Musings and Museums

Today I woke up at 8 am and immediately turned off my alarm and went back to sleep. Fortunately, Other Julia also woke up at 8 and made sure that I was awake at 8:29 so we made it to the hotel lobby roughly on time. For breakfast this morning I feasted on a breakfast sandwich and lemonade. After breakfast, we walked to the Smithsonian. Slowly. This was because 1) I got 5 hours of sleep last night, 2) it is so hot here! and 3) I kept stopping to look at all the pretty neoclassical buildings.

I went to the Smithsonian! 

Finally, we arrived at the Smithsonian. Since the Smithsonian is very large and we had a tight schedule today, we only went to the National Museum of American History. My favorite exhibit was "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War." I am not a big fan of war in general, but this was my favorite because it was mentioned in one of John Green's vlogs. So, in addition to geeking out over the history, I got to be in a place where my favorite author and all-time hero once was. 

A typical building at Georgetown. 

After leaving the Smithsonian, we went to visit Georgetown University. We began our visit with an information session and then took a tour of the campus. The campus is beautiful. Every building looks like an Italian castle, and there are huge deciduous trees and immaculate lawns everywhere. One of the things that I love about Georgetown is the quality and quantity of political awareness and activism among the student body. I have not seen any other college or University with such concern for social justice, or such outstanding access to political the political system. I think I would absolutely love it at Georgetown. 

Tonight we had dinner with a group of Georgetown students, admissions officers, and representatives at the nicest restaurant in Washington D.C., 1789. (Fun fact: in 1789, Georgetown University was founded AND the French Revolution began.) I had a wonderful conversation with Georgetown student Colleen Roberts, who is majoring in Political Economics, and just got back from studying abroad in Cape Town. Learning about Georgetown and studying abroad from Colleen was an invaluable opportunity learn what life at GU is like. Colleen was awesome and she is studying everything I want to study. I was thrilled to hear about Georgetown's Social Justice Center, the many exciting speakers that have been at Georgetown, and the campus environment.  

In short, today was fabulous, and I will definitely be applying to Georgetown.