We've been having some technical issues with the Internet in the building, so I'm just now getting a chance to post this. The weekend was a blur, but I already feel like I've been here for ages.
Saturday our roommates arrived, and they are fantastic. I don't think they could have put four better girls together. Aside from the fact that I'm the only non-vegetarian of the group, we're all very similar and we get along great. We went out to dinner on Saturday night and out on the town after that.
Sunday we did some grocery shopping and shopping for the apartment, which was a day-long adventure because Target is one train change and several subway stops away, and we decided to walk the 10 blocks to Trader Joe's (and walk back carrying incredibly heavy bags of groceries). I've discovered quickly here that reusable bags are a must. Almost everywhere charges for plastic bags. It's really a good way to encourage reusable bags and green behavior if that's what your motive is, I suppose. Also a good way to nickel and dime your customers into buying reusable bags with your name on them (I now own $2 worth of Trader Joe's shopping bags). Sunday nights aren't exactly hopping in D.C. - guess we're not that far out of the Bible belt - so we ended up at a tiny Chinese restaurant we discovered with a couple of other people from the program. After that, we went back up to the roof of our building, which is my favorite feature by far. It has a great view of the Washington monument, the Capital, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial, which we can see all lit up at night. Apparently rooftop access is limited in D.C. as well, because we've met people who don't live in our building up there. Sunday night there were some young college interns on the Hill up there, so we spent some time hanging out with them.
On Memorial Day we decided to trek down the Mall to watch the PBS Memorial Day concert featuring BB King. After a two mile hike that included seeing the National Memorial Day parade, a visit the the Smithsonian American History Museum where we saw Dorothy's slippers and all the first ladies dresses and a trip to happy hour at a Mexican restaurant (1/2 price nachos, ya'll!), we ended up on the lawn on the Capital where the concert was to take place. We collapsed in the grass, exhausted, and started to notice after about half an hour that no one else was on the lawn, even though it was 6:30 and the gates had opened at five. Long story short, the concert had been on Sunday night. We decided it wasn't a total waste, though, because we got to see a lot of the city.
We've been through two days of class now. Tuesday was orientation day, and we also took a walking tour of the city (most of which the roommates and I had already seen). We also went to this amazing museum called Newseum, which (shocker), was about the history of news. They had an amazing archive that had newspapers literally back to the 16th century and then the front page of almost every historic event since then. Absolutely amazing. Jay Black - you did a great job teaching us media history because I was a total nerd about a lot of stuff in there (i.e. Thomas Nast's original drawing of Santa Claus and the original printing of the Moon Hoax). There was also a tribute to 9/11 coverage and Katrina coverage, both of which were very moving.
Today in class we had a crash course in which I felt I learned more than I have in two years of my journalism major at Mercer (no offense, Mercer journalism department). One thing stands out to me, though. Mercer absolutely has to develop a better broadcast journalism program. We have virtually no training in it, and we are terribly behind. Kayleigh and I are in the extreme minority of people who have never dealt with Final Cut Pro, and I feel like I'm the only person who has never shot video. I take a lot of responsibility for this because I've elected not to take classes like Digital Storytelling, but hey, college kids are in college for a reason - we don't always know what's best for us. I strongly believe some form of broadcast education should be REQUIRED for the major. That being said, today was writing day, and as that is my strength, I feel like I did very well. Not to toot my own horn, but I feel like I beasted the news writing assignment of the early afternoon, but I also got some very helpful constructive criticism from Amos. I'm having difficulty transferring my print self to broadcast writing (I'm stuck on using big words), but Andrea Seabrook from NPR (who held our writing seminar this afternoon) seemed fairly pleased with Kayleigh and I's piece, although she also offered some helpful criticism.
All in all, this has been a wonderful experience so far. I'm waiting for homesickness to kick in because I'm feeling the first twinges of it and know from experience it starts during the second week or so. Luckily, I'll be kept so busy that I don't expect to feel it that much, and modern technology is such that I don't feel disconnected from family and friends.
I learn how to use a video camera at 9:30 in the morning, so I'm going to sleep now to be ready and rested!
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