Memoirs from America's capital
Washington DC was on my list of things to do because my best friend of all time, Erica, is now working down there for the National Institute of Health as a Research Assistant in the Child and Maternal Health division... pretty heavy stuff.
After gaining a couple of years of work experience, Erica plans to apply to grad school and spend the next 7 years getting her PhD and.... well you get the idea. I am in awe of Erica's ambition and achievement to date and seeing her again after 9 years time was always going to be intense....
Well after a quickly passing 4 hour train ride, I rocked up to Washington DC, the nation's capital. As it was a Sunday night, and freezing out, may I add, Erica could pick me up from the Train Station when I bumped in. After an awfully awkward greeting, her and I sat down in her new looking apartment and chewed the fat of the last decade of our lives. Mike, Erica's housemate joined in a little after and we spoke to the early hours of the morning.
The following day was a Monday and Erica had to go to work, so she gave me a bit of a briefing before leaving me in bed to get up at my own leisure (oh what a treat that was) and left for her "dreaded real job". DC was the first place I had visited where the weather had not been on my side and it poured down all day... I managed to venture out in the arvo to travel into the city and gather info and "a plan" for the following day from the Visitor's Center.
That evening, mike and Erica treated me to a lovely meal out at a quaint Ethiopian Restaurant, before we headed back to the Apartment for good wine and D and M's.
On Tuesday, I braved the less than savoury weather and headed out to see what I could see of Washington DC.
I visited the Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, as well as the Museums of Natural History and Air and Space and also went on a bus tour of the city. All in all I found each of these landmarks to be really interesting and informative however the city overall had a glazed over and polished kind of feel. A lot of patriotism and a very clean city only tells half the story of USA's history, I suspect....
On Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of meeting Erica's most recent Ex, Rich, a Law Student at Uni of Virginia and we all went out for tea at a Mexican restaurant, where they served delicious margaritas before heading back to the apartment again for more drinks and convos. The next day was Thanksgiving Eve, and all four of us (in three seperate cars, might I add) were headed for NJ/NY area to visit the fams for Thanksgiving.
The looming 6 hour car ride turned out to be Erica's and my best chance to make up for lost time, even if feeling suicidal in the horrific traffic!
After gaining a couple of years of work experience, Erica plans to apply to grad school and spend the next 7 years getting her PhD and.... well you get the idea. I am in awe of Erica's ambition and achievement to date and seeing her again after 9 years time was always going to be intense....
Well after a quickly passing 4 hour train ride, I rocked up to Washington DC, the nation's capital. As it was a Sunday night, and freezing out, may I add, Erica could pick me up from the Train Station when I bumped in. After an awfully awkward greeting, her and I sat down in her new looking apartment and chewed the fat of the last decade of our lives. Mike, Erica's housemate joined in a little after and we spoke to the early hours of the morning.
The following day was a Monday and Erica had to go to work, so she gave me a bit of a briefing before leaving me in bed to get up at my own leisure (oh what a treat that was) and left for her "dreaded real job". DC was the first place I had visited where the weather had not been on my side and it poured down all day... I managed to venture out in the arvo to travel into the city and gather info and "a plan" for the following day from the Visitor's Center.
That evening, mike and Erica treated me to a lovely meal out at a quaint Ethiopian Restaurant, before we headed back to the Apartment for good wine and D and M's.
On Tuesday, I braved the less than savoury weather and headed out to see what I could see of Washington DC.
I visited the Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, as well as the Museums of Natural History and Air and Space and also went on a bus tour of the city. All in all I found each of these landmarks to be really interesting and informative however the city overall had a glazed over and polished kind of feel. A lot of patriotism and a very clean city only tells half the story of USA's history, I suspect....
On Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of meeting Erica's most recent Ex, Rich, a Law Student at Uni of Virginia and we all went out for tea at a Mexican restaurant, where they served delicious margaritas before heading back to the apartment again for more drinks and convos. The next day was Thanksgiving Eve, and all four of us (in three seperate cars, might I add) were headed for NJ/NY area to visit the fams for Thanksgiving.
The looming 6 hour car ride turned out to be Erica's and my best chance to make up for lost time, even if feeling suicidal in the horrific traffic!
posted by chan at 10:46 PM
1 Comments:
This seems to have taken some time to get on line; however great to hear the continuing tale. Hope you sent Erica and family our best regards. Thanks for the update...
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