Summer in DC Day 1 and 2!!!

Day 1 June 6th 8:40 am

Fight departure out of Sea-tac airport.

The pleasant journey on the plane consisted of two sprite cups, one snack pack (crackers and cheese) and two movies (Jumper and 27 dresses). Along with an opening journal entry.

4:30pm (eastern time) arrival time.

It was a smooth arrival in to Reagan airport. My relative, Nancy, picked me up and took me back to her beautiful house (this first picture is Nancy's home). I can not imagine an easier transition in to a new place. Thank you so much Nancy and Dick! The air conditioned house keeps everyone comfy in this hot, humid weather. With temperatures in the 90's this weekend DC weather in June is hotter than usual.

That evening after a salad and a tuna casserole dinner I visited with Nancy and Dick and their friends Barbara and Alex. Such a great host family, I feel so welcome here. Day 1 a successful day of traveling, complete.

Day 2 June 7th

8:30 am wake up time- I didn't need to wake up at this time I guess I was just excited. Nancy made me waffles for breakfast!

Nancy and I went and visited her sons Joe and Richard his wife Shaunessy and their son Connor in a neighborhood called Reston. It is a 'planned community' layed out so that families are within walking distance to commercial venues with grocery stores and other ammenities they may need. They can also find their way to one of the many man-made lakes, nearby, and enjoy that. These 'colonial' style homes look nice and keep a traditional theme.

From there before lunch Nancy and I took a trip to the grocery store. I was able to pick up some survival food for me to have at my townhouse. She, also, offered a future Costco run. Nancy says, "Everything is more expensive downtown." One of my roommates, Jayjay confirmed that. She spent 7 DOLLARS on orange juice, alone.

After my ham sandwich Dick and Nancy drove me to the WISH (Washington Intern Student Housing) office to get my house key. Right in the black mailbox just where they said it would be I found my key. Literally, 2 minutes later we rounded Massachussets Ave. on to Maryland Ave. NE. And there I spotted it townhouse number 220 my summer home! An awesome three story townhouse. I can't describe how wonderful it is you will just have to look at it for yourself. I will post pictures. Nancy said it was easily a three million dollar townhouse. And here we are eleven girl interns sharing it for a summer. My first housemmate I met was Jayjay. She showed me around and all the shelves and places I could put my food and things. She showed me the deck and told me neighbor is the senator from Mississippi. She passed on the message that he told us if we needed anything just to knock on his door. A cleaning person comes twice a week and maintenance comes once a week as well. To my sorority sisters I can only say it reminds me of a mini "Theta" house. Although, much more unique because it is so well-maintained, traditional and colonial. Needless to say I LOVE it!

Another roommate Dana and I have been texting and I am looking forward to meeting her tomorrow when our paths finally cross. She was shopping and taking her LSAT class while I stopped at the townhouse. I will also hopefully get to see my Washington girlfriend, Archita tomorrow. She arrived safely this morning with her brother and will live just a few bus stops away from my townhouse.

Nancy, Dick, Alex, Barbara and I also got a chance today to look at three homes. Alex and Barbara are looking in to buying a new home and it gave me a chance to check out the Real Estate market on the East coast. It is true the market these days is slow wherever you go and sellers keep dropping their prices. The three houses were very nice and again brick and colonial styles are very popular. Split- houses are common where the kitchen, living room and dining room are on the main floor, the bedrooms are upstairs and another guest bedroom, bathroom and common area are on the bottom floor.

Once finished looking at the houses we all returned to Nancy's house for dinner. After dinner Alex told me he had an extra ticket to the 'National vs. Giants' baseball game and invited me to go. I was more than happy to accept. We took the convenient metro all the way to the game (about 35min. away) got off and rode up the escalator to face the Nationals wonderful stadium that just opened this year. A crowd of about 30 to 35 thousand joined us as we watched the game. We toured the stadium and watched from the 3rd baseline while drinking lots of water and eating chocolate ice cream. Baseball games don't get much better than that. It was hot and humid but surprisingly the weather didn't effect me that much. Being a west-coast girl I thought it may be an issue but thus far it hasn't. I stayed hydrated and by the 8th inning I even enjoyed a slight, cool breeze through my hair.

Unfortunatly, the Giants beat the Nationals 6-0. It was neck and neck until the 8th inning and then it was all downhill for the Giants from there.

We rode the metro back and made it to Nancy and Dick's house by 10pm.
Alex and I reported back to Nancy, Dick and Barbara about the good game we had at the ballpark (other than the losing part) and then everyone headed off to bed.

That concludes my second day of adventures in WA DC!