Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: A Summer in D.C.: DAY 8: Be Adventurous

So says Jesse Wu, a young man that my roommate and I met on our bar travels on Friday. I like it - it's going to be my motto while I'm in D.C. Be adventurous, take risks, and explore, I mean it's not everyday that I get a fully paid trip to the east coast!

So, today marks the end of my first official week in D.C. It's been amazing so far -- even though I feel like I'm at the end of a fire-hose in terms of information at work -- I've never had a project with this amount of responsibility and impact. It's a little awe-inspiring how much power my boss is giving me to incorporate this project at her department. After this week of intensive training, I'm beginning to feel more and more invested and ready to hit the ground running to make sure that this project succeeds!

The infamous Jumbo Slice Pizza

And the weekend was equal parts fun and relaxing! Friday night, I found myself in Adams Morgan. It's a hip culturally diverse neighborhood in NW Washington, D.C. that's filled with bars and restaurants. My roommate Liz and I trekked over there from NoMA, ready to get some drinks and meet some new people. One of the first things we encountered was 'jumbo slice' pizza. We were looking for cheap and quick eats - what we found was a huge slice of pizza! After one slice of this, we were good to go enjoy the benefits of open bar and not worry about drinking on an empty stomach. Added bonus, apparently the pizza joint we went to was featured on the Travel Channel's Food Wars (click here to see a snippet of the episode) -- although I'm not sure which brother we patronized. I think it was the one who changed the recipe. (these last two sentences will make more sense if you watch the youtube snippet of the episode).

After pizza, Liz and I went to the bars, learned more about each other, and met new people. One thing I learned about Liz was that she's pretty gullible - I recorded the video below of her with our new friend Jesse Wu. He told her if she waved her hands fast enough, she would start to feel different. Um yeah, I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth ... but I did have the smarts to record her while she did it!

After a night of drinking and more drinking, I probably should have rested on Saturday. But nope, instead I was out in 90 degree heat with 200,000 Girl Scouts visiting National Mall. Yes, I did get a little dehydrated, but it was also pretty thrilling to see all these national monuments. And while I have twenty million pictures of monuments - I'll only show the ones that were my favorites. On another note, I'm so excited to go back and visit those museums - there's so many of them and they're all free! I think the American Indian Museum is the one I'm most excited about right now - but I'm sure all of them will be super fun and entertaining!

National Mall (also known as "Tourist") pictures below

U.S. Capitol - I'll have a private tour in 2 weeks, so excited!

Washington Monument - up close and personal!

A La White House - I got the ugly side b/c the back part was closed

P.S. I got too dehydrated (and sweaty) so I didn't make it out to Lincoln Memorial - but since I have nine more weeks here, I'm not worried at all.

And today was absolutely perfect - a leisurely Sunday spent at the National Portrait Museum. I didn't know if I was going to be into it or not, but I ended up loving it. They had some amazing exhibits (especially this Asian American NOW project that really spoke to me) and I had so much fun. I spent almost two hours combing the floors and didn't want to leave. I'd highly recommend visiting this museum if you're in D.C. and are into portraits (and interactive art). Also saw the film, Prometheus, which I enjoyed. It made me a little jumpy but a talk with Sabaa Shoraka afterwards calmed my nerves! Enjoy the photos below - since it's 12am my time, I'm going to hit the hay.

Photos and more from the National Portrait Museum