Last week was somewhat slower than recent weeks. I did, however, get a chance to visit the Library of Congress for the first time so that I could access their database for my research paper for USD. The main reading room was one of the most beautiful rooms that I had ever seen. Part of my fascination with the LoC was just because I was not expecting the building and rooms to be more than just a plain, functional building. It was very difficult to get any work done in that room for the first 15 minutes just because I was in amazement by how beautiful the building looked. I loved it so much I took a picture of it with my cell phone and immediately uploaded it onto my Facebook, which is something I don’t normally do.
When I look up at my study area this is what I see inside the Main Reading Room at the Library of Congress. So beautiful!
This past week, I visited Georgetown for the first time. I had always heard about how beautiful Georgetown was to walk around, but I never had the chance to see it in person. For those that ever come visit Washington, DC, it’s a great place to just hang out, or perhaps to take your significant other out for a romantic evening on the town.
This apple turnover that I had at Georgetown was so delicious that I had to put this up. Once spring comes around, I'll have more pictures up of Georgetown once the photo ops present themselves.
Although last week was somewhat slow, this week has started off pretty strong. Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a talk at the Cosmos Club on the implications of American national security strategy reform under the Obama administration with the Honorable Kathleen Hicks, who is the current Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Forces. Among the people who attended were high ranking officials from the UK to Japan to Algeria to Israel. What I enjoyed most about this discussion was that it was not a diplomatic discussion in which officials would just exchange pleasantries and get around the topic questions without ever saying anything substantive. The moderator for the discussion made it absolutely clear that he expected everyone to NOT be politically correct so that they can feel comfortable to say whatever is on their minds. This rule in these formal discussions is commonly referred to as the Chatham House Rule. This is one of many of these discussions that I’ve been to since my time here in DC, and to be perfectly honest, not as many people spoke up they did at some of the others that I’ve attended. In all fairness, though, the setting and environment was very formal, and I know that if I were one of the participants in this discussion, I would feel less inclined to just spout off on whatever crosses my mind about the topic.
The outside of the exclusive Cosmos Club
Hope everyone is doing well, and I look forward to sharing more of my experiences with you next week. Until then, take care and hope you enjoy the rest of your week. Peace!
That apple turnover looks really delicious. May be when you get a chance Cameron, you could do some investigation and report on chelo kababs in the DC area!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Alireza