1 Day of Training, 3 Highlights

Today, just like the past three days has been absolutely fantastic :) Rather than a detailed play-by-play of everything we covered today, I'm write about my three highlights of the day, with pictures I took from each location.



#1: Ben's Chili Bowl
I've been to Ben's before, and just like their staff t-shirts say, Ben's should be another Washington monument. The picture of the bear is taken right outside of Ben's. Their history is amazing. Ben's has played a large role in the Civil Rights movement in DC, and has served a number of famous individuals. Everyone from Bill Cosby to Paula Deen to President Obama has participated in the "Ben's experience."...and now, Stephanie Laurence can officially be added to that list :) To top it off, their milkshakes are ridiculously delicious.



#2: The National Arboretum
For lunch, the whole staff ate at the National Arboretum. However, it wasn't the destination that makes the Arboretum the highlight of my day. Over lunch, each of us shared how we have gotten to where we are now. This lunch helped me to begin to slowly fall in love with our staff for the summer. Each of us comes from a very unique and different background, but it only served to make me appreciate each of my coworkers even more. The fact that we can all share the same passion for the inner city, yet come from such drastically different backgrounds only proves that God has been at work in each of us. Needless to say, this lunch was such a blessing in my day, and I'm so glad that everyone was able to make themselves more vulnerable with each other so that we can understand one another even better.



#3: A Night on the Mall
After we hit up Ben's for dinner, the staff was given free time for the night. Since we're all still feeling the excitement of being in the capital, we decided to go down to the mall for the night. One of the most amazing parts of DC is that in one night, we were able to go to the tidal basin and see the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, drive by the White House and see the Capitol Building in a distance. It's insane!! :) Aside from the sights, I loved being able to build friendships with the people I'm working with, and just enjoy our free time together. Nothing ground breaking took place during our time, but I loved being able to enjoy the small moments :)

That's all for today...it's bedtime for me now. Sweet dreams :)