Fun in D.C.

            I attend Siena Heights University, a small school located in a small town.  Most students at Siena would describe its location as being “in the middle of nowhere.”  With just a movie theater, a tiny shopping mall, and an ice cream shop, weekends in Adrian, Michigan, can become very repetitive.  Needless to say, Washington D.C. is quite the opposite, and my list of monuments I’d like to see and museums I’d like to visit keeps growing.

            Since I’ve been in Washington D.C., I’ve been to Ford’s Theater and the Peterson House, where President Abraham Lincoln spent his last moments alive.  One of the other interns and I also checked out the National Museum of Crime and Punishment.  As a third-year criminal justice major and pre-law student, I found the museum to be informative and interesting.  The filming studios for America’s Most Wanted, a simulated shooting range, a collection of props from the movie Scarface, and a crime lab are a few examples of exhibits that fill the museum’s three floors.  Upon arriving at the crime lab, we were assigned a murder case that needed to be solved.  Dusting for fingerprints, analyzing DNA samples and blood splatter patterns, and comparing fibers under a microscope, we were Washington D.C.’s newest crime scene investigators.  Although we were new to the job, we carefully examined and the evidence and found the correct suspect.  I felt as if we were on one of those crime television shows, especially since we only had less than an hour to solve the case.  What a way to end the weekend!

            Overall, my first week in D.C. has been amazing.  I’ve met an incredibly talented group of interns, the future leaders of the disability community.  I look forward to learning more about them and having 28 new friends by the end of the summer!