What an incredible couple months it has been! In October, some fellow ISH residents and I had the opportunity to explore the White House and the gorgeous architecture of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (commonly referred to as the EOB). When many people think of the White House, they do not think about the beauty of the EOB that is adjacent to the property the White House is on. However, it is within the halls of the EOB that one can feel the amount of history that has gone throughout the building as time has gone on.

The EOB houses the Secretary of War suite that was used by Henry Stimson during World War II. As I stood in this suite and observed the beautiful architecture held within the walls of the room, I wondered what it must have been like to have stood in this room during days such as the day Pearl Harbor was bombed or the invasion of Normandy. Following my time in the Secretary of War suite, I was able to visit the Indian Treaty Room which housed the first presidential press conference in 1955 when President Eisenhower was in office.

It is still a mystery as to why the room was named the “Indian Treaty Room” as no major treaties were signed in this space. One theory is that the room received this name because the war department used to house many documents in this room including treaties, however, that has yet to be confirmed. The final stop on our tour of the EOB was the Vice President’s Ceremonial Office which houses the desk used by President Theodore Roosevelt during his time as president. This desk houses one of the most exciting and well-kept secrets in the EOB. It is tradition on the vice president’s last day in office for them to sign their name into the desk. When opening the drawer to the desk you will see signatures of various vice presidents and presidents. Some of the individuals who have signed their name into the drawer include Vice Presidents Cheney, Gore, Quayle, Mondale, and Rockefeller; and Presidents Truman and Eisenhower.

I very much enjoyed my time touring the White House and I hope that I am able to return in the future to explore other areas of the property that I was unable to see this time around!

In the middle of November some fellow residents at ISH and I decided that we wanted to make another trip up to New York City to continue our search for excellent pizza while exploring the amazing art housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exploring this incredible art museum was by far one of my most memorable New York City experiences! Inside there is a gallery which houses a reconstructed Egyptian temple where you can find ancient hieroglyphics dating back to 3000 B.C.

In front of the Met

Other famous works housed in this museum include the famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River (the painting is ginormous) and beautiful works by two of my favorite artists, those being Claude Monet and Winslow Homer. Following our time exploring the beautiful works of art housed in The Met we decided to head over to Joe’s Pizza located in Greenwich Village for a slice of their world-famous pizza. Joe’s was established in 1975 and has been serving up incredible slices of pizza to crowds of people which stand outside for sometimes up to an hour to get a slice. Beware there are several shops that have opened which have tried to brand themselves as the original Joe’s Pizza (the owners of the original Joe’s will tell you all the time they’re suing them). So long story short – if you want to try the original, authentic, Joe’s Pizza you must go to the one in Greenwich village. Needless to say, it was incredible and some of the best I have had to date.  

Pizza at the original Joe’s Pizza in Greenwich Village

Hummus Cauliflower Salad at Kubeh’s in Greenwich Village

Following the completion of our pizza eating conquest, we decided to go shopping near Columbus Circle where there are several boutiques that would take days to go through if visiting them all. Following this shopping trip, we decided to dine at a lovely middle eastern restaurant called Kubeh in Greenwich Village. I ordered the cauliflower and hummus salad and it was absolutely incredible!

I look forward to keeping you updated on my travels with residents in the future and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Washington Nationals won the World Series. In case this means nothing to you- it’s baseball, and it’s a big thing, and it’s all anyone has talked to me about for a fortnight. Sports are great for bringing people together, and if you’re a sports fan, ISH apparently has a football team [soccer], and people are always playing tennis, basketball, and other sports. But what if, like me, you have no hand-eye coordination whatsoever, and just have no interest in sports at all? This is where music comes in.

This came about when I was wondering what to write about for this month’s blog (because, really, besides the museum visits, random weeknight Target runs for Halloween costumes, weekly movie nights, sporadic dinner conversations, GLAD Dinner, etc., what else is there really?). When I voiced this at dinner one night, my friend Sibel pointed out: “Oh, you should write about the music group!”

The Author’s first “music group” experience at ISH! With fellow residents Anna and Filip.

Actually, music at ISH is nothing new. There has already been another blog post by a previous resident detailing the many musical opportunities provided by ISH. (Take a look at “This house is full of music!” by Dorothée Stieber- although I would note that of the two guitars only one remains). But I suppose this is why writing about this is a good idea – because, like sports, music is a mainstay and has become almost a tradition at ISH. In fact, at some point over the summer, my friend Neil, a really gifted pianist, actually unearthed an old program from a music recital that some residents had put on years ago. He put it in one of the plastic stands and displayed it on top of the grand piano. It remains actual, physical evidence of this longstanding tradition.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that probably about 65% of the friends I make at ISH I made because of playing music. All the way back in January when I was a mere newbie, I can recall sitting in the hall tinkering with the strings on the guitar when someone asked me what I was doing. That someone was Filip, and he became key to my first introduction to music in the house. Somewhere in the course of our almost nightly jam sessions Anna joined in, with her perfect voice and harmonies. We also met Taka, who was basically a concert pianist, and Yukiko, who could play almost any song on the piano after having just heard it. Like sports, you don’t need to really know someone to join in, and so many residents have drifted in and out of all kinds of jam sessions- musical theatre, improvised lyrics, weepy ballad nights and song battles.

Music continues to bring residents together. This fall, ingenious residents in ISH actually started a WhatsApp group for “ISH Music Performers”! I unfortunately missed the inaugural meeting. But from the growing shared Spotify list that was shared on the group afterwards, it looks like it was a fruitful one. I’ve also joined in one or two impromptu sessions this season, and they’ve all been amazing. Maybe there will once again be a music recital at ISH in the future?

Just like sports, music brings with it a real camaraderie that really transcends cultures. Because you don’t really need to know a song to play the chords in it, and you can always learn. The variations in residents’ music taste has also been enlightening for me. I can proudly say that my initial repertoire of largely Taylor Swift songs has now grown to encompass a much wider variety of interesting and eclectic artistes (Radiohead, Elliot Smith, H.E.R, Amy Winehouse, Daniel Caesar- and those are all still on the mainstream side).

When the initial call for people to join the new music group came out, one of the most common responses was: “I play ____. But I didn’t bring my instrument.” So to all the prospective ISH residents who are music lovers our there, please bring your instruments when you move in!

Dupont Circle to me, is slipping and tripping in deep snow as we picked our way to the nearby Subway for lunch on a day when the cold winter had shut down the entire city. Sometimes when we were feeling more indulgent: braving the cold for a brownie from Firehook Bakery, to be brought back to ISH and shared with friends.
Or carefree weekend afternoons, spent browsing through the collection of books at Kramers. Alternatively, whiled away when we had the money and time to spare at Art Jamz Dupont Studio, where you can paint whatever you want with their extensive supplies, or challenging teamwork and friendships at the Great Escape Rooms. (Because as J.K. Rowling notes, there are some things in life you can’t experience together without ending up as friends, and I firmly believe trying to escape a locked room together is one of them.) I am also reminded of that one time, out of sheer boredom, I spent an hour browsing through the wonderful and cozy yarn collection at Looped, and went away with a newfound interest in knitting. But also makes me think of that time a group of us sat at the outside seating area of Mission eating nachos for an entire afternoon.

Which also reminds me of Sunday mornings, browsing through the Farmer’s Market that occurs, rain or shine by the Dupont Circle Metro North entrance. The ISH dining hall makes shopping for groceries quite redundant, but you can still indulge in the best creamline milk from Clear Spring Creamery’s stall (which is really just non-homogenized milk, that I swear tastes far better than normal milk) or the freshest, sweetest honeycrisp apples from the many fruit vendors there. An alternative haunt for meeting friends for me is also Teaism, which, besides a ridiculously wide array of tea, is also a very quaint spot for fusion food and long conversations. Also, I believe everyone needs a thinking-outside-of-the-house café, a place to go when you need to concentrate and escape or just be, and on many weekend mornings, Teaism was mine.

But Dupont also brings to mind late-night escapes to Dolcezza for their excellent Gelato, whenever one or many of us had an unbearable night of work ahead. That one time we had cheesecake at Kramer’s Café (yes, there is a café in the bookstore) and very real conversation. When time permitted, heading in big groups over to The Board Room, a bar where you can rent board games for $2 a game (and, if you’re like me and can’t handle alcohol, you don’t have to drink, but you can.) And, let’s face it, you can play board games at ISH too, but you can never replicate the buzzing atmosphere of the Board Room. (At least, that is the justification my friend gave me when he went there with his friend to play chess, of all games.) And when, at 1am in the morning, you’re starving after your night out, walk just across the circle to Halal Guys for the most satisfying gyros, or down to DC Café on P Street.

Which really also reminds me of watching social dance happenings around the actual Dupont Circle on sunny summer evenings. But this also makes me think of the one time, when it was still cold, and we went down to Café Citron for a friend’s farewell drinks and had an impromptu and free Bachata class.

 Safe to say, one of my favorite parts of living at ISH is the fact that we get to live more or less in the heart of Dupont Circle. With this new semester, there are also many new residents; and I’m sure that they will be writing their own Dupont Circle love affairs.

In early August, some fellow residents and I decided to take a day trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to explore the city and all that is has to offer! Philadelphia is about 2 ½ hours from International Student House if you are commuting by car, making it the perfect destination for a day trip.

It was lunch time when we arrived, so we decided to stop at the Reading Terminal Market for lunch. As you may know already, Philadelphia is very well known for Philly Cheesesteaks, however, I chose to break the tradition of getting a Philly Cheesesteak and instead opted to dine at another famous location within the market. Dinic’s Roast Pork has been serving up delicious sandwiches at the market since the early 1970’s and was recently awarded for having the “Best Sandwich in America”. This award was given to them by the Travel Channel. The sandwich they are well known for is the roasted pork sandwich with broccoli rabe and provolone cheese. Given the amount of excitement surrounding Dinic’s, I chose to give their sandwich a try. After my first bite, I was quite surprised at how good a roasted pork sandwich could taste. The cheese and the pork tasted outstanding together and the broccoli rabe just added a whole other element to the sandwich that I really enjoyed. Following our meal at Dinic’s, we went and had cookies at The Famous 4^th Street Cookie Company. The cookies were incredible, and I recommend their chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies!

After our time at the Reading Terminal Market, we chose to explore city hall which is nearby and an excellent place to take pictures! Additionally, we saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall which were incredible sights to see. Take note however, that if you are traveling to Philadelphia you may want to make reservations in advance to see these sights. Getting reservations the day of your arrival can be rather tricky at times!

Finally, we completed our tour of Philadelphia by checking out Penn’s Landing which is a beautiful waterfront area on the east side of Philadelphia that contains multiple waterfront restaurants and bars, small boutiques and beautiful parks for relaxation. I hope that I am able to return to this city in the near future as there was so much I was unable to see while I was there!

A note to future ISH residents hoping to make the trip: If you are traveling to Philadelphia by car, make sure you have enough cash put aside for tolls (around $35 total) and parking for the day (another $35-$40 total). Additionally, be sure that you are going on a day/time that the Reading Terminal Market will be open. Sometimes they have rather odd hours and it would be a shame to travel to Philadelphia on a day that the market is closed! Finally, bring a great camera. There are so many places in Philadelphia to take beautiful pictures!

Not long after the weekend in Philadelphia, some friends from ISH and I chose to travel to New York City for a weekend trip. On the Friday of our arrival we had the opportunity to go on a boat cruise in the Hudson River and see incredible views on Manhattan. As I stood out on the boat I was completely mesmerized by the size of the city and the number of skyscrapers that reached beyond the eye could see. Additionally, while on the boat I was able to see the Statue of Liberty which was a gift to the United States from the people of France in 1886. Never before had I been so awestruck by such a gorgeous monument which represents freedom and has seen so much happen in the United States. 

Following our time on the boat cruise, we decided to spend our Saturday exploring Central Park and seeing the various sights of the city. In movies Central Park appears to be quite small in comparison to other parks throughout the country but the park is quite large and takes up quite a bit of land on Manhattan. The park contains multiple bike and walking trails and even has a zoo which was really fun to explore. While at the zoo I was able to see snow leopards, grizzly bears, as well as penguins, puffins and sea lions. On our last day in New York City (Sunday) we went to see the 9/11 memorial and the New York Botanical Garden which had a variety of lovely exhibits. My favorite exhibit in the botanical garden by far was the rock garden because of the many different alpine flowers fixated between the rocks in the garden and a lovely waterfall that is the centerpiece of the garden. The rock garden is one of the most peaceful and tranquil placed I have ever been, I highly recommend visiting here if you ever visit New York City.

Following our time on the boat cruise, we decided to spend our Saturday exploring Central Park and seeing the various sights of the city. In movies Central Park appears to be quite small in comparison to other parks throughout the country but the park is quite large and takes up quite a bit of land on Manhattan. The park contains multiple bike and walking trails and even has a zoo which was really fun to explore. While at the zoo I was able to see snow leopards, grizzly bears, as well as penguins, puffins and sea lions. On our last day in New York City (Sunday) we went to see the 9/11 memorial and the New York Botanical Garden which had a variety of lovely exhibits. My favorite exhibit in the botanical garden by far was the rock garden because of the many different alpine flowers fixated between the rocks in the garden and a lovely waterfall that is the centerpiece of the garden. The rock garden is one of the most peaceful and tranquil placed I have ever been, I highly recommend visiting here if you ever visit New York City.