Hello everyone! I hope that you are all having a great week. There have been many events that have taken place since I last wrote, and since today is Friday it's time to provide an update.
On Monday the 12th at about 4 AM, my mom and I began the drive from Minnesota to get to the DC area. My job was to navigate us without getting lost. Once we left MN, we went through part of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana before we spent the night at Zanesville, Ohio. The next day, the 13th, we left the hotel around 8 AM and travelled through the rest of Ohio, part of the top portion of West Virginia, a bit of Pennsylvania, West Virginia again (to avoid toll booths in Pennsylvania), and Maryland. However, when we got to Washington DC, we managed to get ourselves lost a couple times for about half an hour to an hour since the roads were confusing. (Note: This was the ONLY time we got lost.) When we finally got to our destination, the amount of driving time it took to get from my house to DC was about 22 hours. While the road trip was a bit tiring, it was also fun.
On Wednesday the 14th, I moved into my apartment along with most of the people who are part of the Washington Internship Institute (WII) this semester. (A few people moved in early due to an earlier start to their internship or because of travelling circumstances.) There was also some snow that morning in Virginia, and to my surprise there were school cancelations and warnings on the news to be careful on the roads when they received only about a centimeter of snow. After many trips back and forth between the car and my apartment, all of my belongings were moved into my apartment. My roommates and I went out for lunch and walked around on sidewalks that we thought had way more salt than was actually necessary. Then we bought a few groceries before we returned to the apartment. From there I met up with my mom again in order get a few items in bulk from a nearby Costco and brought those to the apartment before we said our goodbyes. I got to do a bit of unpacking before my roommates and I met the rest of our fellow interns for pizza and a few icebreaker games. There are a total of 28 people including me who are part of the program this semester (20 females and 8 males for those of you who are curious to know the gender breakdown). Following our socializing time, one of my roommates and I went to fill our Metro cards and got a couple items at Marshalls before we returned to the apartment to put away more of my belongings before I turned in for the night.
Yesterday, the 15th, I woke up at 7AM, which was painful since my brain is still not accustomed to Eastern Time, so I felt like I woke up at 6AM which is early for me. However, we had to take the Metro (which is the equivalent of the subway in New York) in order to get to the WII office by 8:30AM for breakfast, so off we went. After breakfast, my fellow interns and I walked to the Charles Sumner School listened to a few introductions, some advice, and learned about how to navigate ourselves while we're in DC. We then put those skills to the test through a picture scavenger hunt in groups of 3 or 4 people, which took us from the White House, to the US Botanic Garden, to the Friendship Arch in the Chinatown section of DC, to finally the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. After all of that walking (with one ride on the Metro too), a few of us took the Metro to a couple stores that were close to our apartment building in order to get some more groceries or other needed supplies for our apartments. Once our shopping was done, we headed back to our apartments for the night.
Today I woke up early again for day two of orientation. Once again my fellow interns and I took the Metro to get to the WII office for breakfast, and walked to the Charles Sumner School. After that we received some words of wisdom for when it comes to being an intern as well as networking. Dr. Peggy Lewis, Associate Dean of the Graduate School and Director of Media Studies at Trinity Washington University, then spoke to us and she gave us her list of ten and a half things that we should keep in mind throughout the semester. She also allowed us to ask her questions about how her career. When orientation was done for today, one of my roommates and I visited Carpe Librium. This is a gently used bookstore that gives all the proceeds to Turning the Page, an organization in DC with the mission to give DC students the resources they need for a good public education. While we were there, we both found a few books that we were interested in, so we purchased them and then took the Metro home.
While my classes and internship haven't started yet, I'm looking forward to it and hope to tell you all more next week!
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