cherry blossoms

I was lucky enough to convince a few of the girls here to go down to DC on Saturday to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom. They were so pretty! It was such fun to walk around and enjoy them while watching everyone else walking around and enjoying them. DC is the greatest people watching place I have ever been to, outside of an airport that is. There were so many interesting people hanging out by the tidal basin, it was fun to watch and participate.

I must say, though, that I was really disappointed in some of the events. There was a cultural stage at the Jefferson Memorial and I was hoping it would mean attending a Japanese performance of some kind, but it was pop bands and stuff. Not that fun.

We spent the afternoon at the American History Museum. It was great, exploring the history of the presidency and pop culture. In these museums it becomes really obvious just how young our country really is. When I have gone to museums in Europe they have artifacts that are truly ancient, and American history is extremely young in comparison.

On Sunday I was a victim of daylight savings time. I thought my phone would automatically adjust to the time change, but I was wrong. I felt very insecure about what the time was all day! The weather was really nice out, and instead of staying inside I wandered around for a while. I haven’t had too many opportunities to do that since I have moved here, because the weather has been cold or windy. I haven’t been in the mood to wander aimlessly, but I enjoyed not having a plan and getting lost (a little).

It’s strange with me. Sometimes when I am alone, I don’t want to be alone and then being alone is not fun. But other times, like on Sunday, I like to be alone with my thoughts and not be with another person. I think that maybe spending all day on Saturday with Kirsten and Sarah did me in, and I needed some alone time.

I have wondered why I have felt so unsettled recently about being on my own. When I bummed around in India by myself I very rarely felt unhappy about it, but here all suddenly it’s like I have nothing to do because I have no one to do things with. It’s a habit I need to kick.