(Lack of) Easter Break, Baseball, and "High Speed" Trains

April has brought me more visitors from Monmouth. I've known about one of the visits since January and it was the one thing I was using to mark the end of my semester here in Washington. I knew that if I could make it until they arrived, I could finish out the 20 odd days I would have left. Their questions really made me reflect on my time here. What have I learned? So much. Too much to tell a person in one sitting. And a lot of it doesn't have a thing to do with academia. I learned to live on my own. I learned to navigate a city. I gained independence and confidence. I became an adult...in a sense.

The Easter holiday (which we here at AU don't get off) brought a friend from Monmouth. Her visit was not expected at the beginning of the semester. In fact, she kind of came on a whim. But I was so glad to share my city with her -- even if it was the height of the cherry blossom pandemonium! We saw all the sites downtown -- monuments, museums, etc. I was excited that I finally made it to the Air and Space Museum to see my hero, Amelia Earhart. We also went to see the Washington Nationals play the Boston Red Sox. It was reassuring to know that there is a team in Major League Baseball that is actually worse than my beloved Cubs!

Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to go to New York City to do research -- on the 6 am Acela train. Note to self: Getting up at 4 am is not something one should do on a regular basis. Now, I am not a huge fan of NYC (I might be it's worst critic), but there was just something about being in the city doing historical research that I found exciting. Being in the archives yesterday just reaffirmed that I am headed down the right path with my plan to go to graduate school for public history and library science. All was well, until we were on our way home on this so-called "high speed train." Too bad there were electrical problems on the line outside of Baltimore and we sat still for close to an hour. We arrived back in DC close to 90 minutes later than expected. Needless to say, I'm feeling a little fatigued today -- but the light is at the end of the tunnel now! 20 more days and I'm on my way home!