My roommate Sierra Sloan is one of the most fascinating people you will ever meet. She can read 600 page books in a matter of hours (literally), she knows how to make gun ammunition, she doesn’t own a hairbrush (she has a head full of gorgeous and tight curls), she lives in the Avenues of Salt Lake City, she has accompanied on the piano at least a dozen shows ranging from Ragtime to Peter Pan, she is a business major, and she has traveled to Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Nicaragua, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and China--all before the age of 21.

Sierra is an intern this semester at the Spanish Embassy where she is already an asset. Every year, the embassies of the European Union hold an EU Culture Night. Tickets are $25 a person and everyone comes dressed in frills and bow ties ready to try the delicacies and drinks of our continental neighbors. Sierra invited me and another friend Emily to help out with the Spanish booth. We became quite the experts at serving wine. We also got to experience the delicious foods from the other booths. It was interesting to see such a rich conglomeration of cultures come together to celebrate what makes each unique and what makes all unified. I felt like such a city girl after as I caught a cab on the way home, all at the expense of the Embassy. I think after being treated so well, my altruistic self might just display itself more often in this city.

A Rising Sun

A generous donor provided a trip to Philadelphia for all of the BYU Barlow Center interns on September 10-11. We stayed the night at an army barrack at Valley Forge where we got a visit by General Washington himself. The next day in Philadelphia, we saw the crack in the Liberty Bell, got a tour by John Adams of Independence Hall, read Benjamin Franklin’s epitaph, learned about Betsy Ross…oh, and ate a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. Apparently, Cheese Whiz is the favorite condiment of the locals. Who knew?

I was really affected by this trip to Philadelphia. It was incredibly inspiring to see the halls where a divine hand met prepared minds to form the American constitution. I love the comment that Benjamin Franklin made as he bent to sign the Constitution. He said that he had been observing the sun carved into the back of George Washington’s chair during the proceedings of the Convention. He remarked that painters often find it difficult to distinguish between a rising and a setting sun in their work. He had wondered to himself amid the debate of the Convention if a sun was rising or setting on their newly formed nation. He said, “now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun." I believe that it is still rising.

I am including here the epitaph that Benjamin Franklin wrote in his mid-twenties. Although he never intended to put it on his grave, it hangs next to his headstone in Philadelphia.

The Body of
B. Franklin
Printer;
Like the Cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out,
And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be whlly lost:
For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and Amended
By the Author.

Singing in the Rain

One of my first weekends in D.C., my sister Tiffani, her roommate Rachel and I bundled up and headed to the National Mall for an outdoor concert put on by the National Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert was held on the west lawn of the Capitol Building and we met up with Naomi Slade and a bunch of her buddies. It started off as a magnificent show, but it was quickly dampened by a nasty rainstorm. Of course only those that truly appreciate the arts stood through the rain to hear the masterpiece of sound, but our enthusiasm only lasted until intermission.

Monday Night at a Bookstore Window

I am sitting at a café with my laptop and the smell of coffee wafting around me. I am on the second floor so I am looking down at a busy M Street on a early Georgetown evening. Today was a federal holiday so I think some of the people I see must be going to restaurants in this classy district to live up the last of their three-day weekend. Despite the cliché of a laptop in a coffee shop in the middle of a busy city, I am here with a homemade sandwich wearing jeans and pink shoes. I pretend to be such a city girl, but deep down, I’m always Amy.

Since moving here in August, I have grown so much. Most of that growth has been brought on by an abundance of new sights and ideas. These have helped me establish even further what I know to be important along with look again at what I have always thought to be fact. It’s great. Here is a quick summary of some of the adventures that I have been able to experience here...

Welcome to DC!

I am living in DC! This has been a dream for years: to live in a busy metropolis where I skip to the metro every day with a novel in hand, dressed in a pencil skirt and bound for my chic downtown office. Well, I’m living my dream! My little DC life has been even better than I’d hoped--except for one thing. I never thought that this dream come true would come right smack dab in the middle of another dream come true…and his name is Luke.

Luke and I have been dating since May when we discovered that a 9 month friendship was in fact more than a friendship. We had an amazing summer together. We rode bikes, cooked meals, started our own book club, hiked, invented new s’mores recipes, met each other’s families, and took a road trip to Seattle. Basically, we fell in love. (Sighs). Before we knew it, the end of August came, and I was suddenly on my way to DC.



Even though it has not been ideal to be apart, we are working hard to continue to date. We have a weekly date online (they get creative. So far we have done online scrabble, a webpage scavenger hunt, and a youtube movie night), write emails, and talk all the time. Luke is so busy with school, but he is so good at making me feel like I am an important part of his day.