1 week

So I figured out how to upload pictures onto my macbook. I figure it'll be a whole lot easier to explain my week through pictures anyways:

Monday - Arrival

Got greeted by the Obama and Michelle at the airport.

The new pad aka my room in the WHITE HOUSE

603

Prom Picture

Classy Ladies

A couple stores down, the lit sign said "the REAL original Jumbo Slice"... They were lying

BEST. SANDWICHES. EVER.

DC is pretty amazing. The city culture. The life of each district. The pace of life people go by. Outside of all the tourist traps and monuments, you still have a city that holds it own in appeal and attraction. I'm learning a lot from being out here and just observing. I've found a lot of nice spots that are perfect from just chilling out, which I'll share in my next few entries. Places that will allow me to meditate, breathe and just write are pretty essential to my current situations. As busy and hectic as life is during the work week, these new spots have allowed me to just reflect and break down the pieces of my thoughts.

Quick V-Log

I always look like I'm gonna sneeze in the freeze frames

Anticipating

So I’ve always wanted to start a blog, but never really found a reason to… until now! In less that 24 hrs, I’ll be on a plane heading to my new home for 10 weeks: Washington DC. I was accepted into the UCDC program this fall and have been preparing for this for the past two quarters. I applied to over 20 internships between January and May; writing and revising a bunch of cover letters and essays, until I got accepted at a site I wanted. It was a pretty crazy process, and in less than 24 hours, my adventures in DC will begin to unfold.

I’ll try to update this blog as much as I can, especially because I want to go back through all my entries later on and see how much I’ve progressed. Hopefully it will be better than when I went through all my old xanga entries in high school. Man, those were really embarrassing times.

I’ve been really excited to leave for DC for quite some time now. I haven’t lived on the east coast before and I felt like I needed to step out of my comfort zone, which has become my little UCI bubble. Everyday I seemed to just count down the days and the excitement kept rising… that is, until a couple of days ago. The realization of me leaving began to hit me and thus the nervous thoughts followed quite quickly.

In my educ 173 class, we learned about two different types of anxiety: debilitating and facilitating. Debilitating anxiety is the one that gets you really nervous and causes you to limit yourself and not try out new things. Facilitating anxiety makes you nervous as well, but instead, the shaky feelings do not hinder your performance and can actually help you be more successful in your endeavors.

I’m really hoping all the nervousness I’m feeling right now is the latter. I am really anxious about moving across the country and being away from Kevin, my family, friends, etc. Not seeing familiar faces and places will be something new, but I'm up for the challenge. I want to enjoy this experience to its fullest, so I thank everyone for being so supportive and encouraging. It's a big step in my life right now, so it's great knowing my support back here on the west (best) side! I’ll definitely be writing and updating each of you when I start on those postcards.

I don’t have too much to say yet, since I’m still at home packing. I’ll blog more once I arrive safely and get settled in. Until then, take it easy!

- Ken