We got sweet business cards today, courtesy of the efforts of Ben Ross. Check back for pictures later this week.
- The Interns
Best of the DC Weekend
Hi all! StacJac here, one of the summer interns. I am one of the two in our cohort who hails from Northwestern. Yes, Chicago is cold (I get that question a lot), but yes, I do love school. Nevertheless, DC is an exhilirating and refreshing change of scenery for the summer. I love the environment - think overly excited political wannabees meets do-good non-profits and national museums, meets every-restaurant-has-a-happy-hour-ad-on-their-front-window.
This past weekend, I decided to take advantage of a wide breadth of DC's offerings. Thursday night, we attended the first of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Summer Series seminars, geared toward interns in the District. The speaker was Howard Kohr, executive director of AIPAC. He spoke for about 15 minutes and then opened the rest of the hour-long seminar up for questions. His short speech highlighted the most important topics of late: Iran and its weapons threat, Obama's dealings with Israel, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I decided to bite the bullet and was the first to ask a question - Does giving the Palestinians a state pose a security risk to Israel and the U.S. in the near future? Might we look back on a move like that, just as we did after giving Iran the access to nuclear weapons, and say 'what were we thinking?' Kohr offered a succint response - it is key for a Palestinian state to be demilitarized.
Following the seminar we went with some AIPAC interns to a couple hotspots on the Hill before heading home. Work M-F 9-5 is tiring!! Yes mom, I know that's what all grown-ups do and I hope you feel vindicated!
Saturday I set out to experience DC culture and tourism to the fullest. First stop: the grand re-opening of Eastern Market. The newly renovated building, which suffered from a fire in 2007, was packed with eager shoppers and hungry patrons all fighting their way through the seafood, meat, poultry, dairy, and produce counters. Too hungry to wait in line for a crabcake from the cafe, my DC partner-in-crime and I waited in a shorter line for made-to-order sandwiches. To accompany our main courses- a pulled turkey sandwich and a turkey wrap - we each got a barrel pickle and picked up some fresh hummus and carrots.
Onto the National Mall! It's a much shorter walk than I expected from the map; in 10 minutes we were at Hawk and Dove (popular restaurant/bar at the edge of the Hill). We were heading toward the Museum of American History which is at the far opposite corner of the Mall, so we picked a spot about halfway there underneath a shady tree. The lunch was superb and filling. After some digestion/people watching, we headed to the Museum. Our first exhibit we visited was billed "Thanks for the Memories: Music, Sports and Entertainment History," and had a lot of mediocre memorabilia, such as "the puffy shirt" from Seinfeld, and a Muhammed Ali boxing glove. From there we hit up the Amerian presidents and Lincoln exhibits which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in U.S. history. Both have some really cool artifacts, like the top hat Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated, and lots of interesting information about each administration. There is also an exhibit with photos from President Obama's inauguration that will be available until July 12. Last, we went to the Star Spangled Banner exhibit, which is really breathtaking. You enter the exhibit and immediately turn into a dark room where the mammoth flag is dazzlingly illuminated for viewing behind a glass wall. The wear and tear on the flag is visible but it still inspires the pride for the U.S.A. that Francis Scott Key felt when he wrote the National Anthem at Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812.
We left the Museum of American History around 7:15 and were sufficiently exhausted. Electing to walk home to Foggy Bottom while hoping our legs didn't give out on the way, we walked the length of the reflecting pool past the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial before heading north. My newfound appreciation for Lincoln thanks to the Museum's exhibits was overwhelming as I looked up at him in his throne-like chair, with the words "saved the union" etched above his head. Washington...what a place.
Yesterday we embarked on yet another day of tourism, though we committed to less walking and I committed to New Balances over Reefs. After a quick Potbelly's lunch, we headed to the National Archives. We waited in the ominous "45 minute" line that actually took 15 minutes, and went straight to the Rotunda to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The line situation is a little weird - there isn't one officially but then you don't know if you want to be the one person who cuts everyone else in the "informal line." All the documents were fascinating; from the signatures of important founders to how worn the Declaration is, the Rotunda's contents are a true treat and an affective peak into poignant American history. The three features are supplemented by other important documents that represent significant events. And by the way, if you watched the John Adams HBO series like I did, you'll have even more to reference and get excited about in terms of important American history in front of your eyes.
Our last tourist stop was the Museum of Natural History. Anyone who has been here knows it could take days to do this museum justice, so we just focused on three exhibits: a forensics exhibit on the history of the people of the Chesapeake region, the gems section, and the Wild Ocean exhibit. The forensics exhibit was surprisingly engaging with a lot of interesting facts and demonstrations on determining human traits from bone structure. The gems area's traditional highlight - the Hope Diamond - was really beautiful, but even more impressive was the jewelry collection which included some of the biggest, most gorgeous rocks I have ever seen. The pieces hail from royalty and wealth all over the world. I'm a sucker for anything with European royalty so this was right up my alley. The last exhibit, Wild Ocean, was a bit disappointing. It was like a dumbed down version of an aquarium. The giant female squid on display, however, is definitely worth checking out.
From here we declared our day done and hopped on a Metro to Farragut West to grab a bite to eat. After dinner I came home and plopped myself on the couch - not to move again until I got in bed around midnight. It was back to the office in the morning and my DC weekend vacation (even my GW summer dorm is a converted hotel) had officially come to an end. Here's to next weekend for the 4th of July!
This past weekend, I decided to take advantage of a wide breadth of DC's offerings. Thursday night, we attended the first of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Summer Series seminars, geared toward interns in the District. The speaker was Howard Kohr, executive director of AIPAC. He spoke for about 15 minutes and then opened the rest of the hour-long seminar up for questions. His short speech highlighted the most important topics of late: Iran and its weapons threat, Obama's dealings with Israel, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I decided to bite the bullet and was the first to ask a question - Does giving the Palestinians a state pose a security risk to Israel and the U.S. in the near future? Might we look back on a move like that, just as we did after giving Iran the access to nuclear weapons, and say 'what were we thinking?' Kohr offered a succint response - it is key for a Palestinian state to be demilitarized.
Following the seminar we went with some AIPAC interns to a couple hotspots on the Hill before heading home. Work M-F 9-5 is tiring!! Yes mom, I know that's what all grown-ups do and I hope you feel vindicated!
Saturday I set out to experience DC culture and tourism to the fullest. First stop: the grand re-opening of Eastern Market. The newly renovated building, which suffered from a fire in 2007, was packed with eager shoppers and hungry patrons all fighting their way through the seafood, meat, poultry, dairy, and produce counters. Too hungry to wait in line for a crabcake from the cafe, my DC partner-in-crime and I waited in a shorter line for made-to-order sandwiches. To accompany our main courses- a pulled turkey sandwich and a turkey wrap - we each got a barrel pickle and picked up some fresh hummus and carrots.
Onto the National Mall! It's a much shorter walk than I expected from the map; in 10 minutes we were at Hawk and Dove (popular restaurant/bar at the edge of the Hill). We were heading toward the Museum of American History which is at the far opposite corner of the Mall, so we picked a spot about halfway there underneath a shady tree. The lunch was superb and filling. After some digestion/people watching, we headed to the Museum. Our first exhibit we visited was billed "Thanks for the Memories: Music, Sports and Entertainment History," and had a lot of mediocre memorabilia, such as "the puffy shirt" from Seinfeld, and a Muhammed Ali boxing glove. From there we hit up the Amerian presidents and Lincoln exhibits which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in U.S. history. Both have some really cool artifacts, like the top hat Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated, and lots of interesting information about each administration. There is also an exhibit with photos from President Obama's inauguration that will be available until July 12. Last, we went to the Star Spangled Banner exhibit, which is really breathtaking. You enter the exhibit and immediately turn into a dark room where the mammoth flag is dazzlingly illuminated for viewing behind a glass wall. The wear and tear on the flag is visible but it still inspires the pride for the U.S.A. that Francis Scott Key felt when he wrote the National Anthem at Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812.
We left the Museum of American History around 7:15 and were sufficiently exhausted. Electing to walk home to Foggy Bottom while hoping our legs didn't give out on the way, we walked the length of the reflecting pool past the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial before heading north. My newfound appreciation for Lincoln thanks to the Museum's exhibits was overwhelming as I looked up at him in his throne-like chair, with the words "saved the union" etched above his head. Washington...what a place.
Yesterday we embarked on yet another day of tourism, though we committed to less walking and I committed to New Balances over Reefs. After a quick Potbelly's lunch, we headed to the National Archives. We waited in the ominous "45 minute" line that actually took 15 minutes, and went straight to the Rotunda to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The line situation is a little weird - there isn't one officially but then you don't know if you want to be the one person who cuts everyone else in the "informal line." All the documents were fascinating; from the signatures of important founders to how worn the Declaration is, the Rotunda's contents are a true treat and an affective peak into poignant American history. The three features are supplemented by other important documents that represent significant events. And by the way, if you watched the John Adams HBO series like I did, you'll have even more to reference and get excited about in terms of important American history in front of your eyes.
Our last tourist stop was the Museum of Natural History. Anyone who has been here knows it could take days to do this museum justice, so we just focused on three exhibits: a forensics exhibit on the history of the people of the Chesapeake region, the gems section, and the Wild Ocean exhibit. The forensics exhibit was surprisingly engaging with a lot of interesting facts and demonstrations on determining human traits from bone structure. The gems area's traditional highlight - the Hope Diamond - was really beautiful, but even more impressive was the jewelry collection which included some of the biggest, most gorgeous rocks I have ever seen. The pieces hail from royalty and wealth all over the world. I'm a sucker for anything with European royalty so this was right up my alley. The last exhibit, Wild Ocean, was a bit disappointing. It was like a dumbed down version of an aquarium. The giant female squid on display, however, is definitely worth checking out.
From here we declared our day done and hopped on a Metro to Farragut West to grab a bite to eat. After dinner I came home and plopped myself on the couch - not to move again until I got in bed around midnight. It was back to the office in the morning and my DC weekend vacation (even my GW summer dorm is a converted hotel) had officially come to an end. Here's to next weekend for the 4th of July!
Exploring DC- Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle, Golden Triangle
Hey y’all. I’m Ben H. Next fall I will be a senior at the University of Chicago (where the fun comes to die) where I major in Political Science and Arabic. This week, the interns took to the streets to find out where the DC hotspots are for college-age students. Hannah and I combined our forces and did some exploring around Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan and the Golden Triangle.
Here’s what happened.
Despite the near lethal combination of DC humidity and stuffy business casual attire, our day of exploring DC was both productive and a lot of fun. Leaving work at a quarter to twelve, we hopped on the Red Line (which was still crowded and chaotic from the previous day’s tragic events) to Farragut North stop. We were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in the heart of the Golden Triangle’s lunchtime rush. While most of the crowd was definitely older and more professional, the neighbourhood is littered with nice restaurants (The Palm), Cheap Eats (Chipotle, Starbucks) and bars (including one ‘gentleman’s club’—sadly we ran out of time to visit).
We started our quest to find a location for the July 1st event at Vapiano, a restaurant and bar, which seemed to have a pretty good happy hour special. At first, we were a little shy and the waitress was confused what we were asking for, but eventually we met with the manager who was gracious enough to show us the space. It was a nice, but the crowd seemed to be a little “yuppier” and more up-scale than we were originally looking for. Plus, they have this weird card system, where everything you buy gets put onto a card, and you ‘close out your balance’ when you leave. It felt like the DC Professional Equivalent of Dave & Busters or Chuck E. Cheese. Even though we decided not to go with Vapiano, it was still a great place to start because the manager was enthusiastic and honest about what they could provide us with.
Next, we hit up MadHatter, the DC location of a chain that also has a location in Montreal. The contrast to Vapiano was pretty jarring. This was definitely an older crowd’s dive bar. We found no fancy napkins or matchboxes; just an elderly bartender who directed us to ‘Mickey’ upstairs. While we waited for the aforementioned Mickey, we took sometime to survey the surroundings. Beer-stained floor? Check. Dim lighting? Check. Huge burger platters? Check. The rapport between the servers and the few lunchtime customers suggested that this was the type of place where everybody knows your name. When Mickey showed up after a couple of minutes, he turned out to be gruff, no-nonsense, and delightfully blue-collar; exactly the type of person one might expect to own such a bar. Within 90 seconds, we had our Happy Hour location planned.
After leaving MadHatter, we perused some of the other bars and restaurants in the Golden Triangle, including Rumors and Porters, though neither lived up to the atmosphere and prices at Mickey’s establishment. Taking a moment to catch our breath, we stepped into Chipotle. If we wanted to meet as many interns in the District as possible, we would do well to open a burrito bar since the restaurant was packed with college students and young professionals. We also discovered that you can fax in your order to Chipotle. Perhaps in a couple months, they will add a BBM booth as well.
Leaving the Golden Triangle/ Farragut area, we ventured to Dupont circle where we did some productive people-watching, lunch-buying, and smoothie-drinking. One of the men at the park appeared to believe that the fountain was his personal shower. We spotted a couple groups that looked like interns, but mostly the area seemed to be dominated by the neighbourhood’s fabulously hip locals. Still, it was a great place for an impromptu picnic.
After lunch, we walked over to the DC Jewish Community Center at Q & 16th. While our contact (Jenna Ebhert) was out for the day, we managed to get a tour of the facilities. While the state of the art gym and sports facilities would appeal to the younger crowd, the membership price tag was a little unrealistic for your average summer intern. Still, their cultural events throughout the summer seem to appeal to a wide audience of non-members and members alike.
Leaving the JCC, we decided that we would check out Adams-Morgan, one of DC’s nightlife hotspots. On the way, we passed the Freemason Headquarters on 16th Street. When we noticed the “Free Tours” sign sitting casually outside the impressive neo-classical structure, we couldn’t resist. Once inside, we were treated to a fantastic 15-minute tour by a rising junior at GW and a prospective Freemason. We got a chance to marvel at the Italian marble in the upstairs ritual hall, and giggle as our guide got a little carried away educating us about the brotherhood’s secret symbols and meetings. By the end, our tour had devolved into a typical DC intern networking moment as we exchanged information and promised to find each other on Facebook.
Our afternoon ended with a lovely walk through Adams Morgan. We found the neighbourhood barren relative to the usual night time chaos. The hookah bars, Ethiopian restaurants, and ice cream parlours seemed like great spots to bring underage college students on a Friday or Saturday night. Sweating from the afternoon humidity, we decided that it was time to return to Dupont and meet up with the other interns.
Tonight we’re checking out the AIPAC Summer Seminar with Howard Kohr. Check back next week for the report
Here’s what happened.
Despite the near lethal combination of DC humidity and stuffy business casual attire, our day of exploring DC was both productive and a lot of fun. Leaving work at a quarter to twelve, we hopped on the Red Line (which was still crowded and chaotic from the previous day’s tragic events) to Farragut North stop. We were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in the heart of the Golden Triangle’s lunchtime rush. While most of the crowd was definitely older and more professional, the neighbourhood is littered with nice restaurants (The Palm), Cheap Eats (Chipotle, Starbucks) and bars (including one ‘gentleman’s club’—sadly we ran out of time to visit).
We started our quest to find a location for the July 1st event at Vapiano, a restaurant and bar, which seemed to have a pretty good happy hour special. At first, we were a little shy and the waitress was confused what we were asking for, but eventually we met with the manager who was gracious enough to show us the space. It was a nice, but the crowd seemed to be a little “yuppier” and more up-scale than we were originally looking for. Plus, they have this weird card system, where everything you buy gets put onto a card, and you ‘close out your balance’ when you leave. It felt like the DC Professional Equivalent of Dave & Busters or Chuck E. Cheese. Even though we decided not to go with Vapiano, it was still a great place to start because the manager was enthusiastic and honest about what they could provide us with.
Next, we hit up MadHatter, the DC location of a chain that also has a location in Montreal. The contrast to Vapiano was pretty jarring. This was definitely an older crowd’s dive bar. We found no fancy napkins or matchboxes; just an elderly bartender who directed us to ‘Mickey’ upstairs. While we waited for the aforementioned Mickey, we took sometime to survey the surroundings. Beer-stained floor? Check. Dim lighting? Check. Huge burger platters? Check. The rapport between the servers and the few lunchtime customers suggested that this was the type of place where everybody knows your name. When Mickey showed up after a couple of minutes, he turned out to be gruff, no-nonsense, and delightfully blue-collar; exactly the type of person one might expect to own such a bar. Within 90 seconds, we had our Happy Hour location planned.
After leaving MadHatter, we perused some of the other bars and restaurants in the Golden Triangle, including Rumors and Porters, though neither lived up to the atmosphere and prices at Mickey’s establishment. Taking a moment to catch our breath, we stepped into Chipotle. If we wanted to meet as many interns in the District as possible, we would do well to open a burrito bar since the restaurant was packed with college students and young professionals. We also discovered that you can fax in your order to Chipotle. Perhaps in a couple months, they will add a BBM booth as well.
Leaving the Golden Triangle/ Farragut area, we ventured to Dupont circle where we did some productive people-watching, lunch-buying, and smoothie-drinking. One of the men at the park appeared to believe that the fountain was his personal shower. We spotted a couple groups that looked like interns, but mostly the area seemed to be dominated by the neighbourhood’s fabulously hip locals. Still, it was a great place for an impromptu picnic.
After lunch, we walked over to the DC Jewish Community Center at Q & 16th. While our contact (Jenna Ebhert) was out for the day, we managed to get a tour of the facilities. While the state of the art gym and sports facilities would appeal to the younger crowd, the membership price tag was a little unrealistic for your average summer intern. Still, their cultural events throughout the summer seem to appeal to a wide audience of non-members and members alike.
Leaving the JCC, we decided that we would check out Adams-Morgan, one of DC’s nightlife hotspots. On the way, we passed the Freemason Headquarters on 16th Street. When we noticed the “Free Tours” sign sitting casually outside the impressive neo-classical structure, we couldn’t resist. Once inside, we were treated to a fantastic 15-minute tour by a rising junior at GW and a prospective Freemason. We got a chance to marvel at the Italian marble in the upstairs ritual hall, and giggle as our guide got a little carried away educating us about the brotherhood’s secret symbols and meetings. By the end, our tour had devolved into a typical DC intern networking moment as we exchanged information and promised to find each other on Facebook.
Our afternoon ended with a lovely walk through Adams Morgan. We found the neighbourhood barren relative to the usual night time chaos. The hookah bars, Ethiopian restaurants, and ice cream parlours seemed like great spots to bring underage college students on a Friday or Saturday night. Sweating from the afternoon humidity, we decided that it was time to return to Dupont and meet up with the other interns.
Tonight we’re checking out the AIPAC Summer Seminar with Howard Kohr. Check back next week for the report
Who we are!
This is the true story…of five strangers…picked to work in Washington, DC for the summer…to work together and network with other DC interns…to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting REAL.
Well, maybe not. But we couldn’t resist a shout-out to the Real World Season 23 filming in DC this summer. Who are we really? We are five summer interns in Washington, DC: Stacy, Marisa, Hannah, and the Bens (R and H). It’s true that we’ll be spending our time reaching out to Jewish interns in DC for the summer, planning events and letting other interns know about Jewish opportunities of all sorts going on while they’re here. We’re already planning a networking happy hour for Jewish interns next Wednesday at MadHatter, and our partner organizations—AIPAC and 6th and I Synagogue—have programs and offerings of their own to which we’ll be connecting the people we meet around DC this summer.
While we all hail from nerdy schools—Northwestern, Tufts, University of Chicago, and Cornell—each of us has something unique to bring to the table. Ben Halbig is, in his words, “viciously obsessed” with Israeli pop star Rita and classical music, especially opera. Hannah lived in Israel for a year after graduating high school, where she finally got to use all of the Hebrew curse words she learned at Jewish camp. Ben Ross spent two weeks in Kazakhstan working with the fledgling Jewish community there and bonding with young Jews in the former Soviet republic over $1.50 bottles of vodka. Marisa has been figure skating since she was five, and yes she can do “that twirly thing.” Stacy is obsessed with European royalty and especially the British Tudor period.
Want to know more? Check us out on Facebook (group: DC Summer ’09- Jewish Interns) and Twitter (JSummerDC09)!
Well, maybe not. But we couldn’t resist a shout-out to the Real World Season 23 filming in DC this summer. Who are we really? We are five summer interns in Washington, DC: Stacy, Marisa, Hannah, and the Bens (R and H). It’s true that we’ll be spending our time reaching out to Jewish interns in DC for the summer, planning events and letting other interns know about Jewish opportunities of all sorts going on while they’re here. We’re already planning a networking happy hour for Jewish interns next Wednesday at MadHatter, and our partner organizations—AIPAC and 6th and I Synagogue—have programs and offerings of their own to which we’ll be connecting the people we meet around DC this summer.
While we all hail from nerdy schools—Northwestern, Tufts, University of Chicago, and Cornell—each of us has something unique to bring to the table. Ben Halbig is, in his words, “viciously obsessed” with Israeli pop star Rita and classical music, especially opera. Hannah lived in Israel for a year after graduating high school, where she finally got to use all of the Hebrew curse words she learned at Jewish camp. Ben Ross spent two weeks in Kazakhstan working with the fledgling Jewish community there and bonding with young Jews in the former Soviet republic over $1.50 bottles of vodka. Marisa has been figure skating since she was five, and yes she can do “that twirly thing.” Stacy is obsessed with European royalty and especially the British Tudor period.
Want to know more? Check us out on Facebook (group: DC Summer ’09- Jewish Interns) and Twitter (JSummerDC09)!
Posts
