Travis called us tonight. He said I could write for his day. So, Monday was mostly a homework day. Travis spent a lot of time studying and worrying about too much homework. He had one class to go to. Amy came over in the afternoon. Travis had a study session in the evening and then called his family. We had a long, refreshing visit. His mom told him to go to bed earlier.
Love, Dan, Brenda, Darcy & Erica
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Only one word... CONVOCATION
So, to day, we woke up around 8 and got ready to go back across the river to Georgetown once more. Amy and I walked over to Georgetown first. We went to the bookstore to get some sheets, so she could sleep in her room. She seems to be getting along pretty well with Claire, her roommate. Then, we met her dad downstairs in the courtyard outside New South, and we started to walk to the Convocation service. All of the new students had to line up along some buildings, while the rest of the people, parents and such, had to get in a line to go to the stadium where it was to be held. There was also a tent that was outside that had a large projector in it that would show the events that went on inside the arena. The students would walk through the tent, and then into the arena. We heard, as we were standing in the .3 mile line that the arena and tents were already full, but we could watch it from the building that the bookstore was in. We walked up some stairs and then over to the correct building.
In the building, there were already lots of people sitting down, so Mark and I just stood by one edge. It was very cool in the building I was kinda glad that we weren't in the tent. The projector that we had had recently gotten a bulb replaced, so there was an error message on the screen at all times. It said, "Unless you change to a new i amp. POWER will be off 5 minutes later." This covered the top 4th of the page, and usually covered the speakers face. There was also a blinking message above that one. Oh, and to specify, the writing was backed by a solid red, so you couldn't see through it at all. The service itself was pretty good, but it took about 20 minutes for the students to enter, and then 8 more for all of the staff. There wasn't much space between people either. We saw Amy way in the distance, and it was only enough to be relatively sure that it was her. We watched the speeches and heard the choir and band play many pieces. Both the band and choir were made of some freshman.
I'm getting really tired now. I think I'll do a quick version, since nothing of great importance happened, except for one thing.
So, we ate lunch on the grass, and we got a shady spot, because it was really hot. Amy and I said bye to Mark, and he headed back to Rosslyn to get his things and go to the airport. I headed home, but waited at the bus stop just in case it would come today(it didn't yesterday). I sat next to this nice Spanish speaking lady, and we talked about college and where I was going and what I was studying. She said that sh knew someone that was into physics and he was a tutor. He made about 60 dollars an hour and was almost always busy. I'm not sure if it was for college, or possibly for a large High School or a group of them, but anyway, that made me happy, because I could probably do that.
As I got to my dorm, I was flooded with emails. There were two package notifications (only 1 package though). There were also some more things regarding homework, so that made me stressed out. I did all the required work, but still have some reading to do. It isn't due til tuesday, so I should be mostly good. I think I'm understanding Physics a little more now also, which is good, because the variables were freaking me out a while ago. So, I did homework for a while, ane then tried to pick up my packages. There was a really big line all the way down the hall, so I decided to come back later. So I did, but there was still a big line. I gave up and did some more reading, but then, I got really hungry so I decided that I should probably get it, because I knew that one of them was from my mom and had some food in it. I brought my laptop over there so I could read and wait at te same time. That wasn't a new concept at all, because most people were doing that, but I just gave in and went over there. There was a lot of good food in there and I was very happy to receive the box. Thank You family! I was wondering what the noodles and chicken were. Did you make them? The measurements would have been hard unless you made it. I am very thankful for the package, regardless. So, for the last hour and a half or so, I have been blogging, because a lot had happened and I wanted to let everyone know.
Goodnight All! I Miss Montana!
In the building, there were already lots of people sitting down, so Mark and I just stood by one edge. It was very cool in the building I was kinda glad that we weren't in the tent. The projector that we had had recently gotten a bulb replaced, so there was an error message on the screen at all times. It said, "Unless you change to a new i amp. POWER will be off 5 minutes later." This covered the top 4th of the page, and usually covered the speakers face. There was also a blinking message above that one. Oh, and to specify, the writing was backed by a solid red, so you couldn't see through it at all. The service itself was pretty good, but it took about 20 minutes for the students to enter, and then 8 more for all of the staff. There wasn't much space between people either. We saw Amy way in the distance, and it was only enough to be relatively sure that it was her. We watched the speeches and heard the choir and band play many pieces. Both the band and choir were made of some freshman.
I'm getting really tired now. I think I'll do a quick version, since nothing of great importance happened, except for one thing.
So, we ate lunch on the grass, and we got a shady spot, because it was really hot. Amy and I said bye to Mark, and he headed back to Rosslyn to get his things and go to the airport. I headed home, but waited at the bus stop just in case it would come today(it didn't yesterday). I sat next to this nice Spanish speaking lady, and we talked about college and where I was going and what I was studying. She said that sh knew someone that was into physics and he was a tutor. He made about 60 dollars an hour and was almost always busy. I'm not sure if it was for college, or possibly for a large High School or a group of them, but anyway, that made me happy, because I could probably do that.
As I got to my dorm, I was flooded with emails. There were two package notifications (only 1 package though). There were also some more things regarding homework, so that made me stressed out. I did all the required work, but still have some reading to do. It isn't due til tuesday, so I should be mostly good. I think I'm understanding Physics a little more now also, which is good, because the variables were freaking me out a while ago. So, I did homework for a while, ane then tried to pick up my packages. There was a really big line all the way down the hall, so I decided to come back later. So I did, but there was still a big line. I gave up and did some more reading, but then, I got really hungry so I decided that I should probably get it, because I knew that one of them was from my mom and had some food in it. I brought my laptop over there so I could read and wait at te same time. That wasn't a new concept at all, because most people were doing that, but I just gave in and went over there. There was a lot of good food in there and I was very happy to receive the box. Thank You family! I was wondering what the noodles and chicken were. Did you make them? The measurements would have been hard unless you made it. I am very thankful for the package, regardless. So, for the last hour and a half or so, I have been blogging, because a lot had happened and I wanted to let everyone know.
Goodnight All! I Miss Montana!
Amy moves to Georgetown.
So, as you may have noticed, I didn't post a blog yesterday. This fact was the result of my lacking the access to a computer. I know this sounds improbable, but I'll explain throughout the rest of this blog.
I got up early on Saturday morning to go help Amy move into her dorm. She was currently staying with her dad in Rosslyn, which is right across the river from Georgetown. I got up at 6:20, because I found out that the AU shuttle bus doesn't run on the weekends until 8, and Amy really wanted to get into her dorm. So, I took a shower, got ready, and then walked to the Tenleytown Metro Station. I got there at about 7:05, but then had to wait until 7:10 for the Metro to open. As I got down there, I saw several more people than I usually would have seen. There were more white ones than usual too. Then, I remembered why this might be. Glenn Beck was giving his speech at the Lincoln Memorial Saturday morning.
And so, my Metro experience began. I got on the first metro heading towards Glenmont. This would take me to the Metro Center where I could transfer to the blue line to go to Rosslyn. As the first train pulled up, I was quite astonished. It was already full. I knew that trains in this direction would generally be more packed, but there were already people having to stand and use the hand holds. I packed on there and the train moved on. It was slower at getting going than usual, because the people close to the doors wouldn't allow the doors to close. As we pulled by one of the next platforms, it was totally full of people and a few more crammed on our train. Most of the people, who would have easily filled another empty train, were left behind. I transferred among the crowds, but I had an advantage, because I already knew how to navigate the subway and all of these Beck fans were new to the area.
I made it to the Rosslyn station and Amy met me there and we walked to the Holiday Inn where her dad was staying. There were even more of the Beckians flooding out of the doors there. One that we saw as we were getting onto the elevator had on a very intense shirt. It was kinda funny, but shocking that someone would wear such a thing. It said, "Forget cats and dogs, Spay and Neuter liberals." Amy especially liked that shirt... NOT! Anyway, we got to her room and packed up her things to bring to her dorm. We loaded up the bags and headed out the door.
We started the long tiresome journey across the river to Georgetown. She had her large suitcase, the large carryon, her backpack, her dirty clothes bag, and a bag of things that she and her dad had bought Friday. Mark, Amy, and I walked down the street, across the bridge, up a very steep hill, then sideways over to Georgetown University. We walked across campus to get to her dorm, New South. There, she registered and got some family buttons for Mark and I so we could get into the dorms too. The elevators were only being used by the people that had their stuff loaded into big carts, and as a result, we had to walk all the way up the stairs with her stuff. The first floor has really high ceilings, so it took 2 flights of stairs. Then, there were 3 more after that, because she lives on the 4th floor, the very highest one.
We moved her stuff into the room, and unpacked a lot of it. While she was unpacking, Mark and I were working on raising the bed. It just slips down into some slots on the header and footer boards, so we just needed to pull the springs up and off the rest of the bed. This should have been easy, but it was jammed in there really hard. We ended up flipping it over and pounding on it with our feet. This didn't work for 3 of the corners, so we picked it up and dropped it on the floor. One more corner came loose, but the other two required some much more viscous pounding. We slammed the bed against the floor and made Amy quite nervous, because it was very loud and it sounded as though it might disturb everyone. Anyway, et eventually worked and the raised bed was intact.
We wandered around her dorm for a while and met the RA's, who were making some pancakes for anyone that wanted them. We shared a chocolate chip one. Jack the bulldog, their official mascot lives on the same floor as Amy. It lives with the reverend that is on one of the corners. We went in the Reverend's room and got some water. Ok, I'm moving much too slowly in my days events, so I will recap more quickly for a little while.
We ate some lunch in the dining room, went to the bookstore, and looked around the campus a while. I went home at about 3 and walked across the bridge to Rosslyn. I did a load of laundry, but had to call my mom to see if I could dry colors and whites in the same load. It ran for an hour in the dryer, and I then took t out and put everything on my bed. I worked on my homework for a while, and then Amy called me and she was upset. I hung up the things that shouldn't be wrinkled, but it was too late, because the dryer had made their wrinkles permanent. She had been in the orientation thing around lots of people that she didn't know or care to know, and then, worst of all, her package that her mom mailed didn't get there in time. The mail wasn't open until 5, so she had to wait until then to see if it had come. She got packages, just as had been notified on her email, but they were only some of her books. It was a very overwhelming day, and she was quite stressed out. I definitely knew how she felt, though I got the feeling from the loads of homework, but anyway, I knew I needed to go down there to see her.
The box had here sheets in it, so without it, she couldn't even really stay in the dorm for the night. She knew that she would have to stay with her dad again, which wasn't really a bad thing, but it was just unexpected. So, we decided as we were on the phone that we would go see a movie, to help ease the stress a little. I started running to Georgetown as soon as I heard her distress, so I was running and talking on the phone at the same time. The movie theater was a little ways away in Georgetown, so I ran down there instead. I averaged 7.38 miles per hour, and it took me 26 minutes to get there. I waited a while and then went looking for Amy because she was waling from georgetown. We arrived at the movie that was supposed to start at 7:40 at 8:00. Then, we waited outside a while for Mark to arrive in the taxi. We got in and only 7 minutes of the movie had been shown so far. We watched inception, which was a great movie by the way. It is about different levels of the mind and dreaming and such. Different people being in the dreams to control or effect them as they are out of the dream. Anyway, it was really complex, but we caught on eventually.
After that, we walked around looking for some food. We found an Italian restaurant and we stopped by. The first choice was actually an American Food place, but Amy and I were still under 21, so we couldn't go in. So, at this Italian Restaurant, we ordered and then shortly after that, they brought out some breadsticks with poppy seeds and sesame seeds on them. There was this weird dip stuff that tasted a little like fish, but it was actually made of eggplant, olives, red peppers, and something else I didn't like. I liked only one of the 4 ingredients, but overall, it was really good. After all the breadsticks were gone, our food arrived and I received my "pizza." It was probably more like the real pizza in Italy, but it was super weird. The crust was cooked first, then the ingredients were added. It had basil, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, olives, and some pesto over the top. Just a little bit, but still. It was super weird, but I kinda liked it. I'll stick to the Americanized pizza in the future, but it was a good experience.
We then walked back to their Hotel and I stayed there for the night, since I was going to come back the following morning early anyway. It was after 12 by the time we arrived back at the Hotel and could finally go to sleep. The day was full of walking and exercise and I was so pooped that I fell asleep quite quickly!
I got up early on Saturday morning to go help Amy move into her dorm. She was currently staying with her dad in Rosslyn, which is right across the river from Georgetown. I got up at 6:20, because I found out that the AU shuttle bus doesn't run on the weekends until 8, and Amy really wanted to get into her dorm. So, I took a shower, got ready, and then walked to the Tenleytown Metro Station. I got there at about 7:05, but then had to wait until 7:10 for the Metro to open. As I got down there, I saw several more people than I usually would have seen. There were more white ones than usual too. Then, I remembered why this might be. Glenn Beck was giving his speech at the Lincoln Memorial Saturday morning.
And so, my Metro experience began. I got on the first metro heading towards Glenmont. This would take me to the Metro Center where I could transfer to the blue line to go to Rosslyn. As the first train pulled up, I was quite astonished. It was already full. I knew that trains in this direction would generally be more packed, but there were already people having to stand and use the hand holds. I packed on there and the train moved on. It was slower at getting going than usual, because the people close to the doors wouldn't allow the doors to close. As we pulled by one of the next platforms, it was totally full of people and a few more crammed on our train. Most of the people, who would have easily filled another empty train, were left behind. I transferred among the crowds, but I had an advantage, because I already knew how to navigate the subway and all of these Beck fans were new to the area.
I made it to the Rosslyn station and Amy met me there and we walked to the Holiday Inn where her dad was staying. There were even more of the Beckians flooding out of the doors there. One that we saw as we were getting onto the elevator had on a very intense shirt. It was kinda funny, but shocking that someone would wear such a thing. It said, "Forget cats and dogs, Spay and Neuter liberals." Amy especially liked that shirt... NOT! Anyway, we got to her room and packed up her things to bring to her dorm. We loaded up the bags and headed out the door.
We started the long tiresome journey across the river to Georgetown. She had her large suitcase, the large carryon, her backpack, her dirty clothes bag, and a bag of things that she and her dad had bought Friday. Mark, Amy, and I walked down the street, across the bridge, up a very steep hill, then sideways over to Georgetown University. We walked across campus to get to her dorm, New South. There, she registered and got some family buttons for Mark and I so we could get into the dorms too. The elevators were only being used by the people that had their stuff loaded into big carts, and as a result, we had to walk all the way up the stairs with her stuff. The first floor has really high ceilings, so it took 2 flights of stairs. Then, there were 3 more after that, because she lives on the 4th floor, the very highest one.
We moved her stuff into the room, and unpacked a lot of it. While she was unpacking, Mark and I were working on raising the bed. It just slips down into some slots on the header and footer boards, so we just needed to pull the springs up and off the rest of the bed. This should have been easy, but it was jammed in there really hard. We ended up flipping it over and pounding on it with our feet. This didn't work for 3 of the corners, so we picked it up and dropped it on the floor. One more corner came loose, but the other two required some much more viscous pounding. We slammed the bed against the floor and made Amy quite nervous, because it was very loud and it sounded as though it might disturb everyone. Anyway, et eventually worked and the raised bed was intact.
We wandered around her dorm for a while and met the RA's, who were making some pancakes for anyone that wanted them. We shared a chocolate chip one. Jack the bulldog, their official mascot lives on the same floor as Amy. It lives with the reverend that is on one of the corners. We went in the Reverend's room and got some water. Ok, I'm moving much too slowly in my days events, so I will recap more quickly for a little while.
We ate some lunch in the dining room, went to the bookstore, and looked around the campus a while. I went home at about 3 and walked across the bridge to Rosslyn. I did a load of laundry, but had to call my mom to see if I could dry colors and whites in the same load. It ran for an hour in the dryer, and I then took t out and put everything on my bed. I worked on my homework for a while, and then Amy called me and she was upset. I hung up the things that shouldn't be wrinkled, but it was too late, because the dryer had made their wrinkles permanent. She had been in the orientation thing around lots of people that she didn't know or care to know, and then, worst of all, her package that her mom mailed didn't get there in time. The mail wasn't open until 5, so she had to wait until then to see if it had come. She got packages, just as had been notified on her email, but they were only some of her books. It was a very overwhelming day, and she was quite stressed out. I definitely knew how she felt, though I got the feeling from the loads of homework, but anyway, I knew I needed to go down there to see her.
The box had here sheets in it, so without it, she couldn't even really stay in the dorm for the night. She knew that she would have to stay with her dad again, which wasn't really a bad thing, but it was just unexpected. So, we decided as we were on the phone that we would go see a movie, to help ease the stress a little. I started running to Georgetown as soon as I heard her distress, so I was running and talking on the phone at the same time. The movie theater was a little ways away in Georgetown, so I ran down there instead. I averaged 7.38 miles per hour, and it took me 26 minutes to get there. I waited a while and then went looking for Amy because she was waling from georgetown. We arrived at the movie that was supposed to start at 7:40 at 8:00. Then, we waited outside a while for Mark to arrive in the taxi. We got in and only 7 minutes of the movie had been shown so far. We watched inception, which was a great movie by the way. It is about different levels of the mind and dreaming and such. Different people being in the dreams to control or effect them as they are out of the dream. Anyway, it was really complex, but we caught on eventually.
After that, we walked around looking for some food. We found an Italian restaurant and we stopped by. The first choice was actually an American Food place, but Amy and I were still under 21, so we couldn't go in. So, at this Italian Restaurant, we ordered and then shortly after that, they brought out some breadsticks with poppy seeds and sesame seeds on them. There was this weird dip stuff that tasted a little like fish, but it was actually made of eggplant, olives, red peppers, and something else I didn't like. I liked only one of the 4 ingredients, but overall, it was really good. After all the breadsticks were gone, our food arrived and I received my "pizza." It was probably more like the real pizza in Italy, but it was super weird. The crust was cooked first, then the ingredients were added. It had basil, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, olives, and some pesto over the top. Just a little bit, but still. It was super weird, but I kinda liked it. I'll stick to the Americanized pizza in the future, but it was a good experience.
We then walked back to their Hotel and I stayed there for the night, since I was going to come back the following morning early anyway. It was after 12 by the time we arrived back at the Hotel and could finally go to sleep. The day was full of walking and exercise and I was so pooped that I fell asleep quite quickly!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Another day down
Today was the other day that I get to be completely loaded down with homework. Wahoo! Actually that was a sarcastic wahoo, because I really don't enjoy tons and tons of homework. I went to physics first, which was pretty fun as the last time was, and then, I read my physics book until my next class an hour and a half later. I went to the Global Majority and enjoyed it again. The class itself seems pretty enjoyable, because the guy is nice and German-y. The reading that I have to do for the class, which is a lot by the way, has been pretty boring, though it was much better than the first reading. In the Global Majority, I took notes with my laptop for the first time and it was pretty fun and efficient. The taking notes is mainly to help me get the information drilled in my brain a little better, because all of his power points are on his Blackboard website.
After the economics class, I read the material for that course and ate some delicious Cup-o-noodles. They are very yummy and taste quite good! I later went to Calculus and he made some more silly jokes. One of the problems we were working on was the sine curve and the tangent line at x=0. The thing that we used to find the slope was the sin(x)/x. He did some examples such as the sin(1)/1 and others. Then, he did this one .6666/devil(he actually drew a little picture), but anyway, it was the sign of the beast over the beast. He said some other jokes, but that was the only one that stuck in my head.
Directly after Calculus, I went to my Understanding Music class. Today was really easy for me, because he was teaching the minority that didn't read music about notes and such. We learned about the different notes, the different staffs, sharps and flats, and then he briefly touched on scales. I think the class will get harder, but it was pretty easy today and should be for me, until we do things besides reading music.
After that class, I read some physics and then went to the Metro stop to wait for Amy and her dad. They were coming over for dinner at American, because I wanted to show Mark the 8th best college food. Today, they had a Ice Cream Sunday Bar instead of the usual Fire Wok. It was really good and had pineapple, marshmallows, sprinkles, banana stuff with sugar, I think, hot fudge syrup, caramel syrup, strawberry syrup, mini chocolate chips, maraschino cherries, and probably some other things I forgot. Anyway we ate it and then walked around the campus a little bit. Amy and her dad left back to their hotel in Rosslyn, VA.
I started to read some physics, but then got a little overwhelmed by their excessive use of variables. I'm sure I will get used to it, but hey had a live of about 3 inches long with many many subscripts just to say d=1/2at^2. It was much much easier in High School. After that, I read 35 pages of an article for The Global Majority that was mainly about overpopulation and how it leads to poverty because the people can't support so many children, and as a result can't afford contraceptives, so they have more children, and it was just a big cycle of overpopulation and poverty... I tried to get a text to speech reader to read it to me, but I think I'm getting a little faster at reading, because I could read it much more quickly than the computer.
There was a bit of my life... Oh. Also, Charlie invited me to come with him and some of his friends to watch or try his slackline. I didn't do it, but it was kinda fun to be included.
Tomorrow morning, I'm getting up at 6:20 to get ready and head over to Amy's Hotel to help her move in to Georgetown. She can move in at 7 and is pretty anxious to move in, so I'll try to get there pretty early. Therefore, I should go to bed now, because I'll get only 6:20 of sleep as it is. Goodnight All!
After the economics class, I read the material for that course and ate some delicious Cup-o-noodles. They are very yummy and taste quite good! I later went to Calculus and he made some more silly jokes. One of the problems we were working on was the sine curve and the tangent line at x=0. The thing that we used to find the slope was the sin(x)/x. He did some examples such as the sin(1)/1 and others. Then, he did this one .6666/devil(he actually drew a little picture), but anyway, it was the sign of the beast over the beast. He said some other jokes, but that was the only one that stuck in my head.
Directly after Calculus, I went to my Understanding Music class. Today was really easy for me, because he was teaching the minority that didn't read music about notes and such. We learned about the different notes, the different staffs, sharps and flats, and then he briefly touched on scales. I think the class will get harder, but it was pretty easy today and should be for me, until we do things besides reading music.
After that class, I read some physics and then went to the Metro stop to wait for Amy and her dad. They were coming over for dinner at American, because I wanted to show Mark the 8th best college food. Today, they had a Ice Cream Sunday Bar instead of the usual Fire Wok. It was really good and had pineapple, marshmallows, sprinkles, banana stuff with sugar, I think, hot fudge syrup, caramel syrup, strawberry syrup, mini chocolate chips, maraschino cherries, and probably some other things I forgot. Anyway we ate it and then walked around the campus a little bit. Amy and her dad left back to their hotel in Rosslyn, VA.
I started to read some physics, but then got a little overwhelmed by their excessive use of variables. I'm sure I will get used to it, but hey had a live of about 3 inches long with many many subscripts just to say d=1/2at^2. It was much much easier in High School. After that, I read 35 pages of an article for The Global Majority that was mainly about overpopulation and how it leads to poverty because the people can't support so many children, and as a result can't afford contraceptives, so they have more children, and it was just a big cycle of overpopulation and poverty... I tried to get a text to speech reader to read it to me, but I think I'm getting a little faster at reading, because I could read it much more quickly than the computer.
There was a bit of my life... Oh. Also, Charlie invited me to come with him and some of his friends to watch or try his slackline. I didn't do it, but it was kinda fun to be included.
Tomorrow morning, I'm getting up at 6:20 to get ready and head over to Amy's Hotel to help her move in to Georgetown. She can move in at 7 and is pretty anxious to move in, so I'll try to get there pretty early. Therefore, I should go to bed now, because I'll get only 6:20 of sleep as it is. Goodnight All!
Amy gets home from Virginia :)
Yesterday afternoon I returned from visiting my aunt and uncle and cousins in Charlottesville. It was really great to see them all, but I was also feeling a bit antsy to get back for the start of my school. Travis came and saw me after his classes and it was wonderful to be back with him. The two of us went to the nearest metro stop where we met my dad who had just flown in. We all went to Chris’s apartment where he got in soon after from work. We sat around awhile, chatting and catching up. I think my dad really enjoyed seeing Chris again. We all walked over to Eastern Market in search of dinner. The first restaurant we stopped by the first one Chris knew of, but it was going to be a long wait, so our search continued. We ended up at a unique pizza place with all kinds of specialty pizzas. We decided on a chicken pesto pizza and a hotter, chipotle one called Fire and Smoke. They were oh so very delicious, and I look forward to when I can go there again. We also ordered some dessert which was a menagerie of some gelato, homemade doughnuts, and some molten lava chocolate cake that we all shared. I am getting re-hungry just thinking about it! After dinner we all walked back to the apartment and I had to pack up all my suitcases from the past two weeks. My dad and I went to our hotel and Travis went back to his dorm. I can’t believe I’ll be in my own dorm by tomorrow!!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Physics Lab time.
Today, I woke at a good earlyish time and got ready for my lab. I haven't been running lately, because my left knee hurts a bit. I don't think it is a major problem, but it just wouldn't be comfortable to do too much exercise on it. Anyway, I ate my fruit of for breakfast and then headed to the lab room a little early. First, our lab director guy gave us some handouts that will only be given to us this time(the other times we will have to print the lab info out ourselves). Then, we took a test. It was just a test to see what we knew about physics and it was quite easy. It dealt with Newton's laws mostly. Actually now that I think of it, it was all Newton's laws. There were lots of problems about equal and opposite forces, and also some one about inertia and the path an object would take if it were released immediately and all outside force was removed. Also some questions were like the cannon on a hill shooting a cannon ball off the cliff, what would the path look like...
After this, we broke off into our own groups of two and began to do our first lab. It was a very simple one and we only measured a piece of wire with various tools. The tools included a meter stick, a digital caliper, and a digital balance. We did 5 trials for each run and then took the mean and standard deviation of each set of data. One cool thing about the lab was the fact that each station had a computer at it. We opened up Excel and then inputted the data into a table. My lab partner's name was Jordan Jackson. He was in the military for 9 years and is now getting his postback or something like that. He had a much larger vocabulary than I, so the answers for our results were better sounding than I would have done. The nice thing about the computers is that you can have them do all the work for you such as the averaging. Then, at the end of the lab, you just print out your data sheet and away you go.
I think I will like Physics and Calculus the best, because the other classes seem to involve a lot of lateral thinking and just making up things, which I'm not so good at. I have a lot of classes again tomorrow, so I think I should go to bed. Say hi to everyone there that isn't reading this. I miss you all. Goodnight!
After this, we broke off into our own groups of two and began to do our first lab. It was a very simple one and we only measured a piece of wire with various tools. The tools included a meter stick, a digital caliper, and a digital balance. We did 5 trials for each run and then took the mean and standard deviation of each set of data. One cool thing about the lab was the fact that each station had a computer at it. We opened up Excel and then inputted the data into a table. My lab partner's name was Jordan Jackson. He was in the military for 9 years and is now getting his postback or something like that. He had a much larger vocabulary than I, so the answers for our results were better sounding than I would have done. The nice thing about the computers is that you can have them do all the work for you such as the averaging. Then, at the end of the lab, you just print out your data sheet and away you go.
I think I will like Physics and Calculus the best, because the other classes seem to involve a lot of lateral thinking and just making up things, which I'm not so good at. I have a lot of classes again tomorrow, so I think I should go to bed. Say hi to everyone there that isn't reading this. I miss you all. Goodnight!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
HOMEWORK!!!!!!!
So, you may be wondering why I didn't post anything yesterday. The main reason was I had 4 classes on Tuesday. I got more homework than I have ever had, which was to be expected I guess, but still, I just felt crushed. So overwhelmed! I just wanted to cry! I did a couple of times actually, but then I just told myself... "Hey! You can do this Travis, what is all this silly emotion? You don't have time for emotion. Get back to work!"
I'll tell you a little about my other classes now.
First, I had Physics. (8:30-9:45 TF and a lab 8:30-11:00 Th) Everyone seemed older than I did except for one freshman that I recognized. The professor tried to be funny quite a bit and I noticed one of the things he was doing before he said anything. He was just starting up his computer and humming. Then, he said, "I'm just humming to myself to distract all of you from the fact that my computer is booting up." It was funny to me, but I couldn't laugh out loud. He is a pretty nice seeming guy. He has brown hair and is somewhat short and clean shaven. We will use lots of electronic things here and Mastering Physics this online thing is one of them. We also use the buzzers like in Mr. Sacry's class to answer questions from our seats.
The next class I had was The Global Majority. (11:20-12:35 TF) It is an economics class. The teacher has a pretty strong accent that is German I think. Possibly Russian, but I'm not sure. He is pretty tall, and has glasses and looks a little nerdy, but seems pretty cool. The class lectures seem OK, but the reading I had to do for it was super boring! I could barely read it. I hope it gets better.
I then had Calculus. (2:10-3:25 TF and 2:10-3:10 W)There was a nice oldish man as the professor. He had a woven hat on as he came to class and he has big glasses. He also has suspenders and reminds me a little of Mr. MaCrossin. He is much smarter though, I'm sure, because he worked at the aerospace technology area. He was a spring board diver in college and so on the first day of class, we had an example of a diver and we were trying to find a way to determine the instantaneous speed of the diver. It was pretty interesting, but I felt outdone again, because this time, everyone else had already taken calculus in High School. Oh well, I think I'll be able to catch up to them anyway.
Starting only ten minutes after Calculus was Understanding Music. (3:35-4:50 TF) The professor showed up a little late, but seems like a pretty cool guy. He has one of those eyes that you can't tell where he is looking, but it isn't too noticeable, because I didn't notice until after I talked to him at the end of class. We did an activity in class in which we had to divide up in the different genres that we liked. In groups we had to discuss the Musical Elements of each genre. We also had to talk about the cultural impact of this music type, give several artists within the genre, and say why we like that genre. 4 members of each group presented the discussed topics to the class. There are 65 people in that class, which is by far my largest class.
Anyway, I have a ton of homework and feel very overwhelmed, but I bet I'll get used to it and maybe even enjoy it sometime. I now long for the other days in my life that were more fun and less stressful. Even when we were in DC before school started. Now its time for Business! I miss everyone at home. Goodnight all. I have an 8:30 Physics lab tomorrow.
I'll tell you a little about my other classes now.
First, I had Physics. (8:30-9:45 TF and a lab 8:30-11:00 Th) Everyone seemed older than I did except for one freshman that I recognized. The professor tried to be funny quite a bit and I noticed one of the things he was doing before he said anything. He was just starting up his computer and humming. Then, he said, "I'm just humming to myself to distract all of you from the fact that my computer is booting up." It was funny to me, but I couldn't laugh out loud. He is a pretty nice seeming guy. He has brown hair and is somewhat short and clean shaven. We will use lots of electronic things here and Mastering Physics this online thing is one of them. We also use the buzzers like in Mr. Sacry's class to answer questions from our seats.
The next class I had was The Global Majority. (11:20-12:35 TF) It is an economics class. The teacher has a pretty strong accent that is German I think. Possibly Russian, but I'm not sure. He is pretty tall, and has glasses and looks a little nerdy, but seems pretty cool. The class lectures seem OK, but the reading I had to do for it was super boring! I could barely read it. I hope it gets better.
I then had Calculus. (2:10-3:25 TF and 2:10-3:10 W)There was a nice oldish man as the professor. He had a woven hat on as he came to class and he has big glasses. He also has suspenders and reminds me a little of Mr. MaCrossin. He is much smarter though, I'm sure, because he worked at the aerospace technology area. He was a spring board diver in college and so on the first day of class, we had an example of a diver and we were trying to find a way to determine the instantaneous speed of the diver. It was pretty interesting, but I felt outdone again, because this time, everyone else had already taken calculus in High School. Oh well, I think I'll be able to catch up to them anyway.
Starting only ten minutes after Calculus was Understanding Music. (3:35-4:50 TF) The professor showed up a little late, but seems like a pretty cool guy. He has one of those eyes that you can't tell where he is looking, but it isn't too noticeable, because I didn't notice until after I talked to him at the end of class. We did an activity in class in which we had to divide up in the different genres that we liked. In groups we had to discuss the Musical Elements of each genre. We also had to talk about the cultural impact of this music type, give several artists within the genre, and say why we like that genre. 4 members of each group presented the discussed topics to the class. There are 65 people in that class, which is by far my largest class.
Anyway, I have a ton of homework and feel very overwhelmed, but I bet I'll get used to it and maybe even enjoy it sometime. I now long for the other days in my life that were more fun and less stressful. Even when we were in DC before school started. Now its time for Business! I miss everyone at home. Goodnight all. I have an 8:30 Physics lab tomorrow.
Monday, August 23, 2010
First Day of classes! AHH!!!!
Ok,so the AHH!!!! wasn't really necessary but it was a little exciting.
This morning, I hopped out of bed and into my running shoes. I took a lap around the campus and found that it is about 1 mile exactly from my dorm, around the perimeter, and then back to the dorm again. It wasn't super cool, but if felt pretty good to run. The humidity was unusually low today and it felt quite good. I took a shower and got ready for my first day of classes. Well class, not plural, but still.
Amy found out this morning that the internet was no longer working at Christopher's house, so she needed me to print of the confirmation email for her train trip. She is going to see her cousin, aunt and uncle today in the afternoon. I went to the library because they have a printing station. The initial printing itself was really easy but it was a little difficult as I printed it out. You first swipe your card and then find the print job that you named as you printed it form the computer. Then, you have to log out or else others can use you account and your money to print their papers. It isn't that much to print or so I thought, but it said print/copy 24.80 and it took my card amount down quite a bit. This made me very nervous about future printing jobs, because this is way too much for two pieces of paper to be printed. I asked the people at the desk that I first contacted about the specifics of printing and they didn't know what the problem could have been. I then contacted the other people downstairs and they said that it was actually 24.80 specifically for printing. I had only used 20 cents and had 24.80 left for printing. It took it from my original account and put it on the printing tab of my card. Anyway... I figured it out.
I then got ready for my class and went over there a little early which was a good idea since it started a couple of minutes early. I had American Society today at 12:45. There was a lady professor and she was quite enthusiastic about everything. I think it will be a good class as soon as I can figure out this whole sociology thing. There was some reading and I did it all today, so no more homework for that class until Thursday.
After class, I took the metro to Christopher's apartment to see Amy off to her relatives house. I ran the distance from the Metro to his house, so I got sweaty. I had some Ramen there and that was my lunch. We walked over to the Metro Bus stop that would take her to Union Station to get on the train.
I read my textbook on the metro on the way there and back. It is a pretty interesting textbook, so that is good:) After I got home, well to my dorm..., I read the other text that was available on the internet. It is a green class and as such, she doesn't print off any of the course material. The Syllabus has all of the reading for each day, so I can read ahead as much as I want. The Blackboard website has all the information for each of my courses. It is a very useful site. The total reading probably took me about 2 or 2.5 hours, but some of it was very distracted on the Metro.
I took a little break from the computer after I finished the reading, which happened to be about the My Lai massacre in the Vietman war. It discussed the issues of dehumanization, authorization, and routinization as they contributed to ordered massacres. I walked over to the Bender Arena and signed up for the Fitness Area. It is free to students. I also bought a poptart at the Eagle's Nest and bought a McChicken at McDonalds. I just needed a few more purchases for my debit card, so I bought a couple of cheap things.
I think I'm going to get up early tomorrow morning to go running, so I think I'll head to bed pretty soon. Good Night All!
This morning, I hopped out of bed and into my running shoes. I took a lap around the campus and found that it is about 1 mile exactly from my dorm, around the perimeter, and then back to the dorm again. It wasn't super cool, but if felt pretty good to run. The humidity was unusually low today and it felt quite good. I took a shower and got ready for my first day of classes. Well class, not plural, but still.
Amy found out this morning that the internet was no longer working at Christopher's house, so she needed me to print of the confirmation email for her train trip. She is going to see her cousin, aunt and uncle today in the afternoon. I went to the library because they have a printing station. The initial printing itself was really easy but it was a little difficult as I printed it out. You first swipe your card and then find the print job that you named as you printed it form the computer. Then, you have to log out or else others can use you account and your money to print their papers. It isn't that much to print or so I thought, but it said print/copy 24.80 and it took my card amount down quite a bit. This made me very nervous about future printing jobs, because this is way too much for two pieces of paper to be printed. I asked the people at the desk that I first contacted about the specifics of printing and they didn't know what the problem could have been. I then contacted the other people downstairs and they said that it was actually 24.80 specifically for printing. I had only used 20 cents and had 24.80 left for printing. It took it from my original account and put it on the printing tab of my card. Anyway... I figured it out.
I then got ready for my class and went over there a little early which was a good idea since it started a couple of minutes early. I had American Society today at 12:45. There was a lady professor and she was quite enthusiastic about everything. I think it will be a good class as soon as I can figure out this whole sociology thing. There was some reading and I did it all today, so no more homework for that class until Thursday.
After class, I took the metro to Christopher's apartment to see Amy off to her relatives house. I ran the distance from the Metro to his house, so I got sweaty. I had some Ramen there and that was my lunch. We walked over to the Metro Bus stop that would take her to Union Station to get on the train.
I read my textbook on the metro on the way there and back. It is a pretty interesting textbook, so that is good:) After I got home, well to my dorm..., I read the other text that was available on the internet. It is a green class and as such, she doesn't print off any of the course material. The Syllabus has all of the reading for each day, so I can read ahead as much as I want. The Blackboard website has all the information for each of my courses. It is a very useful site. The total reading probably took me about 2 or 2.5 hours, but some of it was very distracted on the Metro.
I took a little break from the computer after I finished the reading, which happened to be about the My Lai massacre in the Vietman war. It discussed the issues of dehumanization, authorization, and routinization as they contributed to ordered massacres. I walked over to the Bender Arena and signed up for the Fitness Area. It is free to students. I also bought a poptart at the Eagle's Nest and bought a McChicken at McDonalds. I just needed a few more purchases for my debit card, so I bought a couple of cheap things.
I think I'm going to get up early tomorrow morning to go running, so I think I'll head to bed pretty soon. Good Night All!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Church for the Second time and Georgetown
Today, I woke up somewhat late and got ready for church. I wore some nice clothes but they also happened to be very hot. I met Amy at a Metro Station and we walked for 20 minutes or so to the Community of Christ Church on Massachusetts Avenue. It was really hot today and the long-sleeved shirt and long pants began to take their toll on my perspiration. I got quite sweaty and that was only because of the walking. We arrived and were immediately greeted by a cool blast of air. There were also refreshments that were very welcoming. They had home grown grapes that you can crush with your tongue to send the inside flesh popping out. They were small and the skins were bitter, but they reminded me of our grape patch in Michigan. The service itself was pretty average and they were a little more formal than out Whitehall Congregation, but it still felt a lot more normal to me than the Victory City of Praise black church. We met some students and the pastor and his family. The people seemed pretty nice, but it will take a little while to get used to the new faces. After that, we walked some more.
We walked down Massachusetts Avenue and arrived at Wisconsin St. where we made a left for Georgetown. It was still very hot and we had to make some water breaks along the way so we wouldn't suffer from dehydration. Georgetown's campus seemed really crowded to me, but it was a pretty collegiate place. The library that I saw inside Healey Hall was very old/movie like and the Hall itself looked like it was from a castle era old England picture. The buildings towered everywhere and I felt small and insignificant in between them. The campus itself is fairly small, but the area seems largely taken up by buildings and such. American University seemed to me to be like this too, but now it seems much more spacious. I'm sure that with frequent visits to Georgetown, it too will be muech less intimidating.
We then took a Metrobus back to American and hung around the AIR CONDITIONED Katzen Art center for quite a while waiting for supper. We thought that it wasn't open for a normal meal until 5:00, but it actually isn't open at all from 4:30 to 5:00, so we sat upstairs waiting. Meanwhile, we read the DC newspaper and looked at some classified ads until they lifted the gates. We were quite hungry by this time, because we didn't have any lunch, so we ate a lot of food and then felt pleasantly full once more. The meal tasted excellent once again, except for one dry dinner roll. I was fairly disappointed, because everything else to that point had been wonderful, but I soon forgot about it as I ate more and more good food!
After dinner, we went to this comedy show called Capitol Steps. They were similar to Saturday Night Live, except they mostly focused on things happening in the news and in politics. They were really funny and sang many familiar songs with different lyrics. This ended at about 8:09 and Amy then went back to Christopher's once more. I have to stay up a while though, because the Floor Meeting is at 10:00, so here I am writing this blog:)
We walked down Massachusetts Avenue and arrived at Wisconsin St. where we made a left for Georgetown. It was still very hot and we had to make some water breaks along the way so we wouldn't suffer from dehydration. Georgetown's campus seemed really crowded to me, but it was a pretty collegiate place. The library that I saw inside Healey Hall was very old/movie like and the Hall itself looked like it was from a castle era old England picture. The buildings towered everywhere and I felt small and insignificant in between them. The campus itself is fairly small, but the area seems largely taken up by buildings and such. American University seemed to me to be like this too, but now it seems much more spacious. I'm sure that with frequent visits to Georgetown, it too will be muech less intimidating.
We then took a Metrobus back to American and hung around the AIR CONDITIONED Katzen Art center for quite a while waiting for supper. We thought that it wasn't open for a normal meal until 5:00, but it actually isn't open at all from 4:30 to 5:00, so we sat upstairs waiting. Meanwhile, we read the DC newspaper and looked at some classified ads until they lifted the gates. We were quite hungry by this time, because we didn't have any lunch, so we ate a lot of food and then felt pleasantly full once more. The meal tasted excellent once again, except for one dry dinner roll. I was fairly disappointed, because everything else to that point had been wonderful, but I soon forgot about it as I ate more and more good food!
After dinner, we went to this comedy show called Capitol Steps. They were similar to Saturday Night Live, except they mostly focused on things happening in the news and in politics. They were really funny and sang many familiar songs with different lyrics. This ended at about 8:09 and Amy then went back to Christopher's once more. I have to stay up a while though, because the Floor Meeting is at 10:00, so here I am writing this blog:)
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Eastern Market and Soccer Game
By: Travis
Last night, Amy said that Christopher was going to take her to the Eastern Market today. I wasn't sure what I would do while she was there, so I got up a little early and went over to Christopher's house to meet them. There, we walked for probably about 15 minutes or so along East Capitol to the Eastern Market. They have tons of shops and things and lots and lots of delicious fruit. There were samples of the peaches, yellow and white, and also the apples and grapes that were grown somewhere near here. The outdoor part of the market is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, but the indoor section is open 7 days a week. Inside they have meats and some fruits too. We even saw some delicious looking... Pigs Feet. EWW!!! They have really cool booths though, with crafts, a lot of jewelry, but there were also some soaps and candles. One of the soap places was very similar to the cheese or fudge stores. You would just get a chunk of the soap and pay for it by the pound. In the Eastern Market area there are also lots of shops and stores. Ones in actual self-contained buildings I mean. We stopped by Christopher's favorite coffee shop and he got some coffee there. I think it was called the perigrin or something like that. They also have quite a few restaurants in the area. The flea market there was OK, but it was outside and it was a pretty hot day, once again.
After the market, we went back to American University for the American versus Georgetown Girls soccer game. We hurried to my room to grab some ramen noodles in case the "Free Barbecue" wasn't available or it wasn't good enough or something. It was there and we had hamburgers and some Coke products. They also had free Robeks fruit smoothies. Robeks is a smoothie place located in Tenleytown by the Metro stop there. It was really good, but they only gave us a very small cup just to lure us in. The soccer game wasn't very good, because the American University team lost 21 of their 22 varsity players, because of graduation last year. They lost 9-0 to Georgetown. The goals in the first half were just easy goals because of the mistakes of Americans players. They simply passed into our goal. It was 6-0 at the end of the first half. The goals in the second half were a lot better and actually were deserved points.
We went to the Dupont Circle Metro Stop for dinner. Amy will write about the dinner itself, but before the dinner, we went to the middle of the Dupont Circle. In the circle, there was a fountain that had a large statue in the middle of it. We sat on the edge of the fountain and watched some Chinese street dancers. There were 3 or 4 of them that could dance and they each had their own style. One could do the robot very well and the other did other things, just fast fancy one person dancing. Then, as we were walking over to the restaurant, we saw a bunch of people playing chess. They were in a row of tables along one edge of the circle. They were amazingly fast at it, and really good. Some of the moves I didn't even know were possible, though I had heard of castling once. Anyway, Amy will add more to this post:)
So Travis wrote about the first part of today and asked if I would do the second, so here I amJ. After the soccer game we hung out in Travis’s dorm for an hour or so with Tyler, his roommate. And we were watching some extremely cheesy movie about a teenage werewolf, during which I may or may not have drifted off to nap world. After that we put on our fancy clothes and headed out on the town! And may I say that Travis looked quite handsome in his button shirt and black slacks. We went to Dupont Circle to eat at a restaurant that my mom and I had eaten at once before when I had come to DC in the spring for orientation. Its name is Raku, and it has some really good Asian food. There were also a lot of sushi choices on the menu, which we opted to skip. Travis had the Mongolian pork and I had the pad Thai chicken. It was delicious! We sat at a table outside on the street and could see all the people going by. It was so wonderful that we stayed for quite a while after we were done eating. I wish I was still there and that this night could have just gone on forever and ever, but alas… After dinner we had a little cash burning holes in our pockets and we went in search of a little ice cream. We ended up coming across an ice cream shop within a block, what luck! We went in and split a cup. Travis and I got back on the metro and he rode on the train with me to my stop, where we had to say goodbye. Goodbyes are the worst, but I am still glad they exist, because I would never want to leave someone without one.
Last night, Amy said that Christopher was going to take her to the Eastern Market today. I wasn't sure what I would do while she was there, so I got up a little early and went over to Christopher's house to meet them. There, we walked for probably about 15 minutes or so along East Capitol to the Eastern Market. They have tons of shops and things and lots and lots of delicious fruit. There were samples of the peaches, yellow and white, and also the apples and grapes that were grown somewhere near here. The outdoor part of the market is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, but the indoor section is open 7 days a week. Inside they have meats and some fruits too. We even saw some delicious looking... Pigs Feet. EWW!!! They have really cool booths though, with crafts, a lot of jewelry, but there were also some soaps and candles. One of the soap places was very similar to the cheese or fudge stores. You would just get a chunk of the soap and pay for it by the pound. In the Eastern Market area there are also lots of shops and stores. Ones in actual self-contained buildings I mean. We stopped by Christopher's favorite coffee shop and he got some coffee there. I think it was called the perigrin or something like that. They also have quite a few restaurants in the area. The flea market there was OK, but it was outside and it was a pretty hot day, once again.
After the market, we went back to American University for the American versus Georgetown Girls soccer game. We hurried to my room to grab some ramen noodles in case the "Free Barbecue" wasn't available or it wasn't good enough or something. It was there and we had hamburgers and some Coke products. They also had free Robeks fruit smoothies. Robeks is a smoothie place located in Tenleytown by the Metro stop there. It was really good, but they only gave us a very small cup just to lure us in. The soccer game wasn't very good, because the American University team lost 21 of their 22 varsity players, because of graduation last year. They lost 9-0 to Georgetown. The goals in the first half were just easy goals because of the mistakes of Americans players. They simply passed into our goal. It was 6-0 at the end of the first half. The goals in the second half were a lot better and actually were deserved points.
We went to the Dupont Circle Metro Stop for dinner. Amy will write about the dinner itself, but before the dinner, we went to the middle of the Dupont Circle. In the circle, there was a fountain that had a large statue in the middle of it. We sat on the edge of the fountain and watched some Chinese street dancers. There were 3 or 4 of them that could dance and they each had their own style. One could do the robot very well and the other did other things, just fast fancy one person dancing. Then, as we were walking over to the restaurant, we saw a bunch of people playing chess. They were in a row of tables along one edge of the circle. They were amazingly fast at it, and really good. Some of the moves I didn't even know were possible, though I had heard of castling once. Anyway, Amy will add more to this post:)
So Travis wrote about the first part of today and asked if I would do the second, so here I amJ. After the soccer game we hung out in Travis’s dorm for an hour or so with Tyler, his roommate. And we were watching some extremely cheesy movie about a teenage werewolf, during which I may or may not have drifted off to nap world. After that we put on our fancy clothes and headed out on the town! And may I say that Travis looked quite handsome in his button shirt and black slacks. We went to Dupont Circle to eat at a restaurant that my mom and I had eaten at once before when I had come to DC in the spring for orientation. Its name is Raku, and it has some really good Asian food. There were also a lot of sushi choices on the menu, which we opted to skip. Travis had the Mongolian pork and I had the pad Thai chicken. It was delicious! We sat at a table outside on the street and could see all the people going by. It was so wonderful that we stayed for quite a while after we were done eating. I wish I was still there and that this night could have just gone on forever and ever, but alas… After dinner we had a little cash burning holes in our pockets and we went in search of a little ice cream. We ended up coming across an ice cream shop within a block, what luck! We went in and split a cup. Travis and I got back on the metro and he rode on the train with me to my stop, where we had to say goodbye. Goodbyes are the worst, but I am still glad they exist, because I would never want to leave someone without one.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Blond Moments
So, One of the days, something happened that made us want to post a blond moment tab. This is all that I could figure out to do, so here it is.
08/17/2010
Amy wasn't paying attention at target, and ran right into the end of the aisle. This black lady that was near by laughed and laughed for quite a bit.
08/18/2010
While we were walking up the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall, I put my arm around Amy. She got really scared and thought someone was trying to steal her purse, even though, I was the only one near.
08/17/2010
Amy wasn't paying attention at target, and ran right into the end of the aisle. This black lady that was near by laughed and laughed for quite a bit.
08/18/2010
While we were walking up the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall, I put my arm around Amy. She got really scared and thought someone was trying to steal her purse, even though, I was the only one near.
New Student Convocation
By: Travis
Today was especially fun... Actually, it was kinda boring and really hot, but it is still worth talking or rambling about. I woke up at about 7 today, which was relatively early compared to normal, but I thought that I should at least get used to my schedule as it will have to be during my classes. The first thing was scheduled to be starting around 10. I dressed up in "business casuals" and thought that it was probably too much. That type of clothing was supposedly required, but as our floor went out there, we realized that many of the others weren't dressed as nicely. I decided that I should do the same as Charlie and Tyler, and they both used undershirts and dress shirts. That was definitely a mistake, because as I went outside, I discovered that it was really really hot! We went to one of three blue tents that was handing out Blue AU T-Shirts and received the shirt that fitted us the best. Then, they had some breakfast foods out there that we were encouraged to take, because they were supplied by the Alumni. They had 6 oz orange juice containers which are very frustrating, because just as you get into the orange juice flavor, they are gone. They also had scones and some small donuts. We stood out there in the sweltering heat for quite a while, and then, we formed a very long line, from the quad to the Katzen Art Center, and then down to the Bender Stadium. In the entrance to the stadium, we were greeted by lots of clapping older students and faculty. It felt really weird, just like the "spirit tunnels" at Whitehall High School that we would do for the teams as they went to tournaments or something. So, we then gathered in the mid sized Bender Arena. There the student council president and the other presidents and important people gave us speeches. Basically, they said, "You are the future. You are awesome. We can't wait to see you back here in 4 years when you graduate. That was about it. After that, I went back to my dorm, where Amy met me for lunch.
We ate at the TDR again but this time there was a big line to wait for before we could even enter the dining room. We had lots and lots of food and once again, we were very full. I even wasted a tin bit of food. I'll be more careful next time, because I feel so bad wasting food when so many others don't have anything to eat. We tried something interesting there this time though... Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream with bananas and hot fudge. It was really good, and I liked it even though I was a little skeptical at first. We were too full as we climbed the stairs to exit the dining room. It was a little painful.
After that, we went to the Bender Arena again to see the author of "The Moral Underground," Lisa Dodson. Her speech was just about as exciting as the Title of the book, or the book itself for that matter. In other words, it was a little boring. I much prefer the Student Council President's speeches.
After that, we went to the book store to purchase my Physics books. The book store part of the boo store is awesome. It just has rows and rows of text books and you just can go find your class and pick out your book. I found a bundled Physics book and workbook that were used. The new counterpart would have been 242, but the use versions were only supposed to be 181. I brought them upstairs and also bought a planner. The register couldn't scan the bar codes as they were, so the cashier had to go downstairs again to the book section to get the numbers from single copies of each book. As she rang me up, she said that my total would be 62.25. I questioned her and asked what was up with the textbook's price. I had thought that maybe that was the renting price instead of buying them, but if it were renting, I would have had to fill out the waiver and agreement. I just took the books and left. Only 62.25 for a large textbook, workbook, and planner. I sure found a good deal today, but I'm sure I won't be this lucky next time I need to buy books.
After this, I went to a meeting with all of the other students that are in my college, the College of Arts and Sciences. They also have the Kogod School of Business, School of Communication, School of International Service, and School of Public Affairs. I got there late because of the whole textbook buying mishap, but I was in time enough for the Free Water Bottle:) Hooray!
Amy and I hung out in my room and she read out loud the book she was reading at the time. It was called, "City of Thieves." It is a good book, and I was meanwhile looking up some things on the computer. She felt too funny about reading out loud to me though, because Charlie came in after a while:P She stopped reading for a time then.
We went out to get supper, because we heard there was a barbecue starting at 5:15. We looked in the quad and realized that to get into the carnival barbecue, you had to swipe your ID card. We then decided to just look for the soccer field instead, since we weren't that hungry. On the way to the soccer field however, we found a barbecue that was for the Law Students. We figured that out when there weren't any Freshman aged looking people walking around. They had delicious chocolate cookies, and I stole some for tomorrow's breakfast along with the banana that I took from lunch. We found the soccer field after that, and then Amy left. I got my two packages from Anderson and unrolled my poster that my mom sent. It was stuck tightly in the tube and I swung the tube quickly to get it to come out. I did this several times and it appeared to move a little. I swung it harder and harder, and then, doing it one too many times, it flew out and smashed into the dresser wrinkling one end of the poster.
Today was especially fun... Actually, it was kinda boring and really hot, but it is still worth talking or rambling about. I woke up at about 7 today, which was relatively early compared to normal, but I thought that I should at least get used to my schedule as it will have to be during my classes. The first thing was scheduled to be starting around 10. I dressed up in "business casuals" and thought that it was probably too much. That type of clothing was supposedly required, but as our floor went out there, we realized that many of the others weren't dressed as nicely. I decided that I should do the same as Charlie and Tyler, and they both used undershirts and dress shirts. That was definitely a mistake, because as I went outside, I discovered that it was really really hot! We went to one of three blue tents that was handing out Blue AU T-Shirts and received the shirt that fitted us the best. Then, they had some breakfast foods out there that we were encouraged to take, because they were supplied by the Alumni. They had 6 oz orange juice containers which are very frustrating, because just as you get into the orange juice flavor, they are gone. They also had scones and some small donuts. We stood out there in the sweltering heat for quite a while, and then, we formed a very long line, from the quad to the Katzen Art Center, and then down to the Bender Stadium. In the entrance to the stadium, we were greeted by lots of clapping older students and faculty. It felt really weird, just like the "spirit tunnels" at Whitehall High School that we would do for the teams as they went to tournaments or something. So, we then gathered in the mid sized Bender Arena. There the student council president and the other presidents and important people gave us speeches. Basically, they said, "You are the future. You are awesome. We can't wait to see you back here in 4 years when you graduate. That was about it. After that, I went back to my dorm, where Amy met me for lunch.
We ate at the TDR again but this time there was a big line to wait for before we could even enter the dining room. We had lots and lots of food and once again, we were very full. I even wasted a tin bit of food. I'll be more careful next time, because I feel so bad wasting food when so many others don't have anything to eat. We tried something interesting there this time though... Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream with bananas and hot fudge. It was really good, and I liked it even though I was a little skeptical at first. We were too full as we climbed the stairs to exit the dining room. It was a little painful.
After that, we went to the Bender Arena again to see the author of "The Moral Underground," Lisa Dodson. Her speech was just about as exciting as the Title of the book, or the book itself for that matter. In other words, it was a little boring. I much prefer the Student Council President's speeches.
After that, we went to the book store to purchase my Physics books. The book store part of the boo store is awesome. It just has rows and rows of text books and you just can go find your class and pick out your book. I found a bundled Physics book and workbook that were used. The new counterpart would have been 242, but the use versions were only supposed to be 181. I brought them upstairs and also bought a planner. The register couldn't scan the bar codes as they were, so the cashier had to go downstairs again to the book section to get the numbers from single copies of each book. As she rang me up, she said that my total would be 62.25. I questioned her and asked what was up with the textbook's price. I had thought that maybe that was the renting price instead of buying them, but if it were renting, I would have had to fill out the waiver and agreement. I just took the books and left. Only 62.25 for a large textbook, workbook, and planner. I sure found a good deal today, but I'm sure I won't be this lucky next time I need to buy books.
After this, I went to a meeting with all of the other students that are in my college, the College of Arts and Sciences. They also have the Kogod School of Business, School of Communication, School of International Service, and School of Public Affairs. I got there late because of the whole textbook buying mishap, but I was in time enough for the Free Water Bottle:) Hooray!
Amy and I hung out in my room and she read out loud the book she was reading at the time. It was called, "City of Thieves." It is a good book, and I was meanwhile looking up some things on the computer. She felt too funny about reading out loud to me though, because Charlie came in after a while:P She stopped reading for a time then.
We went out to get supper, because we heard there was a barbecue starting at 5:15. We looked in the quad and realized that to get into the carnival barbecue, you had to swipe your ID card. We then decided to just look for the soccer field instead, since we weren't that hungry. On the way to the soccer field however, we found a barbecue that was for the Law Students. We figured that out when there weren't any Freshman aged looking people walking around. They had delicious chocolate cookies, and I stole some for tomorrow's breakfast along with the banana that I took from lunch. We found the soccer field after that, and then Amy left. I got my two packages from Anderson and unrolled my poster that my mom sent. It was stuck tightly in the tube and I swung the tube quickly to get it to come out. I did this several times and it appeared to move a little. I swung it harder and harder, and then, doing it one too many times, it flew out and smashed into the dresser wrinkling one end of the poster.
Goin' to the Big City
I never knew there’d have to be so much walking in the city. We walked off the plane, and it feels like we haven’t stopped! I’m pretty sure that soon I will not only talk in my sleep, but walk in it too… From where I am staying there is a fifteen minute walk to the metro. And then I walk down the escalator (especially if it isn’t working), then I walk to the train and then transfer to another train, which then brings me to the desired station, where I walk up the escalator to catch the American University Shuttle which brings me within walking distance of Travis’s dorm!
When everyone told me it would be a big change from Montana to DC (and I mean Everyone), I knew they weren’t lying, but it is still hard to get used to. Everything seems different. I can only buy the amount of groceries I can carry, the doors are locked at night, and sirens are so common. The humidity is…wet. I have to be careful of my purse and I try not to walk at night. Air conditioning is now such a luxury where I can find it, and my nutrition has slipped from home-cooked meals to top ramen and the like. Except, I suppose, when I can eat with Travis at his cafeteria. It Is very nice, Travis, I must admit. I can see myself getting used to all of this, though. Maybe not forever, but for now.
There are such fascinating things here, too. The metro in particular is wild! It is an excellent public transport system, possibly the best in the country, with rather timely trains and clean conditions. What surprises me most though, is the humanity. And boy is there a lot of it! All kinds of people use the metro. Tall, short, fat, skinny, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, crazy, sane, artist, businessman, and of course, college student. It transports so many people every day; it’s hard to even comprehend. The handrails on the escalators are so sticky from all the hands that touch them all the time. And, while it is extremely gross, it is also so awesome! There have been so many people here before me, maybe even relatives at some point, maybe even famous people, or maybe even the president took the metro when he was a senator!! Ok, so maybe not, but a girl can dream, right?
Well, Travis, I know my blog so far isn’t matching yours in word count, but I’ll get to work. (Because I know you’ll be counting )
Thanks all for reading!
When everyone told me it would be a big change from Montana to DC (and I mean Everyone), I knew they weren’t lying, but it is still hard to get used to. Everything seems different. I can only buy the amount of groceries I can carry, the doors are locked at night, and sirens are so common. The humidity is…wet. I have to be careful of my purse and I try not to walk at night. Air conditioning is now such a luxury where I can find it, and my nutrition has slipped from home-cooked meals to top ramen and the like. Except, I suppose, when I can eat with Travis at his cafeteria. It Is very nice, Travis, I must admit. I can see myself getting used to all of this, though. Maybe not forever, but for now.
There are such fascinating things here, too. The metro in particular is wild! It is an excellent public transport system, possibly the best in the country, with rather timely trains and clean conditions. What surprises me most though, is the humanity. And boy is there a lot of it! All kinds of people use the metro. Tall, short, fat, skinny, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, crazy, sane, artist, businessman, and of course, college student. It transports so many people every day; it’s hard to even comprehend. The handrails on the escalators are so sticky from all the hands that touch them all the time. And, while it is extremely gross, it is also so awesome! There have been so many people here before me, maybe even relatives at some point, maybe even famous people, or maybe even the president took the metro when he was a senator!! Ok, so maybe not, but a girl can dream, right?
Well, Travis, I know my blog so far isn’t matching yours in word count, but I’ll get to work. (Because I know you’ll be counting )
Thanks all for reading!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
More Shopping, and Classes
By: Travis
Today, Amy and I went to the stores again. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond first, and looked to see how much the various needed items would cost there. I bought an awesome measuring cup that has teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, ml, and even grams of sugar and flour needed to fill the specific volume on the cup. It is definitely something that I would like. I do like it actually:) It is shaped like a plain drinking glass, but has quite thick clear glass with red markings. After that, we went to target, and bought some bowls, and a small plate, and lots more food items. They only had a few cup-o-noodles, but I took all 4 that were left after a lady had finished getting what she wanted. We then went back to Bed Bath and Beyond to get the other things that would be needed. I'm sorry about this other thing that I have done that would fail my Grandma Sacry. I didn't buy these pots and silverware at the thrift store... We just couldn't remember exactly where the places were, and decided that it might be better in this case to just go with the known area and spend a little more unnecessary money. I got all of the food and cooking supplies for only 89 dollars, so I thought that was a pretty good deal. I have a big closet full of food in my room. Lots of pasta meals and some ramen noodles and cup of noodles. I also stored some lemonade, oatmeal cream pies, and Nutty Bars. Anyway, it is looking pretty good for food I think.
After we went shopping and then came back to unpack everything in my dorm, we looked all around campus to find where each of my classes are. The first one we went to was in the McKinley building which is right across from my dorm room. Both of my physics classes are in there. The lecture type class will be held in room 108, and the lab is in the basement in room 14. Both of those rooms are very easy to find. Then, we went to Ward Building to find a couple more classes. The Global majority and American Society were easy to find, and the Calculus room in the upper classrooms will also be easy to find, because I have a break in the time before Calculus with which to find it. Today was really hot by the way. It was sunny and it was always a bad feeling to go outside any of the air conditioned buildings. That concludes the excitement.
Today, Amy and I went to the stores again. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond first, and looked to see how much the various needed items would cost there. I bought an awesome measuring cup that has teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, ml, and even grams of sugar and flour needed to fill the specific volume on the cup. It is definitely something that I would like. I do like it actually:) It is shaped like a plain drinking glass, but has quite thick clear glass with red markings. After that, we went to target, and bought some bowls, and a small plate, and lots more food items. They only had a few cup-o-noodles, but I took all 4 that were left after a lady had finished getting what she wanted. We then went back to Bed Bath and Beyond to get the other things that would be needed. I'm sorry about this other thing that I have done that would fail my Grandma Sacry. I didn't buy these pots and silverware at the thrift store... We just couldn't remember exactly where the places were, and decided that it might be better in this case to just go with the known area and spend a little more unnecessary money. I got all of the food and cooking supplies for only 89 dollars, so I thought that was a pretty good deal. I have a big closet full of food in my room. Lots of pasta meals and some ramen noodles and cup of noodles. I also stored some lemonade, oatmeal cream pies, and Nutty Bars. Anyway, it is looking pretty good for food I think.
After we went shopping and then came back to unpack everything in my dorm, we looked all around campus to find where each of my classes are. The first one we went to was in the McKinley building which is right across from my dorm room. Both of my physics classes are in there. The lecture type class will be held in room 108, and the lab is in the basement in room 14. Both of those rooms are very easy to find. Then, we went to Ward Building to find a couple more classes. The Global majority and American Society were easy to find, and the Calculus room in the upper classrooms will also be easy to find, because I have a break in the time before Calculus with which to find it. Today was really hot by the way. It was sunny and it was always a bad feeling to go outside any of the air conditioned buildings. That concludes the excitement.
The First Post:Leaving MT and Getting Situated
Travis and Amy’s Lives in Washington DC
By Travis
My adventures started early in the morning of Saturday the 14th of August. Amy met us at our house and we left at about 7:20. We drove and drove for what seemed like an eternity, and then finally arrived at Salt Lake City. Once there, we went to a store that carried all sorts of freeze dried foods and some in large number ten cans. I guess they were normal number ten cans, but they have a great magnitude when compared with other cans. We originally became interested in this type of food, because the meal prices at American University are fairly ridiculous at an average of $12.82 per meal for a 150 block meal plan. So anyway, we bought some freeze dried food and also realized that the #10 cans aren’t a better deal than the single packs… So… Getting back to DC. We went to the airport where Dave Holman, the person that helped us to get Jet Blue buddy passes, called us and said that he had a pilot friend that could help us to get on the plane, since it was over booked as it was. We went to a Hotel that my parents stayed at the night we (Amy and I) left. We had some sandwiches that my mom had packed for dinner and they were oh-so delicious, accompanied by some cantaloupe. After supper it was back to the airport. My parents dropped us off and there was an emotional-ish good bye. I felt really sad as I wouldn’t get to see them for another 4 months… AHH! Oh well, I have to go to college some day, and I might as well go the year right after my senior year of high school right? We went to get our tickets and got some, but they turned out to be the wrong ones, because we had two sets of them: one as normal stand-by and the other with the pilot that was flying. We realized at the gate that the tickets’ confirmation numbers matched the wrong set of tickets that would give us a worse chance of getting on the plane. We went all the way back to the ticket booth, and then got new tickets and had to go through the security center once again. We met with the pilot of the plane, and then got our seats on the Airbus A320.
They are a really nice airline company, JetBlue. They give you one free bag, have normal head phone jacks, have some direct TV Channels such as Discovery and News channels, have some XM radio channels, give you food and soda, and give you the whole can without asking, and on our overnight flight, gave us some orange juice in the morning. Anyway, we arrived in Long Beach, and had to walk outside to get to the terminal. On our next flight, Amy and I got to sit together in the Exit row without a person in the aisle seat. It was a pretty good flight, but there was a large storm around Kansas that blew us slightly off course.
We arrived at the Dulles International Airport at around 4:50 in the morning, Eastern time, and then picked up our bags a little while later. We wanted to get to the city, so we were a little upset to find that the metro bus shuttle thing wasn’t running until 7:45. Then, we walked all around and found the other two options. A shuttle van thing that would take us to the other airport, Ronald Reagan, was our best bet. From there, we could find a ride on the metro to go to Christopher’s house to drop of Amy’s things. (Christopher is Amy’s cousin, a lot older though. We rode all through the city and finally got on to the subway system. It was fairly easy compared to the Denver trolley thing, because the tickets you buy just go right in the machine, it scans them, and you get on the train you need to to get to your destination. Then, there are some other scanners at the end that take the ticket, find the distance and as a result, take a certain amount of money off the card. It even prints the amount of money left on the card right on the little slip of paper.
Once we got out of the metro system, the real journey began. Amy had a 40 lb checked bag, a 25 lb carryon and a 18 lb backpack. I had a 37 lb duffle bag (with no wheels), a 20 lb carryon, and a 15 lb backpack. This is a lot to carry the 10 blocks. We eventually figured out that it would be easier to use the wheels of Amy’s big suitcase to roll my duffle bag. I carried the big bags and my backpack, and Amy rolled both of our carryons. We stopped at the Safeway to get some breakfast food for Amy, some Peanut butter Crunch, then continued on. We crashed at the apartment for a while before we would take on the rest of the day. I’m trying to catch up on this blog-to-be, so I’m just going to give a couple major or exciting events per day. The walk back to the metro was much easier. I figured out that I could just put the 37 lb bag on my shoulders alternating sides, and Amy carried my carryon bag.
We finally arrived at my campus after the metro again, and an AU shuttle to get to the campus. We walked around and tried to find where my dorm was. We found it on the south side of campus and then checked in to get my key. I went over to Anderson hall to get the ID card, though I thought I already turned in a picture. Oh well, I just got another picture taken, though my hair was a little messed up. We unpacked my bags in my room, and met my roommates. Tyler Mich is from Boston, and seems pretty nice. Charlie is from Park City and seems cool. He said that he plays hippie sports such as ultimate Frisbee, hacky-sack, and slackline. They both have Macs… Oh well, everyone, well, most people, have Macs here. Actually everyone seems quite wealthy here. I guess that is probably because they are going to a $50,000+/year school. The room itself is very nice. There is tons of storage, and I couldn’t fill everything at all. There is a bookshelf, a desk with three drawers, a dresser with 5 drawers, and some overhead compartments. I have the bottom bunk under Charlie, and Tyler got the loft since he got there first. I was the last of the three to arrive. I’m sorry to everyone at home that wished I would get over my modesty at college… The showers are confined! Wahoo! Its room number 45 and is in the Terrace or basement, though there is a large window in it. It is just below the first main floor where the doors are. The bathroom is right down the hall and is pretty nice. In the stalls they have an addition of some news called “News at eye level” or something like that so you can read and take care of business at the same time. For all those that don’t have my mailing address, here it is.
Travis Volz/Letts Hall-045-Fall 2010/4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW/Washington, DC 20016
Anyway… The next major event occurred when I was walking Amy home. We were walking to Christopher’s house, and on the way passed by a church that was being pretty loud. There were the sounds of drums, an electronic piano, an organ, and many voices. We went up to the door to look, and were beckoned in by a largish black lady in the back. She was very friendly and we went inside and found 2 empty seats. There, we were offered fans, like little hand ones made of Popsicle sticks and cardboard pieces. The fans were actually developed by a larger group than the members of that church, but that is beside the point. They were quite gospely and loud and energetic and we were the only white people at that service. We felt a bit out of place. They would get up, put their hands on the backs of the seats in front of them, and do this little dance thing: Mostly just shuffling their feet and legs up and down and such. Some people, mostly the guys, would get up and do this crazy more exaggerated foot shuffling. “They had really nice foot work,” Amy said. They sang and sang on and on. We got in in the middle of their singing and it lasted for probably another 30 minutes before they braked for anything else. They offered us water, though we were practically the only ones not moving all around. The water was in red plastic cups and always had a folded paper towel over the top. We filled out this visitor card, and a little later in the service, they read our names and they all welcomed us to their service. The pastor then got up and yelled his words with lots of comments from the audience such as, “preach it brotha,” “amen,” “Oh Jesus,” or “the devil’s a liar.” They were big on audience participation, though we never really felt pressured to speak. They seemed quite Christian, though their style of worship was something that we had never seen before. The main differences were their always saying, “The Devil’s a Liar” and the fact that they strongly stressed that their main preacher was, “THE Shepherd.” No one else could prophesize or else there would be lots of confusion as many were trying to understand the scriptures differently. Anyway, it was quite the experience and we were ready to leave by the time it was over.
The next day (Monday the 16th) my orientation started at 11 am. Amy came over before it started and saw me a little then. She walked to Georgetown by herself while I heard some lectures about the different things a freshman should know. I took the math placement exam and got a 27 out of 30, just placing me high enough for my Calculus class for which I was signed up. We met in smallish groups and the college leader lead some games. We played ninja, and Haven, the athletic college student leader and I were the only ones left. I wonJ We played the game for mixers like we did at spec where the middle person would say something they liked or had done, and all others would have to move around the circle while the last person moving would be the next person in the middle. There, I learned that I was 1 of 2 conservatives in our group of 15 people. Wow… So anyway, we went to lunch and it was awesome! They had lots and lots of choices and everything tasted very good. I will have to eat a lot to get my 12.82 out of each meal, and since I only get 1.2 meals per day, I will take something from the lunch room for breakfast, and have a late lunch each day. It should work out well.
Amy came back after a while, but said she was really tired, so she took the metro back to AU. She came with me to the afternoon presentations, and they were all quite interesting. The first one especially! Rick was his name. He was such a flamer that I don’t really know how he managed to stay not-on-fire. He often danced to the pop music in his sparkly and glamorous presentation on the housing and dining programs. It was during this presentation that we learned that dorms are actually “residence halls”, and the 150 block are actually 150 “swipe” meal plans. You can take other people to eat with you, you only need to swipe your card multiple times. We played deal or no deal with different things that could be or not be in you “Residence halls.” The only pets that are allowed are those that are able to stay under water for 5 minutes straight. He said that even Hippopotamuses could be brought in the room if anyone could manage to find one and transport it.
Tuesday the 17th
The orientation resumed this morning at 9:00. We met with our groups and then listened to some extremely boring presentations about the career helps, AU Central, and the Health Department stuff. We did a painting that was to show the 5 values of AU, which will be shown at graduation. Then we went back to the glorious lunch room. There was some very delicious food there once again.
The main experience of today was our shopping trip. We went to the Target across town to buy some more things for my dorm room. On our way there from AU, we stopped at Wholefoods, an Organic, and understaffed, expensive grocery store in Tenleytown. We were there merely to scope out some potential foods for our way back to American. We then took the Metro to Columbia Heights to go to Target. When at Target, we shopped around for the best deals which takes quite some time. It was very frustrating for Amy, because I figured out the unit prices for almost everything just so I could find the best deal. We bought 4 bags of things including some food and school supplies. We bought some boxed, just-add-water, meals which I think I’ll buy more of, because they were good and fairly cheap. (*Fun Fact* This Target was a 2 story one and it had cart escalators that would grab a little extension from the front of the cart and carry it up, all the while keeping the cart flat. It was a great idea, and I wish I would have come up with it. The carts also lacked the back supports, that lots of people use to ride on, as a result of the escalator readiness. They had locking wheels too if you tried to take the carts from the store. That seemed a little strange to me, but it was on a sign there.) We carried all the bags and our backpacks all through the subway system. When we arrived at Tenleytown, Amy sat by the stuff while I went to get a mango and some lemonade from Whole Foods. There was a giant line and I probably waited for close to 15 minutes, though no one before me had an overly large quantity of goods. I got at a 12 pack of 32 oz. glass-bottled lemonade, because I thought that I could reuse the bottles several times. They were really heavy, because the liquid alone was 24 lbs, and as a result, created quite a burden on our ride back to the dorms. We had the 4 Target Bags, our backpacks, and now, a bunch of lemon aid and one mango which could not be squished. To make a long story short, we made it with some difficulty back to the dorms and stocked my shelves with food and other supplies.
On Wednesday the 18th, I had to meet with my scheduling advisor to finalize my schedule. Currently I will be taking: Physics Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; Calculus Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday; The Global Majority Tuesday and Friday; American Society Monday and Thursday; and Understanding Music Tuesday and Friday. I’m not really sure about the things I will do in each of these classes, but I’ll definitely write more about it as I take them, assuming I have time at all to type this blogJ Amy met me in the TDR=Terrace Dining Room for lunch today, and I just swiped my card twice. This whole lack of meal plan should work out decently, because today, after lunch, I wasn’t that hungry at all, and there are other places I can buy food if I get hungry. I’ll keep a stock of food in my room also, so that I won’t starve on those days. If anyone is coming to Washington DC to see me, you should let me know ahead of time, so I can save up my .2 meals per day so they can come with me to eat at the Awesome Dining room.
After we finished what we needed to do at the campus, we headed on to the National Mall. On the way, I talked to my mom and sisters, because they had called me earlier and I just got around to calling them back. We stopped at the CVS pharmacy in Tenleytown to get some Metro SmartTrip cards. They are re loadable, and it can just scan the cards through a wallet or thin purse. It is a really cool feature that it doesn’t have to see the card directly. We took the Red line down to the Metro Center, and then transferred to the orange or blue line to go down to the Smithsonian stop. It was only two stops and then we were there. It was pretty crazy as we came out of the Metro and were greeted by a giant city with many huge buildings and museums. We went to the map and saw that we were fairly close to the National Monument. We found the National Holocaust Memorial on the map and walked the several blocks to it. It was a 4 story building that was pretty big and had many pictures, articles, artifacts, and videos that were along the walls of the building. It was very professionally done and gave you almost an eerie feeling as you walked through it. They had some of the suits that the Jews were forced to wear and also a small pile of the shoes that were collected off the Jews at the cremation centers. After the memorial, we felt a little depressed, but it soon subsided slightly as we left the area and walked to the National Monument. We walked for quite a ways and finally got to it, though we could see it as soon as we exited the subway system. It is Huge! A fun fact that has to do with AU is that the Katzen Art Center could hold the entire National Monument if it was laid on its side without it touching either end. So anyway, we looked around that area and took some pictures, and then walked along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial. There was duck poop everywhere and also lots of ducks. IT reminded me a lot the scene in Getsmart where he walked on the stone things and went down in the middle of the pool to the secret area. The pond itself was pretty gross and mucky, but it was very long. It took probably 15 minutes to walk from one side to the other. We then got to the Lincoln Memorial and walked up the large steps and went inside. It was crazy to think that this picture was on myriad pennies. Almost everyone at one point or another in America had held on to this miniature version of this building that was now before us. Lincoln was quite the sight also and was very large. We left, and since it had been raining today, the steps were slippery and I slid a little on accident before catching myself again. This concluded the adventures of today.
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