I survived!

This past week was one adventure after another. First was getting through my first day in the Ships Histories of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Cassie and I discovered that the ride is a lot shorter that when we took it last Saturday and ended up arriving outside of the base just over an hour early. So we ended up sitting on a bench outside of base for a while. When we finally decided to head in and get our visitors pass we found out that it still did not take us as long as what we thought, there was a Dunkin Doughnuts so we sat outside for 20 minutes. Finally we decided to go to the museum and ask for Dr. Furgol. Once we got there, he took us to where we would be working. That is where Cassie and I parted, but only for a little while. I was taken to my building and introduced to Mr.  Bob Cressman, who is my internship supervisor for the next 15 weeks. He told me generally what went on in the department and we talked about what I would be doing. I then was introduced to everyone in the department and the other two interns in the office, one of them is Cassie and the other is from England. 

Once introductions were made I was given my first ship to research, the Brig Oneida from the War of 1812. The ship was the very first war vessel on Lake Ontario that the United States Navy owned. I love doing research but I never realized how frustrating it could be when there is so little information on something. Since there was not a lot of information I finish the write up on the ship Friday morning and was given a new ship. Friday was also a fun day. Mr. Mark Evens gave a more extensive tour of the Command, including a trip to the armory and the underwater archeology (UA) lab. The armory was really neat, there was so much to look at and it was awesome to see in person some of the weapons I had read about for different research projects. There was also a brief case gun which was really cool because I had heard of them before but never really knew what they looked like. The UA lab was equally as impressive. In the lab they bring up artifacts from the different underwater ships and preserve them. One of the ships that they have artifacts from is the Alabama from the civil war. The pieces that they have are amazingly well preserved and were really neat to learn about. Overall the tour was a great way to end the week. 

When I was not at work I was taking part in TWC events or class. I had my first Scandalous Washington class on Tuesday which was very interesting. Throughout the semester we will be learning about the history of Washington through its scandals and traveling to these different places. 

As for the weekend on Friday Camilla, Jess, and I went out for dinner. We ended up at a place called Sports Tavern, which is exactly what it sounds. It had really good food and we were able to eat outside which was fun. We also got to deal with all the fun that surrounds the metro when a line is closed for repairs for the weekend. The red line, which closest to us, is closed from NOMA to Farugut North. This resulted in WMATA providing shuttles, but since it was the first night and we missed the last running metro they shuttles were chaotic and packed and took a lot longer. Then the next day we decided to go to Georgetown with the sole priority of getting Georgetown Cupcakes. We took the circulator to get to Georgetown and then found the cupcake shop. We all got two cupcakes, mine were carmel apple and peanut butter fudge. After eating the first cupcake I decided that Scratch Cupcakery in Cedar Falls, IA is hands down the best cupcake place around. I have yet to find a better cupcake. After eating our cupcakes we decided to explore and went down by the river and walked along the trail. Eventually we ended up back in downtown DC. How that happened we don't really know, we just kept walking. While on our walk we got to see many different things, there was a DC triathlon, the Jefferson Memorial,  the back side of the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, the Capitol Building, the Botanical Garden, the Kennedy Center, Watergate, and some really pretty scenery. When all was said and done we ended up walking 7.5 miles, but it was a lot of fun! Now the rest of the weekend, or what is left, is going to be doing our homework and having a pancake dinner! 

Until next time!

Courtney