I was fortunate enough last week to go on a work trip to Washington, DC for Coalition for National Science Foundation to raise awareness of projects funded by NSF. While it was a very short trip (I was only there for about 36 hours), I had a great time. While I have a lot less travel anxiety after making my way through Europe, I was still a bit anxious about driving myself to the Lansing Airport (and flying out of an airport I've never been to) and having to take a Taxi from the airport to the hotel in DC, I managed all of that without any issues.
Since we didn't book a hotel til about 10 days before we needed it, we ended up staying in a very nice hotel in the Georgetown area. The hotel was so nice that I felt very, very out of place on our Gold Club floor (my boss booked the rooms and is a member of the Gold Club).
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| The bathroom at the hotel, complete with slippers and a bathrobe |
On Wednesday, we arranged for a driver (again, it was a very nice hotel) to take us from the hotel to the MSU office in DC and met with one of the MSU relation directors who showed us around for the day. We had 5 meetings with two UofM professors who also had NSF grants.
Our first meeting was in the senate office buildings and we got a staffer from Senator Stabenow's office to take us on the tram in the tunnel that connects the senate building to the Capitol Building. He then took us through the first floor of the Capitol and then back to the tunnels to get to the various house office buildings. It was really cool to be in the tunnels connecting the buildings and I was glad we got to go through the Capitol, however briefly.
I didn't know the schedule ahead of time, which was fine, until I had 2 hours of free time in the middle of the day and the only shoes I had were my pumps. (But the other shoes I had at the hotel were flats which I won't have been able to wear without ruining my suit.) My boss had a few more meetings so I decided I would walk the National Mall for a bit. We were right by the Capitol and the MSU relations office was close to the capitol so I figured why not; what was the worst that could happen?
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| Suited Selfie in front of the Capitol |
It had been 5 years since I had last been to DC and I forgot how far everything was away from each other. I walked from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, in light rain for part of the way, wearing a suit and pumps. My feet were killing me by the end and I think I had about 10 blisters at one point (and busted the heel on one of my pumps) but I couldn't just sit around while I was in DC! Walking around in a suit apparently gives you an aura that you know what you are doing. Lots of people moved out of my way and two guys asked me for directions to one of the Smithsonians; I had just walked passed it so I was able to tell them where to go.
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| I walked over a mile to get this picture- then walked all the way back |
That evening we had a poster session where legislators, staff, NSF people, etc. came and talked to the various organizations presenting. My boss was, for lack of a better phrase, showing me off to anyone that came over as an undergrad that had been doing research for 3 years. NSF has a push for undergrad research which is one of the reasons why I got to go on the trip in the first place.
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| At the poster reception |
After a very long day we took a cab back to the hotel and were passed by the Vice President's motorcade. The next morning I decided to split a cab with my boss on the way to the airport even though she had to be there an hour before me. It gave me time to read and the opportunity to see a plane full of Korean War Veterans and their families arriving at the airport to a standing ovation (that lasted for over 10 minutes because it took a long time to get everyone off the plane). I also finally finished Feast for Crows which I started on my way to Europe over 10 months ago. Apparently I need to travel more because that's when I do the most reading.
This trip was a nice start to my summer. I hope to have many more adventures (maybe with more appropriate footwear).
