Old-timey things

(I have pictures from all this stuff, but I'm too lazy to post them. If you want to see them, check out my facebook in a few days)

I can’t believe it’s been a week since the last time I posted. I was doing so well with writing every day, but nothing too exciting happened until the past couple of days. Friday, my roommates and I took the Metro to Adams Morgan, which is where the college and post college age students usually congregate on Friday and Saturday nights. We went for happy hour at a place called Bourbon and it was pretty dead, but fun. We went with two girls my roommate works with and we just sat for a few hours and talked. The area is pretty neat, with a bunch of interesting bars, restaurants, and shops, most of which I have never heard of. Granted, there were the typical McDonalds and Starbucks, but once you hit the actual Adams Morgan strip, those chains almost dissipate and it was all local businesses.

On Saturday, my roommate’s fiancé drove us to Georgetown. Normally, you have to take one of the Metros to the last stop, hop on a bus, scale a few buildings, jump over a few canyons, and sacrifice a few virgins to get there, but because he has a car and a GPS, we took that instead. Just like Chinablock…I mean Chinatown, it was not what I expected. I heard it was a town filled with beautiful houses and old-timey attractions. It was, but it was also full of high-end stores. We started the tour at Georetown University, where the rich kids spend Saturday afternoons in board shorts throwing bean bags through holes in pieces of wood on the perfectly cut and groomed grass just beyond the iron-gated fence. Don’t get me wrong, I know it is an amazing school and you probably have to be way smart (or pretend to be) to go there, I’m just jealous. We then drove to this parking garage that ended up costing us $18 to park there…for only a few hours. Welcome to DC. Other than that, Georgetown is filled with old townhouses just sitting there ready to rape you and steal all your money. If living there or going to school there doesn’t put you in the poorhouse, then the Aldo, Lucky Brand Jeans, Coach, Juicy Couture, etc stores…that line the streets of M and Wisconsin will. (Isn’t it ironic that all these fancy schmancy stores are on Wisconsin Ave? I thought so). Anyway, we went to this pizza place that Frommer says is supposed to be the best pizza place. Not only that, but the restaurant has a special root beer that is made without fructose syrup or something. It was good considering I have not had soda in ages.

Later that night, we decided to test our bar abilities by walking five miles in the snow without shoes to get to Old Alexandria…okay so we had shoes and it wasn’t snowing, but it sprinkled and it was a very long walk. We went to Old Alexandria which has old shops, stores, and restaurants (seeing a theme here?) and ended up searching the streets for a bar or a restaurant that was open at 9-10 at night. Didn’t think it was going to be hard, but yet, it was. There was pretty much only one place that we ended up going which was very good, and very expensive when it came to alcohol. $35 later we were all pretty darn tipsy walking the five miles back to our apartment. It was a good night; we got to experience the real DC (even though we were in Virginia) and hang out with each other.

Yesterday was Monday and the day I usually dread because I leave my apartment at eight in the morning and usually don’t get home until like 10 or 10:30. But yesterday I was actually looking forward to my programming because we got a free tour of the Newseum which is this brand new museum that focuses on news and journalism. There are 15 theatres and numerous exhibits ranging from the first amendment rights to 9/11 to all the Pulitzer Prize winning photos to parts of the actual Berlin wall. This place is not just for people who love journalism, but anyone who is mildly interested in news. In the 9/11 exhibit, part of one of the towers is on display, along with items found in the wreckage. One of the really cool parts of the museum is the 4-D movie that shakes your seat as you watch three people who made breakthroughs in journalism.

Last night I had my class which used to be in the John Hopkins DC branch with missing tiles and leaky roofs but then moved to the AP Washington offices…yes, the actual Associated Press office (my professor is a journalist there). Anyway, we were given a tour and two other girls and I had our cameras out ready to document the very rare chance we had to be in the AP office. The conference room we were shuffled into when we got there had special gold-plated (made in China, so probably lead/gold plated) coasters. I want one so bad. I know it’s dumb, but how cool would it be to have an actual coaster from the AP office. New goal…I think so! We are meeting there for class from now on so I have about six more chances to witness some huge story that hopefully will break between the hours of 6-9 p.m.