Monday, June 9, 2014
By:
During this first full week of work, we in the history department wasted no time in getting right into the thick of our work. So far this week, Simon and I have visited the library at least 3 or 4 times and have checked out and checked back in at least a dozen or so books between the two of us. While this seems like a daunting task to read all of these books over the course of a week, it is not as hard as one might think it to be. Once you start reading through a book looking for any information that might be useful, you can soon tell whether the book you have chosen is either an asset or one is not really useful for your purposes. Regardless of whether I can use a book or not for this particular project, the material in all of the books I have encountered so far is really interesting and provides new learning opportunities with every turn of the page. This project is also providing a great experience for me as an individual because I am given an opportunity to learn about a subject I otherwise would not have learned about. There's so much about this subject that I never thought to even think about before or consider. Though this week really consisted of making heads or tails of the chaos of all of the books and readings that have been given to us, I feel like we are making good progress for only the second week. We still have a lot of work to do and a lot more books to read and check out.....Challenge Accepted!
Although working at AIP is very important to me this summer, all work and no play would be incredibly boring, especially in a new place to explore like DC. Last weekend we explored more of the National Mall visiting the Freer Art Gallery first in the day. There was a lot to see in that place, especially once you started going into the lower levels. At one point, I thought I found myself in another museum entirely because I had walked so far into it. Later in the day we went and explored Arlington Cemetery. It was a really humbling experience seeing how many people died protecting our country. In the cemetery we also found Kennedy's Tomb and the eternal flame there, we walked through the Arlington House and watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Then on Sunday in the morning we participated in the Washington Post Hunt- a scavenger hunt consisting of a series of riddles and puzzles that required groups to think outside of the box in order to finish the hunt towards a cash prize of $2000. The interns split into two teams for the first part of the hunt and then for the last part we combined our wits to try to solve the final puzzle, but unfortunately we didn't win the $2000. Later we were invited to Toni's house for a barbecue and had a great evening there with some great food and people. Overall it was a great second week!
Jacob Zalkind