The Beginning

After an early morning wake up and eight hours of traveling I finally made it from Oregon to Washington DC, with the only downside that it was raining.  The thundershower miraculously stopped just a few minutes before the taxi dropped me off at George Washington University so I was able to unload and find my residence hall nice and dry, all be it a little sticky in the humid heat.  Once I was done unpacking my bags and grabbing some dinner I went out for a walk to get my groundings as to where I was.  First I stumbled upon the World Bank and then the IMF, truly just a few blocks from where I now live.  Then I came to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (just west of the White House) where I was first able to see the Washington Monument.  Next I walked by the memorial for the First Division in WWI and continued on to see the White House.  As I walked back to my hall fireflies started to light up the grass, ending one of the most amazing after dinner walks I have taken.

Today was my first day of work and it was so much fun.  To start off I got to the Capitol South Metro station a half hour before I needed to be into the office so I went for a quick walk to see the capital building before heading up. I started with another intern so we both were in for a day of learning about how things worked.  We spent most of the morning going over the basic office tasks and where things were located.  I learned quite a bit about the types of calls that will come into the office and how best to handle them, as well as, where different offices were located in the building, like the supply store, which has the the Congressional seal on just about everything and new eco-friendly flags which has its fibers made out of recycled plastics (kinda cool).  After a lunch we were given an example of the tour we will be giving in the Capitol Building which helped by allowing be to visually see what was being explained in my handbook.  With the new Capitol Visitor's Center we were able to go underground the whole way from Cannon to the Capitol.  I was able to learn a lot of different history about the building and hope that I can remember it when I start giving tours.  One of my favorites was about a supper bouncy ball that was thrown from a balcony in the center rotunda in the '70s by some bored staffers due to a long session one day, and went through one of the paintings.  If you come to DC I'll point it out to you!!  After the tour we talked about the schedule for the week and then I was able to take off early.  It was an exciting first day and I was happy to find out that I'll be able to have days off during the week to be able to go to different lectures or events that I want, along with just exploring the city more.