My best friend since middle school is interning in D.C. for the summer, which is somewhat unfortunate because this was supposed to be our last summer living in the same state. However, it has been an incredible opportunity for her because she has made a lot of career connections and had some great experiences, and it was an awesome opportunity for me because it meant I got to take a vacation and go visit her. My 21st birthday fell during the second weekend in July, so I decided to buy myself a plane ticket to D.C. as a little birthday present. $200 later and a promise of being able to sleep on my friend's couch, I was Washington bound!
I arrived on a Thursday evening. Southwest Airlines decided to throw a wrench in my travel plans by cancelling my original flight early on the day I departed, but I ended up being able to schedule an earlier flight for no extra cost, which meant an extra four hours in D.C., so overall it was a score. I arrived to Reagan National Airport, found my bad, found my friend, and taxied back to her apartment located on the George Washington University Campus. Then, we grabbed some dinner and spent the night relaxing and catching up. It was an uneventful, but very fun first night.
The next day was Friday, my birthday! My friend had to go to class in the morning, so I spent that hour at a Starbucks in Arlington working on my law school reading. After that, we went to the grocery score and cooked a delicious birthday brunch. Then, we did the thing I was most excited about on my birthday - we went to the Supreme Court. Being the legal nerd that I am, I may have teared up a couple of times walking up the steps, sitting in the courtroom, and seeing the giant John Marshall statue. It was amazing, and incredible. Any law student would love going.
After that we went to Georgetown to Baked and Wired, an awesome coffee shop, ducked into a cat cafe while it was raining, ate some dinner, and then went on a "moonlight monument cruise". They announced that it was a "romantic" tour, which made my friend and I giggle, but it was extremely fun. We also took advantage of the bar on the boat to purchase my first legal drink, which was a fruity cocktail appropriately named "The Capitol Intern." After the cruise, we spent the last few hours of my birthday laying around and watching the 21st birthday episode of Gilmore Girls, because duh.
The next day, Saturday, we went to the Library of Congress and toured the capitol, which was the perfect level of political nerdiness for me.
We walked by the White House on the way back to my friend's apartment, where we spent the hottest part of the afternoon. At sunset, we walked around to see all of the monuments, which was absolutely incredible. All of it was really fun, but we did end up walking over 12 miles that day, so we rewarded ourselves with some ice cream, obviously.
However, the best part of Saturday was definitely between going to the Capitol and the White House, when we stopped by the IRS building. For some reason, I'm completely obsessed with the IRS and half joke/half dream about being an IRS attorney some day. I made my friend take a picture of me outside of the building, because why not. It was one of those fun, little things that made the most memories.
The whole trip was so much fun, and as a political science and history nerd, the whole trip was perfect for me! I definitely recommend it as a vacation destination for law students.
See you real soon!
- Bailey
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