Well, clearly it has been awhile since I have updated my blog! As my parents say, once you hit the halfway point things just seem to fly by even more quickly than they had been before and I definitely believe it. These past few weeks have been such a whirlwind!
During our lunch break Christopher and I had a few fun adventures a couple weeks ago, visiting the butterfly exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History (which we get into for free--trying to take as much advantage of our internship perks as possible!) and seeing the Under the Sea Imax at the NMNH. There are still so many museums to visit but I have felt so lucky that I can make quick trips to museums on my lunch break and learn some new tidbits of information! A few Thursdays ago, I took a break and walked in the beautiful weather to Georgetown with my friend, Chloe for some much needed shopping therapy. It was a great escape from the paper looming over our heads and presentations.
Last week I had a case study, midterm and presentation so my evenings were often filled with studying, preparing and analyzing. I felt so much relief after completing my presentation this past Friday even though I had to wait it out almost to the very last second (I was second to last out of 28 to present). This basically meant that the entire class was comatose by the time my presentation rolled around but that took some of the pressure off which was nice. In terms of my internship, we were frantically preparing for a grant proposal which we had ten days to pull together. The proposal involved Indian educators from North Dakota and I had to make suggestions for how to present certain topics and look through our past programs to see who would be a good fit for presenting. I am not sure what the timeline is for finding out if we received the green light for the proposal but due to a somewhat less than ideal outlook for 2013, my department needs this extra boost.
This week is truly the home stretch. Over the weekend I did a massive museum tour beginning with a visit to the National Museum of American History then to the National Museum of Natural History for some souvenir shopping. Then I proceeded to the National Gallery of Art which I had yet to visit on this trip. I very much regret not visiting the National Gallery sooner. I went in through the side entrance and walked straight into the exhibition of Picasso's drawings. I never really felt particularly fond of Picasso as an artist in the past but seeing his drawings presented in this form made me much more interested in his work, interested enough to buy the book with all the exhibition artwork in it! After spending a good part of the afternoon in the Picasso exhibition, I visited the exhibit entitled, "The Baroque Genius of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione." I enjoyed the European flavor of the Castiligione exhibit, especially the Madonna with Child interpretations. I wandered around one floor of the gallery but barely was able to see as much of the gallery as I would have liked. I did successfully pick up some great souvenirs at the gift shop here too. My final museum stop for the day was at the National Museum of the American Indian. I didn't have much time to explore the exhibits but I did catch the small Twilight exhibit with some replicas from the movie, oh my! Also I saw the exhibit which revolved around horses and American Indian culture. There was a great tipi there where I learned that the women would build the tipi and the men would do the decorating--interesting! There were also some intricately beaded pieces of clothing and accessories.
On Monday my entire office meaning my three bosses and three interns (including myself) took a trip to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. It was in Maryland so we had to rent a car from the National Airport and drive about an hour to get there. I didn't quite know what to expect and I have not contributed directly to the program we were discussing but I still got the opportunity to sit in on the meetings which were interesting. The program we were discussing is called Scholars in the Schools and it will be taking place in Lafayette, Lousiana at a science magnet school. The themes are toxins and the body, feeding the planet and clear air, clean water. SERC conducts a variety of research on ecology, biology and marine animals. We had the pleasure of learning about watersheds and the changing composition of the atmosphere (finally my weather class comes in handy!). Also we took a tour of the facilities and visited the dock where we could examine the types of animals which were contained in these dropped boxes filled with oysters in the water. We also stood on a marsh and felt the movement when my coworkers jumped on it from nearby. It was quite an invigorating day being out in the fresh air and some new scenery. I would love to have an outdoorsy type job in the future! Today I spent the day wrapping up many of my projects since my last day is tomorrow. Also in preparation for the program I have spent the most time on, I made some brown paper bags resemble animal hide through a treatment process and also cleaned some porcupine quills--I never cease to be amazed by whatever tasks come my way. Tomorrow is my last day at my internship which is bittersweet. I am going to miss my coworker Christopher and the good feeling which goes along with being a major contributor to some programs which I believe have the ability to affect great change (also part of the argument of my research paper).
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| Butterfly Exhibit at NMNH |
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| *Magnolias, not cherry blossoms in Georgetown |
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| Great view of the Washington Monument at night, a sight I know I will be missing as well as late night walks with Matt :) |
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| NMAI |
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| Maryland Marsh on the grounds of SERC |
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| My otter buddy at SERC |
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| Taking in some nature! |
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| Edge of the bay |
I turned in my paper today which felt amazing. I feel an enormous sense of accomplishment because it is a paper unlike any other I have written before and I am very satisfied with the finished product. We just have one final class to wrap things up and I will be returning to California on Saturday. I am excited for my Mom to arrive back in DC tomorrow!
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