Day 80 - Back in DC

It's good to be back in DC :) Time to see a few things that I hadn't been to before, like the Museum of the American Indian, and the new Congressional Visitor's Center. It was under construction back when I was a page, and not wanting to throw away my water bottle kept me out of it the last time, but I came prepared this time! It's definitely interesting to see what they've built. It was also nice to take a Capitol tour - I'd never taken the one typically provided for tourists, it was nice to see it from another side.

I also found a bit of nostalgia in going to the Longworth House Office Building for my standard page lunch: pizza and a build your own salad. Just like I remembered it, though the slices are now square rather than wedges.

The Occupy movement also took up a bit of my time: Unlike in most cities, they have two parrallel movements happening in DC, in two separate parks. They also have slightly different motivations: one is the standard mix of economics and general discontent, the other has more of a focus on politics and social issues, a protest that began on its own then aligned it with the general 'Occupation' method of doing things. The more general site is probably the largest one I've seen outside of NYC, and definitely the most bustling (partly because I was around for their 6pm 'General Assembly'). Well organized by the look of it, too. The park service has even distributed flyers explaining how to correctly use generators should they be necessary. That evening they were on their way to protest outside of the Republican presidential candidate debates happening, and it was interesting seeing their precautions: 25 members had been selected and given identifying arm bands (marked with either a peace sign or the flag of DC), tasked as peacekeepers to calm down anyone who starts getting out of hand and giving the police cause to react. They also briefed people that they should expect to see Capitol Police and Secret Service in full tactical gear, and to remember that while there was a chance of tear gassing, they shouldn't go out of their way to provoke anything.

To top off the night, my CS host invited me to the French CS group hangout, an affair that included a hot tub, cheese fondue, a French film, playing with cats, and dancing at the end. Overall, a nice cap to the evening. Or morning. In any case, off to sleep with me now!