a new time zone, again

I barely barely made my flight from SLC. (and many apologies to sienna and tony and austin for making them get up at the (butt) crack of dawn to take me to the airport.) I finally got checked in about a half hour before the flight was to leave and the security line stretched across the entire terminal...so I said a quick prayer that I would make it through the security line in less than 20 minutes, and it miraculously happened. I tried to run dramatically to my gate, but I was wearing my flats that are stretched out at the back so they come off when I run, so instead I tried to speed walk (olympic style) and got to the gate right as they were closing the doors. Phew. And then I got stuck in an intense blizzard in my layover in Denver for 6 hours. On the plane, steering frozen, mechanical check, thorough de-icing, free tv, the only thing on = trashy Vh1 show called "Tough Love" (you probably haven't seen it), back to the gate, waiting, off the plane, back on the plane, etc. It was a good time. 

So now I'm in DC. I've wandered around, prete

nding to be professional in my suit. Sienna helped me shop for hours on end to find appropriate attire. We were about ready to die after shopping one day. We decided that we hated shopping, but recognized that we liked getting (and sometimes need) new things, so we continued. 

Nothing much has happened yet. I started work yesterday. It's fun. The city's nice, as usual. The only city I've lived in is Madrid, where you can do anything if you're over 18...so I was good to go. But here -- well, the kids in the program wanted to go dancing, so we went out and it was good except they put ugly big X's in permanent ink on my hands for being under 21. I had to scrub for days for it to come off.  It's nice to be back in the US.  

We went to Gettysburg on Friday, and I was going to put some pics up, but they were all ugly. I still put up one, just for proof. So here's a photo of my friends and I before I left Stanford, dressed up like old ladies for this themed dinner we had at my apartment complex, and then this tree that was outside my window. It pretty much kept me going throughout the winter cause it was the only thing that didn't die.