Washington, D.C.: My First Week In D.C.

This week has been a crazy one to say the least. To start it off on the right foot, I missed my flight out to D.C. on Monday night. In other circumstances, I would just catch the next flight out, but given the destination, I had to stay in San Diego one more night since that was the last flight out to D.C. that day. I finally got myself a flight out to D.C. set for 12 noon the next day...after waking up at 4:45am and spending about 7 hours in the airport that morning! After getting clowned on by my brother, parents, and best friend, I decided not to let anyone else know I was still in town. To add on to my already missed flight, on my way to D.C., my plane not only stopped in Las Vegas but it stopped in Chicago as well. Each stop had at least an hour layover...including about a 30 minute landing delay over Chicago because of the snow. By the time I got into D.C. it was just before midnight. The shuttle from Washington Dulles Airport to my place wasn't that far, but the weather kept me from getting to it 'til about 2 in the morning! Not exactly how I planned to start off my trip. But my first day at work was amazing though.

Since I only had about 3 to 4 hours of sleep, and didn't have time to look up train times and locations to get to work, I took a cab in order to make sure I made it on time. A bit costly, but worth it by all means. It was a trip to see my cab go down Independence Ave. to Capitol Hill. For those of you not familiar with DC, Independence Ave. is the street that heads directly into the Capitol. The view was like something from a movie. With the cab driving towards the Capitol, I had to comprehend the idea that I was going to work. To work?!... After getting to the Capitol and paying the cab driver, I looked around in the rain in amazement. I walked up the steps of Cannon House Building, went through security, and roamed the halls until it was time for me to head to the office. My dream was coming true.

After meeting my Intern Coordinator, she introduced me to the staff including the Press Secretary, Legislative Director, Chief of Staff, and of course Congresswoman Jackie Speier. I was on Cloud 9...and I still am. The next day, I was sent to the heart of the Capitol to officially be trained to give tours of the National Capitol. Sounds kind of funny, but it's actually pretty amazing. Any time my office needs to give constituents tours of the Capitol, the other intern and myself are the ones who conduct them. If you could imagine walking by the world famous painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the same painting that lies within all our history books; or walking through the same room in which President Lincoln, Kennedy, and Reagan lied in state...if having the job of a tour guide consisted of this and more, I'm sure most people wouldn't hesitate to sign up for the gig. Aside of that, on the same day (Thursday), I was given my Capitol I.D. Card which gives my access to just about everything on the hill...including being able to observe House Members over the House Floor when votes are being casted.

Although the work in the office right now isn't very legislative, my Chief of Staff has told me that after the Inauguration things will begin to pick up. My 3 roommates (David-UCSD, Jason-UCSB, and Romain-UCSB/Paris, France) are all down-to-earth guys. They seem to be well balanced in academic and social aspects. On our first night out, most of my roommates and I met up with about 10 other students from the program to celebrate our move to DC and our first weekend here as well.

This week was somewhat low key, however there will be a lot happening this coming week...including an event with Obama and Biden in front of the Lincoln Memorial with Rhianna and Bruce Springsteen. More stories and pictures to come later this week.