The day before I was to go home I was able to travel back to the National Mall to take one more walk around. The first day that I arrived in Washington, D.C., I went to the National Mall, so it was fitting for me to go there on my last day. The weather was not quite as nice as it was when I first arrived in D.C., but at least there weren’t many tourists running around. I was also able to see the sun set on the National Mall while sitting on the West side of the Lincoln Memorial, which was pretty cool.

The next day we were supposed to get a bunch of snow, and we did. It started to snow around 10 o’clock that night before we were supposed to go home. Many of my friends left that night in hopes of making it home before the big snow storm hit. Those of us who were leaving in the morning decided to make the best of the snow storm and go outside. Yes, we made a snowman, a little one, but it was still sweet. I was not all that excited about the snow since I come from Ohio and it snows all the time, but others were pretty excited.

The next day I awoke to about a foot of snow on the ground. This was not a good thing, because I was going to be driving home. Once my parents and I had loaded all of my stuff up, we were planning on going to Arlington National Cemetery. We wanted to go to see the wreaths that are placed on the headstones of over 5,000 graves. The Worcester Wreath Company started this annual event in 1992 to honor our nation’s fallen heroes. The wreaths will be at Arlington National Cemetery for approximately 4 weeks. The Worcester Wreath Company has not taken any donations for this event in the past, but this was the first year that they began to take donations for the wreaths that they furnish for the headstones. To our disappointment, the cemetery was closed due to the snow. 

Because of the snow, it took us an additional three hours to make it back to Ohio. I guess I had it better than many of the other students who were unable to fly home and were going to have to wait until Monday or Tuesday to fly home. Of course it had to snow on the day I was traveling, but at least we made it home safely.

This past week I was able to travel to Mt. Vernon, the home of our first president. Mt. Vernon is located about 8 miles South of Alexandria and if you do not have a car then you will have to take a bus. It costs 15 dollars to tour the grounds of the estate. If you are in Washington, D.C. in the spring, I would recommend going there to walk all of the gardens. I was able to take a 30 minute tour of the mansion, which was very informative and interesting. After I toured the house I walked to the back of the house, which overlooks the Potomac River. The area on the opposite side of the river is a national park, so the area has been able to maintain its original landscape over all these years.

I then made my way to the tomb of George and Martha Washington. Before George Washington’s death, he had picked out a location in which he wanted a large tomb constructed to hold family members. Upon George Washington’s death, the new tomb had not yet been constructed, so his body was placed in an older tomb on the grounds. A few years later the new tomb was constructed and his body was moved to where it rests now.

There were also a number of buildings surrounding the mansion. There were stables, kitchens, slave quarters, and barns. There were also a number of animals on the grounds including sheep and cows. One of the most interesting animals that was there was a camel...yes, a camel. When George Washington lived at Mt. Vernon, he decided to bring in a camel one year and the tradition has apparently stuck. There was also a large museum dedicated to George Washington, filled with artifacts from his life.

I was also able to go to the National Mall to see the Capitol Christmas Tree. The Capitol Christmas Tree is located on the west side of the Capital and has been a tradition sense 1964. This year the tree came from Arizona and is decorated with 5,000 ornaments, which were made by children from Arizona. Each year, the Speaker of the House lights the Christmas tree. I was unable to make it down to see the tree at night, but I was able to during the day, so if you’re in D.C. during Christmas make sure to go to the Capitol at night to see the tree.
             

Snow in DC

I am used to snow in Ohio, but I was surprised to see the snow in D.C. at this time of the year. When we woke up my friends and I headed to the top of the apartment building to check out the first snowfall in D.C. this year.    

I was pretty happy that it was snowing and I headed down to the Mall to take some pictures of it snowing. I was also able to go to the United States Capitol with one of my friends who is interning there. We were able to walk around the Capitol and go places that the normal tours don’t show you. We were able to go to the basement of the Capitol and see the hallways, which lead to a number of the adjacent Senate buildings to allow members of Congress to walk from building to building without going outside. We traveled from floor to floor in the elevators and were able to walk some of the hallways, which have huge paintings of past political leaders on them. 

The best part of our visit was when we were able to walk out on the steps of the Capitol. Standing on the steps of the Capitol, I was surprised of the great view I had looking out onto the National Mall. Most people will not be able to freely travel the halls of the Capitol, but I would recommend going to the Capitol to take one of the general tours. On the tours you would be able to walk through the Rotunda and walk around Statuary Hall. 

From the Capitol we walked to the White House to see the National Christmas Tree. Once we arrived at the National Christmas Tree, I was surprised to see the number of people there and everything that was going on. There was a stage with people tap dancing to Christmas music, children talking to Santa Claus, and model trains. Surrounding the National Christmas Tree were smaller trees representing all 50 states, the five territories and the District of Columbia. All 57 trees are lit form dusk till 11 pm in order to help conserve money. The decorations on the Christmas trees are enclosed in plastic bags to help preserve them. There are a number of performances every night of the week and no tickets are required to attend these events. The National Christmas Tree was planted on the Ellipse in 1978 and is currently 46 years old. I thought that it was interesting that the same tree is decorated year after year.

If you are here during the winter I would recommend going to the South Lawn of the White House to see the National Christmas Tree. 

While interning with The Washington Center we are encourage to become civically engaged. I was able to participate in the 2009 Help the Homeless Walkathon, which helped to raise money for the homeless in D.C. I was able to serve breakfast for members of N Street Village; an organization that helps to provide underprivileged women with a place to stay and provides them various other support programs. On the day of the walkathon we met outside the Old Post Office Pavilion and ate breakfast together. Then as a group we walked to the National Mall to participate in the walk. The walk started on the National Mall and made its way around the Jefferson Memorial and back to the National Mall. This was a great opportunity to help make a difference in peoples lives and a great deal of good will come to the homeless in the city because of this walk.

The next day two of my friends, Kyle, Jack, and I decided to go to the National Zoo. It was a very nice day and pretty warm for this time of the year, so it was a great place to go walk around outside and enjoy the weather. I soon found out that we were not the only ones who thought it was a good opportunity to go to the zoo, because it was packed. The main exhibit at the zoo was the panda bears. The pandas are on loan from China and will soon be going back, so it was a good chance to see them before they go back.

The best part about the zoo was that it was free and the next best thing was the lions and tigers. There was only one of each, which was kind of disappointing, but still cool. The tiger was walking around, but the lion was sitting there chewing on a bone.

About a week before we went to the zoo a baby deer managed to jump into the lion cage and the hunt was on. The lions attacked the deer, but the deer was able to get away and the zookeepers were able to get the deer away from the lions. The deer suffered a great deal of wounds from the lions and had to be put down. So much for the cutie and cuddly lions everyone thinks of.

I’m not really into birds and don’t really like them at all, especially all the pigeons that are everywhere here, but I was pretty excited to be able to see the eagles. They are surprisingly big. My friend Jack was very excited about going to the petting zoo. To his disappointment most of the animals just stayed in the back of their cages and wanted nothing to do with the hoards of kids. All in all we had a great time at the zoo and if the weather is nice, this is a great place to go on a Sunday afternoon.

In the past month I have been able to go on a few field trips with the other interns at NCIS. We were able to go to the Pentagon and take a tour of the massive military complex. I know the pentagon looks big from the outside, but once inside I was able to see just how big it really is. When we got inside of the Pentagon we were broken into smaller groups and were guided by honor guard members. Those who give the tours are active members of the military and were chosen for this job because of their outstanding actions in the military. They have to go through an intensive course and have to be able to give the entire tour, which last about an hour, walking backwards without running into anyone or anything. We were lead down a number of halls with display cases lining the sides. It was similar to a museum with memorabilia and information about important military events in US history. The tour was short, but very interesting and it was great to actually have been able to be inside of the Pentagon.

We were also able to go to the CIA and were given a presentation on job opportunities within the agency. We were not given a tour of the facility, but we were able to go inside and see the CIA Memorial Wall. The CIA Memorial Wall has 83 stars engraved in it to represent the individuals who have died in the line of duty. Below the stars there was a book with the names of about half of those individuals and the dates that they were killed. We then listened to a number of individuals talk about what their particular department does. After the presentation we were then able to talk with some of the current interns and new hires to learn about their backgrounds and how they were able to obtain their position. It was great to be able to go to the CIA, which is a place that not too many people are able visit.

One of the most interesting places that the other interns and I were able to go to was the Baltimore Medical Examiner's Office. We were given a brief introduction as to what the examiners do and how they conduct their investigations. We were then led down to a room with a number of bodies to watch the examiners and their staff conduct autopsies. I have never been exposed to anything like this and I was surprised that I was not bothered by the sounds and smells. There were individuals who had died for a number of reasons, including stabbings and strangulation. We were able to watch the whole process of conducting the autopsy and ask the examiners any questions we had. It was also nice to know that I will not be bothered by these types of things when I encounter them in the future.

NCIS is a great place to intern because of the experience gained at work and the number of trips we are able to take to gain a broader understanding of the different career paths that can be taken.

Good to be home…

On Thursday I was able to fly back home to be with my family for Thanksgiving. It was nice to be back home and see my family and also to get out of the city for once. One of the best parts about being home was the fact that I was able to drive my truck. I have been here 3 months and have only driven once since. I was able to go shoot every day, which was great.  

One thing about living in D.C. is that the airport is so close to where we live. I am just one Metro stop away from Reagan National Airport, which makes it easy to get there without a car. Many of my friends were able to leave a few days early from their internships to have a few extra days back home and most of the internships have no problem allowing you to go home early. So you shouldn’t have a problem taking off work if you have a good reason to be leaving.  

I didn’t have to work the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and decided to go walk around D.C. for a little while. I ended up at the Supreme Court and was able to go inside and look around. There was not too much to see and do inside of the building, but it was pretty cool to be able to go inside and look around. There were a few displays in the hallways to look at and a few statues, but other than that there wasn’t too much to do. I would still recommend taking the time to go there for the simple fact that it is the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is located right across the street from the Capitol and the Library of Congress. 

 

I then made my way over to the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress was incredible inside, with marble staircases and pillars. I was a little disappointed that I was not able to actually go inside of the rooms where the books are kept. I was able to go out on one of the balconies and look down into the circular room where many books are on display. There were rooms that guests are able to go in and view some of the items stored in the Library of Congress. The Gutenberg Bible is on display there and there was also a room there which displayed maps of the world dating back to the 1500’s. The Library of Congress was a very neat place and is right next door to the Supreme Court so if you are here you can go to both of these places even if you only have a few hours.   

I did not go to the Capitol on Wednesday, but it is right across the street and it is easy to gain access too. There is not too much to see and do, but it is the Capitol and a “must go” place if you are visiting D.C. You are able to go into the crypt were George Washington’s body was suppose to be buried in, but never made it there. There are also a number of statues located around the rooms of famous people. These three places are great places to go to and do not take a great deal of time to tour.

So long for now…