Haley in DC!: Second Week!

Goodness, the last week has been crazy! I have definitely gotten settled into the internship. I followed Jed, the other intern, on several tours of the Capitol so that I could find my way around before I start giving tours. My office often lets me go early since it's very slow, so I've been going through the Capitol by myself because there are so many twists and turns that I'm afraid I'll get a group of tourists lost one of these days!

I followed Jed because not only was it the tour groups' first time through the Capitol,

it was also mine! I was in awe of the rotunda! It's such a beautiful building inside and out. I can't believe how pretty the West side of the Capitol is with all the steps and flowers outside. When I run, I always run by the Capitol. Partly because it's pretty and partly because there are police on every corner, so I feel quite safe!

On to my weekend: Virginia Beach Marathon!!!

I had a crazy first Friday night in DC, let me tell you. Everyone in the Tech house had fun, exciting plans. I, however, sat at home making a playlist on my iPod and got in bed at 10, haha! Saturday morning I took a train to Virginia Beach to meet my bro Ross, my cousins Melanie and Melissa, and our friend Erica for the half marathon.

It was so much fun! Even though we had to wake up at 4:45 am Sunday morning, the morning was exciting. There were SOO many people! Around 16,000 ran and I found out today that I finished around 8,000th! haha. Melanie and I kept passing each other and finally decided that we were running the same pace so we should just run the rest of the race together and finish at the same time. We finished in 2 hours and 27 minutes, which was 3 minutes under the time I was

expecting.

After the marathon, Erica went back to Arkansas and the 4 of us came back to DC for some vacation time! The 3 of them stayed in a super nice hotel with amazingly comfortable beds, so I couldn't resist staying a night with them. We accomplished quite a bit in a short amount of time! We visited Arlington National Cemetery, the Holocaust Museum, the National Archives, the Washington Monument, the White House, and several great restaurants!

We timed it great at Arlington National Cemetery because it was on the hour, which is when the changing of the guard occurs at the "tomb of the unknown soldier."

I had to work Tuesday morning while they went to the Library of Congress, but they came to Sam Johnson's office around 2 pm for me to give them a tour of the Capitol. It was actually my first tour to give without Jed helping or me following Jed, but I didn't get lost once! I think they enjoyed the tour, too.

It was really really great to see them all weekend, and I'm actually pretty sad they're gone. It was nice to see a familiar face.

On the bright side, I get to meet Sam Johnson here in a few days! Congress is about to be in session and things are going to pick up around the office so hopefully I'll have more interesting stories involving work pretty soon! I did find out that Sam Johnson (I will probably be referring to him as "the boss" often...it's what my office calls him) will be taking me to breakfast when he gets back to DC! He likes to meet with his interns and get to know them fairly well, so I absolutely cannot wait! I'm also terrified and nervous.