It's Wednesday 18th June which is 10 days into our Washington adventure and just 25 hours until I turn 21 and have full reign of DC's nightlife - not that I'm counting down the minutes... just the hours.
So... the last 10 days have been busy, busy, busy. We've rubbed shoulders with senators on Capitol Hill, been given private viewings of personal presidential correspondence (including an excellent break up letter by Abraham Lincoln in which he managed to convince his (ex)girlfriend that it was her decision to break up with him) in the Library of Congress and performed a version of the Irish folktale Children of Lir for American 8 year-olds which attempted to stay true to the original whilst cutting out any references to death… which was as difficult as you’d imagine. We've also sampled the delights of Washington weather... unbearable heat mixed with storms at the most inconvenient of times.
Despite the very temperamental weather I am having a brilliant time. I couldn’t have asked for better or kinder host parents than Karen and Jim, who have really made Judi and I feel at home. The other WIP host families have also shown us great kindness by agreeing to open their homes to the whole WIP crew. Frankly there are not enough opportunities in Ireland to dress up as a teletubby in the name of team bonding and so I’d like to take this opportunity to say thanks to Lenore for hosting the fancy dress party and Deb and Kurt for hosting the welcome BBQ.
That’s it for now because it’s now nearly midnight (24 more hours!) and I’ve to be up bright and early for my internship at the ACCU. Thanks to Washington I now (sometimes) get up at 6.30 a.m., which my family and past flatmates may find hard to believe but it’s true!
P.S. For a minute by minute account of our time in Washington so far check out Judi ’s blog.
