Recap

Picture of me and some coworkers
 on a private tour of the National Archives (thanks Boeing!)

I've lived in DC for about 3 and half months now. As I have met more people and become busier at work I have had far less time to update my blog. I apologize for the lack of posting. However, don't interpret my lack of postings as a lack of interesting activities I've been up to in DC. Besides keeping my friends and family up to date on my life I also intended for the blog to help me chronicle my experience here. Well I failed at that because I'm now failing to remember some of the fun and unique experiences I have had thus far. Oh well, here are a few thoughts.

Kickball

Stock Photo-not my team. You get the idea though.

I'm in an adult kickball league on Thursday nights. We play on the National Mall, right in front of the Capital. As most of you know (and my Father laments), I am not what most people classify as "an athlete". Luckily, that puts me as roughly average in a kickball league. It's very laid back and our team is comically bad at times.  I only knew about 3 people on the team when I joined but I have since met numerous different people. After kickball all the teams go to one or two bars where we hang out all night and play flip-cup. The various kickball leagues are emblematic of the young person culture in DC. Because the city is so 1. Transient 2. Network focused, everyone is always up for meeting new people and new experiences.

Boston

Karen at the Harpoon Beer
Festival we went to in Boston

A lot of people in my program at work travel quite a bit when they're in the DC rotation. They take advantage of the fact that DC is so close to some many big cities. I'm just a 3.5 hour bus ride to Philly and 4.5 hours to New York City. I'm also about an hour from Baltimore but no one seems to mention that city so I'm not overly concerned about that. Well I have done none of this. I instead wanted to integrate myself into the DC culture as much as possible. I have my whole life to visit other cities, who knows how many cities will get to live in.

All of that being said, I did take a short plane ride to Boston a few weeks ago. I am lucky enough to have an amazing friend who not only let me crash on her couch, but also spent the entire weekend showing me around. I had a great time and would love to go back and spend more time.

A few things to note:
1. There are a lot of white people in Boston.
2. Boston is shockingly walkable. Extremely nice.
3. There is really no separation between the 'historic' areas and the rest of the city. It's strange and very cool.
4. The city is so casual. I'm pretty sure I could have sat down in a nice restaurant in a T-shirt.
5. I went to Cambridge to visit Harvard. Harvard is surprisingly small but very nice.
6. It really is a very cool city. I met a lot of very good people and had a fantastic time.

Out

Kyle and I out at some Hill staffer bar

I don't have a ton of "stories" per say because so much of my activities consists of eating and drinking my way through the city with friends, which is fun but not "blog worthy". DC has spoiled me with great bars and restaurants. One of my roommates knows just about everything about food in DC. Between him and other friends I have had an incredible variety of excellent food. For example, I had grasshopper the other day, which was interesting. I don't think most experts consider DC a "top tier" food town but from what I read and hear it is on the rise. Experiencing so much good and interesting food has been one of my favorite things about living here.

Small Town
About 600,000 people live in the District. About 5.6 million people live in the broader DC Metro area. That being said, I still randomly run into people I know somewhat frequently. My roommates who have lived here for years always run into friends when we're out. Despite that it is a "big city" it feels quite small at times. I enjoy that attribute most of the time.
That's all for now. My plans aren't solid for the future but I'll most likely be out of here sometime during fourth of July weekend. My parents will be in town this weekend. I'll actually try to take pictures with them so I have something interesting to post.