DC Love

I arrived in DC on Saturday morning, and I am absolutely loving it! I'm so full of anticipation that I can't sleep right now. There are many great things that I can't wait to do this semester! As for what I did so far...

I woke up at 3:15 on Saturday morning (after a full 80 minutes of sleep...) to make it to the airport in time for my 5:15 flight. My plane arrived in DC shortly after 12:30, and I took a short cab ride to the apartment complex in Rosslyn, VA where I'll be living for the semester. I got my keys and hauled my 51.2 pound duffel bag to my top (10th) floor apartment which is absolutely gorgeous! It's a great apartment with nice furnishings, good amenities and a wonderful view. I haven't taken pictures of the building or the apartment yet, but I'll do that soon and get some pictures up here.

When I arrived, my roommate Jordyn was already here, so after some quick unpacking and organizing, she and her parents kindly allowed me to tag along for some exploring and grocery shopping. We walked around the Rosslyn area, stopping to eat at Ray's Hell Burger, apparently an Obama favorite. The place was absolutely packed, but still we managed to get a table after just a short wait.
I ordered something called "The Big Punisher," and try as I might to conceal the fact that my mouth and throat were on fire, you can see the pain in my eyes and the heat in my face in this second picture.

Jordyn's mom took us grocery shopping, so our kitchen is now well stocked. We spent the rest of Saturday night relaxing and getting settled. Jordyn's mom Gail was busy documenting our first day, which is how I have these first few pictures. I'm very grateful!

On Sunday morning, Jordyn and I found ourselves on our own without much to do, so we headed over to the Georgetown neighborhood. Georgetown is literally a 5 minute walk from our apartment. It's amazing! Georgetown is full of neat little shops and cafes and of course there are college students all around, so it's really a great atmosphere. We walked down that area until we hit George Washington. When we got back to our apartment, our third roommate Lulit was just arriving. I don't have any pictures with Lulit yet, but I'll get some up soon. Lulit unpacked, and then we all headed over to the Lutheran College Washington Semester (LCWS) office for the first leg of our orientation. It was pretty standard, things-you-need-to-know type stuff.

Today (Monday and Labor Day), Dr. Joyner, Alyssa and Doug (the full-time, permanent faculty and staff of LCWS) took us on a tour of the major monuments. We saw the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial in addition to the Washington, Lincoln and FDR Monuments and the Washington National Cathedral.

The National Cathedral has held state funerals for late presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. President Woodrow Wilson is the only United States president buried in DC and he is buried at the National Cathedral along with Helen Keller and a number of other notable individuals.
The Cathedral is remarkable for its Gothic architecture and marvelous stained glass windows. Construction on the National Cathedral began when the first stone was laid in 1907 with then president Teddy Roosevelt looking on. Construction finished in 1990 with then president George H.W. Bush there to witness. All facts courtesy of our fab tour guide. :)

The World War II memorial has a stone monument for each state and territory in the Union to honor the lives of those lost.


It also offers great views of the Washington Monument.

Next we headed to the Korean War Memorial which has a very different feel. The Korean War Memorial depicts soldiers trudging through the snow in their heavy gear.

Our last war memorial was the Vietnam War Memorial. The Vietnam War Memorial was designed by a Yale student and contains the names of all 58,000 soldiers who lost their livee engraved in the black stone.

Presidential monuments were a bit more exciting to visit. Here's Abe.
The Lincoln Monument with its many steps provides another great view of the Washington Monument.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Monument was one that I had never visited before, but it was by far my favorite. It has several chambers that you walk through to see various scenes from FDR's presidency depicted. Many of my favorite quotes were engraved on the walls. Here's one.
Another.
And one more. (Just a few of many). This one is bit hard to read, but I really like it. It says "Among American citizens there should be no forgotten men and no forgotten races." I would amend that to say "Among WORLD citizens there should be no forgotten PEOPLE and no forgotten races," but still I like it.
And here's Eleanor, a favorite of middle-school me. FDR's is the only presidential monument that has the first lady depicted.

We stopped somewhere in the middle for lunch at Union Station, and that pretty much covers our tour. We had a short break when we got back before a session on maintaining our sanity while here. :) I can see how easy it might be to try to do too much!

I had my first session of a course entitled "The Global Agenda" tonight. I got four books (paid for by LCWS...whoo!) that all look really interesting. The professor, Dr. Joyner, seems really great, and I am told by my favorite professor at Concordia that he is very well known and esteemed in the international law world. I am beyond excited for that class...wahoo! My other class, "American Diversity," meets tomorrow for the first time.

This is going to be my best semester yet.