wash(bloom)ington

One of the strange things about my DC experience is that I see more IU friends this summer than when I was in Bloomington last summer. For example, one of my environmental science classmates is in the cubicle across from me at work now. My two roomates from last year and one who I'll be living with next year are all here for work or internships. Getting together with them especially adds to the feeling that we haven't moved- someone just dropped DC on top of us. And I get together with other people from my school now and then.

I finally had a non-IU outing today- our department's first intern social. We went to a Caribbean festival, actually a parade. But it was a far cry from the tame, marching band filled hometown parades I'm used to. It mainly featured huge trucks with the biggest sound systems (and biggest generators) I've seen on wheels, blasting Caribbean music. Following the truck, there was a crowd of people, mostly women, in shiny, colorful, skimpy outfits, dancing down the street. The crowd was also dancing and pushing further and further into the road, so it was hard to tell what was parade and what wasn't. It reminded me of a story someone told me about Carnaval in South America- but I'm sure it was a lot tamer than that. It was pretty fun, and an interesting experience to share with people you barely know.

The hot, humid DC summer I've heard such bad things about is starting, and I'm sleepy from being outside in it. So that's my update for now. Work is still fine, though research gets a little monotonous. I'm meeting more full-time people, who give us some potentially helpful career hints.

work and play

Yes, I have finally started work. What can I say...it's like school but better. I get to actually research my topic thoroughly and do a good job, instead of rushing through. Oh yeah, and no homework. Not yet at least. You'd think it would be boring, but there are a lot of different ways to look at acid mine drainage. Actually, it came up in the last novel I read, Animal Dreams, by Barbara Kingsolver. (Of course, I didn't count that as work hours).


I've had fun, too. My roommate and I went to New York City for Memorial day weekend. First time I'd been there that I can remember. Ate some good food, took a ferry ride, ate some more food, saw the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ate some more food, and finally saw Stomp! if you've been out of it for the last 10 years like me, and haven't seen Stomp, you really should. I can't imagine anyone not liking it, except maybe very jumpy people who are scared of banging sounds. I have no cord to transfer photos to my computer now, so if you want to see NYC photos, see Raj's blog.


In the meantime, I've seen more of DC. It feels like home now, at least for now. I don't feel like I have to live here forever, but I think I could do it and be happy.