrying something with clamps in a biohazard bag. Understandably, i freaked the fuck out. They told me "not to worry" and that "everything was nominal, but to keep myself safe". Whatever, that was the least of my worries on that fucking flight. Now, if any of you chaps remember the weather on that date, i don't really expect you to, but it was raining a shitload from houston to louisiana. The turbulence was unimaginable. Everyone on the flight was sick. When I mean everyone, I was dry heaving for a while, along with 8 out of 9 people on the flight. Turbulence lasted for like 90 minutes, because we had to fly super slow due to lightning. It sucked. A lot. When we finally landed in DC, it was noon local time. I got to my house about 1:00 and fell in love. We live in a dutch house, with 5 bedrooms and 11 people. My roommate is from UT Austin. His name is Matt, and he is a really nice guy. My other housemates are cool, we get along great. Unlike the other house, but that is a whole other story. I helped most of the other fellows put their shit in their rooms, and ran over to safeway for a caffeine run. COKE HERE IS REALLY EXPENSIVE! 3 (2) liter bottles is like 11 dollars. I almost had an aneurysm. I got some anyway, however, and the day progressed. We had some good barbeque and just hung out for a while, then unpacked. By the end of that, we were all trashed and crashed.
Friday: We woke up and went to orientation. It was OK, fairly boring. Then, some of us walked from the white house back to our house, close to the senate. It has to have been about 4 miles in all, it was awesome. We then went to a bar for happy hour, where i proceeded to drink nothing. Woot me. I met my DC mentor, her name is Katie Short. No jokes, please, she's quite short. After that, I went to see the movie Freedom Writers. It was seriously awesome, I cried twice. I totally recommend it to all. All in all, not a bad day.
Saturday: Scavenger hunt day. The scavenger hunt was city-wide and was about a 10 hour process, all over town without stopping. We did the Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, and WWII memorials. We did Smithsonians. We did Ford's Theatre. We did other stuff that was just crazy and hellish. It was hell on earth. Fun, but also incredibly exhausting. We walk everywhere, to metro stops, places to eat and buy stuff, there is no car at any of our houses. Not that we would WANT to drive in this place, these drivers make Valley drivers look like model drivers. Dangerous does not even begin to describe them. After the scavenger hunt, we all gathered together and ate pizza. Some of us (including me) watched crash, some people went to a hockey game, and others went out drinking. A good time was had by all.
Sunday: A mostly free day, with lots of shopping and carrying on. I bought V for Vendetta!!! I'm ober excited, and by ober, i mean its my favorite film so fuck you guys it makes me happy. We then had an incredible dinner with Congressman Archer, benefactor of this program. He is an amazing man, and while I do not agree with all of his beliefs, his passion and drive are incredibly inspiring. He cares so much about educating the future, it just makes ones heart bleed. Besides, it was the best salmon I have EVER had, and the first real alcohol I had in DC (wine, so good!). After, we had a house meeting about our pet peeves. Everybody was surprised that I have no real pet peeves, but they just don't know me yet. I'm totally cool with sharing my shit, and apologized if I jokingly offend them later, and they all thought it was "cute". They'll probably see soon enough why I did....
Monday: We had a tour of the PENTAGON! It was totally awesome. The memorial in the building to the 9/11 people is sweet. The building is like a city, 22000 people work in it. They have everything a body could possibly need on the main concourse, from dentists to pharmacists to barbers to food shops. It is quite laborous to get in, so once you're in, no OUT! Seriously, the building was nice, lots of memorials and stuff for all to enjoy. After, I went to lunch in Chinatown, and had some decent sesame chicken. Late in the afternoon, I went to the Washington Monument and saw DC from the top, again. It was really cool, the city is so beautiful. After, I went to the Pentagon City mall with Ken, who is a pretty cool guy from UT Dallas. He's an ex-marine and just had a son with his wife! We were on the scavenger hunt team together. We looked for some stuff, but did not find anything. After all that went down, I went with another one of my roommates, Schweta ( I know i misspelled that shit) to find out where her internship is. Boy, that girl is good looking! It is a pleasure to be seen with her, and she has a great personality. We talk a lot about stuff, she is PreMed and government, so she has a rather unique outlook on stuff. She's also Indian, and did I mention she was hot? There are some real characters in this house, like Layron. Layron is the single funniest human being I have ever seen. He is just a truly fun guy to be around, he always has a laugh and a smile, but is very intelligent and has interesting insight into things (interesting insight is redundant, i know that!). There are others here, but those three (Matt, Schweta, and Layron) are the people I know best here yet. That slights no one here, there are others that are really close, just I know those the best.
Guys, this city is amazing. There is just no other word for it. Expensive as hell, but really fun. It makes me sad that I have to leave it in a few months, I love this city in a way that I have never experienced with the valley (surprise!). This place, these awesome roommates, they really make this trip worth being away from everyone in the valley I care about.
I have the most awesome surprise for all you readers next post, probably, but details are not confirmed so its not nice to count chickens before they hatch. Friends, be safe and be good. Keep it real (and as Layron would say: Holy). Yes, keep it real and holy. Please. I miss you all very much, even you Bryan, and hope that all of you are well. I will post more frequently than this, but fatigue is kicking my ass at this point, heinously. If y'all need anything, give me a call or email.
Kevin
P.S. for midget: If you want to come up for spring break, I think things will work out great. Let me know ASAP when you know.
P.P.S: If anyone else wants to visit, let me know!
So, a day by day synopsis will commence, because I have had some awesome fucking adventures!
Thursday: Woke up (never really slept) at 4:00 in the morning. I got to the airport by 4:30 and left at 5:35. The early morning flight was fairly uneventful, basically, but it was the next flight that was memorable. I took a 7:45 flight out of Houston bound for DC. When I was getting on the plane, a man in a biohazard suit exited the plane, carrying something with clamps in a biohazard bag. Understandably, i freaked the fuck out. They told me "not to worry" and that "everything was nominal, but to keep myself safe". Whatever, that was the least of my worries on that fucking flight. Now, if any of you chaps remember the weather on that date, i don't really expect you to, but it was raining a shitload from houston to louisiana. The turbulence was unimaginable. Everyone on the flight was sick. When I mean everyone, I was dry heaving for a while, along with 8 out of 9 people on the flight. Turbulence lasted for like 90 minutes, because we had to fly super slow due to lightning. It sucked. A lot. When we finally landed in DC, it was noon local time. I got to my house about 1:00 and fell in love. We live in a dutch house, with 5 bedrooms and 11 people. My roommate is from UT Austin. His name is Matt, and he is a really nice guy. My other housemates are cool, we get along great. Unlike the other house, but that is a whole other story. I helped most of the other fellows put their shit in their rooms, and ran over to safeway for a caffeine run. COKE HERE IS REALLY EXPENSIVE! 3 (2) liter bottles is like 11 dollars. I almost had an aneurysm. I got some anyway, however, and the day progressed. We had some good barbeque and just hung out for a while, then unpacked. By the end of that, we were all trashed and crashed.
Friday: We woke up and went to orientation. It was OK, fairly boring. Then, some of us walked from the white house back to our house, close to the senate. It has to have been about 4 miles in all, it was awesome. We then went to a bar for happy hour, where i proceeded to drink nothing. Woot me. I met my DC mentor, her name is Katie Short. No jokes, please, she's quite short. After that, I went to see the movie Freedom Writers. It was seriously awesome, I cried twice. I totally recommend it to all. All in all, not a bad day.
Saturday: Scavenger hunt day. The scavenger hunt was city-wide and was about a 10 hour process, all over town without stopping. We did the Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, and WWII memorials. We did Smithsonians. We did Ford's Theatre. We did other stuff that was just crazy and hellish. It was hell on earth. Fun, but also incredibly exhausting. We walk everywhere, to metro stops, places to eat and buy stuff, there is no car at any of our houses. Not that we would WANT to drive in this place, these drivers make Valley drivers look like model drivers. Dangerous does not even begin to describe them. After the scavenger hunt, we all gathered together and ate pizza. Some of us (including me) watched crash, some people went to a hockey game, and others went out drinking. A good time was had by all.
Sunday: A mostly free day, with lots of shopping and carrying on. I bought V for Vendetta!!! I'm ober excited, and by ober, i mean its my favorite film so fuck you guys it makes me happy. We then had an incredible dinner with Congressman Archer, benefactor of this program. He is an amazing man, and while I do not agree with all of his beliefs, his passion and drive are incredibly inspiring. He cares so much about educating the future, it just makes ones heart bleed. Besides, it was the best salmon I have EVER had, and the first real alcohol I had in DC (wine, so good!). After, we had a house meeting about our pet peeves. Everybody was surprised that I have no real pet peeves, but they just don't know me yet. I'm totally cool with sharing my shit, and apologized if I jokingly offend them later, and they all thought it was "cute". They'll probably see soon enough why I did....
Monday: We had a tour of the PENTAGON! It was totally awesome. The memorial in the building to the 9/11 people is sweet. The building is like a city, 22000 people work in it. They have everything a body could possibly need on the main concourse, from dentists to pharmacists to barbers to food shops. It is quite laborous to get in, so once you're in, no OUT! Seriously, the building was nice, lots of memorials and stuff for all to enjoy. After, I went to lunch in Chinatown, and had some decent sesame chicken. Late in the afternoon, I went to the Washington Monument and saw DC from the top, again. It was really cool, the city is so beautiful. After, I went to the Pentagon City mall with Ken, who is a pretty cool guy from UT Dallas. He's an ex-marine and just had a son with his wife! We were on the scavenger hunt team together. We looked for some stuff, but did not find anything. After all that went down, I went with another one of my roommates, Schweta ( I know i misspelled that shit) to find out where her internship is. Boy, that girl is good looking! It is a pleasure to be seen with her, and she has a great personality. We talk a lot about stuff, she is PreMed and government, so she has a rather unique outlook on stuff. She's also Indian, and did I mention she was hot? There are some real characters in this house, like Layron. Layron is the single funniest human being I have ever seen. He is just a truly fun guy to be around, he always has a laugh and a smile, but is very intelligent and has interesting insight into things (interesting insight is redundant, i know that!). There are others here, but those three (Matt, Schweta, and Layron) are the people I know best here yet. That slights no one here, there are others that are really close, just I know those the best.
Guys, this city is amazing. There is just no other word for it. Expensive as hell, but really fun. It makes me sad that I have to leave it in a few months, I love this city in a way that I have never experienced with the valley (surprise!). This place, these awesome roommates, they really make this trip worth being away from everyone in the valley I care about.
I have the most awesome surprise for all you readers next post, probably, but details are not confirmed so its not nice to count chickens before they hatch. Friends, be safe and be good. Keep it real (and as Layron would say: Holy). Yes, keep it real and holy. Please. I miss you all very much, even you Bryan, and hope that all of you are well. I will post more frequently than this, but fatigue is kicking my ass at this point, heinously. If y'all need anything, give me a call or email.
Kevin
P.S. for midget: If you want to come up for spring break, I think things will work out great. Let me know ASAP when you know.
P.P.S: If anyone else wants to visit, let me know!