From Wednesday through Friday we had meetings and orientations for The Washington Center and our programs. We did get to go to the Newseum again, which I still did not see everything I wanted.

On Friday Katy, Mariah and I went back to The Dubliner, only this time with a bigger group of 12. We learned our lesson, though, that The Dubliner is not a good place for a large group. Friday and Saturday were pretty chill nights. Saturday was, of course, the season premier of the newest season (season 7) of Doctor Who! Unfortunately the RAF's cable plan does not include BBC America, but thanks to Twitter I found out I could watch it Sunday on iTunes. And that is exactly what I did. I won't go into the episode here, but it was a pretty good start with definitely a few surprises!

Sunday was also my first true night out in D.C. Katy and I went to Rhyne (a former Frog and fellow National Geographic employee)'s apartment to grill on the roof and hang out with some new friends. We enjoyed three hours worth of pop music from "Video Killed the Radio Star" all the way through to and "Moves Like Jagger." It was probably the most fun I've had at an apartment party. We then went to the Biergarten Haus, and I saw the largest mug of beer I've ever seen. Rhyne bought one for me and one for Katy since it was our first time there. I can't say I did very well on it, but for someone like me who doesn't really drink, I think it did just fine.

As for today, Monday, it was a relaxing day as well. I went with Katy and my newest roommate Rosie, who just arrived today from Shanghai, to Target. Then once we got back, I watched "Much Ado About Nothing" with David Tennant and Catherine Tate while making a proper dinner of a (Turkey)BLT and a salad.





It's still felt like a vacation for most of our time here, but tomorrow starts my internship. That's when it'll hit me that I'm here for another three months and I'm here to work.

I know I have been a terrible blogger recently. I will try to do better now that I am catching up on everything. I am going to split this up between Alexandria and moving to when we actually got to the RAF (Residential and Academic Facility).

Last weekend didn't really hold anything special, so I'll just skip straight to Monday, Aug. 27. That was our last day of site visits. We went to ONE, the organization co-founded by Bono. They are all so passionate about what they're doing, and it was great to see that. After ONE we had an excellent lunch at Roti, a Mediterranean restaurant. If you're in D.C., definitely try it! Then we went to CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies). There we spoke with Andrew Schwartz, who is a fellow transplant Southerner from Louisiana. It was great to talk to someone who said "y'all" to us.

Then Tuesday was our last day in Alexandria. We had a final conversation discussions and took our class quiz. Then we started packing to say "adieu" to Alexandria on Wednesday.

Wednesday was our move day, and it looked like we were moving for a whole year, not just a semester. I had the most stuff, but I'd also like to think that part of that was because I didn't have any box to use like the others did because I did not ship anything. But we got here in the first wave of people. Lauren and I got to pick the room we wanted, as did the rest of the crew.


*Note: The images of ONE and Roti are from the respective websites. ( http://one.org/us/ and http://roti.com/locations/ )

Today was our first "relaxed" day of class. We went to the Newseum for about half of the day. If you ever get a chance to come to D.C., go to the Newseum. I know it sounds boring, but it is one of the most interesting museum I've seen. Even if you're not interested in journalism or news, it has so much history (down to the first newspaper) that it is well worth everyone's visit. Also, the cafeteria wasn't half bad!

They have so many things related to news, journalism and history in the store also. I finally got something "Keep Calm and Carry On"that actually said "carry on" and that wasn't TOO touristy. It was a tumbler! :)


Then after a fairly relaxing afternoon, I went into D.C. with Katy and Mariah for dinner. We found an Irish pub/restaurant called The Dubliner. It not only had a fabulously friendly pub atmosphere, but the food was actually really good too (I had the Shepherd's Pie)! And not only that, they offer Magners Cider (a.k.a. Bulmers Cider in the UK)!!! Unfortunately the night we went just happened to be one of the nights they switched Magners out for Angry Orchard Cider. Although it wasn't the Irish cider I was looking for, it was mighty good. I finished it, and those of you who know me well know how much that means! Irish-born Brian Gaffney played live music while we were there, also, which added to the experience. Even though the majority of the stuff he did was Irish, he did throw in a cover of John Denver's "Country Roads." It was a really fun version because everyone within earshot knew the song and was singing along. And to add to the appeal, The Dubliner is only a block from Union Station, so I know I'll be back at some point over the semester. We even talked about becoming regulars. I'll keep you posted, and we'll see if that happens!

Yesterday was just too packed that I forgot to add a post.

Yesterday we went to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and got to learn all about what the Chamber does in the "echo chamber" of Washington. Pretty interesting to hear.


On our way to our next site visit (AP offices/newsroom) we passed through President's Park and went to the White House. It was so pretty, and I have to say the park and that area reminded me of London!

Then we went to the Associated Press, which was really cool because we got to take a tour of the AP newsrooms. We also got to talk to the director of news operations and finance, the executive producer for radio and audio, the director of video operation and two Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporters. They all definitely had some cool stories about their time in the field and in the newsroom.

Then today we got to go to have lunch with Todd Gillman, the chief of the Dallas Morning News' Washington bureau. We had a great conversation with him! I would say that our lunch with him was my favorite site visit conversation so far. He was very personable and the conversation flowed easily and was very candid. It was great to get to know what goes on with a professional journalist beneath the surface level of the job description.

After that we went to the Pew Research Center. We found out everything about the Pew and how media affects us and the Pew Research Center. It was pretty interesting.

So far it's been quite a good time! Tomorrow it's off to the Newseum!

After jumping through hoops for the past four days to try and get Internet set up in our apartment, we finally got it working!! So I will catch you up on the past few days. (If you don't care about what was happening in class, just scroll down to the last paragraph where I talk about finding Tex-Mex in Washington, D.C.) Happy reading!

On Wednesday, the 14th I got here with my parents. We spent a few days exploring Alexandria and a little of D.C. Then Saturday came around, and it was time for the class to meet. We had dinner at Mai Thai, which was actually really good! I hadn't ever had Thai food, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it really impressed me.

Then on Sunday we went to the CBS studios and got to meet our school's namesake, Bob Schieffer (a.k.a. "Uncle Bob"). We watched the "Face the Nation" broadcast from the control room, and got to see the chaotic life of a live TV show. There were multiple guests, but the main two were former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. I don't have much time to talk at length about the show itself, but it was really interesting to see the show from the production side of it. There is so much that goes into producing just one hour of television. After the broadcast, we got to meet Bob, his wife and some of the staff. We also got to take the standard Schieffer School in Washington picture with "Uncle Bob."

On Monday we went to the U.S. Capitol building and met with District 12 (Fort Worth's district) Representative Kay Granger's chief of staff. One of her employees took us around on a private tour of the Capitol. You don't realize how much you walk on that tour until you look from the street to see the amount of ground it covers! After our talk with Rep. Granger, we spoke with Senator John Cornyn's press secretary. We did not have much of a tour of the building, but we got to see a little more of D.C.

Today, Tuesday, we got to visit the offices of POLITICO and Public Strategies Washington. We got to have a discussion with three head editors at POLITICO, including the assistant managing editor and senior web producer. It was a great experience to talk to so many people who know so much and are so invested in the nation's politics. It is talking to people like these that renew my faith in journalism. It reminds me that there are journalists out there who are in this profession for the right reason and like doing what they do. Then at Public Strategies Washington we got to see how a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., operates. It was quite interesting to see what they do because I had no idea going into it what a lobbying firm really did. All I knew was the term "lobbying firm."

As for non-class related happenings. I went to dinner with the girls, except for Mariah, who decided to go work out. We found a Mexican food (Tex-Mex) restaurant called Austin Grill. As you might infer from the name, it was Texas themed. We really branched out there! My judge for a Tex-Mex restaurant is its cheese enchiladas. As far as Tex-Mex goes in D.C., it wasn't too bad. To me, though, being born and raised in Texas, it didn't quite hit my standard. Don't get me wrong, it was still very good. It just wasn't Larry's Mexican Restaurant quality! They did have some pretty good chips and salsa and frozen strawberry margaritas, though. They were especially good when we were sitting at our table by the window watching the rain fall, just waiting it out and waiting for our check.