Over the Boardwalk

So folks, my weekends in DC have officially turned into 100% lazy fests (which is so different from my life at Madison, where I am consistently the life of every party)

[Note: I realize my sarcasm here doesn't translate if you're not first aware of the fact that I am potentially the biggest homebody college itself has ever known.]

Aside from my first weekend here, where I made a respectable (and admittedly relatively painless) attempt to be fun and social, I've succeeded at upholding my homebody status every night since. Way to not take advantage of your situation, Gabs!

But you know what, America? I'm comfortable with my propensity to remain relaxed (read: in bed), while the rest of the world goes crazy to undo the knot that the former week has tied. Some of us will simply always be more comfortable curled up in a ball watching repeat episodes of The Office and an obscene number of hours of Lord of the Rings special features DVDs, than be out on the town in some unsightly get-up that our mothers would most certainly now approve of (be proud mom, be proud).

However, my love of comfort has not left me entirely sheltered - and I have tried to see some DC sights (albeit tamer ones) during my stay here thus far.

Last night, for example, instead of participating in some wild shenanigans (like our Oktoberfest-lovin' German peers), my roommate and friend and I decided to just take a walk around downtown, and see if we could make it down to the Potomac - a destination we'd heard a little bit about.

And you know what? I'd say on the whole it was a fairly successful excursion (despite the disgustingly long bus ride I had to endure, and to the delight of my companions, complain throughout the entirety of, to get there). We found the canal and made it to the boardwalk, where there roamed billions and billions of scantily clad women and wide-eyed men, ready to use their oh-so-terribly-terrible pick up lines on whatever girl condescended to give them the time of day.

I'll have to say that not being able to go to bars does have its benefits, rare as they may be - and avoiding some of the slightly too old men interested in more than slightly too young women would definitely have to be one of them.

On a more positive note, the boardwalk was great, and my roommate was as excited as I was to find that the majority of people were sitting down to dinner at 10:00pm, something we'd come to believe only happened in Europe.

The late night atmosphere was so intoxicating and contagious - and there's nothing like a good brightly lit fountain to set the mood. The area is loaded with seafood grills, crowded bars and the occasional little pizza or gelato shop. The only downside was the lack of late-night cafes (a Starbucks exists, but seems to have closed hours earlier), another entrepreneurial venture I'm convinced would make me millions.

So walk it out, kids.

Mine in front of her husband's future residence