One idea I decided to launch in my blog is a section entitled How Do You Know You're in Washington, in which I will give details about a specific event or random occurrence that would never have happened to me elsewhere. This section is inspired the professor of the class I take through The Washington Center who begins every class with this question and everyone always gives pretty cool answers. For example, one of my classmates was actually at the Chamber of Commerce today when President Obama spoke, which is pretty awesome and pretty much tops anything that I have to say right now!!! I hope to be able to come to you all with experiences similar to his, but let's start now!

How Do You Know You're in Washington?

Well, today on my way to work, I caught the lovely shuttle that picks us interns up every morning and transports us to Union Station, which is about 6 blocks from where I stay. Of course, that is not a bad walk here in DC, but when its freezing cold outside and you're running late for work the shuttle is your best friend for those 6 blocks! Anyway, we run our normal route to Union Station. Right before we got to the last stretch of road where the shuttle drops us off, we find a motorcycle cop blocking traffic. He parked is motorcycle horizontally in the middle of the street so as to keep us from going around. My natural inclination was something dangerous must be going on near the metro station, but then I look out and I see that he is still allowing pedestrians to cross in the direction of the station, so what in the world is going on?! Now I started to think he was being a jerk as the driver of our shuttle attempted to get his attention several times only to be ignored by him! He was going to make me late for work! Two seconds later, here comes a procession of about 6 or 7 motorcycle cops, then two suburbans, then two limos, then more motorcycle cops. We just got stuck in a Presidential Motorcade! Now of course, this was not President Obama; there was no ambulance which would be present, neither were the limos tinted enough to be a part of his motorcade, but nonetheless, you don't see this everyday!

If I could give one piece of advice right now for anyone who is going to be venturing to DC in the near future it would be to NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT YOUR CAMERA! A lot of people stress never leaving the house without your shoes, or pants, but I would argue that here the camera is far more important than any old pants or shoes! You never know who or what you will run into and you do not want to miss the opportunity to capture the moment on camera. I have had several of these moments already so maybe I should start taking my own advice.