Holden, Hitchcock, and Harry Potter

I know some of you have had troubles posting, but I honestly don't know why!! Thanks for reading though, and keep trying - who knows, maybe it'll fix itself.

I've finally finished the booklet I've been working on for a month now!! It's really very exciting to have it over with - a complete guide to Washington, DC, for Chilean officials moving here! If you are Chilean and are coming to DC to work for the Embassy, talk to me. The final touches were all about entertainment in the area, including beaches, amusement parks, and outlet malls. My boss wanted me to include places they could go on vacation, mainly beaches in the Carolinas, so naturally I put a ton of information on Holden Beach in it. I made Holden sound really good, so if there is an increase of Chileans renting houses there in the summertime you know why!! haha

On Sunday I was able to meet up with my favorite old high school government teacher, Mr. Hitchcock. He comes every summer with several groups of students to DC so they can intern for a few days with Congressman Dan Burton. Jamie, Katie, and I all participated in this trip at least once (Jamie has gone 3 times - once as a student and twice as a chaperone). It was nice to catch up and meet some Noblesville students...I only knew one of them and others I knew their older siblings. Hitch had cool stories (as usual) and I told the students about my internship here at the Embassy. It was an all around good time annnnd I got a free meal out of it. Thanks Hitch!

On Friday I went with Cristina, her cousin, and her friend Carlita to see Harry Potter. So good!!! We were all really excited to see it and I thought it was the best on by far. Her cousin thought differently just because of little things like "the potion was a different color in the book" (I kid you not, this was one of his complaints). Granted, it was very different than the book but I feel like it worked in a good way! Saturday was fun because I hung out with Val (my friend who got me my internship) and lots of other people I know from Bucknell. Val and her boyfriend grilled a ton of food and we hung out by her house for most of the night. It was fun! Then on Sunday Caitlin, Sally, Rosie and I grilled again in our little neighborhood. McLean Gardens (where I live) is pretty much fantastic - playgrounds, a pool, and grills all over the place! It was a beautiful weekend and I'm glad I got to spend a good portion of it outside.

Hope you all are well!! It's hard to believe this, but in less than two weeks I will be home! See you soon!

Happy Fourth of July!

What better place than DC to celebrate the 4th of July?? The day started with a run to Dunkin Donuts to get some iced coffee and then some KFC. Then we pretty much spent the day eating chicken, listening to country, and doing all around American stuff like relaxing. That was the goal of the day (to be all around American) and I don't have any pictures of the fireworks, but it was really cool! I went to Georgetown with Blair and Steph, two of my friends from Bucknell, where we watched the fireworks from one of their friend's rooftops. It was so nice to see fireworks by the Washington Memorial.

Well regular life apart from work here in DC is pretty awesome!! I love the girls I'm living with - Caitlin, Tara, Sarah, and Rosie - and it's great to be close enough to my friends from school to be able to hang out with them! The other weekend I spent with Cristina and it was so much fun. Her mom made us AMAZING food (She is a chef at a Lebanese restaraunt and is Ethiopian so makes good food anyways). On Friday we went to see Transformers with a few of our friends from Bucknell which was pretty amazing! We spent most of Saturday by the pool before going to Cristina's boyfriend's church's open house. On Sunday, after leaving th Sacco's, I met up with Henna at the National Gallery of Art. No one better to go to an Art museum with than an Art History major who is interning at Sotheby's in New York City! After the museum we went to tapas place in Chinatown before going to see the Hangover (another good movie). The tapas were fantastic and we've already decided to have a tapas night in our gateway next year.

Sorry it's not as long as last time but there was a lot to catch up on then! Work is pretty much the same thing everyday. I'm working on a booklet about all the information a Chilean diplomat moving to DC could possibly require. Not quite as exciting as meeting important Chilean officials, but I'm still having a good time!

Hope you all had wonderful 4th of Julys!