Tuesday, December 23, 2008

My New Website

Hello All!
I hope you have been enjoying reading about my adventures in DC. 
I wanted to let you know that this is my last post on this blog, because I have launched my new website.

The new website will not only include my blog, but also have photo albums and other information for you to access!  If you have any trouble accessing the site please let me know since it is still under some construction!

Nicole

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

December Update (part 2):

With the Holiday season here, there have been a few events going on at Gallaudet and in the DC area, so this will be an update on those events!

December 4th was the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony near the White House.  Every year they decorate a giant Christmas tree at the Ellipse center near the White House and have a celebration the night they turn all the lights on.  On Halloween we camped out all night to get tickets to the celebration, and last week we went to the festivities. They had musical performers there, a famous Country music singer, a man who sang in the Broadway musical Grease, and a 4 year old girl who sang 2 christmas songs and was SO CUTE! Then President Bush gave a little speech and had 2 girls whose dad's are in the military push the button to light the tree.  They said that this year the tree is entirely lit with LED lights and it is the most energy efficient National Tree we have ever had.  
President Bush and Laura Bush (behind bullet proof glass)
Snipers at the edge of the crowd...how festive.
A high school choir in the background and one of the musical performers in the front
That little girl was soooo cute!!!!  And the woman performer Rissi had an AMAZING voice!
PHIL VASSER!  
A Signing Santa!
President Bush giving his speech...
The National Christmas Tree all lit up! So Pretty!
Jill, Tiffanie, and I!
Melissa and Rachel!
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That same evening we had a celebration/dessert party at one of my professor's houses. Marilyn invited all her students from this semester over to her house for a dessert party. There were at least 10 girls there, eating her yummy cookies, chatting, and enjoying ourselves!
Me and Marilyn
Some of the girls...
Tiffanie, Jill, and I
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At the end of each semester the graduate student association at Gallaudet has an End Of Year party for all of the graduate students.  They rented out a place in the city and we were the only ones there. The place was packed!  It was a great way to hang out with friends and see everyone before the madness of finals week and everyone headed home for the winter break. 
Nicar and Kate, so cute!
At the beginning of the night...
The boys!
The crowd from the top balcony
The girls!
EDU girls!
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Another holiday adventure was the Rockapella Christmas Concert. They are an acappella singing group with 5 guys.
Tiffanie, Kimberly, Jill and I went and saw them at the Strathmore Art Center. It was really fun seeing them in person. I was most baffled by the vocal percussionist, he was amazing.
We were sitting way up high, but it was still awesome!

Here is a pic of the 4 of us!
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Last on the list of Holiday photos is the day we got snow. We were studying in Panera Bread and it started to flurry.  Heather and I (both California girls) ran outside and were standing in it grinning from ear to ear. We were so excited.
Then we left Panera and drove to Target and it was coming down a little harder...enough for us to call it SNOW.  It wasn't sticking to the ground, but it was sticking to my coat and falling enough to catch it in photos. Enjoy!
The first years, experiencing our first DC snow...
The California girls in the first snow of the season!
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Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!
I am back in California now for my Christmas break!  Starting my California time in La Habra with Ashley and San Diego with my old roommates!  Then I am headed home for Christmas & New Years!!!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

A December update! (part 1)

Once, again I got busy and haven't updated this in a while...but that's life.
So I will attempt to update you all with what has been happening around here...

For the week of Thanksgiving Meagan came to see me!!! Yipee.  She was here for 8 days and we had a great time exploring the city. She had never been to DC before so we spent the week wandering around, seeing the sights, visiting museums, walking until our feet hurt. Unfortunately I was sick the first few days so we didn't get to do quite as much as I had hoped, but we really did visit most corners of the city.  The week she was here we took over 300 pictures, so I can't post them all-but I will attempt to post a bunch that will give you an idea of everything we did while she was here!  
The first day she was here we went to see the Capitol Building. Unfortunately we couldn't get very close because they are building the site of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. 
BUT: we did take some fun pictures.  And throughout the week Meagan kept feeling like the Capitol building was moving, because you can see it from almost anywhere in the city. Meg- I promise it is not moving!

That evening we also wandered into the Botanic Gardens, which are BEAUTIFUL, and ventured into China Town to see the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum...and went to Potbelly's (a great sandwich shop) for dinner (by the way, the China town in DC does not even come close to comparing to the China town in San Francisco...)
Throughout the Botanic gardens there were replicas of monuments and museums, all made out of plant materials. AWESOME!
We saw beautiful orchids in the botanic gardens, they were really hard to get a good picture of because the room was really dark...
My favorite part is the Jungle room. It is over 3 stories tall and has tons of tropical plants growing in it.  There is a catwalk that is 2nd story height that you can walk around on and see all the plants. 
Day 2 in the city we wandered around and checked out some more museums....on the walk from Union Station down to the National Mall we stopped at this big sculpture of President Taft...
And then wandered past the National Gallery of Art (we didn't go in it this day) to the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum:
cool glass pyramids outside the National Gallery of Art
This was a real NASA lunar lander, but it never went to the mood because a previous version was successful.
A moon rock!
The Ice Skating Rink in the National Sculpture gardens, which we didn't get to go on. When we went the tickets were all sold out, and the next day it rained all day!  Sad times!

The next day we wandered some more!
To see the White House!
On a tour of the monuments and memorials!  This is the reflecting pool with the Lincoln memorial in the background.
This is a view of the Washington Monument from the Jefferson Memorial.
The Roosevelt Memorial (by far my favorite!)
More of the Jefferson Memorial! And a Beautiful Tree!
The Lincoln Sculpture in the Lincoln Memorial.
Where Martin Luther King Jr. stood for his I Have A Dream speech!
To the American History Museum! This is Meagan with the real C3PO!
Crazy  LED art in the tunnel between the East and West buildings of the National Gallery of Art
Awesome Alexander Calder mobile in the National Gallery of Art
The Library of Congress, the largest library in the world! (the second biggest library in the United States is the University of California systems library!)
More Library of Congress!
A beautiful day in the city!

For Meagan's last day in the city we went to the Baltimore harbor so that we could say we saw the Atlantic ocean. Technically it was the Chesapeake bay...but whatever.
 There were these really cute paddle boats on the bay, but they were closed for the winter.
Meagan, is that the best place to put your face?
The USS Constellation!

Well that is a small taste of pictures from Meagan's trip here...I will post more updates of current events tomorrow!