I'm here!

Hi all!

So I made it out to DC. Goodbyes were hard, but that is typical me. The train ride was long but I met some nice people.

I got to know the Erdahls, a nice couple who actually knows my mom's extended family pretty well. Mr. Erdahl is a former congressman and Minnesota Secretary of State. He has some very interesting stories to tell. He told me that when he was first running for Congress, he had to go to a training seminar for the GOP. At the seminar, the speaker told them to look at the person on their left and the person on their right. He said that only one out of three would survive and win their election. The person on his left was President George W Bush, who was running for Congress at the time.

Wednesday I arrived at Union Station, got my luggage, and took a cab to the apartment building. I met two of my roommates, Hadas who is from North Carolina, and Karin who is Swedish. Claudia will be arriving from Sweden next week. There was also a opening reception for everyone in the program.

Thursday and Friday was orientation in the morning. Fairly boring, but I learned how to get around the city and navigate a little better. In the afternoons, Kelly and I went out sightseeing. On Thursday, we hit up some Smithsonian museums - American History, National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Castle. Friday, we walked through some Congressional office buildings and took a very dry tour of the Capitol. We took pictures outside of Barack Obama's former Senate office. Everything is packed up in boxes!

Today was a pretty lazy day. Slept in late, watched some TV and worked out upstairs (yes, I actually worked out). I'm headed out to Kelly's tonight. We are going to the big Inauguration concert tomorrow. Hopefully it will be warm out!

First impressions of DC... everything is either much more expensive, or completely free. Grocery shopping was much more expensive. A box of Mac and Cheese that normally costs $1.00 is $1.56. But pretty much all the museums and tours are free. Also, snow is scary. They rarely get any at all, so if it does snow, everything shuts down completely. Half an inch is enough to close all the federal office buildings, the airport, etc. Ironically, it is supposed to snow on Tuesday (Inauguration Day). If it starts to snow, they are moving it into the capitol so everyone will have to just stay home and watch it on TV.

Alright, I think that is all for now. My internship doesn't start until next Thursday, but I'll try to post another update after the Inauguration! Over and out!