What I Did With My October Break

Let's talk about my trip to D.C., shall we?

No. 

Just kidding, let's do this.

So, first things first. My trip was fantastic. Despite not partaking in much of the D.C. tourist monument-hopping, I still visited a lot of D.C. I did, in fact, stop by the White House while walking around town, but nothing more than that.

The night that I reached D.C. I traveled alone on the Metro to my friend's house in Takoma. It was very exciting and nothing bad happened. I made all the right car changes, and I reached his home safe and sound (he picked me up at the station and we walked back to his place together). When I entered Colin's house it was filled with familiar faces, which was a pleasant surprise. Both Sammy and Kevin, debaters from Bates who graduated last year, greeted me with excited smiles and hugs. Then we got comfortable again and watched the rest of the Presidential debate and then spent time with Sammy and Colin after the debate was over.

On Wednesday, I went to the zoo with Pernilla and we took more pictures of ourselves than animals (see below).After walking around for the entire day (and complaining about walking around for the 

No man, it's the PASSIVE aggressive ones you should be afraid of.

entire day if you're me. Which you're not.), Pernilla and I headed back to her home and lounged in her bed for a while, exhausted by our escapades of the day. Then at 7:30, I hopped on the Metro again and visited Colin again for the night. We watched Breaking Bad with Sammy until late in the night. 

On Thursday, Colin called in sick to work (which is the White House, remember. Because that's where he works. At the White House. Just wanted to remind you guys that I know people in high places.) and we spent the day lounging around and exploring his neighborhood, whether it be small cafes or the curbs of gas stations (because we're super hip and that's what the alternative kids do these days). But Colin actually was sick. I blame it on his diet, really. Let us take a look at the contents of his trash can, shall we?

 Despicable. Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, Colin went on living our alternative, hip lives until the next day when he left early to go to a debate tournament which I would not be going to. Yes, he still goes to tournaments. He reached semi-finals and was third best speaker and maybe second best team, I believe. I cannot quite remember.

Either way, Friday afternoon Pernilla took me to the places she loves to frequent and places that she had never explored before. Examples include the spices and tea shop, the White House, a place called ching-ching cha, J. Crew, anthropologie, Madewell, this other British store, The Pleasure Palace, the camera store where she got film developed, and this Indian restaurant we ran into and out of as it started and continued to pour rain. After dinner, we took the metro home and decided to get mad-comfy. We got into sweatshirts (she lent me one with the words "EDIT THIS!" on it, which I liked so much that she gave it to me...after some coercion) and pants/boxers/what-have-you, made creamy Earl Grey tea which I promptly fell in love with (Pernilla is a tea connoisseur and knows what to buy and how to brew it), and then ate ice cream on top of brownies while watching Game of Thrones.

As you can tell, I lived the good life while in D.C. But we are not done yet, oh no, sirs and madams. On Saturday morning I went to get breakfast with the one and only Rachael Somerville. It took us some time to find where we were going to eat, but after we did, it was glorious. If I remember correctly, I got an everything bagel and chai tea, where Rachael got a muffin and hot apple cider. 

After our pleasant breakfast, Rachael and I gallivanted down to the zoo once more, where I saw completely different animals, went to completely different areas of the park, and had a completely different experience. Except for one detail: I still complained about having to walk a lot. Gee, people must love my company (see picture below). After that, Rachael and I parted ways and I met up with 

You can tell Rachael likes spending time
 with me because when we hang out she's having
so much fun that she must immediately
call up her boyfriend to tell him how
much she is enjoying my company.

Pernilla again. Perns and I traveled through the streets of D.C. (14th street to be exact) and went into this extremely interesting store called "Pixie's" where they sold a variety of furniture and oddities. After that, we went to some famous bookstore which name I cannot recall (It wasn't a Barnes and Nobles, but that is all I can be sure of), some nice fountain, the front of a Scientology international affairs office, and a Firehook bakery (incidentally the same chain-type I went with Rachael for breakfast, but a different one) where we bought a baguette.

After that, Pernilla and I went back to her home where we feasted on baguette and brie cheese until it was time for dinner, where we feasted on delicious home-made carrot and potato soup as well as pizza made from scratch. Then, Pernilla and I made lavender (from the tea shop) cupcakes with cream cheese and honey frosting. It was one of the most fun and delicious baking experiences I have ever had (you're part of the top-baking-experiences list too, Rachael "because the cakes have to cool first", Jason "water the cookies with the watering can", and Mom "do we have to put that many chocolate chips in, Nicole?"/ "Is that how it's supposed to look?" ). It's actually amazing how many inside jokes Pernilla and I created while in D.C. (and even commented on how we were like middle-schoolers, "oh you had to BE THERE. It happened while we were in D.C., you know how it is...).  Oh, fun fact, while at Pernilla's house there was not always a
lot of food options to choose from for eating, but there were at least FIFTY sticks of butter in the fridge at any given moment.

On Sunday, I had lunch with Pernilla and her family at this restaurant called "Circa" and then her parently kindly paid for the meal and drove us to the airport. I was freaking out about missing the plane the entire lunch and trip to the airport because we arrived at the gate with only 10 minutes to spare (as opposed to the 2 hours I usually give myself "just in case"). However, everything worked out wonderfully, and we arrived in Portland right on time.

Which was actually unfortunate. Because that meant that we would be waiting for the greyhound bus to Bates College for 4 hours in a Subway Sandwich place. Let me tell you something, we may have gotten a bit hysterical. However, I had some work to do, so I finished that, AND the boy at the Subway counter gave Pernilla and I four cookies for one dollar. So, I'm pretty sure everything worked out just fine. The bus arrived, Pernilla and I got on, and then we proceeded to tell each other hilarious, embarrassing stories (me to Pernilla) and summarized all of the "The Clique" Young Adult novels in the series that I never got around to reading (Pernilla to me). It was so. so. so. glorious. It was hilarious listening to Pernilla trying to re-tell these horribly written, plot-hole filled stories which she read around three years ago. The commentary was phenomenal. She said that for my birthday she will continue the book summaries, will make a dvd of said summaries, and then give it to me as a present. I told her no, that she would buy me onesies, jars and journals for my birthday, because those are the things I am unequivocally in love with right now. But also, I would take a dvd of her speaking too.

This week I'm back in school, and I am a very busy bee. I have two papers to write by October 31st and November 1st, a debate tournament I'm going to, and Colin is coming to Bates before and after the tournament (which he is also going to), so I'm going to be entertaining him with my phenomenal company as well. I also have three jobs, and a few really tough Chinese quizzes coming up soon. And just homework on top of that. But something nice that happened in Poetry class was that the teacher decided we would go out into the quad, play in the leaves (I jumped in a pile) and then write poetry for an hour. It was a calming and fun experience. 

Okay, I just spent an hour on this post. And I really need to do work and finish my laundry.

Talk at you soon buddies,

Nicole