That's it

Well, it’s finally that time of the summer—I’m Alberta bound.

I could not have asked for a more enjoyable last week in DC. I thought about going through my guidebook, and seeing a few more sights, and events that I missed, but I realized what was more important to me was visiting people, and enjoying the company of the friends I’ve had the pleasure of making.

Tuesday during the day I wandered from my apartment down to Capitol Hill one last time. I wanted to check out the Library of Congress, and also that day the Committee of Foreign Affairs was holding a public hearing on Uganda and children’s health. 

Committee on Foreign Affairs: Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights.

Ally and me in the Library of Congress

The hearing was smaller in size, but it was in a great committee room in the Rayburn House Office Building. A lot of events and committees are open, and I was glad to make it to one before my time in Washington came to an end. It was specifically about mental health and hydrocephalus so a few doctors spoke as witnessed. One doctor actually opened a clinic in Kampala, Uganda and trained healthcare professionals in Uganda on this specific surgical procedure that he created to help cure hydrocephalus. It was pretty great to actually see exactly how civil society can influence policy, how policy can actually be formed and how priorities are set within the government.

I went with two friends of mine, Ally and Shadia and we headed for lunch at Good Stuff Eatery. It’s not far from the Library of Congress, and the food is so delicious. It’s such a cool place, and the menu is pretty cool. Their veggie burger is called “Vegetarians are people too” burger. They also have an Obama Burger, and a Michelle Melt. I tried the veggie burger which was made of Portobello mushrooms, and a few different cheeses. It was fantastic! They also have delicious fries seasoned with rosemary. So I was there on Tuesday, and it was in the news on Wednesday that President Obama dropped by for lunch. I missed him by a day! But it’s still cool to say I went to the same restaurant and Obama did in the same week.

Tuesday night was the last day of my US Foreign Policy class. My Professor made a dinner reservation for the class, and we all met at Zorba’s Café in Dupont for dinner. It was this cute Greek restaurant, and the walls were dotted with pictures of Greek landscape. There were about ten students there so it was an intimate group. After a few classes at the beginning of the semester, my Professor opened up the class and allowed for a lot of open dialogue and conversation about foreign policy issues. I began to look forward to the class because of the great discussions we had. Every student was from a different University, in a different part of the country, holding very different values and beliefs. I’ve learned so much about the modern American paradigm from my professor, and from my American classmates. It was indeed very different from the classroom I am used to back in Lethbridge.

It was great to have a few more conversations with those friends I had made. After our Professor left after dinner, we went out for happy hour and I really enjoyed getting to know this varied crowd. If we were not in the same class together, there was no way we would have managed to hang out together, and so I was very thankful for that time, and the great learning experience the class turned out to be.

At the Washington National's baseball game. They played the Atlanta Braves that day.

Wednesday I caught an afternoon Nationals game with two friends, Ally and Lisa. It’s been cool the last week, so in the bottom of the sixth inning the game was rain delayed, but for no more than thirty minutes. I had never been to a professional baseball game before, and I really enjoyed it! We sat back, relaxed and watched the game. I had a beer and a chilli dog in true American fashion.

Thursday I planned to spend some time with the girls I interned with. Most of us lived at the TWC residence, but some of the interns were placed in housing further out of the city in Maryland. They’re apartment building had a pool, so we ventured out into suburbia to hang out by the pool all afternoon. I felt like I was finally getting a little bit of summer. The TWC program is rigorous, and life in DC is very busy, so a rest by the pool on a sunny afternoon was exactly what I needed to come down from the hi of my summer program. That morning I woke up at 6am to go for a last run down the National Mall. I went with Juri, my neighbor from across the hall, for a 7 mile run. The only people out on the Mall that early were runners. It was so peaceful. We ran the whole length of the Mall all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial, which has turned out to be my favorite DC memorial. It rained the night before so at 6am the humidity was at 90% and about 30 degrees Celcius. It was like running in a hot, humid cloud. That's one thing I found out this summer--I never knew I could sweat so much!

That night I met my friends Janelle and Armando for dinner and later drinks. It was our last night out, so we went for Italian food in the downtown/Chinatown area, then to a couple other places for drinks. I'm going to miss the friends I've made here, and the vibrant night life!

Lunch with my Program Manager, Hind.

Friday I met three girls I worked with for lunch with our Program Manager. Our PM, Hind lives in Georgetown so we met for lunch there at a great Indian restaurant. We had all went out for lunch many times throughout the summer during the work week, but this was our last chance to be all together. We had delicious Indian food, chatted for a while, then said our goodbyes.

So this week was all about spending time with the friends I've made over the last 10 weeks, and it was honestly very hard to say goodbye. I'm going to miss them dearly, but who knows what the future holds for us or where we'll cross paths next. :)