It's Been A Long, Long Time...

So I'm completely negligent in keeping this blog updated. Whew... this could take a while to get this up to date.
The first reason I stopped blogging was because of day camp. I had my first week of Japan camp two weeks ago. 14 five to nine year olds are adorable, precocious... and exhausting. Each day, after having myself covered in gold and silver leaf, embossing powder, paint pens, and having to deal with a countless number of requests to go to the bathroom/backpack bin/first aid center/water fountain, I sort of just collapsed into my bed, read a little, and tried to mentally get myself ready for another day. I had four little boys as my specific charges. I like dealing with little boys (less glitter, hair ties, etc to deal with, and I can break up fights fairly easily, even considering my stature)--and these guys were very much into the idea of making samurai swords, and were even more intrigued by the idea that I had come from the far-off, humid, mini-mountain land of Pennsylvania just to spend the summer in Denver. Although it was a little sad to see all of our charges leave on Friday, I spent the whole weekend recovering from the ordeal--and watching all of the available seasons of "Weeds" online. A really interesting show, with an even more interesting view of the drug business. Plus I sort of have the theme song stuck perpetually in my head.

I spent the next week at the apartment, running errands and doing some preliminary thesis research at the Denver Public Library. No sight is more relaxing to me than a room filled with books--which, consequently, is what I have now after a few trips to the library and back. I'm hoping that if I start kicking my literature review into high gear this summer, that's one less thing I will need to deal with when I get back to school in the fall. My boss was on vacation the whole week, and had never really given me enough work to keep me busy--and since the rest of the interns were working from home, there really was no sense in my showing up in the dark basement of the education department anyway.

I just got back from my week in DC yesterday. I am really glad my boss let me spend the entire week there--it was really great to see friends and just talk to people who know who I am and where I'm coming from--something that hasn't happened out here yet. I did several happy hours with friends (Hawk and Dove and Capital City Brewing Company--two of my absolute favorite places), and met up with former employers/contacts. I also spent a lot of time in the Library of Congress doing yet more thesis research. This was an interesting experience, since I had never just gone researching on my own--I had always done it with a school group or through the Congressman's office. I finally got my materials and got some pretty awesome primary sources. However, it was a little hard to concentrate, considering that the Main Reading Room, as gorgeous and historical as it is, seems to perpetually be under construction.

I also got to check out the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It really felt odd being back on the Mall... especially without a Smithsonian Intern badge. The three cultures in this year's festival were Bhutan (Asia/India), NASA (I am still trying to figure out how this is a culture), and Texas. I watched a lot of the Texas cooking demonstrations, since Indian food isn't my thing, and learned a lot about how to cook a steak. Sadly, the food wasn't good at all, so I didn't spend the $10 to eat quesadillas in Texas or rice in Bhutan.

The reason I went to DC in the first place was because I won third place in the Independent Women's Forum's annual essay contest (apparently you can read my essay on both the IWF site as well as Lafayette's site). The reception was great, especially because my friend Ashley had also won a prize, so it was good to catch up with her, as well as the other people at IWF. I had thought it would be awkward for me to be there at first, because I had been offered a junior fellow position there this summer, but declined it for the adventure of Denver. However, it all worked out when the person who would have been my boss announced she was from Denver, so it was all good.

Denver International Airport itself is very nice. The white tent-like structures that make up its roof are supposed to look like the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains, which is really cool. I was a little concerned, however, by the bucking bronco statue that had red, glowing eyes--quite disturbing on my 4:30am bus ride to the airport! The airport is very open, clean, and has some interesting trains to move people from terminal to terminal. They play some unidentified country/rock strains and a voice joyously announces "A train is arriving!" every so often, as if this called for a great celebration of beleaguered tourists with too much luggage fighting with quart-sized plastic bags to contain their liquids. (As a side note, I do not understand these new TSA requirements for liquids. It said "anything smearable" counted as a liquid on the TSA site, but I got barked at by a security guard because I had put my face powder in there as well. He was not amused by my explanation that ultimately all makeup is meant to be smeared.) My flights to DC went very well (I had a layover in Atlanta), but on the way back, I got delayed in Atlanta by a nasty thunderstorm. I am still not used to the hot, humid, thunderstorm-inducing weather of the east coast in June.

I am hoping to do some more social things within my last five weeks in Denver. I joined a few groups on MeetUp for museums and rock climbing, since my rock climbing buddies have been AWOL for the past few weeks, and I figure if I like this area as much as I think I do, I really want to start making some meaningful connections here.

However, I know that most of my time will be working, studying for GRE, reading for Thesis, working on AGD things (oh, philanthropy), and trying to see some more stuff in Denver. I am finishing up a biography of Buffalo Bill Cody, who is buried right outside of Denver, so I am trying to find a way to get up to his ranch in the mountains for some touristing.

I think I am enjoying this relatively stress-free lifestyle. All I have for the next few weeks is research and writing, which is a piece of cake for me. One more camp my last week in Denver, then two more days of bus-riding, which I am not looking forward to.