My First Day

Tomorrow will be my first day as a former intern of Marathon Petroleum Corporation.

For today though, I'm still a John Glenn Fellow and according to the computer system back in Findley, OH, I'm still an employee of the Federal Affairs Office of MPC. At least until the clock strikes midnight.  Then the carriage turns back into a pumpkin.  Or I guess DC turns back into Columbus.  Either way, this quarter has been magical and I'm sad to see my time come to a close.

What have I learned?  What have I gained?  My knowledge about the issues most pressing to the energy industry has vastly expanded.  It's been energizing to learn about policy crafting from the side of a corporation too.  Walking away, I know far more about energy policy then I could have imagined and that's great.  I could see myself following this along into a future career.

What do I wish I would have worked on more?  Networking is such a vital piece to succeeding in DC and I don't feel I improved as much as I could have.  I've learned parts of the process but haven't practiced putting it all together.  So I got someone's business card, how soon do I email them?  How often?  I guess that's something I'll work on when I get back to DC.

 Every Sunday, we WAIP fellows would lament how quick that week had gone and how we had less and less time left in DC.  And now that I'm at the end, all I can do is smile, and say wow.  So much has happened in 10 weeks and yet it feels like so little happened.  Work, class, new friends, new foods, new experiences, new memories all rush by in flash.

Going forward if I've learned nothing else, which of course I have learned something I just said I learned a lot but go with me for now, I've learned a little something about life.

Don't worry about the time that's now behind you, but be excited for the time that's still ahead of you.  You'll only waste what's left on what was.  So keep pressing forward, don't you dare look at that clock, and keep pressing on like the carriage will always be a carriage.  Today isn't my last day, but my first day of a new experience and it'll be a better one because of my time in DC.

-Kristofer Fetterman