THE ARCHIVES: WASHINGTON DC [SUMMER OF 2014]

it is has been 10 years since i lived in washington dc. this post has actually been a draft for several years, but it seems like a good time to post. summer always reminds me of this time of my life since i left for dc memorial day weekend & stayed the summer of 2014. if you are interested in the details, i did a whole series documenting my time & what i did (lots of visits to historical sites in the city & beyond). it was a time in my life where i got to move across the country & experience life on my own as i did not move away for college. i also did not know anyone in dc. this is a post of highlights and some of my favorite spots (some not even around anymore), as both a tourist and temporary resident.

dc is a city during my early years that always popped into my life some how. every time i have visited, i always took a picture the same way, at the fdr memorial in the national mall:

1st visit: 2006 (13 years old) - 8th grade field trip 

2nd visit: 2010 (17 years old) - winning the congressional art competition which included a scholarship & a trip to DC 

3rd visit: 2014 (21 years old) - my internship

4th visit: 2017 (24 years old) - returning for the cherry blossom festival & the new smithsonian

as someone who lived at home through college & commuted to college (both bike & car) - no shame in saving money - this internship meant a lot to me. i am very independent, but also sensible. i was able to truly live on my own (technically with strangers) and took advantage of my time by going on daily adventures. the area is super friendly for public transportation & has so many museums & historical sites (many free!). there will always be a special place in my heart for washington dc. here is where i learned my love to travel & using public transportation to get around.

i think i was supposed to turn in my id, but i still have it.

funny enough i went for an internship, but often times when i look back, i really do not think about the internship itself. the office i worked for had too many interns (this is what happens when an office decides to seek interns from home but also have interns who are family friends). it was overcrowded & because of this, i was only able to go to the office at most 3 times a week, though on average only went twice. for comparison, my roommate (who interned for a different congressional rep) interned 5 days a week. i can still look back fondly, but more so i think my internship was more of a learning life experience (and a good thing to put on my resume) than a meaningful time improving my community or learning professional skills. i mostly learned how to work with personalities & hierarchies involved. i learned i never want to work for a politician. to be honest, i think capitol hill is glamorized & inefficient. i am still glad i did it, but i learned more about what i did not want to do in life & who i do not want to be, also there is a certain young adult culture in DC that just does not jive with my personality (drugs, alcohol, & dating baby). i have always been an adventurous grandma who would rather be alone than socialize.

because there are 5 congressional buildings, they are connected by underground tunnels & railcars. it was fun to be able to go through these & get away. i was that intern that did not mind running errands. 

so yes, at times my internship was soul sucking. i wish i could have done more (or been more persistent), but i am still grateful for the experience & learned so much. i only built a working relationship with my supervisor, who was the baby when it came to seniority of staff. one of my assignments was making posters for the congresswoman. every year the republicans & democrats are pitted against each other for a charity baseball game. because the congresswoman is generally the only woman who plays every year, we got media attention and were included in an article.

i made most of the posters & this one was my favorite (i still have it in my closet)

my housing

i lived in the cheaper property that was available through the scholar program, which was a historic building. this allowed me to afford a room with only 1 other roommate & the perks of living in a historical home (which was a joy, even though we did have a resident mouse). the stone building was built in the early 20th century as a secretarial school. there were 4 floors (including one basement floor). the basement floor was where all the boys lived while the top 2 floors roomed the girls & the ground floor was the commons area. i was assigned the "harrison room" on the third floor. each room had its own lock, which was such a blessing. i trusted no one. luckily my roommate was older, so she was responsible.

the house was located in the NW quadrant where new jersey avenue meets N & 3rd street. the house was in between the shaw & mt. vernon districts with the closest station mt. vernon & the closest commercial area chinatown. i really enjoyed my neighborhood. i use to take the train in the morning to the capitol, but most days would walk the 20 or so blocks home if the weather permitted. that was at least 2 miles. it was a little sketchy, but everyone kept to themselves. i am pretty sure the neighborhood is much better than what it use to be. at the time i was living there, there were quite a few vacant buildings falling apart. it seemed that the neighborhood was just starting to become a bit gentrified with younger people with fancy jobs starting to move in & older buildings being remodeled. a block away was public housing, but i did not realize that until after after my time there. i generally felt safe, even those few times i got back late at night. i never had any issues with those loitering near the projects or the homeless encampment a few blocks away. the only issue i had was a specific neighbor who would catcall occasionally.

overall, i really enjoyed where i lived. i got along with my roommate fine, but most of the others in the house were younger & at times the building turned into a frat house. as the older grumps me and my roommate were, we always made sure to bring our good food from the kitchen to our room, lock our doors & make sure no one went into our private detached bathroom. to add to the fond memories, i was always up the earliest & would enjoy my workday mornings by drinking iced coffee & off-brand honey nut cheerios in the kitchen alone while listening to 30s/40s jazz. i purposely woke up early to get that time alone. i really did enjoy that routine.

my first full day, memorial day, i went with my roommate to the national mall. that same weekend, we returned with all the housemates (when we all did not know each other & got along). we all went to the national mall until 2 o'clock in the morning (this was also my first time taking an uber). friendliness in the house did not last long as most had strong political beliefs all over the spectrum. when strangers (mostly the age of 18-20) are all living under one roof they are bound to not get along; it was like mtv's the real world. 

when i first visited DC when i was 13, the school gave everyone a carnation to give to someone at the vietnam war memorial. i randomly gave it to willie j. foster (i did not know of any veterans). since then everytime i have visited the memorial, i always find willie j. foster. 

vietnam war memorial

now for more of the fun stuff. my roommate & i's favorite hole in the wall food dive was fuel. we would go there almost every friday and split the date night meal. it came with 2 big slices of pizza, a garlic knot, & a drink. we would each get a slice & i would take the garlic knot & she would take the drink. it worked out perfectly. the outside was classy & an older building, but inside was filled with metal signs & neon lights from the floor to the ceiling.

some of my other favorite places to eat was pret manger, nando's peri peri, a random chinese place in chinatown, & dunkin' coffees (at the time we did not have any in socal). other than finding a random place to eat during my daily adventures, i lived off of bagged salads, sucky home made lunch meat sandwiches, burritos, tv dinners, & frozen chicken tenders. i really did not know how to cook until later in my life.

one of my favorite places to visit during a day trip was alexandria, 5 miles away (but an easy metro ride) across the potomac in virginia. i first had to visit for an internship reception, but ended up going there several times during my stay. i love old towns & alexandria was no exception. is it historically accurate? no, but it does have historic sites & charm, cute shops/restaurants, a waterfront, & cobblestone streets. my favorite places to visit was the stabler-leadbeater apothecary museum (family business from 1792-1933), freedmen's cemetery & memorial (an old african american cemetery), a pub/restaurant with drunk gnomes on stained glass, and an antique shop. 

alexandria is known for having buildings from the 18th & 19th century (old for american standards)

another one of my favorite little districts in the area was georgetown. georgetown was somewhat similar to alexandria as it had historic sites & charm, cute shops/restaurants, & a waterfront. many of the buildings are brick & look like ye old industrial buildings (like mills) with smoke stacks. even though there are modern stores & restaurants, you can tell they are in very old buildings. also in this neighborhood is the old stone house, the last pre-revolutionary house in the city. it is open to the public & part of the nps.

i tried sketching some of the sites i visited during my stay

in georgetown behind the store fronts is the old C&O canal (c.1831) that was in operation until the 1920s. the canal was used to transport goods, namely coal from the mountains. the canal starts in georgetown and ends in virginia (184 miles away).  i unfortunately did not realize there was a trail here until my last day as it is behind the commercial buildings.  when i returned a few years laters, i did end up walking more of this trail. another thing i enjoyed was dean & delucas that sold fancy food with gourmet groceries. it was expensive, but it was a nice little treat for myself when i visited georgetown. 

my favorite quiet little corner in DC was rock creek nhp near pierce mill. i liked it so much, that i went there my last full day in DC & returned in 2017. it is quite a large park (1,754 acres) that touches many neighborhoods. it feels like a forest in the middle of the city. to get to my favorite section i would have to go to the cleveland park neighborhood & walk past all the embassies. my favorite section has the mill that was built in the 1820s & the creek that runs through. i would sit there and just watch the creek. after a heavy rain, the creek would get very large. i became friendly with one of the park rangers (the same workers in pierce mill are also in the old stone house in georgetown). everytime i would see him at either site, we would chat. he later let me look at the old barn next door that at the time was closed to the public. that was pretty cool.

the creek near pierce mill

this part of the creek is elsewhere in the park

a section of the berlin wall in the newseum 

the newseum (RIP) was one of my favorite museums even though it is now closed, i do not know what exactly happened, but when i returned in 2017 i noticed a decline with the museum. it was a lot smaller than it had been. for me, the best artifacts was the unabomber's bunker, a GDR death tower, the broadcast antenna of the world trade center, an armored truck used by journalists in the balkans, & the car of a journalist who died when a bomb was attached to the bottom of the driver's seat. i hope the collections went to other establishments. also, the museum had a memorial to all journalists who lost their life during their work. i found this museum very powerful. also, they had an exhibit on some of the most famous photos in history & the stories behind these famous photos told by the photographers themselves. when i was high school, i entertained the idea of becoming a war photo-journalist.

at the whim of my roommates i joined them on 4th of july to watch fireworks at the national mall. i hate crowds, but i am glad i went as this was a once in the lifetime opportunity.

me in my 4th of july garb that was part of a care package from my grandmother.

in the middle of my internship, i took a few days off to visit philadelphia. it was the first time i took a long haul bus ride, which i quite enjoyed & made a friend. the city is very walkable with fun museums & historic sites. there are also some cool looking colonial neighborhoods. some of the areas i liked that i did not list some below were the edgar allen poe nhs, carpenter hall, & independence national historical park.

i found elfreth's alley on accident the night before when i was walking the street with a new friend at the hostel. 

definitely the highlight of my philly trip was eastern state penitentiary. some may think it is random, but i love the mixture of nature, ruins & the paranormal. i have loved ghost stories since childhood, and this place is known as one of the most haunted sites in america. 

the medical wing of eastern state penitentiary.

the biggest roadtrip i did with my housemates was to jamestown, virginia. this trip was a bitch to happen as there were 2 failed attempts. the first time was cancelled before getting a car rental & the second time there was so much traffic that we had to turn around. we did stop at fredericksburg spotsylvania on the way back so it was not a complete waste. just this year, i found out i have ancestors from both jamestown & spotsylvania, so it was meant to be. at this time, i was too scared to have a car rental i only started driving a year or 2 before), so i had to convince others to go with me. also i was under 25.

the third event worked out but it had a few hiccups. we were 5 grown humans in a prius and i was the lucky one who got to sit in the back middle seat for 3.5 hours sandwiched between 2 full grown men i had just meant. it was so hot & humid that our skin was sticking to each other. we did end up hitting a storm on the way home (right before stopping at a ihop for some red, white, & blue pancakes). we left for our 2.5 hour drive later than i would like, which meant we were not able to stay as long. i really wanted to be able to go to jamestown settlement (a reconstruction & state museum) & historic jamestowne (an archealogical site & part of a national park).

jamestown settlement 

to get to the the archealogical site, i had to run a mile through a dirt trail as the 2 sites are not neighbors. it was such a weird experience because i ran into so many animals. i saw a family of deer, 3 butterflies, a cardinal, & a rabbit. i am sure it is politically incorrect, but pocahontas was my favorite movie as a kid & running through the forested area made me think of the movie. was i winded out? hell yeah, and even though i was unable to go to the visitor's center, i was able to see the glasshouse & get a souvenir. 

colonial national historical park

i started to attempt at urban sketches at the end of my trip. pictured is the basilica, the largest catholic church united states.

while in DC, i had 2 people from home spend time with me while they were in the city for other reasons. my cousin visited me at capitol hill when she was there for a teacher's event & we visited the national mall at night until after midnight. the other was my friend who i was originally going to room with. she had to drop out of the internship program before we left. she was there for a bachelorette party, but we met up &  ate at this place called ted's bulletin. it was a random place we stumbled upon on, but it was my favorite restaurant experience during my trip. the place is in the art deco style, plays early jazz, projects an old movie (this time it was lawrence of arabia), & has homedade dishes that are classic tv dinners meals.

for dessert, we shared a peanut butter & banana milkshake, a homemade snowball, & a homemade brown sugar pop tart.

a nice little surspise my last day of my internship (though i did stay in the city for an extra few days)

as i said before, i spent my last full day going to my favorite places, which included pierce mill at rock creek park & georgetown. i made plans with my some housemates to see the national monuments at night, but that fell through. i then made last minute plans to eat with my old supervisor and as a compromise, he said he would go to the national mall if we also jogged. i have never been a jogger/runner so i felt like i was dying, but it ended up being a lot of fun & i got to see the monument like i wanted.

a picture of the washington monument at night.

a last little memory that at the time was no fun, but i can look back & laugh was getting to the airport. originally, my supervisor offered to give me ride as i was flying out of virginia. unfortunately, it did not work out and because i am stubborn & at the time was not a fan of uber or lyft, i decided to take the metro. mind you, i was wearing a backpack & rolling a medium sized suitcase in each hand with my small carry-on suitcase buckled to one of the medium ones. i ended up rolling my way through the brick-laid  sidewalk for 0.7 miles (and not in the best neighborhood), down an escalator, on a metro carriage, off a metro carriage, & rolled my way through several terminals as my gate was on the far side of the airport. my arms were sore for the next few days!

not all my highlights are reflected in these pictures. some other wonderful sites are the wilson house, mary mcleod bethune council house, any smithsonaian museum (my favorites are the portrait art gallery, national art gallery, the postal museum, & the history museum), & department of interior museum.

ultimately, i am so lucky for this experience. i would have never done it without the support from others. first, a college friend is the one who lit the flame. she was going to go to & we were going to room together, but she had to drop out last minute for personal reasons. if she did not plan on going, i would have never entertained the idea. at the time i was in a rocky relationship & worried about leaving. she believed in me so much & was so confused why i was not initially going to go. i still think about that. also my family helped out financially. yes, i had to take a loan to pay for housing & living expenses, but my paternal grandparents paid for my flights & sent care packages, my parents paid for my weekly groceries, my aunt sent care packages, & my maternal grandparents sent checks that were strictly to be spent on fun things (it paid for a portion of my fun solo trip to philadelphia).