Manners, Mormons, and Everything Else

Happy Valentines Day! I had forgotten that today was even a holiday until I opened my bedroom door this morning and saw the beautiful sight of paper and chocolate down the entire length of the hallway. The fourteen boys at the Barlow Center had written anonymous notes to each girl and secretly placed them by the appropriate doorways along with bags of candy. Talk about a major ego booster and an excellent start to the day!
Everyone, for the most part, is nice in D.C., and not just the Barlow boys. When you eat with a group, no one takes a bite until everyone has food. I regularly see people give up seats on the Metro, and men are always opening doors for the ladies. It’s not awkward or chauvinistic like some people would assume- it’s just the way it is. There’s a sense of general etiquette in this city that I haven’t really noticed to the same extent in other places I’ve lived. Then again, I’m not driving here (not a day has gone by that I haven’t heard sirens or honking horns). I’ve heard horror stories of east coast drivers, but at the same time, I received comfort in the words of a stranger while crossing the street the other day. Amused by the fact that I was running across the crosswalk, a man asked,
“Are you not from D.C.?”
“I’ve been here for a month,” I replied.
With raised eyebrows, he said, “Then you should know that the cars will stop for you!” 
I forgot that I’m not in Utah anymore!

Returning to my etiquette tirade, here’s one more little story.  Last week I got lost in one of the passageways in the Capitol while looking for an elevator. I found a “Members of Congress Only” elevator, but recognizing that this particular option was off limits, I turned around to find a different route. At this point, a Congressman had come up behind me, and sensing my confusion, he let me ride up the elevator with him. Not only was this nice, but he also let me walk out of the elevator first when we reached our floor. So yes, even people in the government have good manners!

Last week was awesome in terms of my internship. I feel like I’ve been fully integrated into the office ever since I successfully played a prank on one of the legislative assistants with the encouragement of my supervisor. Now I feel very comfortable when it comes to laughing during lunch break, or randomly talking to people if there’s ever downtime. On Thursday, the Mormon jokes officially began, ranging from Amish to alcohol, but it was all in fun, and I really enjoy the people I’m working with.

Here are a few highlights from the weekend:

-Within 24 hours I was in the Capitol, the D.C. Court of Appeals, and the White House. How’s that for all three branches of government in one day? Friday morning I gave a Capitol tour to some of my Dad’s interns who were in town. Then, that afternoon, I attended a briefing by an appeals justice in the actual courtroom for the D.C. circuit. Fabulous! The next morning, a large group of us went on a tour of the White House. It was fun to go bowling with Barak-never thought I would get to do that! (Just kidding). But hey, at least we got to walk out of the front doors of the President’s residence! Random observations: There was a ball sitting out on the south lawn, and once we got outside, we noticed a butterfly decal in one of the windows-maybe Sasha or Malia’s doing?

Some of our group in front of the White House
Left to Right: John, Alexis, Sarah, Jesse, Keshia, Peter, Me, DJ, Winnie, Chris, Alison, Nate

-A group of us went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and watched money being made-literally.

We don't love money- we're just kissing it goodbye!
Rachel and I at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing

-My friend Alison and I stopped by the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Avenue. We’ve decided it is a secret treasure of D.C. There’s a great, relatively inexpensive food court inside, and then you can take an elevator up twelve floors to the top of the building’s bell tower. The view was incredible-even better than the view from the top of the Washington Monument in my opinion! And guess who forgot her camera? Yep-BIG oops!
-Several Barlow buddies and I went to a concert at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It’s a beautiful building, just west of the Lincoln Memorial, and while it hosts the National Symphony Orchestra and other performance groups, there are free concerts every evening at 6 pm for smaller groups! I can’t believe we haven’t been taking advantage of this, especially when these concerts are a four minute walk from the Barlow Center! When we went, we listened to a violin-cello-piano trio, and it was awesome, and extremely relaxing. It made me miss my violin sooooooooo much!

Part of our Kennedy Center Group
Left to right: Nate, DJ, Hannah, Robert, Me, Chris, Megan

-I also made another stop at the Natural History Museum (I've gone three other times). I looked at the dinosaur exhibit, and then my friends (Megan and Alison) and I went to the rocks/gems gift shop on a different floor. We’ve been there before, but oh how we love looking at the rocks!
-And then, Saturday night, after everyone was burnt out, we watched National Treasure 2 and freaked out every time we recognized a street or a landmark from D.C. (which happened often)!

I’m still having a blast! When I’m not interning, sightseeing, or doing school (believe it or not, I am taking twelve credits right now, and don’t get me started on how badly I procrastinated my last paper), my Barlow friends provide an ongoing source of entertainment, good conversation, and out of control laughter. When nothing is going on, I’m generally trying to keep up with five or six games of online Scrabble that I’m playing with some of the overly-intelligent people here (in other words, I keep losing all of my games). We’re already dreading the end of the semester, and we haven’t even reached the half-way point yet!