Lessons on Walking Shoes & Doughnuts - Catherine Elliott

One month ago, almost to the day, I moved into my house on Capitol Hill, complete with three roommates, 13 housemates, and two very iffy Wi-Fi networks. Overall, it has been quite the experience, from traversing all the way to Alexandria, VA for work, to finding the best ice cream and doughnut joints, to accidentally ending up near the White House when we were trying to go to a monument (I promise you, it was a long walk). Coming into this summer, I remember telling the group that I was most excited to explore a new city, and I can honestly say that so far, that has been one of my favorite parts of WAIP. I have loved learning how to use the metro, going on runs to the Washington Monument, exploring the neighborhood in Capitol Hill, and so much more.

In particular, this past Saturday I went to Eastern Market for the first time (surprising), to Roosevelt Island, and to Georgetown. In other words, we did a lot of walking. First, my roommate and I explored Eastern Market. We ate breakfast, walked around looking at all the little shops, and pretended like we knew what we were doing in the farmer’s market area (we didn’t). I especially loved walking around a little bookstore that was right near by. The books there were actually bursting out of the building—so much so that we even found an overflowing bookshelf in the bathroom.

After Eastern Market, a group of us ventured on to explore Roosevelt Island, a small forested island in the middle of the Potomac River. We walked around the edge of the island first, and then visited the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial. The memorial itself was quite impressive. It consisted of a statue of Teddy, quotes etched on four granite monoliths that covered the topics of Nature, Youth, Manhood, and State, as well as some sizable (but unfortunately empty) fountains. The nature part of the walk was wonderful and green, a welcome change after spending so much time in the city. It also opened our eyes to the reality of what used to be DC before it became the urban metropolis we now call home—a nice, big, beautiful swampland.

After Roosevelt Island, we journeyed on to Georgetown. Intent on buying cupcakes, however, we neglected to actually visit the university and just stayed on M Street with all of the shops, restaurants, and a lot of people. After walking for what seemed like a while, we finally made it to Baked and Wired, bought cupcakes (or ice cream, if you’re me), and proceeded to enjoy our treats while sitting next to the nearby canal. It was a glorious reward after a long day of walking/hiking.

So far, D.C. has been a wonderful, stretching, and enjoyable experience. I have loved getting to explore the city and see the sights! Although, upon reflection, I would say that three of the most important lessons I have learned thus far are as follows: prepare to eat, always bring an umbrella (that's another story), and wear walking shoes. Yes, professional opportunities abound and informational interviews are key, but if you fail to cover these three basic components, you will most likely show up to work with sopping wet clothes, feet covered in blisters, and stomachs that have never had the pleasure of digesting a crème brûlée doughnut, which would actually be the real tragedy.

Harry Potter, doughnuts, and real estate make the world go round- Emma Hedges

Saturday:  Soooo it was Harry Potter weekend on the telyvision this weekend.  We started out with a trip to Eastern market , after which I spent the entire day holed up in the cave (living room), pretending to accomplish things. Although to be fair, I did get most of the way through "Its worse than it looks" between naps. And then we mostly devolved into eating Indian take-out and watching the movie marathon.

Sunday: See above loafing, book reading, paper proposal writing, szechuan peanut noodle making etc. Also watching Harry Potter, which is necessary for life. I did not accomplish any touristy things this weekend. I am ashamed of myself internet, so maybe I will make it up next weekend (probably not).

Monday: It was warm today, and by warm I mean humid. Very, very humid. It made for a tough morning run and a sticky metro ride to work. Pro tip: just expect the red line to have delays. They tell you that when you get here, I would definitely believe them. Monday went uphill from there, I spent lunch/ my mental health break reading in the courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery (I spend around 3 hours a week there, all the nature, none of the heat) and Olivia dropped by for a visit! After work was class, we turned in our paper proposals and had the usual brain-testing round of policy discussions. This week was particularly interesting since we covered both education and voting structure in the US.

Tuesday: Work work work work. The good news is I'm getting to know excel better than ever (which was basically none, prior knowledge nonexistent), and I'm continuing to keep up with current events.  That's probably a good habit to cultivate as I ponder acting like a responsible adult, someday, maybe.... Conveniently, our policy salon tonight lined up well with that theme. Our speaker du jour graduated from Ohio State and then went on to get his MA and JD. He had a solid talk about resumes and interview preparation, both of which are becoming more and more essential to us as graduation looms closer. Side note: WAIP has been in DC for almost a month now, which is a crazy long time…...and it has gone by in the blink of an eye. I have a sneaking suspicion that the rest of the year is going to go exactly like that and all of a sudden I'm going to be looking at a graduation cap.

Wednesday: I did literally nothing of note today after work. Absolutely nothing. 

Thursday:  So we had constituent coffee with Senator Brown this morning, which was pretty darn cool. He seems very nice and was interested to hear about our summers so far/ what we're all doing internship-wise. I was going to fan-girl slightly and refuse to wash my hands for a couple hours after shaking his, but then I got on the metro and felt and immediate need for hand sanitizer when I got off of it. C'est la vie. Rolled into work a mere 45 minutes late (which I had okay-ed in advance) and the Thursday whirlwind of projects began. Better to be busy than bored. I took a break from the madness around one and dragged one of the other interns with me to go grab lunch at a place Katy recommended called Chinatown Express. It is a delightful little dive (you literally dive into it if its rainy out, see today's weather report) complete with fish tanks and ducks in the window. I had pork and leek steamed dumplings (eight for a mere 5.95) that you can also get with other fillings or fried! They were delicious, and nicely textured which is always a good quality to find in a dumpling. My compatriot had the General Tso's chicken which was reassuringly spicy around the edges and accompanied by heaps of rice (7.95). I will be revisiting Chinatown Express and not just to say hello to the fish. Evening was spent loafing.

Friday:  After briefly celebrating our recess from formal dress team WAIP hustled to the National Archives for our first tour of the day.  Having a docent-led tour confers the advantage of getting in before the crowds, somewhat. The herds of middle schoolers caught up with us when we were listening to a review on the constitution. I would have willingly gotten up a couple hours earlier if it meant dodging the crowds entirely, but we made it through in the end and broke for lunch. Christening our new Friday tradition, Olivia and I (this time with new initiates) headed back to Astro's, this time to try both the doughnuts AND the fried chicken. Better choices could not have been made. I tried the maple bacon doughnut this time around, and while it was the best maple bacon doughnut I've ever had, I still put the crème brulee doughnut at the top of the best doughnuts I have ever eaten list. We enjoyed a leisurely  (and increasingly warm) walk back to the mall from Chinatown to go to the Air and Space museum for our second tour of the day. I don't know if the doughnut revived me, or if I just preferred looking at plaaaaanes, but I had more fun during our second tour, despite continuing galloping hordes of youths.  With a new slightly-more-comprehensive of the development of human flight and sightings of John Glenn's space suit (what up Glenn School) buoying us, we made it home and collapsed. Friday night involved a tour around the American University neighborhood, where the houses bear surprising similarity to much of Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood. My dreams of living there someday were crushed when I got home  and zillowed real estate in the area. Somehow I don't think an entry level job in DC is going to cover the mortgage attached to a 1.5 million dollar postage stamp of property. I'll end this week on that depressing note.

General Thoughts and Feelings After Living in DC for a Month

The Hill:





The Hill has been home for the past four and a half weeks. The verdant tree-lined streets, quaint row homes and local restaurants along Pennsylvania avenue make the neighborhood more reminiscent of a small town than an urban jungle. You would never guess you were in the political seat of the western world if it were not for the Capitol's dome and the Washington monument looming in the background. 







The Metro:



Each day I subject myself to the red line and often caffeine-fueled commute from Union Station to downtown DC. Despite the stifling humidity, the lack of personal space on the trains and throngs of people in general, it is difficult to not feel some sense of inspiration at Union Station. The neo-classical architecture, formal dress of the commuters and gleaming storefronts instill a feeling of importance inside you even if you are just a lowly intern. 







The Island: 

Roosevelt Island offers a simple and pleasant brand of natural beauty. It's not overwhelmingly exotic but still has opportunity for adventure in the form of kayaking, biking or fishing. In the interior of the island there is a Soviet-esque statue of Teddy Roosevelt surrounded by giant stone slabs with various insights about nature, manhood, youth and the state

Examining the Pace of Washington

Ari Kirsh

When you arrive in Washington, D.C. to be an intern with Washington Academic Internship Program (WAIP), the first thing that stands out to you is the pace.

No, I am not referencing how time flies by being here. I am talking about the pace that everyone walks.

It is one of the weirdest differences about D.C. from the rest of the world that I have witnessed thus far. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) in our nation’s capitol walks like men and women possessed. People move so quickly that they create air currents as they pass you by. Some of these people seem like they could win a Gold Medal in Speed-Walking in the Olympics. I have lived in Cincinnati, Columbus, Jerusalem, Bat Yam, and Arad and I have never seen people walk the way that they do here.

We actually spoke about how people walk in our first Policy Analysis class with Professor Mark Gaspar. He called this phenomenon “striding”. Professor Gaspar pointed out all the different areas where striding appears here in D.C.: on the street, in office buildings, even in the television show The West Wing. Striding also plays a role when using the Metro subway system; on escalators, it is an unwritten law to stand on the right and walk on the left, on pain of public reprimand by strangers. When we asked why everyone is rushing around, Professor Gaspar gave us an answer whose theme resonates throughout our course, our program, and all of Washington in general: we are already out of time.

Washington, D.C. serves as home to the most powerful people and resources of the most powerful nation in the world. Yet even with all of that power, all of that influence and strength, there is nothing that anyone here can do to halt Father Time. Events develop and proliferate here at a breakneck speed. Responding to an email after a day is a day too late. Returning a call after a day is a day too late. The presence of all of that power puts more pressure on this city than the lowest depths of the ocean ever could. And everyone feels it, because in this city, change can occur on a dime, making reaction and adaptation to change crucial. That is why everyone is so frenetic. That is why people dash up and down the escalator on the left side. That is why everyone is already out of time. And that is why people stride.

Striding serves as a microcosm of one of the most important lessons I have learned since coming here: that time management is crucial. So much of life here in Washington, D.C. requires an intense time commitment that it is easy to forget all of the responsibilities that a person can have here. These time demands are why the slogan of my roommate Max and I has become to find the hidden minutes in the day. It is not enough to merely “manage” time; sometimes you have to search for new reservoirs of it in order to complete every task.

So if you see me walking around D.C., you will never see me saunter or stroll around. You will see me stride, because I am already out of time, and I have to find the hidden minutes in my day so that I can have more. 

EU Open House

About a month ago, I had the opportunity to visit a few embassies as part of the European Union Delegation's Open House - an event that occurs once a year in which all participating embassies of the European Union open their doors to the public, there are cultural performances, food samples, cultural lessons, etc. The open house went from 10 am - 4 pm and during that time I was able to make it to 4 embassies: the German/French Embassy, the Hungarian Embassy, and the Embassy of the Netherlands. I had originally planned on visiting 8 embassies but that was way too ambitious of a plan and now I'll know better for next year!

The first embassy I visited was the German/French Embassy (France had their open house at the German embassy), which was super crowded even though it was only slightly after 10 am when I showed up. The line was already around the corner, so I ended up spending about 40 minutes waiting in line! After going through security, it was like a whole other world. There were tents and stands set up all throughout the grounds of the embassy, and people were giving out Haribo bears, wine samples, stinky cheese, as well as cultural quizzes (for prizes) and many opportunities for photo shoots. After walking through the Ambassador's residences, we ended up in the gardens where there was live music and many food stands. By then, it was already over 12 pm so we quickly left and waited in line for about 30 minutes for the shuttle bus to take us to another embassy.

The next stop of the day was the Embassy of the Netherlands, which was by far my favorite visit of the day. As soon as we stepped through the gates, a lady greeted us with Stroopwafels, water, and food tickets which were good for one food sampling and one beer tasting.

I sampled some 10-month-old cheese, ate some "poffertjes," sampled Heineken in the "lounge" and then obviously had to pose for a photo with some tulips!

After this was the last embassy visit of the day -- the Hungarian Embassy! I fell in love with Budapest when I studied abroad there last year, so this embassy was a must-visit for me. It was already 3:30pm, so luckily the Hungarian Embassy was close by and we were able to just walk there. We missed many of the giveaways but there was still some food left for purchase, so I of course had to buy some of my favorite goulash soup paired with fröccs (a Hungarian spritzer). The backyard of the embassy had been transformed into a "ruin pub" straight out of Budapest, so this was a lovely place to end the day.

All in all, it was a wonderful day spent with family members before starting off my WAIP summer!

Some tips on visiting the EU Open house:
-Know where you want to go, and how far the embassies are from each other. Surprisingly, not all of the embassies are in one place so be sure to plan your day and know what shuttles/trains to take to get to the embassy quickly.
-Be prepared to stop and take a quick lunch break. Yes, there are food samples every where but they definitely cannot be substituted for a full meal.
-Be prepared to wait/stand for long periods of time. Bring company or a book or something to keep you occupied. Wear comfortable shoes!
-Be open-minded! This is a great experience and you will love it if you embrace the different cultures and stay open-minded.
-Have fun!! Enjoy the different embassy tours and don't rush through them. Don't be overly ambitious (like me) and try to limit your tours to about 3-5 embassies, so that you can thoroughly enjoy your experiences at each one.

-Mandy Chen

May 23-28. Food Recommendations by Emma Hedges

Saturday: Today started out well with my first trip to Eastern Market. I got a gigantic burrito that kept me full for the next ten hours and picked up some chicken to stir fry with this evening. Disappointing were the lack of produce vendors actually selling their own produce (oranges  really and truly don’t grow in the DC area, they simply don't). I did manage to track down some cherry tomatoes and mushrooms from Virginia though. The tomatoes were mucho tasty as an afternoon snack to tide me over between burrito and dinner. Handy that I had them too as Josh, Tom and I headed a couple metro rides away from Capital Hill to walk around Roosevelt Island in the afternoon.  The walk from the metro to the island was beautiful alone since most of it is along a bike path beside the Potomac. The island itself was scented with honeysuckle bushes in full bloom and sprinkled with sightings of ducklings in the Potomac with lilies, frogs and a turtle in the marshy parts of the island. And that was just the nature. The monument to Roosevelt himself is appropriately grand while maintaining its connection to the (mostly) unspoiled beauty of the island. Though they weren't running while we were there, there are fountains and a moat surrounding the entire monument. Four walls, for lack of a better term, stand to the rear and sides of Dearest Teddy's saluting copper figure. These walls outline his ideas on Manhood, Nature, The State, and Youth, giving you the opportunity for both pictures and reflection. There was also a great group of yopros (Young Professionals) who offered us extra watermelon from their picnic. Like true interns we accepted the free food. Back at home we rejoined the rest of the WAIP-ers and shuffled through our turns in the kitchen to get dinner done. Surprisingly today was the first day we have had serious kitchen overflow, which is probably pretty good given that we've been here for two weeks. Continuing Saturday's productive trend I finally managed to see Pitch Perfect 2 in the evening! We arrived early to the theatre in Chinatown (conveniently a block over from my office, and also conveniently next to a sushi place) early and in walking around the neighborhood before the movie started got to see a couple street performers. The street performers were exceptionally flexible and the movie was a hilarious a-cap-ella-off (sorry) to an excellent day.

Sunday: I started out the morning with a run down the Mall, and a walk back up the Mall (its kinda very uphill on the way back). Most of the day I dedicated to loafing/finishing Bardach's book to prepare for the five paper my class has due on Tuesday.

Monday: Happy Memorial Day! Starting the day, and the week off right, Olivia, Morgan, and I headed to Whole Foods for brain food. Interns are ALWAYS hungry…..and tired. I blame the walking, sure its great for your calves, but at what cost?? So of course that afternoon we walked over to the Memorial Day Parade along Pennsylvania Ave.. We had a late-ish start, so we weren't able to get any further than the starting point of the parade, but all the same we enjoyed high school band after high school band, veterans galore in vintage cars, and a delightful flock of hoop-skirt-sporting civil war reenactors. I also picked up the worst sunburn I've ever had (life lesson: Wear sunscreen. Always). Sunburn and parade notwithstanding, reality does eventually have to return. Our reality is a five page paper due Tuesday in class.

Tuesday: Back to work, but with the happiness of a three day week in our sights. I made the important discovery today that the café in the National Portrait Gallery serves tapioca pudding with guava jam. I foresee myself spending the rest of my lunch breaks this summer convincing myself that I really don’t need to eat it every day. I highly recommend it though for anyone doing a day trip through the Gallery.  Tuesday concluded with our policy class, which went well. Olivia and I presented and analyzed an article on the licensing and copyright problems surrounding Beatrix Potter's works, which made the bookworm in me doubly happy.

Wednesday: The usual lack of anything remarkable.

Thursday: Work by day, burger consumer by night. I got to try out Good Stuff Eatery tonight, I kept it simple with a cheeseburger (good) and added some pizzaz with a toasted s'more milkshake (exceptional). Definitely a would-recommend.

Friday:  PENTAGON DAYYYYYYYYY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! We didn't need to meet Katy as a group until 11:15, giving us some extra time to knock stuff out in the morning. I started with a run, I've gotten my time down by thirty seconds a mile since we got here, then looped back to the house to dress and pick up Olivia. I had some paperwork to drop off at the office in Chinatown, so we headed over there and met with a surprise picket line outside my building. The offices I work in only take up part of one floor, and as it turns out, there is a natural gas company somewhere else in the building. The picketers were protesting the use of fracking to retrieve natural gas. Both the picketers and the officers keeping an eye on things were very polite and let me slide past up to the office. By the time I came back downstairs a few minutes later they were gone and so we carried on to Astro's Doughnuts with little fanfare and no chanting. Astro's, it turns out, very much deserves fanfare. I tried their crème brulee doughnut and may or may not have achieved nirvana right there on the sidewalk outside. Olivia had a strawberry lemon doughnut that was both refreshing and adorably pink. We have already agreed that a return trip will be necessary to sample their fried chicken as well. A metro ride later we reached the Pentagon an hour early. Abandoning most pretensions at young professionalism we spent the hour sitting in a row communicating via our phones and giggling. The tour was interesting, but delivered a bit too briskly for my taste. I would've loved more time to read all of the information someone took the time to put into their displays. All in all, a very fast, but very fun week.

Trains, Hot Dogs and Pentagons - Sarah Hudacek

Friday, May 29th was a pretty relaxed day, in the most wonderful way. Our morning didn’t start until 11:15, which meant that we could sleep in, take our time getting ready, and even send a few emails before we left to meet the group at the Archives metro station. I love riding the metro. Absolutely love it. I’m from a small Ohio town of 600 people. We don’t even have a stoplight in our town, let alone any big cities nearby with subways or metros, so I enjoy riding the metro every chance I get (not lying, y'all). Today’s destination: the Pentagon! Even riding the escalator up from underground, you know you’re in the right place. Decorated military men and women are walking everywhere, and security guards holding very, very large guns were standing at every corner. We went through security, and even the visitor waiting room was a cool experience. We took photos at a podium and waited about an hour for our tour to start. I couldn’t help but wonder who was in that waiting room with us. Could a 4 star general be waiting for a meeting with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Or perhaps a Congressman was sitting in the corner?  Or maybe it was simply 8th graders from around the country and our Ohio State group. Even so, I was excited to even be sitting inside the headquarters of the Department of Defense.

We saw some pretty cool things throughout the tour – the central courtyard, the 9/11 memorial, the lobby area that closely resembled a mall, with banks, credit unions, clothes stores, shoe stores, barber shops, jewelry stores, etc.. Kind of amazing the think that the 23,000 Pentagon employees would be able to survive inside the building for six straight months if for any reason they were unable to leave. Only about 7,000 of those employees are civilians, though – everyone else is a member of the military. Our tour guide, an active member of the Army, said that the central courtyard in the middle of the Pentagon is an area where lower-ranking military members don’t have to salute their ranking officers, and can instead enjoy a peaceful, relaxing lunch regardless of who they run into. This 5-acre no salute zone is the largest in the world.

Another favorite story from the tour: the café in the middle of the courtyard has always been a simple cafeteria for a lunchtime break. During the Cold War, however, the Russians had other thoughts. They saw the large volume of people going in and out all day and predicted that it was a bunker, reportedly aiming their nuclear weapons at the building in the middle of the courtyard. Years later, it was finally conveyed that this “bunker,” as it was thought during the Cold War, was really just a lunchtime hot dog stand, now renamed Ground Zero Hot Dogs in honor of that hilarious mistake.

     At the end of the day, perhaps it would have been cool if the tour had taken us to more than just the memorial, the escalators, the windows, the hallways. We saw a very small portion of the Pentagon, only about 1 mile of it, compared to the whopping 17 miles of corridors. But I still can’t believe that earlier today I walked around in a building that houses the Navy, the Army, the Marines, the Air Force, (not the Coast Guard, they’re part of the Department of Homeland Security), the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of Defense, and countless other important officials…I’m blown away. In that building, decisions were made that sacrificed thousands of American lives, and perhaps saved just as many. Today I was able to witness just a small piece of that history. Not bad for a late morning’s start. 

Maybe just look at Friday- Emma Hedges

Saturday:  With the first week done all you really want to do is sleep. Or maybe sit on the couch. Regrettably for you D.C. isn't a permanent home (yet).  I did indulge in sleeping in until 8:30 instead of getting up at 6:15, which was a nice treat. To make up for the lie-in I trekked to the local grocery outpost (giant) and bought essentials (nutella, whipped cream and eggs). Saturday morning Swedish pancakes are always the right call to make! I got those started at 9:30 and just kept making them until 11. Somehow we still had leftovers despite the 15 or so people that trickled through for breakfast. Fortunately, pancakes are also good for lunch, and dinner, and snacks, and second day breakfast.  After a brief period of lounging a few of us drifted around the Capitol building to the Asian Heritage Festival on Pennsylvania Ave.. They had some great dancing and singing, and of course, food. Thai tea and chicken kebab for lunch! The evening concluded with a failed trip to see Pitch Perfect 2 in Chinatown.

Sunday: Starting the day with some leftover pancakes from the morning before is always the correct way to go. Not too much happened on Sunday, despite my vow to go to a museum a weekend, I'm so far failing miserably. I did manage to go grocery shopping though, and made it to Nordstrom Rack, where I invested in new shorts, and a new work shirt. Both of which were entirely necessary of course. Sunday night finished off with another failed ice cream trek to union station (turns out the ice cream place closes at 9 rather than a civilized hour like 11).

Monday: Work week two! Nothing too remarkable to report here. I've settled into my work (meaning I'm slowly memorizing names), and developed a very British habit of elevenses. Any excuse for a cup of tea and granola bar mid-morning! Today's policy lecture went well, my section turned in our paper topics for the 20 page policy paper we have due at the end of the semester. Spoiler alert, mine has been accepted.

Tuesday: Work by day, Mentor Mixer by night. Only hitch was the fact that my mentor is currently in Sweden. Regardless, listening to what other people's mentors had to say and comparing notes on our first week with my fellow fellows made it worth it.

Wednesday: I don't think anything remarkable actually happened today. I worked, I came home, yay!

Thursday: See above. With the added addition of joy because Thursday is our last day for work during the week!!

Friday: Friday is delicious because sometimes you get to sleep in. This week we didn't need to meet at the Newseum until 10, so I got to sleep in a full extra hour! We walked, for the most part, en masse to the museum where we met up with Neal Hooker, one of the lectureres. Katy, who would usually be with us for a tour is back in Columbus for her wedding this weekend, YAY!! In the Newseum we stayed as a group just long enough to take a group picture on the rooftop terrace before we separated out to enjoy it at our own pace. With six floors, there is a lot to see. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone that’s planning a trip soon, but I will say that you can probably skip the 4D movie. In my opinion at least it wasn't worth the half hour, the seventh graders filling up the rest of the room seemed to enjoy it though, so that’s probably more the targeted age range. The museum does have an interesting series of pictures on the gradually ageing baby boomers, a entertaining but maybe a little kitschy exhibit dedicated to the beginnings of the FBI (focused heavily on 'gangsters') and a giant room full of interactive games. The best exhibit though, at least in my opinion, is the 9/11 section. Its not the newspaper headlines from around the globe, or even the twisted wreckage of the transmitter from the top of one of the towers that gets you. Hidden away in a little room off to one side is a video of clips from the reporters who were right by the base of the towers when they were collapsing, interspersed with other clips of the reporters themselves talking about the day. It was not an intentional tear jerker, but thought provoking instead. I would highly recommend a stop by just for that. 

May 9-15 Emma Hedges

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. 

The Library of Congress and the Importance of Education

Education is what drives our world. Without it, where would we be? For starters, there would be no medium for this blog post. If the brilliant minds of this planet were not granted the opportunity to pursue an education, we wouldn’t be nearly as progressed in technology, literature, or civil rights as we are today. One of the cornerstone elements of the Library of Congress is it’s strong focus on education as a path to success. As an education policy minor, I am deeply concentrated on the idea that education is what sets people free and is what gives them the opportunity to live a prosperous life.To reiterate the importance of this idea, engraved above one of the windows in the Library of Congress is the phrase, “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” I find this to be incredibly empowering and accurate in our world. It applies also to the world of Thomas Jefferson, whom the library built it’s content around. As well as this inspiring quotation, there are many more intriguing aspects of this historical and architectural masterpiece. Along the staircase in the front of the building are 10 children’s portraits engraved into the marble, each one symbolizing a career path of the time of creation. For example, one child was a fisherman and another a farmer. Each one was a representation of the importance of a child pursuing their dreams and passions and giving back to the community and world from which they came. Also, the architecture was demographically diverse, including statues and portraits of both genders and multiple cultures. The Library of Congress was a complete surprise for me as far as a study tour that aligned with my passions and values. I now feel more deeply connected to the history behind its design as well as the founder father, Thomas Jefferson, who focused so sincerely on the education of youth and the prosperous futures they all held.