Inauguration Day Adventure

My friend, Ali, and I braved the crowds and went into Washington DC on Inauguration day. We had hoped Sean could go, but because he's medical military personnel, Sean ended up having to be on-call for the National Naval Medical Center an had to report to duty and remain on base all day. We missed him, but talked to him at several points throughout our trek and got his take on things as he watched it all online. It was quite a day!

Click on the button at the bottom of the slideshow that says View All Images to view the pictures one at a time, in a larger format.

Starting at the far north end of the metro's red line, and ending near the heart of Washington, we emerged from the metro at street-level and into the crowd near Capitol Hill. We somehow managed to get closer than we had hoped, and were able to get some great pictures of the Capitol before moving along on our journey.

We made a valiant attempt to enter at a parade route entry point near the National Mall, but ended up stuck in a massive crowd that had gathered after the checkpoint was closed. So, we changed our plan of action and decided to take the metro north, only to find out that the parade route had become filled to capacity at all locations and they had stopped admitting people onto Pennsylvania Ave.

Any disappointment we might have felt over this was soon erased, however, as we stood near a security checkpoint with a crowd of people listening to the Inaugural Address over loudspeakers. The crowd around us was attentive and interactive as Obama spoke. It was very cool!

Then we headed to a nearby Italian restaurant and bar to warm up and celebrate. At the bar, we saw the rest of the ceremony on their TV and participated with the other patrons at the restaurant by standing for the Star Spangled banner and having some lively discussion about the events of the day.

We decided to return home to watch the parade, and on our way to the metro, we discovered a group of people carrying on the message of change that is much-needed in our country and our future. All in all, it was a pretty awesome experience and a great time of interaction with a diverse range of people! Wow! What an amazing time to be living near DC!

Sight-Seeing and Fun

We had a lot of fun during Sean's 3 week Christmas break from his masters program. We were able to do more sight-seeing in our area, as well as just hang-out and relax together. Here are a handful of pictures from our time together between semesters.

Click on the button at the bottom of the slideshow that says View All Images to view the pictures one at a time, in a larger format.

Final Semester

Well, we've made it to Sean's last semester of classes! They start up again on Monday, January 5. His Spring semester finals will take place the last week in April, followed by two weeks in which he and his research group will complete their project and defend their findings to a panel of medical professionals. Sean's clinicals begin on June 8, so it looks like we'll have about 3 weeks to get packed, moved and settled in Las Vegas.

Sean's Spring schedule of classes is (of course) a busy one. On most mornings, his classes begin around 7:30. He has found that traffic is easier to deal with and parking is easier to find the earlier he goes in, so he'll probably continue to go in to school around 6:00am to study or work-out during the time before classes start. He'll probably remain at school, either in class, lab or study sessions until either 1:00 or 4:00 each afternoon.

Sean's classes consist of the following:
Anesthesia Lecture, Anesthesia Simulation Lab, Medical Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Policy and Ethics, Research and Statistics, and Research Lab. He will also have a few military Operational Readiness lectures.

I will continue volunteering at the National Naval Medical Center throughout Sean's final semester here, as well as taking care of all things "home related", and will also begin looking for a place for us in Las Vegas.

Sean's Spring Break is the last week in March, although he will spend the majority of that time working on his research project. An Air Force friend of ours who will be starting classes in the CRNA program in June will be coming to visit us during this time, and I will get to show her around the area and help her do some house-hunting while Sean helps her get familiarized with university stuff. I may also need to take a trip to Las Vegas around this time to do some house-hunting of my own.

So, we're back to the busy school schedule and stress. And although it's sort of daunting, we also know it's just one more semester and we can make it through. I can't believe how fast the time has flown! I'll continue to post updates as Sean's final semester progresses.