a day in the life of a washington intern aka today

7:20 - the alarm goes off, i wander downstairs to eat breakfast and clean it up for everyone. My roommate and I share breakfast duties, so she sets it up and I clean it up.
7:45 - 8:00 - sleep again
8:00 - annoyance of alarm
8:25 - run to catch the bus as i see driving up to the stop next to my apartment complex. As I jump on the bus and scramble through my bag, I realize I have left my buscard (a credit card thing that you put money on for the bus/metro) in my coat pocket. Do I have a $1.25? no. only a $1, so now, considering I'm already on the bus during rush hour traffic I must ask the driver if that's ok that I rip of the Distict by 23 cents. Thankfully she was nice.
9:00 - Start the craziness of the office.
9:01 am - 2:01 pm - answer phones, research how many engineering majors are at specific Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), research plane tickets for various coworkers, research various information on minority healthcare, fax various items, answer more phones, research other random info, help rearrange office furniture, etc.
1:15 pm - president of company keeps true to our almost daily arrangement for me to go get him lunch if he also pays for me... it's a good situation. win win. heh. i think i get ahead.
2:15 - quickly catch the Metro to Israel Embassy for a briefing on the Israel-Palestine conflict for my class. However, considering i still don't have my Metrocard, I have to repurchase a ticket to ride the Metro. Yes, all of my money goes to the Metro in this town... they own me. Interesting and added new information to the growing amount of research
4:30 - march in the now unexpected freezing cold weather back to the metro station with my parade of a class.
4:35-4:45 - attempting to "surf" while on the metro. highly recommended if you want to make a fool of yourself and laugh a lot. Point and purpose of game: try to stand without holding on to anything and with your feet together while the train comes to a stop and go at each station. heh. i'm a dork, but heck, i looked "professional" while doing it
4:50 - Twenty-five students wander around Dupont Circle multiple times while trying to find the random Middle Eastern resturant. pretty sure we looked like that "target" that we were told not to be... hmm... starts pouring rain
5:15 - arrive, drenched, to the resturant to enjoy our group International dinner out for this unit of the semester.
5:30-6:45 - stuff my face with far too much food as is reasonibly healthy, but it tasted so good. yummy. Lamb, humus, chicken, etc. three courses.
6:45 - dash out the door with one of my roommates to attend a dinner reception that my internship had invited me to and the Congressman was MCing. get soaked as we walk back to metro.
7:00 - run off metro to find hotel. As I walked into one of the top 5 hotels in DC, I suddenly felt out of place. Megan and I attempt to clean ourselves up the wet-sloppy-intern look... hah... sometimes its just funny. As we walk down the hallway frightenedly trying to find the reception room, we realize that there are secret service everywhere in the hallway and a metal detector for a black tie event... oh... it's some Foundation award party in which Vice President Cheney is attending...
Suddenly, I have horrible thoughts about whether the dinner I am attending is a black-tie event... what if I'm under dressed? Then again, I realize I don't even know what the event is... I just know I'm full from the already enhaled dinner.
7:15 - Then, across the hall from Cheney's event, we find our room. As Megan and I walk in, we feel very out of place; everyone else has the presence of being "important" and over the age of 45. Yes, this is when I am supposed to be chatty and friendly and know how to shmooze.... which I hate all of. Want to feel intimated, just got to one of these crazy dinners.
7:30 - sit at table to start the first course of our second meal.... at this time wanting to not look at food ever again.
7:35-8:00 - various people speak about their views of politics, yes this is DC, politics. Senator Thune (R-SD) makes a brief speach. He's a Biola alum, so I obviously want to talk to him, but then again... I'm the intern in the midst of the other 30-40 people in the room. However, right before he ran out the door, I did manage to introduce myself and grab the typical politician picture. He asked if I had classed with Dr. Peters, which automatically shocked me (and made me laugh) because that means Dr. Peters has taught in the Biola PolySci department far too long. However, I'm not a Politcal science major, I'm PR. Speaking of, a few days ago someone randomly asked me why I even bothered coming to DC if I wasn't into politics. hah. ridiculous.
9:00 pm - Realizing that neither Megan or I still had any idea what the company that organized/sponsored the event did other than that they were Republican, we headed home. more ran. more cold. more metro rides and a mile walk back with incredibly stuffed stomachs to the lovely apartments.
9:30 - Google the company's name to find out what they do and google the names of the people we met to find out who they are... yay for the internet. yay for being unknown interns who don't know anything. :)