Start of My Internship

Well, yesterday I started my internship.  The office seems really great.  It's pretty small, but everyone was very friendly.  It's interesting, too, because several Lutheran organizations are all housed in the same office space.  We have the "advocacy team" (of which I am a part), as well as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (interested in talking to those guys!), Lutheran Services of America, and another organization that I am forgetting at the moment.  Starting tomorrow, a bunch of our church's bishops are in DC for an annual conference, as well as meetings up on Capitol Hill.  Our office is in charge of planning and coordinating the whole thing so, as you can imagine, yesterday and today were a little crazy.

As a result, I spent most of my days doing clerical-type work.  Everyone kept apologizing to me and promising that my internship wouldn't normally be like that.  Honestly, I didn't mind.  I'm used to doing clerical work and actually like having work that keeps me up on my feet and moving around the office.  It was also helpful to have a new person be able to do the folder stuffing and stapling, so that people who actually knew what was going on could have time to do the in-depth tasks.  I liked it because I felt like I was kind of easing my way into my job.  I have a feeling that if I started my typical duties on the first day, there would be people I would never meet in our office.  Once I begin my research, I think my work will keep me back in my own office for most of the day.  It will be a different environment from the socializing I'm used to at Davis Brown!

One great thing about my job is that it's about three blocks from the Capitol grounds.  I have an awesome view of the Capitol as I walk from Union Station down Louisiana Ave to my internship.  I wonder if the novelty will eventually wear off, or if seeing that white dome will always give me a little thrill.

Congress came back to session this week.  It seems our office will be in full-throttle mode for awhile because right after the bishops conference, we head straight into a three week legislative session.  From what I gathered, our office has a special interest in a lot of the legislation that is supposed to hit the floor this session and so I'm looking forward to being in the midst of that.  I hope to come home a legislative pro!

On a completely separate note, last weekend I experienced my first hurricane/tropical storm.  Hana made her way up the coast and hit the DC area a bit.  It was a little anticlimactic (I'll admit I was a little interested in experiencing a hurricane, since I'm from tornado country!).  We mostly just got a lot of rain on Saturday.  I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for me to stay in and get my homework done so I could go downtown on Sunday.  Of course I didn't get as much homework done as I should have, and I still went downtown on Sunday.  :-)  I'm three weeks into the semester, and I still haven't gotten into school mode.  That really needs to change!

I hope everyone is doing well in the heartland (or wherever you may be reading this!),

~Katie