Monday, July 29, 2024
By:
Week nine! The last full week of work has come and gone, and I’ve had to face the fact that I’ll be all packed up and on my way home in less than a week. It is truly crazy how fast the summer flew by! Last week I predicted that the closer I get to the end of my internship, the more chaotic my weeks will become. With everything from thunderstorms, alien legos, photography trivia, and reunions with college friends, week nine showed me that my prediction was spot on.
My week started off anything but ordinary. Why, you might ask? Because I had an appointment to get a tattoo on Monday! The tattoo I got was of three geese, based on the Mary Oliver poem Wild Geese. I absolutely adore this poem, and Mary Oliver in general, and I am so happy with how my new tattoo turned out. Because the tattoo shop I went to was in Adams Morgan, I also got the opportunity to cross another item off of my DC bucket list. There is a 100% gluten free bakery in Adams Morgan that I spotted during the first week here, and I have been wanting to try it all summer. However, I don’t venture over there often (especially not during the day), so I have never had the chance to go. I was thrilled that my tattoo appointment gave me the perfect excuse to go try a gluten free croissant! I also picked up some other goodies to sample later. My favorite was the buttermilk biscuit! I toasted it and ate it for breakfast on Tuesday with some blueberries that I cooked with cinnamon and maple syrup. YUM. If you eat gluten you could probably get a better croissant literally anywhere. As a gluten free individual, on the other hand, my verdict is that the bakery absolutely rocked. However, I think my morning was simply too exciting and I needed to get brought back down to earth. Which I did, in the form of an absolutely torrential downpour that let loose while I was walking the 40 minutes back to Shenkman. My umbrella did next to nothing, and I was soon soaked. When I realized the storm had no end in sight, I decided to duck into a tatte and work from there for a while. Once I dried off, I went home to meet Charles and Reidyn so we could go bouldering. When we got to the gym, the power was out and the whole bouldering area was dark but they still let us climb! Turns out it’s a lot harder when you can’t see where to put your hands and feet. I didn’t climb a ton due to the aforementioned new tattoo, but I had a blast navigating the walls with my iPhone flashlight. I can’t say I would recommend climbing in the semi-darkness, but it was certainly a silly experience!
On Tuesday, we toured the Niels Bohr Library and Archives, which was really interesting. We got to see Richard Feynman's college notebook, and learned about the various materials they store in the archive. We played some archive themed trivia afterwards, where I learned that I know next to nothing about archives. My team did end up winning, but I think that’s just because we were excellent guessers. On Wednesday I got to speak with the editor of APS News, which was really cool. We talked about the behind the scenes of journalism, science communication, and some of the reporting work that I have done at school. It’s been so cool to learn about the various jobs that exist at APS!
We had an intern appreciation lunch at ACP on Thursday for National Intern Day. It was the first time since orientation that so many interns have been in the office at once, which I really enjoyed. After work, Charlotte, Charles, Brynn, and I went to the gym to take a Rocket yoga class and do some climbing. Rocket yoga is a little nuts, and it was perhaps the strangest yoga class I have ever taken. Highlights include lots of headstands, the instructor singing John Mayer at the end of class, and the very strange head massage I received during savasana. Did I like it? I honestly could not tell you. Did I have fun? Yes, loads! However, I had already gone to yoga with Suzy (my icon) and lifted that morning, so by the time we finished climbing I was absolutely exhausted and ready to go to bed.
On Friday we spent all day at NASA Goddard! We got to learn about Hubble repair missions and asteroids, see a prototype of a LISA telescope (!!!), and observe a clean room where parts of the Nancy Grace Roman telescope are being assembled. Jaden also gave me one of the tiny LEGO aliens from the mystery minifigure he bought at the gift shop. What a great day! After we got back to Shenkman, I met my friend Ainsley for happy hour at Duke’s Grocery. She had been in Paris the week before, and it was nice to catch up and hear all about her trip!
On Saturday, my friend Evan and I joined several of the interns for brunch at a Japanese restaurant. I have never eaten sushi for breakfast before, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Afterwards, Evan and I hopped on the metro to meet my friend (and college roommate) Ella at the airport! Ella is staying with me for a few days in DC, and I am so excited to have her here. On Saturday night, Ella, Evan, and I met up with Ainsley for some tasty Indian food in NoMa, before heading to watch the Olympics with some other friends from Vanderbilt. After being in DC all summer, it was nice to see so many people from school! On Sunday, Ella, Evan, and I went to Georgetown. We walked around the Flea Market, where I bought some really cool rings, and checked out some of the other shops. Then we picked up some snacks from Trader Joes and came home to watch Sex and the City. Ella and I have been watching the show together, and we have a great time laughing about all of the terrible decisions that the main characters make. After our little snack and rest, we headed back out to swing by the Intern Olympics opening ceremony on the way to meet Ainsley for dinner and a walk. We were so caught up in our conversation that we ended up walking the entire mall! I have actually never done this before, and I can definitely see why people rent scooters and bikes. The mall is long!
It was really nice to be able to see some friends from school this week while also spending time with the other interns. This week definitely felt like a nice preview into all the good things that are waiting for me back at school, which makes it a little easier to say goodbye to all the wonderful things I have had here in DC this summer.
Amanda Maeglin