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I have now been a resident of DC for 8 days! To say I’m
obsessed with this place would be an understatement. Thinking of everything
I’ve done this week kind of made me overwhelmed, because I feel like so much
has happened and that I’m a native, except for the fact that I still get lost
almost everyday (minor detail). So what have I done you ask?
On Monday, I started my first day of work for a congressman.
First we met the other interns, there are 4 of us, and then we went to tour
training. This was slightly overwhelming because there is so much information
to know about the capitol. Having gone on capitol tours before, I basically
assumed the tour guides were pros. However, I quickly found out that tour
guides are interns that went to a 3 hour training, or less, and if in a bind
its easy to make things up… Not recommending this, just saying. We are definitely
not experts. Then, we went to training for a software we use to communicate
with our constituents called iconstituent. After that we returned to the office
and we could leave. Monday also consisted of a surprise visitor, one of my best
friends, Jenn! She was flying back to FW and amidst the tornadoes and canceled
flights found herself stuck in the airport, so came to stay with me, it was
fun, even if only for 8 hours!
Tuesday was my first real day! I shadowed a tour which takes
about 2.5 hours and then worked on writing letters and opened mail for the rest
of the day. That sounds kind of mundane, but we definitely get some
entertaining letters and phone calls.
On Wednesday, I finally met the congressperson I work for.
Without disclosing who it is, they were very nice and knew me even though we’d
never met. Everyone in our office is very friendly and welcoming.
On Thursday, the highlight had to be running into John
McCain! Friday, I had off so I attempted to go to the American History museum,
however, ended up in a different quadrant so I did a lot of walking and ended
up exploring Dupont Circle before getting lunch with my cousin, Jill. On
Saturday, I actually made it to the American History Museum with my friend
Whitney who graduated from Baylor. We also went to Eastern Market, which was
fun! We then got brunch and that night hung out with some new friends. Sunday,
I went to church with my friend Oghogho who is from Nigeria and works for
USAID, she’s lived in DC for a year and a half so she’s very knowledgeable
about the area. Sunday night was definitely a highlight of my week! Whitney
works for Speaker Boehner so we were able to sit on the Speaker’s terrace which
is basically a big balcony of the Capitol and watch the memorial day concert.
The concert was sad because it featured lots of stories from veterans but it
was also heartwarming and amazing to see the city from high up. When we were
leaving the Capitol we ran into Colin Powell and in typical intern, starstruck
fashion, we all whipped out our Iphones to take pics.
Colin Powell in the Capitol!
On the Speaker's Terrace at the Concert
That’s basically a recap of everything that’s happened this
week besides a few minor details like running the monuments, which I don’t
think will ever get old because they’re so beautiful. Running in the morning
with a group and exploring the congressional cemetery, and getting lost multiple
times. Everyone is super friendly and wants to know you for the most part, even the people who have lived here for a little while. Although some of us literally have nothing in common, most of the people I meet are interns and we all have lots of interesting stories from the hill. I am now at least familiar with a couple areas: Dupont, the hill,
Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, and Columbia heights. Pretty sure there are at least
25 different neighborhoods in DC so it might take until December to even visit all
of them. But good news, I can now get to work without consulting google maps.
It consists of 0.7 miles and one right turn. Shows how directionally challenged
I am at times!
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