Welcome to the Nation's Capital!

Yesterday I arrived in DC thanks to my very generous aunt and uncle who drove me down from Pennsylvania. I was up in PA for my cousin Aven's wedding (Congratulations Aven!) and spent a few days just relaxing with family and eating way too many cookies (Aven's aunt brought homemade almond butter cookies and they were delish!), pieces of cake and scoops of ice cream. I think I'll be entirely sugared out for weeks!

My first afternoon in DC was quite the adventure. After getting my keys, I did an initial shopping trip, unpacked, said goodbye to my aunt and uncle and proceeded to cook myself a sesame ginger chicken and mushrooms dinner, which was delicious at the time. I spent the evening watching TV and relaxing after being exhausted from traveling and planned to go to bed early only to witness the power go out in the entire apartment. New to the apartment, I had no idea where to find a flashlight, if the tenants even left one, so I'm walking around with my iPhone as light searching for matches to light the few candles in the bathroom. After a few minutes without the power turning back on, I start to get a little freaked out hanging out alone in this pitch black apartment, so I use my iPhone to call the office and they tell me the power is out on the entire block! I tried to fall asleep, but without AC it's awful tough to get comfortable. The power finally came back on at 2am, at which point I nodded off only to be woken up by the loudest thunderstorm I've ever heard at 6am. To make things worse, my chicken and mushroom dinner turned out to be poison to my stomach and I have felt sick all day with a churning stomach ache. What a welcome!

In more positive news, I did go exploring a bit today and found my office for work, wandered through Franklin Square and went to Columbia Heights to Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target. I experimented with the Metro and discovered the two stops within walking distance of my apartment. And the apartment is beautiful! The furniture is simple -- just my taste -- and the place is stocked with practically everything I will need for the summer (minus a flashlight). I definitely think I got a good deal with the sublet as it's also in a great area and is super secure (you need a card to get in the building and one to get the elevator to take you to the floor you live on). I was hoping to get back in the gym today (there is one in the building), but thought it might be a better idea to take it easy considering my stomach ache. Hopefully I can start working out again mid-week.

The living/dining room and view of the balcony from the front door.

The view of the living/dining room area from the balcony.

The bathroom...

The kitchen...

And the bedroom!

Tomorrow is my first day of work at GFC, so I'll be sure to blog and let everyone know how that goes. And then hopefully I'll get a chance to start exploring all of the touristy stuff this week and weekend!