I was recently asked to name my least favorite thing about D.C. I thought and thought about it, and have continued to think about it ever since, and I still haven’t thought of an answer. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite; I keep finding more and more things to fall in love with.

I think one of the best ways to fall in love with a place and learn to call it home is to find little places to call your own. Thankfully, I’ve made friends who like to eat just as much as I do, and thankfully, we’ve been just as lucky to fall in love with the D.C. dining scene.

I have always enjoyed ethnic food, but my small town in Kentucky isn’t really a mecca of global cuisine. D.C., on the other hand, boasts just as many foreign restaurants as it has inhabitants. One of my favorite things is to walk down the street and be able to hear different languages being spoken, even if I can’t understand a word the speakers are saying. Being able to enjoy the cuisine of these different cultures is beyond amazing.

One of our favorite spots is Dupont Circle’s La Tomate. The street corner Italian restaurant is always bustling with young professionals that we almost blend in with, just until we have to turn down the wine menu and reveal our 20-year-old-intern status to the world. The freshly made pastas, breads, and desserts are more than enough to make up for it though. My favorites? Noodles in a perfectly crafted eggplant and tomato sauce with browned mozzarella on top, followed by a lemon crème brûlée. Hope you’re not drooling yet.

Another favorite is Chinatown’s Chinatown Express. It’s one of those hole-in-the-wall places that take a leap of faith to dine in, but the homemade fried noodles and wontons cannot be beaten. Make sure if you ever go with friends and order a variety though—the portions are huge and you’ll want to try everything.

Of course, Washington is famous for much more than their food. Last weekend, I got to attend the famous Kennedy Center for a Pops Orchestra concert. Words cannot express how much I love artsy events, but orchestra concerts have just never been my thing. I appreciate how much talent the people have, but after about two songs, everything sounds the same to my untrained ears. This concert was a little different though. Instead of playing 18th century pieces by composers whose names I can’t pronounce, they played Disney music. For two hours. With accompanying videos and singers. I think my favorite part was the audience though: almost all of us were college-aged kids spending our Friday night reveling at an orchestra.

Another important part of Washington is being a tourist (while stealthily trying to pretend you’re not actually a tourist). In my non-touristy touristiness, I have gotten to explore two really neat monuments. The first is the basilica on Catholic University’s campus, called the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Since that’s a mouthful, I just call it a really big church. In fact, it’s actually the largest Catholic church in America and one of the ten largest churches in the world. It’s filled with beautiful gold mosaics and almost makes you feel like you’re somewhere in Italy. Another place I got the chance to tour is the White House. It was last minute and required me to wear dress clothes on a Saturday morning, but one of my friends used her connections (networking is really all D.C. is about) and got us in! It looked exactly how I imagined, and has the most amazing views of Washington’s cityscape.

And since this program is all about interning, I suppose I owe you an update on that as well. The past week, a ton of work has gone into organizing the Chicago mayoral and aldermanic debate party Rock the Vote is hosting next week. It’s been really fun to read through candidate questionnaires, reach out to local celebrities, and craft text-in poll questions. I know the myth around D.C. interns is that all we do is fetch coffee for our supervisors, but at least in my office, that’s totally untrue. I have already been given so many responsibilities as a co-worker, not a lowly intern, and I wouldn’t give up this opportunity for anything.