What I will miss...

A few things that I will miss about Washington, D.C.

1. MY FRIENDS. I couldn't have come out with a better group of interns. I could go through each person and tell you why I'll miss them and what I love about them, but that would take WAY too long. Suffice it to say that my friends out here made my transition way easier and have helped me through hard times and celebrated with me in the good. We have had some amazing times and I really hope we stay in contact after we all disperse.

2. MY COWORKERS. They are so much fun. I can't tell you how many hilarious and super insightful conversations I've had with these people. It's been awesome working with them even though I'm just a lowly intern.

3. WALKING EVERYWHERE. I like driving, but it's been refreshing not worrying about a car. It's awesome out here - you can walk a mile without even noticing it whereas in Utah, walking from my apartment on 800 North to Lee's on 1400 North just isn't done. I want to make it a goal to walk more when I get back to Utah. I love walking but for some reason it's harder for me to walk a mile in Utah than in D.C.

4. THE SITES. The city really is rich with history and I love it. I love the Capitol, I love the monuments, I love the museums, I love the Potomac, and I love the cherry blossoms. If I did have to live in a big city, it probably would be this one. There's nothing more awe inspiring (or few things at least) than walking up and down the Mall at night looking at all the monuments lit up. Sometimes when I'm walking around the Capitol I'll think about the men and women who walked where I'm walking. It really is fantastic.

5. PLAYING GAMES AT THE PARK. There's a soccer field (turf, not grass) about 4 blocks away from our complex and we walk over there a few times a weeks to play ultimate, football, or just to throw a baseball around. It's SO much fun. It's great to get outside and run around and pretend I'm not in a big city for a couple hours. The only lame part is the lights shut off at 10 and soccer games are usually going on until almost 9. It's still tons of fun though.

6. THE HUMPTAGON. There's a long story about where that name came from, but here it is in a nutshell: some of us started talking about doing a wrestle mania type thing, Mike called it the Hexagon cause that's what shape the ring is, Angela said that's a dumb name, I said heptagon to throw everyone off, and Angela came up with Humptagon to make it more interesting. We came up with names and created alliances and tag teams (Angela and I are The Lamanites since she's half Mexican and I'm Quarter Rican) and every now and then we'll all (or a couple of us will) get into a big ol' wrestling match. Also, we may or may not cheat *coughbryan-kneeling-on-my-lungscough*.

7. NOT PAYING TAXES ON THE HILL. While it's really expensive, I'm a fan of seeing something that says it's $2.50 and paying exactly $2.50. I could get used to this whole no sales tax thing.

8. CHAPLAIN BLACK'S BIBLE STUDIES. Chaplain Black is the bee's knees and the man who invented the-bomb.com. I don't know what denomination he is, but I don't really care. His lessons are full of beautifully fantastic truths and even though there are a few things I've heard him say that I don't agree with, I still love going and I still feel the spirit testify of a lot of what he says. It's a great way to end the work week.

9. SEEING SENATORS EVERYWHERE. After being in meetings with people I've only seen on C-SPAN and MSNBC it'll be just a little sad to leave that and never see people like that again. But whatevs. I won't miss it that much :P

10. WALKING PAST 'AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY' SIGNS IN THE CAPITOL. Seriously, this has given me a major false sense of superiority. It's awesome. I have almost unlimited access to the Capitol and it totally rocks. Sure, I'll come back, and sure, I'll go to the Capitol, but I'll never be able to walk past those signs and go wherever I want without getting stopped by the Capitol police again.