The time is passing by so fast here, I'm not even quite sure what week we're in. Last Sat. I went on the program trip to Philly. The bus ride was really pretty, very scenic through the woods. The only bad thing was that the bus was leaving at 7am so of course, everyone on the bus was passed out the first half of the drive but I was wide awake. And smart me, I didn't bring books or a cd player or anything so I just joined the crowd and passed out for a lil while. We stopped in Delaware and although my description will not do it any justice, let me attempt . . .
it was the most confusing pitstop on earth, so many people, all running around not knowing their right from their left and please explain to me, is it just a Delaware thing to eat fried chicken and greasy pizza at 9 in the morning ??? The rest of the day was cool, the weather kinda sucked but it a way, it was appropriate for Philly. We got a tour guide that was long winded, to say the least and what could have been a 45 mins. interesting tour ended up being more like a three hour ( no exaggeration ! ) tour of standing around in the cold rain ! But then she let us loose and I ate my first Philly cheesesteak. The place we went to was supposed to be one of the best in town, so it took about thirty mins. in line but it was WELL WORTH IT ! Nice and greasy - something I could definitely crave again.
After that went the usual Sat. clubbing and on Sunday afternoon I got to go to My Big Fat Greek Easter ! There is this amazing Greek woman at my work who invited us all to her family's huge Greek Easter festivites. Oh my god, SO MUCH FOOD ! There were about fifty people there, food by the tons, plenty of alcohol, and yes complete with a lamb on a spitfire ! The food was . . . well, drool can better describe what words cannot. It was a really good time, I brought Jim along and everyone just absolutely loved him. It was just like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, minus that guy from NSync.
This past week has gone by insanely fast. Monday I went with a guy from my office to a NASA steering committee to discuss NASA's focus for the next year. The meeting was really, really interesting ( could just be because I'm a space nerd though ) and the free food all day was pretty sweet too ! It was also just really interesting to see the action live and upfront, and now I have the inside NASA scoop. The next day I went up to the Hill with some of the committee members to watch them lobby with various Congressman on the issues they wanted them to fund. Politics in action ! Can't beat that ! Unless you're last name is Lewinsky I guess.
Weds. I was back in the office and one of the girls took me out to Mongolian food. I'm not going to go into detail here since I seem to spend most of my emails discussing food ( as brought to my attention by Cyn-dawg ) but let's just say - it was weeeeeeeeeeeelllllllll worth it !
Yesterday was my day off but I headed to Georgetown to get started on some school related activites, and boy I don't know how I used to study 4+ hours a day, 4+ times a week cause my puny butt could barely handle sitting for two hours ! And for any UCLA folk wonderin' - Powell is the best library in the U.S. These other schools have nothing on us ! After a bit of researching a few of us had some really good Thai for dinner ( food again, damnit, I gotta work on that ! ) and then hit up some Georgetown shops.
Today will hopefully be a low key day at work, it must be assuming that I have had enough time to write this long email already. Tonight we're probably going to a club where Keith Sweat ( I know you remember him ! ) is performing and tomorrow afternoon we're going to watch the Rent musical, which I've never seen before. On Sunday there are some UCLA alumni hosting a dinner so I'm gotta warm up my networking skills before then !
Sorry if this email babbled on too long. I do have to close on a more thoughtful remark -
with this quarter away in DC and soon another away in Spain I am excited about my travels during this extremely influential time in my life but there is also a tremendous value to staying close to home. I have always had a passion for traveling, almost every night for the past two years I would go to sleep planning on where my future excursions would be. As some of you know, I downloaded webshots ( desktops ) of exotic places everyday and before bed would wait for the slideshow to click on to get my " 30 sec. trip around the world. " ( as quoted by Cyn )But being away from home this quarter and seeing and experiencing so many new things has taught me another valueable lesson. While I thought traveling would only further peak my passion, it has also taught me a great appreciation of my home and the roots I have grown from. It has helped me to see how far I have come and how much I have grown with every single day and it has also shown me how to appreciate all the important people in my life who have taught me so much. So, in closing - thank you all for being there and still being here now ! Have a great weekend and drop me a line !
Always,
me
And, for those of you that have requested it :
Kristine Tom
UC Washington Center
1608 Rhode Island Ave. NW
4th Floor, #602
Washington, DC 20036
