Finally, some pictures! Last Sunday, I went on TWC's tour of the monuments in the National Mall. I didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked because we didn't leave for the tour until 3, and it got pretty dark and pretty cold pretty fast. But, my roommate Kelsey and I still got to walk from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, and then we explored Foggy Bottom a little bit when we broke away from the group to find a metro station to go home (again: very dark, very cold, very fast).

The walk around the National Mall was really fun (except for the part when they made us form a giant T W C on the Lincoln Memorial steps for a photo opp...remember, cold and dark). I'm glad I went, but I definitely will be exploring more once the weather gets a little warmer; I haven't seen the Jefferson or Roosevelt Memorials since I was really little, and I definitely want to check out the Martin Luther King Memorial as well.

The World War II Memorial

Feminism!

The Lincoln Memorial

Kelsey and I in front of the reflecting pool

In lieu of other tourism, on Friday I got to go on a tour of the Capitol with Steve, one of USCHS tour guides. He's been giving tours of the Capitol since he was in college... in 1965. Needless to say, Steve is pretty well-versed on the building. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but I'm hoping to go back on again on another (albeit shorter, less exclusive) tour later in the semester. We went into the Rotunda (apparently, members of Congress are allowed to all the way up to the top, and bring any guests that they want); the original House chambers, which marks the place of Lincoln's old desk; the original Senate chamber; and the original Supreme Court chamber (definitely my favorite--I was in the room where Dred Scot was decided!).

Yesterday, on Monday I went back to the Capitol after a meeting with my Congresswomen. Part of TWC's program is that all students have to meet with a member of Congress from their district. They try to set us up with members from our personal districts and political parties, but it doesn't always work out so well. I was assigned to meet with Elizabeth Esty, who was just elected to the House from my district in Connecticut. She basically ran her campaign off of her support of women's rights, so I think it's safe to say I lucked out.

The Honorable Elizabeth Esty (or "Elizabeth," as she introduced herself) was really nice and it was a great experience. One of the students meeting her in the same group as me is from Newtown, so gun control was the main topic of conversation. We also talked a little bit about education reform in Connecticut and around the country (unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to ask her about CT's new teacher evaluation plan...) and she took a pictures with us!

After the meeting, James, one of TWC's staff members, took the three of us around the Capitol. It was a tiny bit anti-climactic for me, having been there on the day before as well, but we did get to go into the chamber where Congress votes...and then House Chamber where Obama was about to give his State of the Union address that night. So I can almost say I went to the State of the Union?

Coming up next (maybe): more on my internship, and hopefully a little bit of a more "colorful" post--this one wasn't exactly Harris Teeter "laugh out loud."