Mr. Dan Goes to Washington

Some of you may recall last fall that I traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to help out with some research that was being done after the extensive flooding. As a result of those experiences, my classmate Emilie and I ended up coauthoring a poster that was accepted for presentation at the American Psychological Association annual conference in Washington, D.C. So, a couple weekends ago I traveled to Washington, D.C. to present the poster. It was basically summarizing graduate student's experiences from the post-disaster research we had done last fall. The school gives a travel grant to you each year, which I used for this trip. So I basically got a free trip to D.C. Not having been there before, I used to opportunity to travel around the city and enjoy time with friends.






This was taken at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. They are hundreds, if not thousands, of the shoes discarded by Jews as they were unknowingly led to their death in the gas chambers. It was by far the most moving part of the entire museum for me. A sea of shoes.



This is my friend Trevor Olson and I. Trevor is a licensed psychologist who received his Psy.D. from Regent University (a similar program to Wheaton's) and was a classmate of my dissertation chair (Dr. Ward Davis). Trevor and I met out at His Mansion Ministries, which he worked at for four years as a counselor. Trevor and I became fast friends out there and spent much time in conversation and cycling the hills together for exercise. It was great to reconnect with Trevor and soak up D.C. with a good friend.



The White House at night.



This was a subway I traveled in that I just thought looked really cool.





Lincoln Memorial at night and again during the day. He's huge.



A favorite painting I found while visiting the National Gallery. I also visited the National Archives and saw the US Constitutions, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights. Pictures weren't allowed in there.




The National Mall, which contains the Capitol at one end and the Lincoln Memorial at the other. Situated between them is the Washington Memorial. The size of this place can't really be emphasized. It takes a long time to traverse it from one end to another. Easily a couple miles long.



Got to get up close to the Capitol. It's pretty impressive in person. It also felt a little bit fake, because when you see it in pictures your whole life its a little surreal to be there right in front of it. Sort of like - "is that really where everything happens?"






Washington Memorial


So anyway, there you go mom (and anyone else that cares to see what I've been up to lately). Congratulations to the newest member of the Barnhart/Ziemelis clan, Noah Martin! This little guy is the true man of the hour!