Ms. Hedges goes to
Washington (I refuse to apologize for this)
Saturday: After the usual pre-road trip three
hours of sleep the mother and I set out from Columbus, finally making it out
the door at 6:30. We were only half an hour behind schedule! The drive to D.C. from Columbus is
roughly 7 and a half hours of "what was the speed limit here
again" and also a fantastic Starbucks in West Virginia with a charming
local biker club out front. Long drives with the Mrs. and Ms. Hedges include vast quantities of movie soundtracks
and also Abba, perfect for car dancing.
We
successfully moved myself and my entourage of suits and frying pans into the WISH housing I share with the rest of the WAIP fellows by 2 pm, found a target, because I apparently
can't go a week without being in one of those, also hangars are necessary, and
went for lunch. The Mrs. Hedges left shortly afterward.
Several of the other girls and I went to SweetGreens
for salad dinner, enjoying views of the
Capital and the Library of Congress along the walk to and from.
Sunday:
Sunday was for
settling in, which meant finding a whole foods, #vegetables or something. On
the way to the whole foods I found a farmer's market, naturally. I also got
very lost and walked an extra four miles. But I did finally find groceries. And
made pasta. End Scene.
Monday: Monday was orientation day for us
WAIP-ers. Ohio State is based out of the Hall of States in D.C. which is a mere
ten minute walk from our townhouses.
Orientation was a lot of information at the trot, but all useful. We
also got our golden tickets (or metro cards, whichever you prefer), which
immediately proved useful Tuesday morning. Going back to Monday, we trekked
over to the Library of Congress for our first study tour after morning
orientation. We had a tour, learning the meaning of the marble babies on the
wall and saw the main reading room. My general thoughts include: too many
marble children, not enough books. Maybe I'm biased. The main reading room is
gorgeous however, which prompted a group trip over to one of the other library
buildings to get our paws on library cards after the tour officially ended. For
the record, the picture on my library of congress card is better than the one
on my drivers license. After a brief period of loafing with pants more casual
than slacks on, we resumed slacks and headed to our Monday night policy
lecture. FABULOUS. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy 4000 level,
heavily-discussion based classes.
Tuesday: FIRST DAY OF WORK. Which for a lot of
people meant getting up at the crack of dawn. I didn't have to be in until
10:30 my first day, lucky, lucky me. I got up at 7 though, to start acclimating
to the early rising idea (ew), and also
made the decision to wear my heels, just everywhere. To break that down, I have
a ten minute walk to the nearest metro station (union), four minute metro ride
(two stops to chinatown), and then a three minute walk to the office. This did
not go well. I'm writing this out on Friday, and there is still #blisterlife
happening. At least I looked cool
(thanks for the suit mom)….(and the shoes)…..(and the purse). Nothing says
confidence like being wrapped in parental love your first day of work. Work was
good though. I got my computer, and my spot (very important), and my email
(ehedges@mercuryllc.com) if anyone needs that for some reason. I also probably
should have mentioned before that I'm working for Mercury this summer. They are
a public affairs/ strategy firm, with both domestic and international clients.
Luckily for me, I'm interested in both! Tuesday evening was fun, with lots of
"how was your day" and "did your commute go well". The
general consensus was that that feels way too old-ish, and that everyone's
commutes and days went well. I also taught a housemate how to make tacos, this
is very important work I'm doing here people, I can't stress that enough.
Wednesday: Second day of work, time for the
nine am start, left the house at 8:20 because why not, got to work twenty
minutes early, still with no key card though, so lurking in the hallway outside
the office was an event that happened. I did get a key card later in the day,
so I no longer have to make the poor concierge run to the elevator to key me
up to the right floor anymore/ wait for someone else to come into the office to
get in in the morning. My job as an intern involves a lot of specified research
for people who are working on client projects or proposals as well as press
clips for either projects or existing clients. It's all interesting and I can
feel the education seeping in. Wednesday is our Policy Salon day, so I left
work, and metro-ed back to union station, which is conveniently a mere three
blocks from the Hall of States. The salon of the day was a panel of young
professionals who had gone through Ohio State and are now making it as real
adults in D.C.. They had a lot of good things to say about preparing yourself
for your career, and how to go with the flow jobwise, you never know what might
take you where! Also networking. Always networking. Between the four of the
panelists the WAIP crew got a few good
restaurant recommendations and free activity tips! This was followed by limping
home and collapsing. Bonus though,
policy salons come with 'we the pizza', which does a beautiful white pie with
sweet ricotta clumps on top. It's better than that sounds by far, I promise.
Thursday: Honeymoon period is over, but work is
still fun and fast-paced. I'm never bored, which, for those of you who have
lived with me/ known me for a while, know is a good thing. I did finally make
it to the conveniently-right-across-the-street-literally National Portrait
Gallery today at lunch, I figure if I make it through like half a hallway at
lunch every day I might make it though the entire building by the end of
summer. They also have a lovely atrium where you can sit and eat lunch and
pretend you're a grown-up for a while. Thursday evening we stayed up watching
some kind of sportsball on the television and chatting with almost everyone in
the program together, which was nice.
Friday: Friday's are our regular study tour
days, so no work, but not quite play either. It was nice because we didn't have
to leave the house to meet Katy, our illustrious leader, until 8:15 which
ranges from an hour to just fifteen minutes later than usual for individuals in
the group. Today's agenda included the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)
museum and the Lockheed-Martin visitor's center, education center? Something
along those lines. The DEA museum was interesting, lots of drug info I knew
(thanks public school health classes) and also lots I didn't. The most
important part of (in my opinion) the museum was a diamond encrusted handgun
taken off of a South American cartel leader. If you must have a handgun, let it
be sparkly I suppose. We also had a talk from one of the DEA officers, he is
part of the emergency preparedness team,
which is more important to the DEA than you would initially think. The talk was
not only interesting, but very informative about potential careers in federal
law enforcement. Brief lunch at chipotle
in the food court of the Pentagon City Mall (serious senior trip flashbacks
included free of charge) and on to Lockheed-Martin. We had a guided tour of
their museum/ learning center there, concentrated on their space programs
rather than the fancy new fighter jet. Appointments to see that side of the
center are apparently tricky to get due to the large number of military
personnel tromping in and out to see it. Understandable. I peered inside the
conveniently glass doors though, and I can tell you that it is fancy
looking. The rest of Friday included
meeting Ally Carter, one of my all-time favorite authors, very exciting, and an
ill-fated trip to find ice-cream. The ice-cream trip was interrupted by some
kind prom event in the same building as the ice-cream store, so we rerouted to
starbucks. The starbucks partially explains why I am writing this at 1:30 am
instead of sleeping. Overall, first week-ish gets an A.
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