Sightseeing- Party of One

"You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself." — Alan Alda

Bundled for the 20 degree weather!

       So I've slowly come to the realization that this will be the trip of selfsies. I'm not kidding.
      This past week I've done so much sightseeing and became a lot more comfortable with the area. I would say the biggest adjustment has been doing all the sightseeing on my own. While groups of friends are walking by the Capitol taking fun pictures of each other.... there's Nicole taking a selfy with the Capitol in the background. Then I get through security and up to the visitor's entrance and the women goes, "How many passes do you need? Two?" ..... nope...just 1. And everyone from the tour group files into the the big theater for the movie at the beginning of our tour, and I look around...yup...only party of 1, here!

The Falls

      The freedom has been really nice, though. I was bored one afternoon this week, so I decided to drive to Great Falls National Park in Virginia for a few hours. It was FREEZING outside, so I bundled up in all my layers and brought my camera along. I had a great talk with the old park ranger about all the best places to visit in DC and about the history of the falls.  Since it was so freezing I didn't get to explore too far, but I can't wait to go back once it gets nicer outside. The roads on the way there would be beautiful in the Spring. So many trees and hills! Here's a few pictures from the Falls:

Along one of the hiking trails in the park

Downtown 

     On Wednesday of this week I rode the metro downtown and did the basic sightseeing. I explored Union Station first, which is the metro stop that I will be riding into everyday. It's GORGEOUS. All the buildings in DC are so grand and beautiful. Inside Union Stations there's basically an entire mall- Express, Victoria's Secret, Jamba Juice, and so much more. 

Union Station

   Union Station is only a few blocks away from the Capitol building, so I made my way towards the heart of DC. At first I was so taken aback by the security guards. I of course knew there would be high security all around the Capitol, but these guards stood with their HUGE guns out in their hands on every corner of the building. After going through airport-like security I was able to go in a tour the Capitol. It was awesome to go inside and walk through the places Obama was just walking through for the inauguration. After the Capitol, I made my way over the one of the buildings in the Library of Congress to look around for a bit. The insides of all the buildings were so nice. 

US Capitol

     Then, I made a quick stop in the Botanic Gardens before ending the day in the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, which was AWESOME. James would be in heaven if he went there!! I got to see the Wright Brother's first plane and learn more about their background. I definitely have plans to go back there because there was so much to see. 

     My internship starts on Monday, so I'm so ready to get started and have a set schedule. This has been the longest academic break of my life, and I'm ready to get back to being productive! I found out 3 other Mizzou students are interning at CNN this semester, so at least I'll recognize a few faces! So far I know I have orientation all day on Monday, then my boss signed me up for special training courses all day Tuesday. I'll definitely post about my first week on the job :) 

Rotunda of the Capitol

Ceiling in the Rotunda

Botanic Garden in DC- "The Jungle"

They have mini replicas of the major Washington buildings at the garden

Wright Brother's first plane

 And yes, I spared you all the many selfsies I took in front of all these places. 

Unexpected Adventures

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."

                                                                                       — Jawaharial Nehru

2012 was the year I completely opened my eyes to adventure. Now that we've brought in the new year, I've been able to think back and reflect on what this past year meant to me and everything I've learned. I've definitely grown up a lot, and that's started me on my journey to the person I want to become. Whether it's been flying to new places to explore them or the lessons I've learned in my journalism classes at school, I can feel myself going down the path that I want to be on.

One of my highlights of 2012 was traveling to Denver, Colorado for a weekend with my boyfriend, James. James has just as much passion for adventure as myself, and we feed off each other's creative energy when it comes to photography and filming. I viewed it much more as an adventure with my best friend rather than a vacation with my boyfriend. Before we left, we both agreed to document our trip using only our new iPhone 5s. Once we realized we both had very different visions of the final project, we decided to both make our own. It's great to be able to bounce ideas off of each other for cool shots and share your ideas with someone who has a great visual eye. The weekend was completely spontaneous. We booked the plane tickets a month or so in advanced, but that was the extent of the planning. We made a brief outline of public transportation and some things we wanted to see before we got there, but it truly was an adventure. We decided at the last minute to rent a car and head to the mountains for our last day there, and I'm so happy we did. I've said it a million times, but if you never take the time to go out and explore and experience, you'll never know what you're missing. Driving through the mountains was beyond beautiful and something I would have never seen if we hadn't made that last minute decision. There's so many different adventures to go on in life, and my biggest fear is I won't have time to see them all!


Denver, Colorado from Nicole Krasavage on Vimeo.

2013 is going to be another huge growing year for me of new experiences. In a little over two weeks, I'm moving to Washington D.C. to be the Investigative Intern for CNN for the entire semester. This internship is truly a dream come true, and I'm ready to give it my all to soak up all the knowledge I can while I'm there. It's hard to believe that after this semester, I'll just have senior year before I'm out on my first job. I'm running out of credits to take the classes I want and time to experience the adventures I want to have before I graduate Mizzou. My goal for 2013 are the make the most of every situation I am put in. I'm so excited to get out to D.C. and give this internship 110%! I'll definitely be blogging more and sharing my experiences, so make sure you check back! Happy New Year, everyone :)