Friday, June 16, 2017
By:
These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, but I am coming to enjoy the fast paced life of the city. For being as large as it is, D.C. is quite charming and welcoming. I am starting to feel at home here, which can be attributed to my growing confidence in my navigation abilities. There is so much variety here including the food, the architecture and the people. The more I see here, the more I want to continue to explore.
I love throwing myself into new situations, and this already has been an excellent opportunity to do so. Last weekend was full of adventure. On Saturday I attended my first Pride Parade, and I absolutely loved it! OSA hosted a small get together before the parade, being that the parade passed right by their building, which we were kindly invited to. There was so much support for all different types of people which was wonderful to see. On Sunday some of the interns and I went kayaking on the Potomac River near Georgetown. It was extremely hot, well over 90 degrees, so getting on the water was extraordinarily refreshing. Being out on the water reminded me of canoeing with my family and of home, and the pleasant memories associated with hot summer days. Even though it wasn’t the river I am used to, the Wisconsin River, it was nice to get a little exercise and a little sun with good company.
This work week has also been extremely gratifying. I am running simulations of my filter to determine how it responds to different frequencies, and I have made a ton of progress. There are very few things that are as satisfying as finally being able to run some code that you’ve been debugging all week. I have gained a lot of momentum on my project, and it seems like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to accomplish. We also went on a dinner cruise last night with AIP and the SPS Executive Committee which was a fantastic way to relax and interact with the people who make things happen at AIP and SPS. It was the perfect way to (almost) end the work week. Needless to say, overall I am satisfyingly busy and challenged, and I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in D.C.!
Samantha Pedek