It's been insanely long since I last updated this blog, so I guess it's about time to clue you in on what I have been up to. :)

Every since I got back from China, I have spent most of my waking hours on school related activities (disregard the countless hours that went toward my hobby - "slacking"). I was pretty burn out by school but I can only blame that on myself for taking so many classes last quarter. I did get something good out of it though: I signed up for the Social Dance class so now I know how to dance - not very good at it, but at least it is no longer a stranger.

Not much interesting happened between January and mid-March. I applied for 4 internships but didn't get any of them. Two of them said I won't have enough time to dedicate to the projects, one said I don't have enough experience, and the last one still haven't contact me after the interview. The interviewer for the last one said the company will make a decision "by the end of the week" when I went to the interview two Fridays ago. I will contact them to see if I get the internship or not if I don't hear from them in a few days. Got to take the initiative, right?

Some time in January I thought it would be a good idea to spend my Spring Break in D.C. so I started planning for it. My girlfriend (Christina) was visibly upset that she wasn't able to go to China with me during Winter Break so I made sure that she's coming to D.C. with me this time. After many weeks of anticipation, the day finally came!

Washington, D.C.!!

United States Capitol

We landed on the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), hopped on the (free) airport shuttle to the BWI Airport Rail Station, and took the MARC train ($6/ticket) to the Washington, DC. Union Station. We didn't do much on the first day since we got to the (Capitol Skyline) hotel pretty late so we only went out to the closest restaurant (that's not McDonald's) to get something to feed our growling stomaches. We end up getting lo-mein at Grand China Carryout. The food is not bad and the staff was friendly, but I definitely do not recommend anyone going there, at least not that particular franchise because of the influx of rude difficult customers there.

The next morning we woke up earlier than usual to start our day in D.C. Christina thought it would be good idea to wear only a thin t-shirt, but I suggested that she should bring a jacket just in case, which turned out to be a very good idea because it was a little windy and chilly that day.

We started the day off by treating ourselves with the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Due to the close proximity to the U.S. Capitol from the hotel, we picked that as our starting point and go from there to see all the memorials, momuments, and museums near by.

Candid shot of Haochi in front of the National Gallery of Art, looking very uninterested although he suggested going there.

After the Capitol, we walked down the Madison Drive to the National Gallery Art. Being inartistic, I got bored very fast and left there very quickly.

Haochi knocking on the door hoping that someone will open it but it was futile.

Our next stop is the National Archives and Records Administration, where the original copy of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are kept. One of the most memorable thing about this place is that it has a gigantic front door which is probably for decorative purpose only. We thought it would open so we walked up all the stairs only to find out that we have to walk down and around to enter from the side doors.

Then we went to the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, and walked along the Reflecting Pool that led us to the Lincoln Memorial.

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial view from the Washington Monument

World War II Memorial

Washington Monument view at Reflecting Pool

Lincoln Memorial front view

Inside Lincoln Memorial

The last place we went to for the day was, of course, the White House.

I later found out that one can request to tour the White House but the requests need to be submitted 30 days in advance so we didn't get to go.

By the time when we are ready to leave, we were both tired and hungry, so we walked to Jenny's Asian Fusion to get something to eat. The food is good and price is reasonable so I recommend going there. There are also several sea food restaurants around there but I am not very fond of sea food so we went to Jenny's instead. After our lunch, we went back to the hotel to get some rest and planned on going to Chinatown later that night if it doesn't rain. However I fell asleep and didn't wake up from the nap till 8. Waking up early and walking the whole day sure makes my out-of-shape self tired!

The next day we started off at Chinatown. It was a little let down because I thought it would have more Chinese shops than the 5 Chinese restaurants. Either that or I didn't know my way. After Chinatown we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and on our way there we stopped by the National Museum of Natural History for a few hours and had lunch there.

As we leave the Holocaust Museum, the Sun started to set, so we went back to Jenny's again to have our early dinner, then back to the hotel and prepare for tomorrow's morning flight back to Columbus.

There are a lot of places that we didn't get to go because of time constraints but we are glad that we made use of our limited time in D.C. to go to the places we have been to and overall it was a fun trip. We are happy that we are back to Columbus as well, knowing that we will not be lost all the time like we did in D.C.!

[all photos by Christina Edens]