Amazing Opportunity Today

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a breakfast featuring former Vice President Dick Cheney.  The format is the speaker and representatives having a conversation.  It was a neat experience to hear the former Vice President talk about national security from an inside perspective.

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The Last Week

Sadly, this will be my last week out in D.C.  I will be flying out on Tuesday, May 6 in the evening and I certainly plan on squeezing as many fun things into my last 4 days here as I can.

My internship is going great and this whole experience has been a wonderful one.  I am very glad that I was able to intern for Congressman Coffman and believe that his office offers one of the more valuable internships.  I really felt like I was able to be involved in the day to day business of the office and not just some intern that got coffee, filed papers, etc.

My favorite thing to do was running things to the Capitol and getting to see all of the art and architecture in the building.  I would even take a little longer while I was there to stop and read about the different pieces.  I really did enjoy giving tours during my internship out here, especially to the small groups.  It is really nice getting to meet and talk with people from Colorado.  After many, many tours I have gained more and more information, which makes me very happy.  I love that I was able to learn and remember a lot of neat little facts.

Attending talks, hearings, and briefings was also fun.  I enjoyed a lot of the regulatory briefings that were held here since I am an ECON major.  If the meeting was near lunch time, there was usually food included as well, which was always delicious.

I am glad that I was able to be out here for an extended period of time because it allowed me to see a lot of the sights around D.C.  While I have seen many monuments, museums, and historical places, there are still a few things that I have left to do before I leave.  The thing that I a most excited about is seeing the National Archives and getting to see the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  I may not get to see everything while I am out here this time, but I have a feeling I will be back again.

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Below are some pictures from the last few weeks:

           

These Presidents were at Madame Tussand's Wax Museum

 

      The flowers are finally starting to bloom. The pink tulips are right in front of my office building.

 

The Cherry Blossoms: 

 

The Newseum is a museum all about the news.  There they had a piece of the Berlin Wall.

 

Air and Space Museum:

 

 

My roommate and I went to Founding Farmers for brunch and I got the stuffed French toast sticks. 

They were absolutely amazing!

 

We also went to the National Geographic Museum after Founding Farmers.

 

I attended church at the National Cathedral for Easter.

 

 

 This is the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.  All of the interns in my office got a tour of the Pentagon from our old military legislative assistant that works there now.

 

All of my roommates and I went to a Nats game together and one of my roommates got a foul ball!

 

We also all went on a tour of the White House grounds.  It was very beautiful with all of the flowers in bloom.

One Month Left!

These last few months have gone by so fast.  It has been pretty cold out here, but it is starting to warm up.  The cherry blossoms are starting to show as well.

Some of my roommates and I were going to go to a Nationals baseball game, but it got cancelled due to rain.  We might try and see if there is another day we can go.  I also want to try and see as many sites around DC as I can before I leave.

Yesterday I went to Arlington Cemetery and the Spy Museum.  At Arlington Cemetery I watched the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a wreath laying ceremony there as well.  I did not see all of the memorials there, but I will go back to see the rest of it another weekend.

The Spy Museum was amazing!  You get to assume an identity and you are quizzed throughout the museum on your identity.  The museum also goes through the long history of spying and the real gadgets that spies use.  It includes a James Bond section with notes about how parts in the movies were in real life.

I also went to see the fireworks on the waterfront for the Cherry Blossom Festival and the boats at the docks were decorated in pink lights.  My roommate Lauren, two of her friends, and I all sat by the water after the fireworks and it was very relaxing since all of the crowds had left.

 

My internship has been going well.  We are very busy with Capitol tours, but the Capitol dome will be going through restoration work.  That means the dome is going to be closed for the next two weeks and I will be giving grounds tours.  I did training for the tours and it was really interesting to learn all of the history about the grounds around the Capitol.

I will keep you all posted over the last few weeks of my time in DC.

Busy Busy Busy

Exploring D.C. has been great, there have even been a few days of nice weather.  Work and school have both been very busy and I will start posting more regularly now.

Javier, my boyfriend visited me a couple of weekends ago and we did a whole lot of sightseeing while he was out here.  I will post those stories and pictures when he sends them to me.
In terms of my internship, work has been picking up a lot, especially since it is getting into Spring more and there area lot more tourists and visitors.  I have already given one tour so far and will give another one this upcoming Wednesday.  I really enjoy giving the tours because it gives me a chance to really get to know my way around and learn a bunch of interesting facts each time.  Most of my work involves correspondence and research.  Letter responses for constituents are always a good way to learn about a whole range of topics and go more in depth than if I had just seen the topic in passing.

It has been pretty cold though lately and today was a snow day for me.  I am certainly looking forward to warm spring weather and the cherry blossoms.  My roommates and I went out in the snow today and joined a giant snowball fight in between the Washingtonian Monument and the Capitol.  We also attempted to build a snow man because one of my roommates from Puerto Rico had never built one before, but the snow was not very sticky so the snowman was really tiny.

 

I will also be attending CPAC 2014 at the end of this week which I am very excited about.  There are many amazing speakers that will be there and I am looking forward to meeting many new people while I attend.

 

If you want to know something more about a particular subject or have a question for me, leave it in the comments below. Also "Follow" my blog if you want to see more of what I am doing in D.C.

See you next Sunday!

First month in DC

This first month in DC has been a wonderful experience. I have had an amazing time at my internship and I am so grateful to have this opportunity.
Being in a congressional office has given me a new view of America's lawmaking process. I have gotten to attend quite a few briefings and a couple hearings so far. The most interesting one I have gone to was a briefing on the repeal of the Department of Defense policy of banning women from combat troops and how successful the process has been.  I will also be getting to lead constituents on tours of the Capitol soon. I think that this is a great way to get to know a lot of the history and information about the Capitol.
The picture is my view on the way to work. It is so amazing to look at this building everyday.

Week One

It has been a long first week here in DC, but a good one too. It already feels like I have been here a lot longer than a week.
I started my internship on Monday and I love it! It was a slow start learning the ropes and how to get around all of the house office buildings. However, I was able to go to a meeting on Friday and write up a report for the staffers. The first few days were the craziest because I had work from 9am-6pm then "boot camp" Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday from 6:30-9pm and a class on Wednesday from 6:30-8pm. Things have definitely settled down now and I was actually able to make it to the grocery store on Friday after my meeting. I am so excited to have food and snacks now!
Saturday Tara and Freda went with me to the National Zoo, which is just up the street from our housing, to see the début of the newest baby panda; he was asleep in a little bowl but his parent was awake. It was too cold for most of the other animals to be out, but we also saw a red panda and zebra on our walk. After that we all decided to come home because it was too cold for us and the animals.

Tara is an awesome photographer so she has been taking photos then sharing them with everyone else. So glad that she is willing to do this!
After we got back from the zoo, Amanda, Tara, Tiyana, and I all went to the National Mall to see some of the monuments. The area is huge and it was too cold for us to be outside for very long so we only saw some of the monuments before heading inside to the Natural History Smithsonian Museum.

This is the Hope Diamond in the Smithsonian and above it is a beautiful necklace from their gems and minerals collection. 

 

This was at the bones exhibit with Amanda, Tiyana, and myself all being different figures in the exhibit.

Tara and I walked over to the White House area and it was beautiful.

 

The Lincoln Memorial was huge! It was too cold to spend a lot of time there, but I will definitely be back before the semester is over.

This was what we saw upon first stepping out of the Smithsonian Metro Station.

This beautiful photo was what we saw when we left the Smithsonian and Tara was able to get this amazing shot.

I had an amazing weekend and week and I am really grateful this weekend was a three-day weekend and I had time to go and see these amazing things. I cannot wait to go back!
I will most likely be posting a lot of my blogs on the weekends or days that I have off (Fridays typically).  Definitely comment with any questions or thoughts and let me know of any good places to see while I am here.

All Packed

All packed and ready to go. See you when I touch down in DC!

First Step

Today is my first step on my journey to Washington, D.C. I fly out at around midnight which is going to be hard, but I am so excited to go to DC and meet my new roommates. I will post pictures and more updates once I arrive in DC. 

So excited!

If anyone has good advice or helpful tips let me know in the comments below.