Washington, DC

I'm fat.

I ate so much food that I think I might be fat.

Or, rather, Peter's parents thought it their mission to make me eat as much delicious, rich food as I possibly could so that I'd have a cute, little Buddha belly by the time I needed to put my tiny bikini on to jump in the pool to erase the thin film on "east coast love" (aka sweat and grime) that had slowly accumulated all over my body over the last few hours.

I also just realized that I've had that bikini for seven years. I'd get rid of it but I look so nice in it...

Anyway, I arrived through rain, sun, hail, and thunder to DC on Saturday evening to be greeted with gourmet food and paired wine (which I mentioned before). Upon waking up from my stony slumber on Sunday morning, I quickly showered, ate some type of quiche and drank some orange juice which had been prepared that morning, and headed out to the National Mall for the quickest tour of the Capitol that could possibly have been done.  I've been known to "do" cities quickly but DC was difficult.  The last time I was there I was stuck in conferences and seminars and only discreetly managed to slip away after convincing Christo it was a good idea to keep his mouth shut on my whereabouts.  This time I decided I'd take the metro to the Mall and walk around the perimeter to see all the monuments and museums.  My intent was only to walk into one museum but I didn't even get around to that.

As it was Father's Day I thought it was appropriate to call my lovely father while I was walking past this:

And this (the WWII memorial):

Then I rounded out to the Korean War Memorial.  I was especially interested in seeing this since my maternal grandfather fought there.  I've seen pictures of this memorial but the feeling I got from it was more bitter than one of remembrance and sorrow. 

 The looks on the faces of the statues were ones of fright and pain.  Instead of looking valiant they looked as if they were running away from something.

Then there was the part that made me wonder about who designed this memorial.  There is a reflection pool that is not quite a full circle and in the middle there juts a big marble slab with the quote "Freedom is not free" etched into it.  I'm not sure about you but that definitely conjures up different emotions for me than I thought a war memorial would...

Along the side there are ghostly images of soldiers all staring at you.

I was really excited and starting to get a bit antsy to make it to the Lincoln Memorial.  After so many weeks in the South and going through all of the civil rights hullabaloo, it was exciting to walk to the top of the steps and look out at the view MLK, Jr., must've had when he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. I tried to imagine the thousands of people on the Mall and it started to get overwhelming and give me the sense that I was falling over so I moved inside.

I feel a bit ashamed to say this but one of the first things I thought of when I looked at the immense figure in front of me was "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to get on his bad side."  Then I continued to think, "That's a bit how my dad looked when I'd get home after my curfew..."

Surprisingly, I wanted to spend the most time at the Vietnam War Memorial.  The walls kind of grow out of the ground and more names are added to each ice-black chunk of marble as they get bigger.  There were roses lining the feet of the names, each with its own particular person's name on it.  People were looking for relatives' names and one man, a little older than me, seemed to be weeping as he shaded over the name of his father or uncle or grandfather...two toddlers were pressing their heads against the wall and trying to hug it.  Adults were yelling at other adults "I found it!"  The whole scene made me envision what an Iraq/Afghanistan Memorial will look like in the future.  I guess that's the only way I could try to make this more personal...

For the iconic view of the White House, this is as far as we were able to go and still take pictures.  Surprisingly, if you go around the back, you can practically walk right up to it.  My interview on Monday morning was just around the corner from the back and actually surprised me as I turned the corner.  Maybe I thought it was surrounded by vast expanses of water-sucking grass on all sides...?

I would've done more sight-seeing but I have this incredible knack for being in DC and being short on time.  Fortunately, I got to go "home" to this:

Since it was my first Father's Day without my own father, I was given Jim as my surrogate for the day.  Jim and his partner, Peter, were having a big family get-together that involved strenuous activity in their backyard pool, eating copious amounts of grilled meats, stuffing some type of sliced and baked potatoes into my mouth, as well as whatever else was passed over to me from the previous person.  After an excellent tournament of "keeping the ball up as long as possible with help from Annie (the dog)", we all had no choice but to test Myrna's (Peter's mum) cherry pie and chocolate cake which could barely stand up on its own.

I went to bed as early as possible because I knew I had a long day approaching me.  I wanted to see the Library of Congress (nerd I am, yes) and the Supreme Court before heading off to NYC.  Luckily, Gaels are everywhere.  For some reason, however annoying and childish SMC can be, we tend to occupy all of the important and interesting cities in the world.  The greatest part about being a Gael is that no matter how good of friends you were in college, you know that you'll always have a friend when you're in their vicinity.  

MaryEileen happened to be someone that I worked with in Admissions, didn't know too well but definitely hung out with a similar crowd, and then moved to DC for her MA program in some extra-scholarly English field.  Because of the power of Facebook, we were able to randomly hook up and she took me on a whirlwind tour of both sites I wanted to see.  She also provided me with some of the few pictures I have of myself at sites from this entire road trip!

At the Library of Congress 

Where I will work someday...

View looking from the Supreme Court out....

Hey! Check me out!

For however much I am a nerd and can fight you to the death about specific authors' writings, I happened to love the Supreme Court a bit more.  It is so foreboding and surreally enormous.  You almost feel as if you're walking up to a backdrop or a movie projector screen.  I just couldn't wipe the smile off my face (cue Kaitlin wiping away her drool) and wanted to go hug one of the columns. There is a picture of me getting in trouble with one of the security officers when I tried to go up the stairs "without permission or entering first." I'm sure you aren't surprised.  I would've camped out on the steps if I could've.

By 1pm I was back in my car leaving Capitol Hill and trying not to cry inside from saying I was actually leaving that magical and uber-political place.  Next stop: NYC.  To be honest, I originally wasn't going to stop there because I had never assumed it'd be a place I wanted to live.  When I started my trip I practically scoffed at the idea of being so cliche.  Of making that "easy" choice.  As I continued on my trip, I was convinced time and again to take a closer look at the city.  Finally, in Arkansas if I remember correctly, I pretended I was moving to NYC and while looking at job opportunities I realized that it was a much better place than I had given it credit for.  In fact, it might've been the place I should've been looking all along.  I guess I was looking for a reason not to go for quite some time.

The more I thought about it in Arkansas and New Orleans, the more I looked at the opportunities.  Then, when I received the crazy news that would change the course of my journey, I guess my idea of the city changed.  I knew then that I had to go even if just to spend time with one of the greatest women I know - Eleni - and my cousin and all the Gaels that were transplanted here over the last few years.  It was an excuse to come to NYC.  It gave me validation that everything was okay and that I didn't really have to give a rat's ass what everyone else said about me going to the city that everyone on the west coast slides over to.  I had made up my mind to go and just see what happened.

I finally made it after an afternoon in traffic and over $20 in tolls - "Welcome back to reality, Kaitlin!"

Picture of Broadway running through Brooklyn during a walk with Eleni and her roommate.

 Anyway, so now I'm stationed in Brooklyn...don't ask me which part, I'm still getting a lay of the land.  This entry has turned into a three-day affair and I'm finally sick of this post.  Tomorrow I will write a comprehensive entry about what I'm doing here and what my ultimate goal is because I plan on being fabulously lazy and catching up on all of the laziness that I deserve (according to Eleni).  Maybe I'll take some crap out of my car, too.  For those of you who haven't been in close contact with me, you're in for a great surprise tomorrow :)

Until then...goodnight from Brooklyn.