My Last Week in DC and San Diego Bound...

To start off my last week in DC, my boss scored a spot on Fox News. Now for those of you who are not too familiar with politics, Fox News is arguably the most conservative media outlet we have. Since my boss is a Democrat from San Francisco, it was a big deal (even though she's not a left wing liberal). Anyway, just before she got on the air, her Press Secretary called the office and asked me to run over a press release my boss had published. So naturally, I rushed around trying to get a copy printed out and ran down to the Cannon Rotunda - where the show was being broadcasted. As soon as I got back to the office, everyone was sitting in the legislative room to see Jackie on TV. And moments later, there she was. It was a trip. The last time I saw her on TV was when she scored her first spot on Larry King Live just a few week before. Before her slot was even over, the phones started ringing off the hook! People were calling from all over the country to compliment her. The crazy part about it, was that the calls were coming from Conservative Republicans...not her base. So I began to type up the comments as they came in and gave them to Jackie for her to read. She accepted the paper I gave her and read it right in front of me; which was pretty cool. A lot of the comments were pretty funny and flattering - they made her laugh and definitely put a smile on her face. I knew at that moment that I had done something good :).

On Wednesday, my boss had scheduled a lunch in the Members Dining Room with me and the other two interns in the office. Unfortunately, she had to cancel last minute. Something about the President, and the White House...and meeting up with him about a bill signing - It's a rediculous excuse if you ask me :D. However, she did do her best to make it up to us by having a little reception in her office that afternoon. She knew I was leaving that Friday - and since she was flying back home that day, she wanted to make sure she did something for me before leaving. She came up to me, handed me a few things, and said "Thank you for your service to the American People and to the people of the 12th District." As we sat down for about ten minutes, we had conversation about my internship experience and what was on my agenda when I got back home. I told her my plans, did a little flattering, and proposed that if I moved to the Bay Area for grad school, that I would apply for her District Office in San Mateo (which I said jokingly - but ended up being an idea she loved. "Yea please, come work for me in my District Office." As she left the office, she gave me a hug, went off to vote, and then flew home. That's when I looked at what she had given me: a very nice Congressional note pad, cuff links with the House Seal engraved in them, and a letter that thanked me and acknowledged my work in her office. It was perfect.

Later that night, a bunch of us went to a bar down the street from our apartment to celebrate our last week. Two of my neighbors were guest bartending that night - so we all knew we had to be there. It was only Wednesday at this point, but people were already packing up and leaving for grad school interviews. So celebrating that night was a must.

After working on miscellaneuos projects in the office, Friday came around faster than I expected. I walked into the office for the last time, worked on one last major project, and began to say my goodbyes. As I went up to all of my co-workers, it felt odd saying goodbye so soon. But with the ten weeks that I was there, I felt like I learned as much from them as I could. They all wished me off with luck. Some even offered advice and a letter of recomendation.

On my way out, my intern coordinator offered to take me out to lunch. We went to this Mexican restaurant up the street from the Capitol that was surprisingly good! (Being in DC for nearly three months with no legit Mexican spots kinda wears on you after a while). It was the perfect way to end my internship.

That night, my roommates and I had dinner at a restaurant in Arlington, Virgina to celebrate our ten weeks living togther.

That weekend, since the UCDC program was not accomidating, I had to find a place to stay - and I had to do it without breaking my bank! Fortunately one of my co-workers was nice enough to let me crash on his couch until Monday morning. Little did I know that he lived in North West DC...one of two dangerous areas in the city. It was kinda scary, but we joked around about it and finally came to the conclussion that by the time I left DC, I would have street credit. "You don't know me! - I lived in the ghetto!" - Alright, maybe not. But it was an interesting experience none the less.

On Monday morning, I jumped into the shuttle with my five bags (not including souvenier bags), headed to the airport, and flew home - with a stop in Veagas first of course. When I landed in San Diego that afternoon, one of my good friends picked me up and took me straight to the beach! Since it was abot 65 degrees that day, it only seemed natural. It felt good to be home. When I got to my place early that evening, I walked into a flooded home. Apparently there was a sewage backup that had occured no more than one to three days prior to my arrival. Not exactly a welcoming gift. So for the first week back, I had to continue to live out of a suitcase since I had to go to a hotel for a few days while my place was being cleaned up. My floors, walls, cabinets, and carpet were ripped out. My Welcome Back Party had to be momentarily pushed off - at least until my place is put back together - (which will be this week!)

My last week in Washington, D.C. was somewhat intense. Knowing that I was leaving soon, there was a lot of emotion in play. A part of me didn't want to leave. Which was kinda funny because by week 7, I was ready to jump on a plane and head home. Only becuase I missed having my own place, my family, my friends, and of course...the San Diego weather. In my last week in Washington, D.C., I tried to soak in as much as I could before leaving. It felt weird. It was in my last week that I realized how much the last ten weeks had changed my life. My last week gave me a different perspective of where I was at emotionally and where I saw myself in the near future. I took a couple of strolls through the streets of DC to get a feel for the lifestyle in the political bubble. I'm not gonna lie, I fell in love with it. It's different. But after contemplating on some major life changing decisions, I decided that California was where I needed to be. There is just so much happening in California, that I don't see the need to fly clear accross the country to do work. There is plenty for me to do here. Plus, my family is here. And I couldn't see myself going even further away from them. At least not right now. My nieces and nephews are so young and I want to be there for them and see them grow up. I don't want to be that uncle that they only see once a year around Christmas - where they come up to me, give a hug and kiss, and then go on about there business without having some sort of connection with one another. So Grad school in California it is. I'm still up in the air with where I want to apply, but I'm leaning towards either staying in San Diego, going to the Bay Area, or maybe...just maybe, go to the Sacramento area. But that's ify. We'll see. Until then, I'm just going to finish off my BA at UCSD, enjoy my last year of college, and go from there.

I hope you found this blog mildly entertaining. I've never done anything like this before. It was actually a bit awkward for me at first. But I hope you enjoyed reading each entry as much as I did writing them. It was a great experience, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to share every step of it with you.

Thank you for all of the love and support.

Best Regards,
- Julian Y. Cuevas



Congresswoman Jackie Speier Before Her Spot On Fox News



On TV In The Office - Legislative Room



Celebrating With My Roommate and Neighbors



My Last Day on Capitol Hill



The Supreme Court



Inside The Supreme Court



Dinner With The Roommates



The Beginning Of Cherry Blossom Trees Blooming



St. Patrick's Day Parade



Last Night In DC - Dinner With Some Co-Workers



John F. Kennedy Center - On My Way To The Airport



Las Vegas



San Diego



Back In San Diego

Week Nine: One More Week Left To Go...

So as I step into my ninth week here in Washington, DC, I am pressured by the idea that I only have one more week left here at our Nation's Capitol. There is still so much more to do and so much more to see! Yet rather than cramming in last minute site seeing trips, I've decided to take a much more laid back approach and enjoy the remainder part of my time here on the east coast.

On Monday, DC had its biggest snow day of the year. I believe we made it up to 8-9 inches of snow. It may not sound like much to the people of Michigan or or even New York. But DC is in no way prepared to handle more than 1-2 inches of snow. DC goes into a panic attack when they hear of possible snow showers in the weather forecast. So naturally, when the snow storm brushed DC's streets, the city practically closed down. Schools were closed, businesses closed their doors for the day, and the federal government had a two hour delay (Opened at 11:00am). Now even though Capitol Hill delayed their hours of operation, my office still made me come in at 9:00am! ...So much for my first snow day!

On Tuesday, I got off work early and headed over to the Library of Congress (the Jefferson Building.) to do some research for my paper. Luckily for my staff ID, I was able to go on the floor where only staff and researchers are allowed to access (it's the same floor you see in the sequel of: National Treasure). I spent a few hours reading up on some material, but I couldn't really focus because of where I was at.

The rest of the week was really low key. On Saturday, since it was about 70 degrees outside, I grabbed my research materials, and took a stroll over to Downtown DC to have lunch at one of my favorite places, Gordon Biersch. - Avocado Chicken Burger, no cheese, with a tall draft of GB's Hefeweizen. It doesn't get any better than that. After lunch, I headed over to a park that just happened to be in front of the White House. The weather was almost San Diego perfect. I sat at one of the park benches that faced directly toward the White House. In between studying, I took the occasional glance down Pennsylvania Avenue and of course, the big white building right in front of me...I mean it was no more than 100-150 yards away from me. I could practically touch it....ok not really; but you get the jist of what I'm saying.

That night, my entire floor was having this goodbye bash in one of the dorm rooms...but given my connection with most of the students in the program, I decided that I'd rather sleep and get a head start in the morning. So that Sunday morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn, got dressed, and headed over to the National Cathedral. This place is huge! I attempted to take some pictures of it, but the only way I was able to get the entire cathedral in the shot was to step back about 150 yards. Now even though the National Cathedral isn't Catholic, believe it or not, I still wanted to visit the historic site where several important services have taken place; including: The funeral service of President Ronald Reagan and the traditional presidential service for President Barack Obama (held the day after presidents are inaugurated). Now going into my last week here in DC, I'm trying to plan a few more site seeing trips before I leave. I'm thinking maybe the Kennedy Center, the viewing deck of the Washington Monument, sitting in on a Supreme Court Case at the Supreme Court, or visiting Kennedy's home in Georgetown. We'll see. But in the meantime, I'll be writing my research paper on Education and getting ready for my move back to San Diego...



DC's Biggest Snow Day of the Year!



Inside the Library of Congress (Main Level - Jefferson Building)



Outside the Library of Congress



Hay-Adams Hotel (Where the Obama's Stayed Before the Inauguration)



St. John's Church - Across the Park from the White House (Where Past Presidents Have Attended Services)



The White House



The National Cathedral

Week Eight: From George Washington to Barack Obama

Once again, this week echoed a presidential theme. You'd figure I would be use to it by now, but eight weeks in, and I still get the chills. On Tuesday, Obama was to give his Presidential Address to Congress. A speech that was expected to be great, but was said to not be one of his best (according to pundits). Either way, whatever side you stand on, you couldn't side step the fact that history was about to be made...once again. Since I knew there was going to be a follow up briefing from last Friday (about Obama's Address), my Congresswoman's Press Secretery let me attend the briefing with him. Little did I know that President Obama's Press Secretery, Robert Gibbs, was going to give the briefing. It was a trip because I always see him on TV giving briefings to the media on behalf of Obama, and yet there I was getting the insight on Obama's speech first hand. Gibbs was breifing all of the House Democrat Press Secreteries (and me) on what Obama was going to address in speech that night. The information he gave us had not even been given to the press yet..so I guess you could say that I was one of the first to know what the president was going to say before the rest of the WORLD did.

That night, as most staffers left the Capitol, I decided to stay behind in the office to see if maybe, just maybe, I could get close to the House Chamber for the speech. Apparently all Press Secreteries were allowed to watch the speech from the Crypt (which is right below the Rotunda, and not far from the House Chamber). The speech was scheduled for 9:00pm EST, so that meant I had to wait about three hours before showtime. Just before the Address, my Congresswoman's Press Secretery took me down and tried to get me through both security and the secret service. As you could probably imagine, that didn't exactly work out. But it was worth a shot. At this point, there was only about 20 minutes until the Address, and I had to decide on whether to take a cab home before it started or watch it in my Congresswoman's office. I didn't want to miss anything, so my Chief of Staff let me go into the Congresswoman's office and watch Address (which I must say, was still pretty cool).

After the Address was over, I walked out of the building and had a view of the Capitol right in front of me. There were Secret Service, Capitol Police, and DC Police roaming the streets. Obama and Biden still hadn't left the Capitol. So I had a front row view of both of them leaving the Capitol in the their motorcades (which were escorted by dozens of motor cops, patrol cars, and Secret Service vehicles). - Not a bad way to end the night.

The next day was Ash Wednesday. Lucky for me, St. Mathews Cathederal is only about a block away from my apartment. So after work, I walked into the Cathederal before the last service, and sat all the way up in the front. As I sat there and looked around at the beautiful architecture, I noticed right in front me a large memorial on the ground that stated "Here rested the remains of President Kennedy at the Requiem Mass, November 25, 1963 before their removal to Arlington where they lie in expectation of a heavenly resurrection." I thought to myself, 'Our first and only president, who was Catholic, had his funeral service under that very same roof...only a few feet away from me.' wow...

Later that week, as President Obama was traveling to discuss his plan for the War in Iraq, I was getting ready for a Virginia tour on Saturday. Everyone one of us who had a ticket for the tour, had to be in the lobby by 7:15 in the morning...which is 4:15am for all my west coast people. The bus departed for the Arlington Cemetery at 7:45am where we spent about an hour and a half checking out all of the highlights. We went from the Changing of the Gaurd at the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier, to the grave sites of President Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Thurgood Marshall. It was a pretty depressing way to start off the day, but we bounced back and headed over to Mt. Vernon; the home of George Washington. Mt. Vernon is where Washington's plantation was located. We started off the tour with a short video on Wshington's life; From there we toured the home of George Washington (which is still in its original form), walked a bit of the plantation, viewed the tombs of both George and Martha Washington, and finshed off the tour with another short video of the life Washington through all the battels he lead our country through.

Mt. Vernon is probably one of the most beautiful places I have been to. The size of Washington's property is huge; and the view to the Potomic River is amazing. I can definitely see why he loved his plantation as much as he did. From there, we headed over to an all you can eat buffet (which was like Denny's but to a lower degree). Most of us didn't care becuase we were starving!...well at least until we were hurting afterword. After lunch, we headed over to our last stop of the day: Downtown Alexandria - home of Washington's church, office, and places he was known to spend time at. As much as most of us wanted to see everything in the hour we were given, some of us decided to head to a pub instead and just take it easy.

Now I'm going into my ninth week here in DC; believe it or not. It's time for me to plan my last visits in the area before I head back to San Diego in a couple of weeks...oh and finish my 20 page research paper too...



My Congresswoman Has Her Own M&M's!



Press Secretaries Briefing On Obama's Address to Congress (Obama's press Secretary: Robert Gibbs)



Watching the Address in my Congresswoman's Office



Inside the Rotunda in the Cannon Bldg. (Post Address: One of the Press Reaction Rooms)



Ash Wednesday: Kennedy Memorial at St. Mathew's Cathedral



Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Arlington Cemetery)



Thurgood Marshall's Grave



George Washington's House at his Plantation at Mt. Vernon (Virginia)



The View from Washington's Backyard (Potomac River)



Washington's Carriage



The Original Burial Sites of George and Martha Washington



The Final Resting Place for George and Martha Washington (Martha on the Left, George on the Right)

Week Seven: The Week Before the Presidential Address to Congress

After getting back from the East Coast Express Tour on Sunday night, I was pretty exhausted for the first few days of this week; At least until I remembered that President Obama was giving his first Presidential Address to Congress next week. Naturally, I was trying to figure out a way to get into the Address but had no luck. I mean I'm sure it had something to do with the secret service and the fact that all of the most powerful leaders of America were going to be in the room. No biggy..

I may not have had the golden ticket to the event, but I did get to be a part of it in a small way. On Friday the 20th, my Congresswoman's Press Secretary was going to be out of the office, so he had me attend, on his behalf, the first Press Secretaries Briefing that White House Representatives attended. The representative was the Communication Director for Obama. She came over to the House side of the Capitol to give us a preview of what to expect from the president in the next few days - leading up to the Presidential Address. When she was done briefing us and opened the floor for questions, I somehow got the courage to raise my hand and ask her a question in regards to his speech for next Tuesday. It went something like this: "Do you know if President Obama will touch on the auto industry crisis in his address?" Not exactly a ground breaking question, I know; but I was nervous as hell!

That night my roommates, a few dorm neighbors, and I went out to dinner for DC's annual Restaurant Week. (Restaurant Week is when practically all of the most expensive restaurants in the city host $20 lunches and $35 dinners). So my roommates and I chose to go to Bobby Van's Steakhouse. The dinner was a three-course meal that consisted of either soup or salad, choice of main course, and desert. So naturally, I went for the salad, fillet minion, and chocolate cake! Overall, dinner was good. I looked through the menu to see what the restaurant was so famous for. Other than the fact that a dinner for two could probably cover most people's rent, it didn't seem to have anything extraordinary...except for their well over priced wine list!

The next day, I took a stroll through my side of DC for a couple of hours looking for something to eat. For some reason, I was craving some DC hot dogs. Little did I know that most stands are only open during the week or are located in hot spot tourist locations. Long story short, I did find me a hot dog stand, hidden in DuPont Circle. Which was pretty cool, because ever since I bought the movie, The American President (my favorite flick), I've always wanted to scope out the area that was continuously referenced in the movie.

Anyway, that night, a few of us headed to the Wizards/Spurs basketball game. The seats were not bad. We were probably about 20 rows up from the court. The game was alright, but honestly, the Wizards got killed! But being able to go to a game was still a good experience. Especially since Michael Jordan spent some time with the Wizards before he officially retired.



Restaurant Week at Bobby Van's Steakhouse



The Infamous Dupont Circle



Some Homeless Folks Playing Chess in Dupont...Just Like You See In the Movies



Some Random Guy in Dupont Playing the Drums on a Shopping Cart and Some Buckets



Verizon Center: Washington Wizards vs. San Antonio Spurs



The Crew After the Game