Monday, March 14, 2011

Farewell DC

What is there to say? The ten weeks is up, DC is now 8 hours away, and my baby girl - a goldendoodle named Macy - is happy I have returned home. It was a glorious winter quarter, for all of us. So where is this blog going? I don't know - a reminiscence of the Glenn Fellows conquering of DC? A tear jerking story of ten individuals that arrived as strangers and left as friends? Or perhaps one Dr. K might be wanting and hoping to read, a profound dictation of the experiences and opportunities that were presented to us and how we grabbed them by the horns and held on until we drained from them every ounce of knowledge we could?
But if I am going to give a fair and accurate represntation of what happened inside and outside the walls of The Congressional, and speak not only for myself but for the group as a whole (which I am bound to do throughout this blog), then I must admit - this past ten weeks was all of the above.
We conquered DC with our historic endeavors during the day and our rambuxious adventures of the night. We became friends by enduring the struggles of being grown-ups and setting priorities together. Oh our hate-love relationship with the academic part of the John Glenn Washington Academic Internship Program. Our hate for the homework, but our love of Friday morning "bonding" sessions with Dr. Kolson. We each found our own opportunities and we each have our own expereinces that made this program more thany any of us ever imagined.
The endless inspiration our dear neighbor Mr. Lincoln was always willing to give with open doors any time of day or night, working under the leaders of today and working with the leaders of tomorrow, knowing justice lived across the street, each day being a brand new adventure and another opportunity within itself to grasp knowledge not yet known to us. These are some of the things I am sure we will all miss.
I will not allow myself too much justice by going into brief descriptions of each of us, or humerous tales that could go on and on, but I will say thanks to this experience I have made quite the number of new friends and some everlasting relationships. Thanks to this program I have managed to do A LOT.
So it has been a while since my tale of a "new" me discovering DC and learning to dress up, not just because Mother made me do so. Perhaps this should not only be my second blog, but my ninth or tenth. I apologize for this Dr. K. The purpose for the blog is to allow those not within the program to see what it is this program is all about. For us as Glenn fellows to blog weekly and tell of all our cool and exciting tales. These weekly blogs would attract the future Glenn fellows and popularize the program. And this is an area where I, as well as all the other winter fellows, have failed in. But I believe two blogs is all that is needed to show how truly incredible the John Glenn program is. An entry and an exit blog. Every ounce of excitment I had when I arrived lasted with me every minute of every day, even now. The people I was able to hear speak, the sites I got to see, the history in the making I got to experience first hand, and the knowledge, both life and academic, I gained will stay with me for a very long time.
I will miss DC. I will miss being a part of this program. So this is it, I may have dragged on, so now I will keep it short. Goodbye Blog.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks, Mark. It's taken me a while to comment because I kept waiting for a more detailed account of your "rambuxious adventures of the night."

    Seriously, thanks for the exit blog.

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