Week 6: July 4th in DC

Share This:

Monday, July 8, 2019

By:

Jacqueline Blaum

Last week, work was filled with phone interviews, emails, and profile writing as usual, but the four-day weekend due to the Fourth of July left ample time for adventures. Luckily, my phone just barely survived a battle with a surprise thunderstorm during my run Tuesday night, so I didn’t have to survive the holiday festivities without my handy communication device.

On the Fourth, the interns gathered for an indoor “cook-out” lunch and later attended A Capitol Fourth, a concert featuring various artists and beautiful fireworks. Thanks to AIP Mather Policy Intern Gia’s access, we were able to watch the festivities from the steps of the Capitol building. Unfortunately, bad weather caused an evacuation of the area in the early evening, and when we returned, smoke hid most of the fireworks display. However, the concert and company of the other interns made the experience well worth the trouble.

Friday night, my family arrived to visit and celebrate my dad’s birthday. We ate a fantastic brunch, explored Georgetown, visited the International Spy Museum and the National Museum of Natural History, and enjoyed a night of live music at a local restaurant and bar. We escaped a room at Escape Room Arlington and had so much fun that we went back and managed to escape another room after eating dinner next door. We also made it to karaoke at Tonic at Quigley’s, and I finally tried their dessert that involves an interesting combination of apples, ice cream, and tater tots. I was not disappointed!

I’m looking forward to spending one more night with my family and then moving on to the rest of the planned activities for the week. The interns are touring both Capitol Hill and NASA Goddard in the next few days, and we have a picnic scheduled for Thursday evening (which unfortunately means that Meg and I will have to miss another Ashtanga Yoga class). At work, I am excited to continue contacting physicists about being featured in my playing cards and to conduct more interviews, and soon I’ll start thinking about what I would like to share in my final presentation. I’ll definitely be staying busy!

Jacqueline Blaum