One of the neat things of AU is its location. As an AU student, I have DC at my fingertips. Sometimes, it is good to get a break from the grind of DC by going home or by taking a day trip. I am here in DC this summer working for the Office of Enrollment so I’ve been giving tours of campus to prospective students and their families. Check out our info session and tour schedule: http://www.american.edu/admissions/toursinfosessions.cfm. I decided that I needed a break from DC and that I needed to take a mini-vacation, so I decided on a day trip to Baltimore. Baltimore is only a short distance from AU and is accessible by many different means: train, bus, etc.
One of my friends Rachel, an AU senior history major, lives in the Baltimore area. Rachel is also one of the co-coordinators of the AU Ambassadors program for the 2011-12 year. I made plans to meet up with her and have her show me around. I woke up early on Saturday and began my journey to Baltimore. I met up with Rachel and we headed to the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore. We decided to make the National Aquarium our first stop. We saw dolphins, sharks, sea turtles, jellyfish, and all other kinds of fish. I took some pictures to share. I apologize in advance, if the image quality is poor. I had to use my cellphone because I forgot my digital camera. I literally got it out and set it next to my bag so that I would remember to take it with me and then I forgot it. So sad. =( Here are a couple of pictures from the Aquarium:
Aquarium diver swimming in the tank
Green Sea Turtle
Pretty neat looking jellys
After we left the Aquarium, we had lunch in Little Italy and then we made our way back to Inner Harbor. This time in Inner Harbor, we stumbled across several street performances. The performances were going on all-day followed by a concert by a group that plays “Yacht Rock.” Here are a couple of images:
Guy from NYC doing an interactive break-dancing performance
A magician taking off a strait-jacket while balancing on a ball
A crowd has gathered for the "Yacht Rock" music
After listening to the music for a while, I had to head back to DC. It was the end of a great day in Baltimore! I will have to go back sometime. We stopped at a store before I headed back to DC because I wanted to get a bottled drink (it was hot and I was thirsty). Look at what we found in the store:
haha. I didn't know these even existed anymore. I was surprised to see them on the shelf.
Over all, I had a wonderful trip to Baltimore and it was definitely a good way to get out of DC for a day. So when you are an AU student and you want to get out of DC for the day, you now know you can always head to Baltimore and have a great time.
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. See ya,
Nathan
