Life would be easier if airlines didn't weigh bags...

"It is sometimes called the City of Magnificent Distances, but it might with greater propriety be termed the City of Magnificent Intentions." - Charles Dickens

Washington DC has intrigued me for a long time, and I'm finally getting the chance to spend the summer there. In less than two days I'm leaving one swamp for another.  After Scotland, though, the hotter the better. Bring it on!

I've been to DC as a tourist a few times, but I think there's a big difference between just visiting a city and living in it; I'm hoping 10 weeks will give me a good idea of what it's like to live and work in the nation's capital. I'll be interning at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank that contributes to research and education on a number of public policy issues.  At least that's what it says on the website -- hopefully working at a think tank will clear up my confusion about how exactly one operates.  But any place that gives its interns free breakfast and a gourmet lunch sounds pretty solid to me :)

I'm living in a dorm at George Washington University, conveniently 15 minutes from AEI and just two blocks from the White House! My morning stroll to work will take me by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and I hope a certain someone will make an appearance at least once.  The summer is starting out to be quite interesting already: it will be exciting for this political junkie to be in DC while the Supreme Court confirmation hearing is taking place. 

DC is supposed to be a really fun place for college students to spend the summer and I plan to make the most of it -- trips to memorials (the Iwo Jima one is my favorite), to museums, to nighttime movie showings on the Mall, and to neighboring places in Virginia and Maryland are in the works. I also will be turning 21 while there, woo hoo!

Will my admittedly too-full suitcases make it onto the plane? Will I be able to think enough to do OK at my job?  Stay tuned for more of me, live from the nation's capital!

Not done quite yet!

I'm back in good ol' Louisiana now and glad to be home after almost three weeks of travel through Europe and a semester with the kilted. I'm trying to muster up the motivation to update about my fantastic escapades through France, Germany, and Austria, but until I do check out the blog of my ginger friend: http://londonlillylass.blogspot.com/.

Lilly traveled with me in France and Germany and is doing a darn good job updating about our experiences there; her most recent post about the all-nighter we spent in Paris caused me to break out in hysterical laughter much like the kind we shared in the train station. Read on, read on!

Here's one snippet from my travels on the continent, from perhaps the coolest thing I did. If you're a Sound of Music fan, you'll understand:

[caption id="attachment_384" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The gazebo in Salzburg: I am 20, going on 21, I know that I'm naive!"][/caption]

I'm home in Baton Rouge for two weeks and will then be spending the summer interning in Washington DC -- not as exotic as Taiwan or Europe, but Helen of Troy may still have a few things to say from our nation's capital. Y'all come back now, ya hear?