So Long, Sojourn

Okay, okay, "soon-ish" can be interpreted relatively loosely, but it's still been a pretty ridiculously long time since I've written. To be fair, my computer, which has always been somewhat passive aggressive, and prone to crapping out at the worst possible times, has stubbornly refused to turn on since about the last time that I've written-which has been almost a month. After multiple shipments from back home (a new battery, a new adapter), we know, by the process of elimination, that the problem is "internal," a scary word which conjures up thoughts of several hundred dollar repair bills, and potentially weeks of waiting. :( But the only other option that I have is to buy a new laptop (just after buying a new camera, and covering what this summer will cost me-although, luckily, study abroad grants will pay for most of it), so I still haven't decided what to do - but I have to do something.

What's been going on the past month? Well, needless to say, I've been settling into a routine, while having new experiences at the same time. My roommates and I have been tourist-ing it up on the weekends, and have so far seen: ONE of the Smithsonians (the Natural History museum), the shops and restaurants in Old Alexandria (which is a very cute 'genteel' district within walking distance of our apartment), dinner and a movie (the Sex and the City movie, no less) at Union Station, and the campus of Georgetown University (which is surrounded by the shopping district of Georgetown, including a two-store stationary store that I am officially in love with!). It has also been unbelievably,ridiculously hot lately (hello, cool 100 in the shade-see? I'm learning Fahrenheit!), so we've also spent a lot of time inside, just hanging out.

I've also been taking advantage of the academic and professional opportunities (there's a few-I guess this is the 'capital' or something). The Washington Center's been pretty helpful in this respect. Not only do they have you put together a 'portfolio' for the summer, which includes things like an updated resume, bi-monthly journal entries, a statement of academic, professional, civic and personal goals for the summer, an essay about your 'civic engagement project,' an 'internship defense letter' to your home university...yeah, you get the picture. It's annoying to have projects to complete on top of deadlines for work, and assignments for class, but I think that some of the assignments really contribute to making this experience a worthwhile one, particularly in the professional sense.

It's not all drudgery, though: the Washington Center facilitates a lecture series that all interns attend on Monday afternoons. So far, the International Affairs program has heard from the heads of nonprofits, a former foreign service officer and ambassador, and a gentleman who founded a peace movement in Darfur. My Washington Center advisor also sends out daily email updates about all of the other events (panel discussions, lectures, dinners, conferences) that are on offer in DC, some designed specifically for the enormous intern population here. So far, I've attended a graduate school reception hosted by some of my top grad schools (including Johns Hopkins, Columbia, and Georgetown), where there actually was wine and cheese (all of the grad school fairs in Canada, take note!), and a panel discussion on the south Sudan peace agreement hosted by the Brookings institute. Next week, there's a Harvard admissions session, followed by a conference on the 8th where I'm hearing Ryan Gosling and Senator John Edwards. I know, I know - but someone has to do it. :)

The View from the Top (of My Roof)

SO I DON'T THINK I need to say how cool this is. I'm on my own with four really cool roommates, in an amazing, beautiful city, with a phenomenal job (albeit, one I don't get paid for). Yes, there's a lot of extra stuff that you get (and that you therefore get to do) when you do this through the Washington Center: an academic course and all the coursework that goes with it, the Presidential speaker series, research papers both for your class and for the center, a professional interview, and a massive portfolio including bi-monthly 'journal entries.' But I'm not getting freaked out about deadlines-yet-so for the moment, things are good.

I'm in "the Meridian at Braddock Place," which is a new-ish apartment complex with the Braddock road metro station literally in its backyard (it takes me less than 2 minutes to walk from my front door to the entrance of the station). The metro is like my apartment: clean, comfortable, and reasonably quiet (at least compared to the NYC subway). My love of urban living has only been intensified lately - lots of parks, lots of fountains, lots of little cafes, shops and bistros, easy metro access, easy walking distances, lots of everything good. This is particularly true of the area in which I work - Dupont Circle - which is basically a couple of square blocks of loveliness, with 26 amazing restaurants (including two sushi bars, an Indian restaurant, a Thai place, a Potbelly Sandwich Works, a Starbucks, three bistros, two independent bookstores, and a park within sight of my office building. The building in question is super-nice and has a pharmacy at the bottom (open 24 hours, and stocking everything imaginable) and a patio on the roof with am amazing view of the city, and cute wrought-iron tables where you can eat your lunch (I am actually together enough to buy tupperware containers, but not enough to buy salad stuff, so I suspect I will have to buy my lunch for another day or so). So, the commute is about 30 metro minutes + a 10 minute walk down Connecticut (one of the nicest streets in town), versus an hour-plus commute to the middle of nowhere. The office is really nice, and so are the people (Lorelle, who initially interviewed me for the post, is also my supervisor). I'm the National Outreach Intern: essentially, I'll be doing work related to the different initiatives and coalitions that Women Thrive heads up. For example, I spent most of today working on making a summary chart recording the pledges that different members of the Women's Faith Development Alliance have made to women's equality and economic rights. When she interviewed me, Lorelle said that this was a "great opportunity to survey the DC-area NGO landscape," and now I see what she meant. I think I'll be doing lots of really cool stuff this summer, and learn a ton to boot. I'll keep you posted.

As previously mentioned, my roommates and I actually get along incredibly well - so well that we've not only gone grocery shopping (and other stocking up, Target-style) together, but also sightseeing: so far, we've hit up Union Station, parts of The Mall (we went to see the WWII and Jefferson Memorials in the dark on the weekend, which was phenomenal), and Chinatown (on Sunday-we actually ended up in an Irish pub eating Guinness ice cream and eating nachos like four college friends - pretty cool). There's a few other interns working at World Thrive, too (including some more that start on Monday) but I haven't gotten to know them very well. All four of us have different class schedules, and work at slightly different times, but it's really nice to come home after work knowing that people you actually like will be there. Plus, we've got a plan to hit one Smithsonian museum every weekend-finally, people who actually want to go to museums (sorry, Kiosh :P).

I've been having fun walking around and riding the metro by myself too, though. There's more new stuff to come, including my class on Thursday, and the beginning of the International Affairs lecture series (on Monday). I'm hoping things don't get too crazy, because I'd like to spend some time exploring the city (I bought a Frommer's Washington on the weekend!) and squeeze in a trip (or two) to NYC. For $35 round-trip, I would totally walk around for 36 hours with no hotel. You know I'd do it!

More crazy stuff will ensue this week. But I'll write again soon...ish.

;-)