Welcome to Williamsburg!!!!

My days are coming to an end for work, everyday at about 5:15 p.m. I start to go crazy.  I just can't handle sitting in my desk much longer.  There is no window to look out, no CNN to watch; it's just me, my desk, and the other intern-Josh.  We are both like little kids waiting for the school bell to ring, we try to find little projects to keep ourselves occupied for the remaining 45 minutes and tell funny stories to humor ourselves.  And it always seems as if at 5:59 p.m. someone comes around to my side of the room and gives me a new project to be finished before work ends.

I have gained a greater love for D.C. during the month of April.  If every month was April in D.C. I might not ever leave.  This past week one of my best friends was here to visit, Andi!  It was the highlight of my week, mostly we just watched the Jazz play, ate good food, and talked. 

This past week I also watched more sports than usual.  I have become addicted to watching the Jazz games, I feel as if they must win!  I think that this desire for the Jazz to win is my undying love for Utah and the excitement I feel for home.  I also attended a Nationals game, they actually won and I went to a D.C. United Soccer game.  Which was an experience within itself, I have never seen better fans.  At half time, they all rounded up in a circle; they screamed, clapped, and sprayed beer.

Yesterday I went to Williamsburg with Megan and her Mom.  It was a nice little road trip, we walked around the old city of Williamsburg, which is located right next to Jamestown, and heard old ghost stories.  You can't drive around the city of Williamsburg, you have to take a bus there and the city of full of tourists and locals dressed up as 18th century citizens.  The locals really get into their parts, it's rather humorous and inspiring.

Tonight I met with my book club, which is Kimball and Liz, Bobby came along.  I am sad to leave them.  It's funny that we call it a book club, because we never finished the first book we started but more than anything my D.C. experience has been fabulous because of these people. 

(The first picture is in front of the Courthouse in Williamsburg and the second picture is with my friend Lindsey from work; we shot M-16's in the bottom of the Capitol.)

Bitter-Sweet

My time in Washington D.C. is quickly coming to an end and usually when I end an experience, I have what one may say as a bitter-sweet feeling inside of me, but not this time. For the first time in a long time, I am ready for home. I am ready to stay in Utah for a little while, even though my time may only be one short month, I can hardly wait. I feel like I haven't been home for years and I am ready to come home and figure a few things out.

The best and worst part about coming home is graduation. Yes, I did already graduate in December 2007 when I handed in my 30 page thesis about the role of religion in Lithuania during the Communist era. At that moment, as I pushed my paper under Professor Judkin's door, I felt nothing but pure excitement, it was an end of an era. But I knew that I had D.C. waiting for me. Now as my D.C. experience comes to an end, I have no idea what lies for me in the future. I believe that the possibilities are endless. Each week I have a new plan, however this plan seems to only last days and I have changed my mind again. Here are a few of my ideas: Law School, Business School, PhD in Political Science, Investment Banker, flight attendant, a gardener, joining the Peace Corp, a professional reader (I wish), a financial representative for the state of Utah, working on the advance team for the administration, a letter writer, a staff assistant, a national forest employee, or working for the AIDS Foundation. As you can tell, I have lots of ideas, and not a single clue of what in the world I am going to do. So if any of you have ideas, please let me know. At this moment in time, I am really ready for just about anything.

Back to graduation, what exactly am I going to be celebrating? I was in college, but I feel as if my college years or the best of my college years were before my mission when I slept for just a few hours a night, was involved in every single association on campus, was in love with the U and still managed to pull-off decent grades. I was the most involved in school before my mission and since the end of my mission I was just in school. I was the normal commuter student involved only with the Alumni Association. So, I guess on Friday, May 2nd I will be celebrating the fact that I finished or maybe I should celebrate the fact that I don't have a real job yet. Don't worry Mom and Dad I will find a job I promise. Maybe I should celebrate that it's all over and it's time to move onto something new, scary, and exciting.

Since being in D.C. I have learned a lot about politics, but more than that I have learned that it will all work out eventually. I just have to keep on putting myself out there, keep on looking for something new, and keep on finding things to fall in love with and I will be happy. I have fallen in love with D.C. I love the Jefferson at night, I love the canal in Georgetown, I love the row boats on the Tidal Basin, I love the Metro when it goes to Virginia and the first thing you see is the city of D.C.-which stands for freedom, I love the National Cathedral, I love it when it rains and I wake-up to thunder, I love carrot cupcakes from Baked & Wired, I love Kramer's bookstore, I love running to the Mall past every single monument, I love that I saw a group of 100 protesters and 300 cops on Saturday, I love giving a tour at the Capitol and talking about Martin Luther King, Jr., I love the old man Ken that works in the basement of the Capitol, and I love so much more.

Since I got home from my mission, I have been living my life in four-month increments...four months of summer, fours months of school, four months of D.C. and now I am back just to where I started, four months of summer. I am excited to see what these next four months hold, it is like a big mystery and only time will tell. Life, what an adventure.

(As for the picture, this is a picture of the Nazi Protest I saw on Saturday in front of the Capitol celebrating Hitler's birthday. The craziest part was that there were Nazi protesters and anti-Nazi protesters and a million cops!)

Baseball and Fireworks!

Fireworks and Baseball!! This past Friday I went to a Nationals baseball game and had a fabulous time.  They lost to the Atlanta Braves, but there were fireworks after the game.  As my friends and I were walking back to the metro it started to rain, just like the rain in Lithuania, hard and long.  All the people tried to cram into the metro stop; babies were crying, rain was poring and everyone else was laughing.  

Saturday morning Megan and I ran down to the Mall to watch the Cherry Blossom's parade, just as we arrived we saw Timpview High School play, it was just wonderful.  After I went with my friend Lindsay to Georgetown and to the Japanese street festival.  Overall, I had an amazing weekend in D.C.

New York in the Spring Time!

This weekend I was in New York to see my good friend Liz!  We had so much fun!  Liz is one of the best people in the world, she makes you feel happy and excited the entire time you are with her.  My roommate Megan and I went up to New York on Friday night on the most ghetto Chinatown bus I have ever been on, the driver almost crashed five times.  Once we got into New York, Megan and I went to meet Liz at Radio City and we met Bill Hader from Saturday Night Live, it was rather exciting.

On Saturday Megan and I woke up early and took a FREE ferry to Staten Island, which goes right past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  That afternoon Liz, my cousin Kellen, and I went to a see a Yankees game, they lost.  After the Yankees game we went to Grimaldis Pizzeria in Brooklyn, which is the best pizza that I have ever had in America.  Last time I was in New York I ate there and I loved it so much that I had to take Liz with me this time.

After eating pizza Megan and I went to the musical WICKED and it was truly a magical experience, especially for Megan because it was her first time.  We had great seats and enjoyed every minute.  At the end of the day, it was the perfect day in New York.  We left early this morning to come back for conference, which was fabulous as always.

Kite Festival

The KITE FESTIVAL was amazing!  I was hoping that it was going to be just like the kite festivals in Afghanistan with kite battles and competition, but it wasn't quite like that. Although it was amazing with hundreds of kites flying over the mall.  Before yesterday I had never really flown a kite, I basically became a pro yesterday after making a fool of myself because my kite crashed into a group of people and I almost ran into a garbage truck trying to make my kite fly.  I went with my ward, Kimball, and John.  The Kite Festival is in honor of the beginning of the Cherry Blossom Festival, which is beautiful with pink flowers blooming everywhere.  

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  I went to mass at the National Cathedral on Easter with my cousin Kellen, Megan, Liz, and Kimball.  It was beautiful and early in the morning.  I was tired the rest of the day and accidentally feel asleep a few times during my church. 

My long lost cousin Kellen came to visit from New York.  I haven't seen him since before my mission.  We had a fabulous weekend.  We went to a jazz concert in the southeast area of D.C., we were the only white people at the concert.  It was awesome.  We also went into the Library of Congress and were allowed to go into the restricted area because of my job, which was exciting.  I took Kellen to my favorite area, Dupont Circle and went to my favorite bookstore, Krammer's. We went to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Stephen Colbert painting in between the women's and men's bathroom.  The weekend turned out to be a fabulous one.  I hope that you all had a fabulous Easter.

Utah People Working Together

"Utah, what a great place to be..."  This past weekend I was in Salt Lake.  I love it there so much!  I went home for Jeff and Whitney's wedding, which was on Tuesday.

My favorite part of Utah are the people.  While in Utah, I was able to see my Grandma Bev who is just fabulous.  She made my cousins and me french toast with bacon fat for breakfast, it was awesome. I saw my parents, which is always exciting.  I loved seeing Chase, I can annoy him in under twenty seconds; which is one of the reasons why I love him so much.  I had food club with some college friends.  I saw Andrew and Laura's new baby, Brayden, he is huge and so cute.  I hung out with Mitch, which was just wonderful.

This past weekend, I also skied with Mitch.  I was amazed by how much powder there still is in Utah.  Every time I ski, I have to remind myself that the likelyhood of me dying is very slim.  I get so scared skiing, I have no idea why; I have been skiing since I was little.  So when I ski, I ski so slow.  Good thing the people I ski with are patient with me.

The wedding was on Tuesday, Whitney looked beautiful and in love.  Jeff and Whit had their reception at Red Butte Gardens, which was perfect for Whit and Jeff; since Jeff is the biggest Ute fan in the entire world.  

I was sad to leave Utah on Tuesday night as I took the red-eye back to D.C.  I was  so tired yesterday at work, I even fell asleep at my desk.  Hopefully no one saw me.  

Basically I love UTAH!