Week 9...Here And Gone!

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. Here is yet another weekly report!

Last week I had my typical internship days on Monday/Tuesday. Conveniently, my boss let me work from home both days because she was feeling sick and working from home, too. Since I am kind of wrapping up my two big projects in the office, this did give me some time to work on my school work. I think my boss is pretty great because she is VERY sensitive to the fact that I am also a student, so she never wastes my time when there's not much to do. And honestly, there isn't much for me to do at the office right now because Congress isn't in session. A lot of our staff members are traveling or working on their own big research projects...not too much that a lowly intern can help with.

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to hear Bob Woodward speak on AU's main campus, which was pretty incredible! I found him to be very intelligent, witty, and interesting. He did not speak much about uncovering Watergate, but instead focused on the new books he's written recently about President Bush and the Iraq War. To write his books he said he's conducted a total of 11 hours of interviews with the President, so he had some fascinating insights into the personality of the man in the Oval Office. But he also addressed the subject with a good sense of humor and some anecdotes about important figures in Washington. Here were some of my favorite parts of the speech:

He asked President Bush how he felt history would remember him and the Iraq War. President Bush's response was (probably paraphrasing here...) "Who cares about the history? We'll all be dead."
OK, so that's a very scary outlook. Maybe I'LL be dead, but my children/grandchildren/great grandchildren are going to have to live with the consequences of our policies. (I hear Dave Matthews Band in my head "Well, it would take me a lifetime, old man, to undo what you've done.")
WELL...Hillary Clinton reads this response and approaches Bob Woodward and tells him that that is NO way for a President to speak. She said, "George Washington wouldn't talk like that. Thomas Jefferson wouldn't talk like that. BILL wouldn't talk like that!" Woodward said he wondered if they had carved a new face on Mt. Rushmore that he didn't know about...

Also, Woodward was having lunch with Al Gore and asking him about the role the press has in the White House. He asked Gore how much the press and the public knew of what went on during the Clinton years. Gore said "1 percent." WOW. (Woodward thought, "THAT many more women?!?!?") So Woodward asked if Gore wrote a tell-all memoir of his years as VP and said EVERYTHING he knew about the Clinton presidency, then how much would we know? Gore said, "2 percent." OK, so perhaps Gore was being coy...but still imagine that! How much don't we know?!? Crazy. From his own perspective, Woodward speculates that we know about 75% percent of what goes on in an administration.

Finally, just a word of wisdom. My favorite quote of the day: "All good work is done in defiance of management."

So...the rest of the week was class, as usual. Not even many guest speakers this week. We are trying to push through the book and the work before Europe. We did get to go to the Estonian Embassy on Friday, which seemed completely random but turned out to be very fascinating! I think now our whole class is hoping we take a wrong turn in Europe and end up in Estonia...

I did get one midterm grade back last week. I got 100% on my take-home midterm for my elective class, which was very encouraging! I do not yet have my midterm grade back for my main seminar class, which is quite a bit more important. But I felt confident about the test and hope that I did fine!

Saturday night a friend from my class called and asked if I was interested in going to a play. Her supervisor wasn't going to use her tickets to see the Shakespeare Theater Co. perform "The Way of the World" and offered them to us. So I took the opportunity for a study break and went to see a good comedy. All through the play I listened to the pit and heard some great bassoon lines...then in the last act they brought the bassoonist and a few other musicians out on stage!!!!! It was the first bassoon I've seen in months and I honestly thought of rushing the stage just to touch it...but I didn't (I think that would have been frowned upon). I had been doing a good job of ignoring my musical cravings, but seeing a bassoon was waaaaaay hard. I can't wait to play mine when I go home for Thanksgiving in one month!

This week I've got lots of work to do--3 papers and a presentation to do this week, in addition to the usual readings. eeek! BUT I was pretty productive this weekend and got 2 of the papers done and my part of the 3rd paper done (a group paper). So the week will mostly be working on polishing the presentation, editing the group paper (a job I volunteered for and I'm not sure why), reading, reading, reading, and making progress on my research paper because I also have an outline for that due this week! I do not know how I will find the time, but I'm sure I will manage!

I was pretty excited to find out that you can go trick-or-treating at the Embassies. I hope to find the time to do that this weekend...and someone who is willing to go with me!

I am now less than 2 weeks away from Europe!!!!!!! I am SO thrilled. We finally got our itinerary over the weekend and the schedule looks jam-packed, but also pretty great. We only have one free day the whole trip. We'll be in Brussels so Lizzy, me, and some others from our class are looking into train tickets to Amsterdam or Paris. Hopefully we'll make a day trip somewhere!

That's about all there is to report from the East Coast. I am getting very sad to see my days in DC slipping away...I now have about 3 weeks left to actually be in DC. I'm really going to miss this place! But I have so much to look forward to in Europe and I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and friends over Thanksgiving. It's just so strange to feel this experience drawing to a close...

Take care everyone,

~Katie

Wahoo Midterms!!!!!!

OK, I realize it's been awhile since I updated...life has just been crazy!  Let me think about what's happened since New York:

*Last weekend I had a take-home midterm...which took up a lot of the weekend.  BUT it was accomplished and I felt pretty good about it.

*Last week was a week of midterms.  But since my genocide course had a take-home the weekend before, the only real test I had was my main seminar test.

*Monday I went to work...and then realized it was Columbus Day and no one was at the office.  soooooo I had the whole day free for studying, which actually turned out to be very productive.  I rode the train back to campus and studied all day for my midterm.

*Tuesday was a work day, as usual.  Plus night class that evening.

*Wednesday was a review day in class for the midterm.  I was feeling pretty good after the intense study day I had Monday.

*Wednesday evening I attended a reception at American University's Washington College of Law.  It was an event that the law school put on exclusively for Washington Semester students, which was really cool.  Even better--only about 10 students showed up, so I spent a lot of time asking questions of their admissions rep and a current law student.  I was really impressed with the program and what they had to say, so I think American could go on the list of potential law schools!

*Thursday was the exam!  It took me about 2 1/2 of the 3 allotted hours, but I felt pretty good about it.  I think Lizzy and I did a good job preparing and I'm anxious to see the grades come back.

*Friday we (Lizzy and I) visited Georgetown Law School.  I was fairly impressed with it--it seemed much more relaxed and less snobby than I was expecting.  I don't think I liked it as much as American, but I will definitely still consider it.  The location is great (downtown near  the Supreme Court) and the facilities were nice.  I got to sit in on a first year civil procedure course and found it much less intimidating than I was expecting, so that was good.

*Friday night was a relaxation night...wahoo!  I made a much-needed trip to Target.

*Saturday my wonderful Godfather was in town, so I met him for breakfast.  It was really nice to see someone from home and, as always, amazing to see him!  It was definitely the highlight of my week!

*Saturday afternoon Lizzy and I ventured off to find a mall.  We followed the directions given to us by Metro Trip Planner and wound up at Grosvenor Metro Station waiting for a bus that never came.  Soooo I finally asked the Metro Station attendant, who put us on a different bus that took us BACK one metro station (in the direction that we came) to take ANOTHER bus to the mall.  By the time we arrived, Lizzy and I really felt we had earned the shopping trip!  There is no one else I would rather be lost, wandering around Maryland with!  Being at a mall really made me realize that I've done NOTHING close to my normal life for the past two months and shopping was a slight return to life as usual.  Who actually knew a mall could be soothing?

*This morning I slept in and missed church...whoops.  :-/  But I think I really needed the sleep...I've been tempted to smash my alarm clock every day this week.  I then invested about 4 semi-productive hours at the library, but was a little too ADD to get much done.  BACK to the dorm.  Possible productivity later this evening?

*This week I also picked out my classes for next semester at Drake and formulated a new life plan.  Productive for midterms week, right?

*The upcoming week looks relatively normal but I am starting to feel the pressure to get going on my research paper and an upcoming group project...all before we leave for Europe in less than 3 weeks!  Ohhhh this is an intense semester.

Take care, everyone!

New York, New York!

Well my class returned last night from our trip to New York City!  We had a great time in just a few short days!

It started at 10:45 am on Sunday morning (early for college students!).  We loaded the bus and headed north.  Our teachers predicted a 4 hours bus ride--gross underestimation.  We finally rolled up to the hotel close to 5:00.  The bus ride was ruined by an completely horrible movie about human trafficking that our professors decided we need to watch.  Finally after about 2 hours of depression, we revolted and convinced them to turn it off so our grand entry into the city would not be ruined.  Everyone's spirits were lifted when we got caught in traffic due to a random Polish Pride parade.  My teacher and two of our students our Polish and had no idea why there would have been a parade on Sunday--just a lot of Polish pride, I guess!

We unloaded the bus and checked into the UN Millennium Plaza Hotel (super nice!).  Lizzy and I were slightly annoyed by the two hour delay because it was already starting to get dark by the time we ventured out.  We walked up to Central Park and took a look around before night really set in and then walked down 5th Avenue and did some shopping.  After that, I turned in for the night while Lizzy met her cousin who goes to Columbia.

Monday was a great day!  We started off with a tour of the UN.  It was SO exciting to be there!  And, since the General Assembly is in session, there was quite a bit of activity going on.  When we went into the General Assembly, they were actually beginning their session so some of the delegates were entering the room and people were speaking.  I got to use the fun earpiece to hear the translation!  I kind of wish we could have gone to New York last week, when all of the Heads of State were at the UN but I would have to guess we wouldn't have been allowed in then.  It was still cool.  We had lunch in the Delegate's Dining Room and tried Icelandic food.  It was interesting, but I can't say that it will be the next cultural wave to hit the U.S.  After lunch we went to the Court of International Trade and spoke with one of its judges.  Then we headed BACK to the UN complex and had a speaker who is lawyer that takes lawsuits that restore stolen art and artifacts to their original countries.  At first she was really interesting, but I will admit that by about the 19th slide of some stolen artifact, my interest (and my classmates' interests) was beginning to wane.  Our whole group then went back to the hotel to shed our professional clothes and then went to Times Square to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  After dinner a group of us just wandered around Times Square for a few hours before heading back for the night.

Tuesday we had a group of very interesting speakers.  The first works for the UN Commission on Human Rights, the second was a private practice human rights lawyer, and the third worked for the UN on climate change.  We broke for lunch and then traveled to the Baha'i UN Office.  They are a religious organization that does lobbying at the UN.  I was really interested in their presentation, but quickly became embarrassed by my classmates' behavior.  Several students started asking questions about the Baha'i beliefs on abortion, the death penalty, and same-sex marriage.  Our speakers tried to explain that their office didn't have policies on these issues because they work at the UN and focus on the rights of women and sustainable development.  But when pressed, the speaker did explain the Baha'i religious opinions on these subjects, which were, to say the least, a bit conflicting with my fairly liberal classmates' political opinions.  I completely understood the position of the speakers--they were trying to say that they don't concern themselves with such partisan, conflict-producing issues when they can be more productive and more beneficial in areas like development and human rights.  In addition, I can understand trying to balance one's moral/religious beliefs with political beliefs.  My classmates, however, were pretty rude and hostile to their responses and I was embarrassed by their behavior.  I am not sure how our professors felt about the discussion, but I would not be surprised if we have to be instructed on the proper way to ask questions and on how to keep questions relevant to the discussion.  Pretty sad for a bunch of intellectual students who are over the age of 20.  I was ticked.  Anyway, I left that behind me (after scolding some classmates for criticizing the organization WHILE WE WERE STILL IN THEIR HALLWAY!) and went to the next appointment.  We had a choice of where we wanted to go next--some students went to the Norwegian UN Mission, some went to the U.S. UN Mission, and others went to UNICEF.  I opted for the UNICEF group and enjoyed our speaker there, too. After that, we were free for the evening.  Unfortunately, I am still fighting a horrible cold bug and lost my voice completely on Monday, so I stayed in Tuesday night and chilled at the hotel.  The downside was missing fun out in New York, the plus side was getting to relax a little and being able to see the second Presidential debate.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was our last day in New York.  We left early for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  Neither was particularly thrilling, but it was still good to go.  You have to during your first time in New York, right?  Then we had the rest of the day free.  A friend of mine and I thought we'd try to catch a NYC bus tour, since this was the first time that we had been to New York.  Unfortunately, after a $20 cab ride across town, we got to the bus company and were told they didn't have any buses going out until Friday (even though we called and asked 3 times that morning and their brochure said they did tours every day until 7:00 pm..jerks).  So we found ourselves with time to kill and decided to walk up to Central Park.  We walked around the Park for a few hours.  During that time, I had the brilliant idea to find the John Lennon memorial and Liz wanted to find the Balto statue so we set off on a Central Park Mission.  BUT there are surprisingly few maps in Central Park and everyone we asked for directions sent us a different way.  Need less to say, we never found either one.  I have concluded that they probably don't' exist and the myth is just a funny joke that native New Yorkers can play on tourists.  It was a day of disappointment, but still enjoyable.  Around 5:30 we had to make our way back to the hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and boarded the bus at 7:00 to return to DC.

The trip back actually was about 4 hours, and we pulled up to good ol' Tenley Campus at 11:07.  It was an exhausting trip, but well worth it.  Now...on to midterms and then to Europe!

Lizzy and me with the UN flag at the Peacekeeping exhibit

I couldn't find the real Secretary General.  So this is me with the portraits of Former Secretary Kofi Annan and current Secretary Ban Ki-moon

Group of girls in Times Square (Magda, Katie, Liz, Lizzy, and me)

A pretty ridiculous picture.  My friend, Katie, is a native of New Jersey and decided that since this was my first time in New York, I needed a Statue of Liberty crown.  I think it's more embarrassing for her, since she's a native!  Good thing Lady Liberty is in the background.

Ahh....Week 6!

Well, everyone, it's Friday and I have reached the end of yet another school week!  *whew*

I am writing a bit earlier than usual this week because I will be spending most of Sunday on a bus to NYC!!!!!  I am sooooooo pumped!

This week was a good one, but very exhausting.  As usual, I had internship on Monday/Tuesday.  Everything went well--I have made a ton of progress on my research project.  On Tuesday I met with my supervisor, who seemed very pleased with the work that I've done and with what I'm finding out.  I got a bit more of an idea of what she wants from the project and I will be able to develop it a bit more.  She's also working to get me a "contact" from the State Department, which I think basically makes me sound pretty important!  ha!

Unfortunately I woke up Tuesday feeling a bit under the weather.  By noon on Tuesday I was feeling exhausted and asked to go home early, which I was granted.  I got back to campus around 3:00 and promptly took a 2 hour nap (very unusual for me...I am NOT a nap-taker).  I would have loved to sleep all night, but unfortunately had to go to my night class.  I made it through that in a sick, sleepy, and NyQuil-induced stupor.  Wednesday I was supposed to go into my internship to make up for the days that we will miss traveling, but I decided not to go in.  I slept about 10 hours Tuesday to Wednesday and spent most of Wednesday in bed.  I've also downed about a gallon of orange juice in 2 days...and I don't even like orange juice.  After Wednesday I've felt a lot better, but I am tiring very easily.  It is just a simple cold but it has really drained me!  I'm hoping for tomorrow to be restful day, so that I can try to recuperate for New York.

Yesterday my class had a really interesting speaker from Amnesty International come to talk to us about the political situation in Zimbabwe and speculate on the power-sharing agreement that was recently negotiated.  I really liked her and thought she was very intelligent.  I was glad because I got to ask a question that I have wondered for awhile: "what will a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe look like?"  The man is, after all, 84 years old!  Her response was grim, but honest, which I respected.  She said that it will depend a lot on how this power sharing agreement plays out.  If Mugabe is really going to share some power (doubtful?) then Tsvangirai or his party might actually be able to lead Zimbabwe.  However, if Mugabe is successful in holding on to all the power in this "power sharing" agreement, then she predicted a short power struggle within the party until one of Mugabe's men rises to the top.  It was a very interesting discussion!

Today we had a morning speaker who founded a small NGO that teaches yoga to victims of the Rwanda genocide.  I really liked her talk and found it very interesting, but we were unfortunately mixed in with an American University class that was studying nonverbal communication.  Apparently the speaker was only informed that she was speaking to those students, so the talk wasn't really aimed us.  A lot of my classmates found it to be a waste of time; I didn't find it particularly relevant to my studies, but still enjoyed what she had to say.

This afternoon our speaker was AWESOME!  He is an attorney in DC who is suing Iran for funding the terrorist attack against Marines in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983.  He was very animated and absolutely fascinating.  He did a really good job of explaining just HOW one goes about suing a sovereign state (typically the Sovereign Immunities Act prevents this, but an amendment to the act in 1996 allows one to sue a sovereign state if the state is on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list and funded a terrorist attack against an American that occurred outside of the sovereign borders of that state....in case you were wondering!).  His case has been heard in DC federal court and won something like a 2 billion dollar settlement.  Of course, Iran isn't exactly willing to pay up so they have to track down Iranian bank accounts or businesses tied to the U.S. and freeze those assets.  Very interesting!

Of course, the highlight of the week was the Biden/Palin showdown last night, which I feel that I am obligated to weigh in on.  The debate was a good one and I do think Biden emerged as the clear winner, though Palin did not fall as flat on her face as I expected (and hoped).  The NY Times summed it up best this morning: "She succeeded by not failing in any obvious way." Is that really the standard we have for our vice presidential candidates?  Sad.  I thought Biden did a good job, though, and I hope that the debate might really push the campaign forward.  It's too close for my comfort, at this point.

ALSO!  I forgot the most important thing of the week: I VOTED IN MY FIRST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It felt AWESOME!

That is the general recap of my week.  Tonight I have a dinner and movie date with Lizzy and tomorrow a possible excursion into Georgetown.  I must also find some time to start my research for my final paper for my genocide class, since I really only have about one month to work on it (most of November will be spent in Europe!).  If only there were more hours in a week...

I hope everything is good on your end!

~Katie

Week 5 -- what?!?

Hello, all!

I have successfully finished week 5, which means I am now 1/3 of the way through the program.  I can't believe it.  It has gone by very fast--I feel like my weeks just fly by.  On the other hand, I feel like I've been here forever and Thanksgiving is ages away.  On the other hand, I realize that one week from today I will be in NYC, approximately two weeks after that will be midterm, approximately 2 weeks after that I will a) be watching election results and b) packing my bags for Europe, I will be in Europe for 2 weeks, come back to DC for 24 hours and then head home to DSM for a week for Thanksgiving, come back for 2 weeks and be done! *whew*  When it's put that way, I see my time here slipping away and I am frantically trying to get my stuff in order!

But enough on my shock about the mystery of time--I'm sure you all feel that way too!  The REAL question is "what did I do this week?"  And to that I say "what DIDN'T I do?"

This week has been crazy.  I interned Monday/Tuesday, as usual.  I am getting pretty deep into my research now, so that's nice.  I find the research fun and the topic is interesting (though not surprising...did you know the U.S. gives a ton of money to Israel? hmmmm) BUT I do get kind of sick of doing one project alllllllllllll day long.  It's my self-diagnosed ADD that kicks in, I guess.

Classes this week were intense.  Tuesday's "Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing" (3 hour long class on that subject--it's difficult) was on the Armenian Genocide of WWI.  It was emotionally very difficult for me, and I know the class is only going to get harder as the semester goes on.  We are progressing through our case studies in chronological order, so of course the details/photos/documents only get more explicit as technology facilitated coverage and as survivors might still be living to tell their stories.  Today, for instance, I spent several hours in the library doing the reading for this week's class--a very detailed account of the Rape of Nanking in China at the start of WWII.  Several times I had to put the book down and walk away from my table, and at one point was almost reduced to tears.  This stuff never ceases to shock/horrify/sicken me, even as I continue to study it.  On the other hand, today I also suddenly realized that my reaction to the book was a really, really deep feeling.  Definitely not a pleasant feeling, but it came as a relief to me because my studies/busy schedule/being suddenly planted in a large urban area/being away from home and friends/combination of other crap going on in my life has made me feel kind of....numb recently.  Is this growth? Adjustment? A step forward?  I hope so.

Anyway, I've gotten off track.  So Wednesday my class went to the Organization of American States which is an absolutely GORGEOUS building (must put pictures up later).  Then we had lecture in the afternoon and a night class with a career panel.  That was interesting--compiled mostly of lawyers.  One is now working for the Congressional Research Service, two others are practicing, and one is the former U.S. ambassador to Chad who is now self-employed and volunteers for Obama (wahoo!).  After that, I made a flying back to my dorm, changed into my rockstar clothes, and met my roommate downtown because we successfully scored tickets to Ben Folds' concert.  The concert was great and I must say (having received a sneak preview) that the new Ben Folds album (out Tuesday) is going to be AWESOME.  Thursday was a busy day--leaving campus at 8:00 to be at the International Monetary Fund.  The speaker was interesting, talked a bit about the current financial crisis, and did even get a little into caring for poor countries and development (interesting for the IMF because that is the World Banks' job).  Quote of the day:  "First world? Second World? Third World?  My friends, there's only one world."  Then back to campus for lecture.  Then off again to the World Bank, which at that point I was so exhausted and annoyed that I was in class until 7 pm that I didn't pay much attention.  Just kidding, I did pay attention but it wasn't too enlightening.  An overview of the World Bank.  Then off to Georgetown for Jannike's birthday celebration at a Spanish Tapas Bar, where my roommate continued her tradition of breaking U.S. law by providing alcohol to someone underaged (by giving me a drink of her wine...something she really enjoys.  haha!).  But really I just had water and enjoyed some tapas.  :-)

Friday was class at 9:00 am-speakers from the State Department and Tahari Justice Center talking about human trafficking.  An interesting class session--wish it hadn't been so early on a Friday morning.  :-)  I spent the rest of Friday being super unproductive (catching up on The Office and America's Next Top Model...oh, guilty pleasures).  Friday night we had a debate watching party.  It is really fun watching a debate with 50 other people who are approximately just as nerdy as you are.  AND, I must say I also enjoy that most of them lean to the left, like myself.  Overall, I enjoyed the debate but didn't see any clear winner.  I did, however, think Obama seemed much more comfortable with the format of the debate than McCain.  What I am really excited for is the VP debate this week--THAT will be interesting!  Also, fun fact:  I realized that both McCain and Obama are lefthanded.  A coincidence or are really smart/powerful/successful people lefthanded? hmmmm...So the next President of the U.S. will be a lefty!  I like it.

This weekend was a lot of homework, another library date with Lizzy, a bunch of laundry, and a continuing scramble to do my work.  Ohhhh...college.  I thought this semester was going to be a "break" for me?  What the heck happened there?  Oh well.

On other fronts, I continue my mental anguish over WHAT exactly I am going to do with the rest of my life, or at least once I finish my 3 very short semesters left at Drake.  Sooooo...if any of you have any suggestions or brilliant ideas, please share.  Seriously.

Anyway, I'm off to catch up with the girls at Drake and then hit the books again.  I really should start posting twice a week, since these entries are getting very long but it seems like there isn't ever time until Sunday night.  Oh well, if you really care, you stuck with me to the end of this one!

Love you all!

Katie

Last Week...

Well, I haven't posted for a week and thought that I should give an update.  Unfortunately, last week seems so long ago I will have to try really hard to remember what is blog-worthy!

Last week was very work-heavy.  I worked three days at my internship last week--an extra day to make up one of the six I will miss during my travels.  I also had a ton of homework.  Actually, I did this to myself because I have fallen behind in my reading.  This is a very new experience for me...seriously.  On Tuesday I had to lead my "Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing" class' discussion.  All things considered, it went well.  I spent Monday evening at the house of girl from my class, preparing for the presentation.  That was kind of fun because she made me dinner (a home-cooked meal!) and I got to check out the student housing down on The Hill.  She also lives next-door to Senator Cochran (R-Mississippi) so I tried to peak into the windows of a Senators house.  ;-) I also just discovered that I cannot type the word "senator" correctly because of my brother.  I automatically type "seanator."  Thanks, Sean.

I spent a large portion of my weekend trying to get caught up on schoolwork.  I'm still not quite there, but I did make a serious dent into my reading.  My burden was shared, however, by my friend Lizzy who accompanied me to the library all day Saturday.  To reward ourselves, we had a "date night" Saturday night and went down to Adam's Morgan for Indian food.  It almost made the studying worth it...almost.  At dinner, Lizzy and I decided that we both wanted to visit Georgetown's law school while we are here this semester, so we are making plans to visit the Friday of our fall break (October 17).

What was interesting was my seminar class last Friday.  We spent all day Friday at American University's law school, observing panel discussions on the legal implications of Guantanamo Bay and the way forward.  Some of the speakers were very interesting...some I wanted to smack.  Unfortunately, the discussions were pretty intense for undergraduates--a lot of legalise that none of us really understood.  I think I was a step ahead of my classmates due to last years' paper for Professor DeLaet, but I was pretty much drowning by the end of the day.  Good time for the weekend!

I started Sunday off right with a mile walk up to the National Cathedral for Sunday morning service.  Then, it was back to the books!  Sunday didn't seem to be as productive as Saturday, however.  The bottom line is that I'm still about a chapter behind where I should be in my readings.  It's a dismal looking situation, indeed.  However, this weekend is looking pretty clear so maybe (maybe?) I will get caught up!

Tonight I'm feeling pretty exhausted from very little sleep and a long day of internship today.  I also am looking forward to a pretty crazy week.  My class is visiting the Organization of American States, the International Monetary Fund, AND the World Bank this week...in addition to a guest speaker on human trafficking and at least two ordinary class sessions.  I have night classes two nights this week instead of one.  Thursday night I'm going to Georgetown to celebrate a friends' birthday, and my roommate and I are trying desperately to get cheap tickets to see Ben Folds Wednesday night.  I think I will need a relaxing weekend after this week!

I am also beginning to experience my first real case of homesickness...or more Drake-sickness.  I realized this week that band auditions are next week, and it seems so weird that I will not be there!  I even made a desperate attempt to get my hands on a bassoon this week, but was not successful.  I will definitely have my work cut out for me when I return in December, to get myself in shape for band in January!

I know this was a pretty long and mundane blog entry...thanks for bearing with me!  I'm sure that with everything I have going on this week, next week's entry will be a bit more exciting!

Take care, everyone!

9/11 Unity Walk

What an awesome day I've had!  Today was the annual September 11th Unity Walk.  It is a walk done every year by people of different faiths.  It begins at the Washington Hebrew Congregation and proceeds down Embassy Row.  Virtually every church, temple, synagogue, or place of worship opens its doors for the walk.  It is a very powerful experience.

I began at Washington Hebrew Congregation today at 1:30.  The walk began with a Muslim Call to Prayer, which was beautiful, and then several leaders spoke, including the rabbi of Washington Hebrew Congregation, the Dean of the Washington National Cathedral, and Reverend Mpho Tutu (Archbishop Desmond Tutu's daughter).  Desmond Tutu also filmed a video address to those of us who were walking, which was viewed at Washington Hebrew Congregation.  St. Augustine's Gospel Choir performed too, which almost brought me to tears.  I actually did start to cry as we began our walk because the first people out the door were Rabbi Bruce Lustig and Imama Abdullah Khouj, linked arm and arm.  It was very powerful to see these groups put aside their differences and unite for the cause of peace and understanding.

Our walk proceeded down Embassy Row.  Several places of worship were open along the way for refreshments and bathroom facilities!  The host congregations were so welcoming and passed out cold water to the walkers (much appreciated since the temperature in DC today was well over 90 degrees and very humid!).

Our next stop was the Islamic Center.  Here Imam Abdullah Khouj welcomed us and we were addressed by several other leaders of faith.  The highlight of this stop was Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.  His message was beautiful; he told a story comparing peace to a grain of wheat.  If you have a grain of wheat and you keep it to yourself, it will eventually decay and become worthless.  but if you plant the grain, it will take root, produce, and multiply.  The same is true of peace, he said.  It was a very touching message.  He then led us out of the Islamic Center for the remainder of the walk.  We ended at the Gandhi Memorial.

It was a great experience and I'm so glad the heat didn't deter me!  Those of you who know me well know that my life has changed drastically this past month, beyond even my move to DC.  The walk today really brought me a sense of calm and reassurance.  It may have been temporary, but it sure felt good!  Here are some pictures from the day:

St. Augustine's Gospel Choir at the National Hebrew Congregation

Gathering at the  Islamic Center

Arun Gandhi speaking at the Islamic Center

Gandhi Memorial with the Unity Walk banner

Some friends and I with Arun Gandhi

I think about my friends and family from home all of the time...I hope all is well in your own lives!  While my experience here is going great, rest assured that you are all deeply missed.

~Katie