My trip to D.C. - I'm sure no one will read this, but i'd love it if you did!

Washington D.C. is an amazing city. I always felt proud of living in Chicago, I thought there was plenty of sight-seeing and history by which anyone could remain amused for a lifetime. PSHH... I went to Washington D.C. last Thursday and I got back yesterday. It was an insanely busy trip. I did a lot of walking, and though I did not like how the streets were named after numbers and letters (boorrinnng), I couldn't help but love everything else about this city. OK, so let's rewind. . . **I apologize in advance for off-topic rambling and choppy event recolition. I'm writing most of this post almost a month after the trip.**

There's something about airports that make me happy. Whether it be the giant planes taking off and landing, or the hundreds of people who gathered to . I took many pictures of planes taking off... I wish I took more of the travelers. . . but, that's just pushing the creeper limit if you ask me.

[Thursday - Arrival]
The plane ride was surprisingly short. We arrived in D.C. late afternoon and the weather was really wet. When we got to the hotel (The Mariot by the metro I do believe) our rooms weren't even close to being ready. -- That's something I have never understood... isn't the whole point of check-in/out times so that one guest leaves with enough time for them to get ready for the next guest? -- Oh well, there was a Cosi about 20 feet away so we all went there for lunch....OMG I NEVER WANTED A SANDWICH SO BADLY. . . but I gave meat up for lent so I had veggies and Hummace... which was pretty good!

A little bit after lunch we were allowed into the hotel room. My roomies were Nora, Diana, and of course my bed mate Jelena (thanks for being such a motionless sleeper)! The matresses were REALLY comfortable.... I've always liked my own mattress but these seriously made me realize what I was missing.

After changing, we (SIMUN) took the metro to our first committee session! -- Oh, my goodness. The Metro is the best thing on earth! Why can't the EL be like the metro?! Trains came less than every 5 minutes, and not once while I was on the train did we have to stop and wait for another car to clear. On the el I have waited nearly 20 minutes because they can't get their act together. Come ON CTA! This is why I want to go into urban planning; I want to fix the el... and get rid of one way streets. My dad wanted to do that too, but I guess jobs are limited in that field so he became a sociology professor...sadly, I doubt I will ever actually go into urban planning. =[ --Anyways, back to WAMUNC. Opening ceremony was extremely boring... I did not listen to one word the speaker said! At first I felt badly because of this, but as his speech drawled on I figured it was his own fault for being so boring. After the ceremony we had dinner and then it was off to our first session.

I was walking to my building with some other kids from my school... sorta. In other words we were walking to the same place but attempting not to acknowledge one another. I was walking parallel with this pretty cute boy and we greeted each other. We began to make small talk. (Who said what is irrelevant... I don't remember it anyways)
Hi.
Hello.
*Exchange names... Ryan/Connie*
Are you headed for E street?
Yeah! You too?
Mhm, What committee are you in?
IRC, you?
Same!
Nice! What country are you?
China.
Great! Me too! ...so we're partners!
Wait... what school do you go to?
Ignatius...
I thought so...Me too... weird... why didn't we know we're partners?
Ryan: so I think we should start with topic A or B ... no one cares about C
Me: topic C? *oh fuck* what's that about again?
Ryan: You know the crisis in Columbia
Me: I didn't get a topic C... I don't think we're in the same committee... we shouldn't be. there are no joint delegations...
Ryan: but I'm sure Mrs. Haleas said IRC
*Jack Reidy Steps in* Um...you guys shouldn't be the same country... Ryan, your name tag says your in a different committee.
Ryan: but I already did the work for the IRC!
Me: Crap.. there's a topic C.....
Jack Reidy: you guys need to call Mrs. Haleas right now!

.... and we do. Turns out he was supposed to be in the other group but our committee chair let us be a joint delegation... Thus the Ryan & Connie team of awesomeness was born... best thing ever! We spent the entire first committee session listening to debate on what we should debate about... rather tedious. The topics were the Gaza Strip crisis, Columbia hostage crisis, and the Crisis in Dem Republic of Congo. It was our committee's job to make a budget plan for all of these crises. The first plan we made was for the DRC... not what China wanted but better than Columbia.. which I STILL knew nothing about.

When we got to the hotel, thank goodness Diana had her computer... I knew I had to write my Columbia position paper overnight and email it. Sadly... Diana and Jelena were on the computer and I didn't get it till nearly 1 in the morning.... I went to bed around 2 without finishing it yet. When I woke up in the morning I was going to finish it but again didn't get to use the computer. I ended up finishing my position paper after our excursion around DC literally 2 minutes before I was supposed to leave for committee. I am both an idiot... and a beast.

[Friday - Excursion]
The Friday morning excursion was amazing! We walked to the capital. Received a mini tour of the offices there and saw our senator's office... or at least the door to it. we then received a tour of the more aesthetic part of the capital... it was so beautiful! I have tons of pictures. We did photo shoots outside capital hill and rested on the stairs of the supreme court building. Split up, ate lunch and then went back to the hotel. It was a lovely morning. The Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom!

After the excursion there was two committee sessions. Ryan and I went looking for the building, got lost, and once we were half way there (it was the farthest one away btw) we realized that it was the wrong time and had to go back to where we came. A bit ridiculous. I had Italian food for dinner then went to the second committee session (the correct building thank goodness). The room we were in was really nice; I don't know its actual purpose, but it had tiers of desk space which was leveled around the room in an U formation.... pointless information, I know, but when I read this later I want to remember the room!

[Saturday - Alumni]
Saturday was mainly all committee session. Some of the people there were such charachters. This one girl would not stop asking questions... "point of inquiry on my point of inquiry!" It was really funny and the committee made a big joke out of it.

After committee we went to an alumni dinner and sadly missed the delegate dance because of it. However, the people there were very interesting; so, that was a lovely evening. I met someone who used to live in River Forest who might have gone to school with one of my relatives. I also met an old man who told me I could be anything I want to be! Did you know they used to teach Russian at Iggys? I wish they still did! I had a really cute dress on too! I'll have to find a picture of it...

[Sunday - Georgetown/Home?]
Sunday we packed our bags and went to our last committee session. Basically we goofed around the entire time. Earlier Ryan and I tried to assassinate someone (I forget who now) and though I believed we failed in doing so we started a chain of reactions. By the end of the committee session Canada has become part of the U.S., China took over California and all busy burgers across the U.S. (and changed them to panda express) WWIII had begun and the IRC spend all of their funds on a massive, bomb proof dinner party. How sweet is that?! During closing ceremony awards were given out and Ryan and I received an award. Third place in our committee, not bad.

After the ceremony we visited Georgetown. What a cute neighborhood!!! All the houses were different colors, and there were hundreds of little shops. Some where rather high-end and others were thrifty. I liked it. Seriously, I thought River Forest, or even Lincoln Park was cute... but this completely surpasses both of those. We received a tour of the University. I saw the chapel where my godfather's son, Rob, was married. I was there the last time I went to D.C. as well. Although, I knew very little of the importance of Georgetown U. at that time. That would be such an amazing school to go to! ... Sorry, I'm totally rambling.

Finally it was time to leave. We arrive at the airport, check in our bags, and then hear the flight has been canceled. The airport paid for us to stay at the Holiday Inn. The ENTIRE time we stayed there I kept hearing "we be chillin at the holiday Inn... something... all of my friiieenndss" . It was horrible! On top of constant singing in my head, I had a horrible sore throat and felt very sick that evening. One good thing about the hotel was that they gave you hard and soft pillows. THEY LET YOU PICK WHICH ONE YOU WANTED! Awesome right? I didn't like either pillow, but the fact that you could choose just made everything better. Another positive was my roommate, Alyssa was awesome! On the negative side we were given a 10 dollars for dinner but the service was horrible! I ordered casadilla's and I received my food when everyone else was finished with theirs and it was totally this one lady's fault. When I order I ask if they had breakfast, she said no and then moved on to the next person, skipping my order. I I call her attention and ask her for plain cheese casadillas. She goes "ok" without looking and then asks the next person before letting me finish and ask for a glass of orange juice. Then when she brings my casadillas they have all sorts of veggies on them and I tell her I ordered cheese and I ask for cheese. She brings back the same casadillas with more cheese on it and I re-explain I wanted ONLY cheese. First of all... I thought my request was clear, second of all every time I tried to tell her something she didn't pay attention. Three time I had to speak with her! Three strikes and you're out! So it was her fault. I got angry and bored and put salt in the pepper shaker and vis versa... BADASS.

[Monday- Home Sweet Home]
The next morning we flew back to Chicago.... which left me with the dissapointment I described in the first paragraph of this post. I went from cherry blossoms, colorful houses that had charachter, and spring weather to the cold, thawing, industrial, repetative Chicago. Since then however i've regained a little bit of the admiration I once had. I still love D.C. though.