Sunday: a day of transition

I get to the airport and check in without any problems, except that my luggage was overweight… but hey, it’s worth $25 to possibly avoid doing laundry while I’m here. The flight was absolutely terrible, but only because I couldn’t keep my eyes open and we all know how hard it is to sleep on a plane. My connection in Atlanta was a rush, but just before boarding the plane I met two other interns who were going to D.C. and would be staying at the same place I was. *relief*

We get to D.C. and gather our luggage and decide to split a cab, which is lucky for me because I would never have figured out where to go by myself. We arrive at the GW campus and find the building to check in. However, we are informed by another intern waiting outside that we can’t check in until 3pm. Stosh, an SAE from the University of Florida, and the four of us wait ALL afternoon outside the building. Kate, who attends Middleberry University in Vermont, Katherine, who goes to Vanderbilt, and Alex, who goes to U of A, are all from Little Rock, which makes me feel very comfortable. We thoroughly discuss each aspect of our lives with each other (we had four hours) while sitting on concrete outside a residence hall on the GW campus in the heart of D.C.. We play cards, order pizza, have it delivered to the sidewalk, and watch episodes of “Freaks and Geeks” on Alex’s powerbook. We went from college-high school-childhood-internships-party habits. I met these people in less than two hours. God is good.

After we get checked-in we find our dorms on a less than sufficient map provided by housing and begin the journey to our halls (remember that I have two LARGE bags, my messenger bag weighed down with my laptop, and a carry on which isn’t so easy to carry). I find my room and start unpacking, but have to keep moving my room mates things because she obviously wasn’t expecting to share the place. The apartment isn’t bad. Nothing fancy, but a place to sleep atleast, and we have a shower/bath tub, a stove, microwave, and fridge. The only problem I notice right away, besides the lack of a television, is that there are no lights in the bedroom or the living room. As in, no light fixtures, or lamps, or any source of light. Not cool. It’s something that we talk about every night. Why?!

I unpack, shower, and lay down for a nap hoping that I wake up when Katherine calls to make plans for dinner. We (the five of us plus another girl from Arkansas who goes to ASU) end up going to Tonic, a grill about a block from my apartment. It’s not bad, but definitely not the best food I’ve ever had. We then go on a search for groceries and necessities, but apparently the neighborhood shuts down at 10pm, so we resort to an over priced campus grocery store. We purchase the things we can’t live until tomorrow without, which for me includes peanut m&ms, marshmallows, coke, turkey and bread, and truck back to our apartments with plans to meet and walk to the metro together. I collapse when I get home, without even the energy to talk to Brad. I did, however, call my mother and get the address of my office building. Thank God for that woman.