Washington D.C. will be fun, they said.

Mackenzie's Average Schedule as an Adult who is in total control of her life.

Monday
Commute: 35 minutes to Intern
9:00-5:00 - Intern
Commute: 35 minutes to dorm
Commute: 45 minutes to class
6:45-8:45 - Class [Ethics and Leadership]
Commute: 45 minutes to dorm
Study, Homework - Whenever I get back to whenever I pass out. 

Tuesday
Commute: 35 minutes to Intern
9:00-5:00 Intern
Commute: 35 minutes to dorm
Study/Goof Off/Research because no CLASS

Wednesday
Commute: 35 minutes to Intern
9:00-1:00 - Intern
Commute: 35 minutes to dorm
Commute: 45 minutes to class
3:00-5:00 - Class [Public Policy]
5:00-7:00 - Class [International Economic Policy]
7:30-8:30 - Guest Lecture [Subject to cancellation, this week it didn't happen]
Commute: 45 minutes to dorm

Thursday
Commute: 35 minutes to Intern
9:00-12:00 - Intern
Commute: 35 minutes to dorm
Commute: 45 minutes to class
2:00-4:00 - Class [Public Policy]
Commute: 45 minutes to dorm
Study/Goof Off/Research/Group meeting

Friday
Commute: 45 minutes to class
9:00-11:30 - Class [International Economic Policy]
Commute: 45 minutes to dorm
Commute: 35 minutes to Intern
1:00-5:00 - Intern 
TFAS Activities in the evening usually 

So, newsflash, being an adult is hard. Being an unpaid intern is even harder. You might remember me saying something about updating my blog more frequently to keep up with everything that's happened. In order to give the information while not writing a 13-page blog post, I've decided to condense the information into two categories: "good" and "bad."

Good Stuff
The Food here is great
Georgetown (And D.C. itself) is pretty, well, pretty
I have a laid back work environment where I can wear whatever to work
My commute is relatively short and I don't have to take the metro (saves money!)
I found a nice, cheap (also relative) grocery store so I don't have to shop at whole foods
There are a lot of cute dogs here
The museums are great
Made some good friends (and fellow hella nerds)
Went to Krispy Kreme for the first time and had a FRESH HOT DONUT
Acquired hoodies
Generally having a really great time
May go to New York to see friend??
I probably won't get fat (eating not so great, not a lot of time to cook) since I walk everywhere

Bad Stuff
Laundry is really expensive (3.50 to wash and dry)
I'm out of quarters
I'm also running out of clothes
It's really, really, really hot
The humidity is also high
A combination of these two factors makes it feel like I'm swimming to work. in sweat and tears.
Everything is generally more expensive here
I'm really really really busy and have no time to commit to any of my hobbies
I did not bring enough shorts
There is a large wealth divide here
Politician Mentality (what can YOU do for ME)
There is no free wifi
We had an ant problem in our apartment
also the shower won't get hot but you know what cold showers are INVIGORATING (not)



So I think that sums it up pretty well. I need to dump some pictures, though, so get ready to scroll. This might end up being a 13-page blog post SORRY NOT SORRY.

Okay so all the photos are uploading so I'll talk some more I guess. My three classes, Int'l Econ, Ethics/Leadership and Public Policy are pretty great. I was, uh, completely certain that Public Policy was ALSO about international affairs but it's not. We're talking about Congress and Lobbyists and it's awkward cause I have had a government course since 10th grade. Yeah. It's not so bad.

Ethics and Leadership is really fun, and thought-provoking, but it's really easy to just zone out. Also the leadership portion of the class, while informative, is a bit dull. Once you've been in a leadership position (even something as minute as running a college club) you kinda get a feel for it so classes like this just get.. a little... zzzz.... Especially after working all day.

International Econ is nice. Just talking about international economics and issues like that. Fun stuff.

All the classes are designed around giving you something you can't get from your own college (I mean, I would hope, I just took international econ last semester. In fact, I'll use that example in the next sentence.) I took International Econ last semester and got an A-. It was a class full of memorization, theorems, and calculations. This class I'm taking now, however, is a flippy flop of that. Equations don't belong here. Equations don't explain people. You can't graph public choice! So while at the UoM my class was about general Int'l Econ, here it's about Int'l Econ and PEOPLE. Pretty cool stuff.

Photos are still uploading. Shoot. Because there's not a lot of free wifi, my phone can't automatically upload these pics, so I'm having to do it all now.

Uh, I promise life here is interesting. I'm going to get bangs? I pet a dog on my first day here. The metro is cool! Not so cool when it's really full. July 4th is coming. Twenty-seven pictures left. I tried a cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake!! Apparently they have a TV show. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History? Karaoke on Saturday? Coffee? ARIZONA GREEN TEA FROM THE CAN!

Photos are done! I'm off the hook.

That left corner has become "my spot." 

IDK sometimes we congregate in here but the internet is kind-of bad.

I thought the stairs were pretty at first but then I spent a day climbing up and down them and now they just make me grumpy.

VERY IMPORTANT BUSINESS ROOM.

The backyard view of the Potomac

Aaaaaaaaaaaand the entryway. All of the above pictures are from the "office" where I work!

A grilled cheese BBQ sandwich. I hesitated too. It was beautiful.

I went through a whole box of pancake mix in a week and I've yet to buy more. This specimen looks like Jupiter.

"How do you spend your Saturday nights, Mackenzie?"
"Well..."

A lot of people will try and give you things on the street. In a good mood, I happened to stop and talk to some people dressed as nurses and doctors and received three of these. It was awesome.

I didn't see any college hunks though. :-(

Right outside our door. Since cleaned, but it was there for a few days. 

That great feeling when the barista says Mackenzie is his favorite name then spells it right.

This guy talked about the federalist papers a lot. A term I have also not heard since 10th grade.

Oh, I didn't mention this. I went to a dinner at the Fairmont! It was amazing. A beautiful building! Live piano! A bar (I can't drink but it was still cool)!

It was like a giant greenhouse but air conditioned and for humans.

And a courtyard???

My table...

Not shown: butter of three varieties carved into ornate balls. You know you're in a nice place when your butter is balled.

This was the appetizer. That pastry-looking block? Literally a rectangle of brie cheese. But it was delicious.

The main course--- of course I took pictures of all my food. Did you expect anything different??

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand dessert. 

My lovely roommate tried (tried) to have a pregaming event in our room. This sad string of lights perfectly embodies how it went.

At the Smithsonian... So cute.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'RE OUT OF COFFEE?"

ROCKS! The rocks were my favorite part.

And also... rocks.

This place is like chipotle but cheaper and better. 

My public policy group meeting at 10:30 last night in a cafeteria to try and get some work done... these are the results. 

Boiling Water

Alt. Title: My First Weekend as an Intern in Washington D.C.

Washington is hot. It's wet. It's full of energy. It's like a pot of boiling water, itching to overflow and scald an unsuspecting student walking by...


Ah, who am I kidding??? I'm not serious and dark all the time.


Washing isn't scary and won't burn you (well, the sun might, but that's besides the point). It's full of energy and people, rich and poor, senator and student, he and/or she, and we're all just trying to make it. To the big time, to the next meal, or through finals. It's a cacophony of wildly different ideals and goals intertwined with each other in a web of red string. It's chaos. It's harmony. It's... really, really, really weird.

But I like it.

Saturday, well, yesterday, I flew from Memphis to Atlanta to Washington D.C. and took a cab to my new dorm building. After unpacking and standing around for a bit, I set off to my first session and also to find food. Unsuccessful in the later and very nearly in the former, I sat my butt down in a seat of a crowded auditorium and tried my hardest to make at least one friend. I know from experience that when a group of strangers comes together they tend to stick to those they relate with or those they are comfortable with. I knew that if I didn't make friends early, I'd be unhappy, alone, and would hermit in my room because I don't like going out alone.

Thankfully for everyone, I was successful. Both friends (I count two so far) are in IEIA (institute on economics and int'l affairs) speak Chinese (limited proficiency all around) and are willingto go out and do stuff.

Sunday

This is a good thing, because the nearest Target is very far by metro, and the nearest supermarket is whole foods, which is very expensive, and seeing as I won a $25 Safeway Gift card for winning first place in icebreaker bingo (brought around by my deep, well-hidden love for bingo and ice breakers), I looked up the nearest Safeway.

It was one metro stop away. ONE. I could do it, right?

To make sure, I brought one of my friends.

It was, well, an experience.

But I got back with my totes and my Safeway membership card and had something to eat before trying and failing to get to another session on time (in my defense, I was given wrong directions), and running around for TWO HOURS playing scavenger hunt (see twitter handle @kenzietargaryen) I took a monuments tour. It was supposed to last from 7-9. At 8, the tour guide informed us that we would get off the bus and be walking for 45 to 60 minutes, and I couldn't do it. I just ran out of water. My head hurt, my feet hurt, I was cranky and tired and God knows what else-- that's when I realized something. Something convenient.

The Lincoln Memorial (where we were at) is connected by a straight line to my dorm. That line is a road. It was a ten minute walk. I know, because, with the permission and guidance of our PA (program advisor), we hitched it back to the apartment, just in time for me to miss Game of Thrones. Not a big deal. Overall, a great day. Everything is in walking distance, which just blows my mind. You can't really walk around like that in Memphis. There's no metro. City buses are, well, sketchy at best. It's amazing. It's amazing here.

Monday

Here starts my first week of DC. Monday is set aside for orientations, speaking stuff, info stuff, and then classes in the afternoon/evening. Then Tuesday, I start my internship. I'm very nervous and no matter how many times people tell me I'll do great, I won't feel better until it's actually happening and, no, this wasn't all some weird mistake!

Anyway, I think that's it for now. I'll be trying to update my blog more frequently to keep up with all the things that will inevitably happen. Pictures!

Murphy's Law

Those of you who have seen the great movie Interstellar understand what Murphy's Law is. According to Wikipedia, "Murphy's law is a popular adage that states that "things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance," or more commonly, "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong."

The obvious way to avoid a problem is to prepare for it. But how do you prepare for a problem you'd never expect?

Well, I can tell you that stress-eating and hiding in your room are not the correct answers. Coffee helps a little, but it helped more in college when things were constantly moving. Blankets? Boyfriends? Candy? Teddy bears? Everything kinda picked up at the beginning of this year, and suddenly I went from happy-go-lucky college student to young woman planning a huge event for the fall, planning events for her club, and flying out to the capitol to, if the group messages reveal anything, struggle to stay focused amidst a bunch of other students.

I'm not sorry it happened. Well, to be honest, sometimes I wished I wasn't so involved. It's so draining waking up, as a 20 year old, with several high-importance emails you have to reply to. Events you have to plan, whether you wanted to or not. Things you have to remember to do because no one else will. It doesn't feel fair sometimes, and sometimes I just want to curl up and pretend that the world outside of my bed doesn't exist. Other days I want to become a cinnamon roll. See picture below.

Disregarding cinnamon rolls and wistful thinking, I'm stuck with all of this responsibility whether I like it or not. I'm just having trouble adapting. Like, I probably can't even lead a successful DnD group. Why am I leading this club???

But it's whatever. I gotta step up to the plate. Cause those freshmen need me. I think. Anyway.

                                                                                                                                                                   

Saturday I will unceremoniously drive my sleepy but to Memphis, where my flight to Atlanta leaves at seven in the morning. I have a layover there, then I fly to the big ol' capitol, where I will someone drag three suitcases, a backpack, and a teddy bear to a cab which will drive me 15-20 minutes to my new apartment. There I will meet my new roommate, Tori, who likes photography, running, concerts, and hanging out with her friends. To be honest, I don't know how to tell her she's rooming with a huge nerd. After various discussions, I've decided to try and own it. Yeah. Nerd. DnD on tuesdays, Raids on the weekends, and LCS saturday afternoons. 

I'm also a part of a lot of group messages about the program. Most people seem pretty chill, but a small (small, I say, as I have no idea how many people are in this message) seem to be determined to party. At the apartments, on boats, in clubs. Finding boys. Wine! Tequila! PREGAMING! Decorating the room! Guitars! Singing. Dancing!

So... basically, college. I don't know what I expected. I guess I would have gotten bored of philosophical discussions. I guess I'm excited. At the very least, Museums and history! And, of course, classes. And internship. I'll have plenty to keep me busy.

Also planning a trip to New York. I have a friend (several, actually) who is having a concert on the 20th, so... why not?

                                                                                                                                                                   

I'm pretty much packed. Still have to clean my room up. Can't shake this sick feeling from my stomach, though. I think it's just nerves. I got really nervous around midterms/finals too. Till my departure, I will continue glaring at my email inbox until an email inevitably arises telling me that something else had gone wrong. And I will fix it. And things will rotate, intermittent with coffee and bagel breaks.

I guess I'm ready. I don't think I could have done much else to prepare. Just gotta relax before I take the big jump, huh?

A real life, totally legitimate picture of me sitting, eating, and waiting for something to go wrong. Until then, I will continue to sit, eat, and ponder whatever pandas ponder about.