The never ending joys of working at the Naval Research Lab always amaze me. Strategically placed on the Potomac River, it is sandwitched between two of the most charming of the District's landmarks... National Airport and Blue Plains. Blue Plains is not a wildlife refuge with miles of bluegrass or anything like that.
It's a sewage treatment plant
So as I complete the ten minute walk to my lab from the NRL main gate (they don't recognize my ID at the North Gate and that's a whole other story) I can be seranaded by the planes flying low overhead and be charmed by the delightful odor emenating from the sewage tanks next door. Admittedly this isn't so bad, it could be worse. I could be interning at Blue Plains instead of beside it and to be honest, my building is nearly the farthest away from the plant of all the buildings on the grounds. However, when the stench permeates even into our windowless third-floor office it's hard to convince myself that I'm exactly lucky.
The only thing to do is to keep repeating my mantra of the summer:
It's going to get me into a good college
It's going to be a good line on my resume
They pay's not that bad
It'll be over soon
And best:
I don't have to come back next year
I don't have to come back next year