J'aime Voyager

Thursday, March 12, 2009

DC Update 2

Howdy!

I’ve now been working in DC for a little over two months! Last time I wrote, I had just completed capitol tour training. Since then, I’ve given eight tours to a total of 52 people. My first tour (if you can imagine) was to 16 employees of the British Embassy in DC!

My seventh weekend in DC, I met two co-workers, Congressman Carter and his wife Erika at the Washington National Cathedral to hear the Round Rock Community Choir perform. It was so much fun! I also got to take my first picture with Congressman Carter after the concert.

Another notable experience I have had in the past month was getting to go to a joint session of Congress! One of our staff members was kind enough to give me a ticket to go hear Prime Minister Gordon Brown speak. I was able to recognize Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry on the house floor during the session. The only bad thing was that I had a terrible time paying attention because of my excitement! Every once in a while I would realize how far away my mind was, and would pull it back and concentrate on the speech for a while before my excitement would take over again.

I’ve gone to three congressional hearings in the past month. These are meetings where committees discuss and hear witnesses speak for or against new legislation. It’s always interesting to hear the questions the congressmen ask the witnesses after their testimony. I’ve also gone to several briefings. Briefings are sponsored by groups, so they are more one-sided than hearings, and give presentations to encourage funding or new legislation for the group’s interests.

Here are pictures of what I’ve been spending my weekends doing!

Week Five: Me with my nephew, Grayson and niece, Ella in Forest Hills, New York

Week Five: me with my sister, Lisa in Times Square on Valentine’s Day

Week Six: ANRP interns Megan (my roommate), Elizabeth, me and Liz after our tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Week Six: US Botanical Gardens

Week Six: My roommate, Megan and me at Rosa Mexicana taking advantage of the last day of DC Restaurant Week!

Week Seven: Congressman Carter and me at Washington National Cathedral after hearing the Round Rock Community Choir perform

Week Seven: Washington National Cathedral

Week Eight: An early parade for Saint Patrick’s Day in Alexandria, Virginia

Week Eight: The Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Where I’ve been since I wrote last:

Supreme Court (outside only)

Library of Congress

Folger Shakespeare Library

US Botanic Garden

National Museum of the American Indian

National Gallery of Art

National Museum of Natural History

Bureau of Engraving & Printing

White House

National Archives

Washington National Cathedral

Torpedo Factory Art Center (Alexandria)

Captain’s Row (Alexandria)

Athenaeum (Alexandria)

George Washington Masonic National Memorial (Alexandria)

Lee-Fendall House (Alexandria)

Lyceum (Alexandria)

Confederate Statue (Alexandria)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

DC Update 1

Howdy!

For those of you who don't know, after several interviews in December I was chosen to go to Washington, D.C. for an internship in a Texas congressman's office. I moved up here January 12, and will move back to Texas May 12. I am living in Arlington (Crystal City), Virginia in an apartment with five other girls from A&M who are doing internships. There are 13 other Aggies in the Agricultural and Natural Resources Policy (ANRP) Internship Program with me, and then another nine in our sister program, the Public Policy Internship Program (PPIP) that are all living in this apartment complex.

This Monday will be the first day of my fifth week in D.C. Work is going great; I'm not making NEARLY as much coffee as I thought I would! I'm becoming an expert at sorting every kind of mail imaginable instead! Thankfully mail sorting has proven to be far more educational than the coffee making. It's great to get to read what people write about because I learn about a broad range of issues every day. One of the hotter topics in our office right now is one you might of heard of: the Rangel Rule. The congressman I work for, John Carter introduced that legislation! We've been getting calls from all over the country about it.

This past week I went to capitol tour training to learn what to say and where to go when I take constituents on tours of the capitol. The only bad thing about it is that I have to study the materials they gave us--difficult when registered for 12 hours with A&M this semester along with working full-time and sightseeing!

But enough of plain words for now. Here are some pictures so you can see what I've been up to!

Week One: My roommate Megan and me. This was our second day in D.C. and we had just finished meeting everyone at our offices.

Week One: Megan and me on our first day of work (January 15) outside of my office - Cannon House Office Building

Week Two: Jaci (Texas Tech intern who works with me) and me at the Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball. They invited Texas interns to come and volunteer for two hours during the event in order to attend the rest of the ball without paying $200+ for a ticket!

Week Two: I had a ticket to the inauguration to stand on the National Mall but the crowds were insane, they stopped admitting people because one of the entrances let people without tickets in, and it was cold so I watched from one of the house office buildings and this was the view out of the window.

Week Two: On inauguration day, I was supposed to meet my roommate at her office in the morning, but she got shaken up from the crowds and decided to go back home when she got to work after it had taken her two hours to get there (it's normally about thirty minutes)! I met the girl in this picture, Gina, at the metro station in Crystal City and we ended up hanging out the whole day. She got me to inauguration (the stop where I would have gotten off was so packed underground that you could barely get off of the train), and I got her into the office building where we watched it!