This was the last full week of January and it was a pretty busy one with a lot of great opportunities.
On Monday, I got to attend a luncheon/briefing on the current situation in Haiti, two years after the earthquake disaster. The briefing was done by several key members of the UN and the US, including the Under Secretary General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the United States Department of State Special Coordinator for Haiti, and the United States Department of State Deputy Undersecretary for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs. The briefing was very informative and eye-opening. I knew the situation in Haiti was a terrible one, but had no idea just how bad things were until I got all the facts from these officials. I can't imagine living through a situation like the one that shook that state two years ago. Still, I was equally impressed with just how much the UN, working with the US State Department and Marine Corps, have accomplished in the rebuilding effort. There truly are some remarkable people doing great work in Haiti and it was very encouraging to see the extraordinary progress there.
Tuesday morning I met the boss for the very first time. Every Tuesday morning, Senator Cornyn hosts an event called Constituent Coffee, where Texans visiting DC can stop by the Capitol and have their picture taken with the senator. Coffee is provided and the senator likes to spend a few minutes talking with each constituent about where they're from in Texas and what they're doing in DC. I arrived early with the other interns to set up and was just as excited as the constituents to see the senator walk into the room. We got to say hi to him briefly and it was a cool experience to finally meet the person I'm working for. Tuesday was a busy day on the floor, however, so he didn't stay long and we didn't get to have any extended conversation. Tuesday night, my fellow interns and I went to a reception for the Texas State Society, an organization of Texans working on Capitol Hill. We got to enjoy free drinks courtesy of the organization and spend some time socializing with other interns and staff members from Texas. There was a good turnout at the event and we learned all about the activities and programs the TSS hosts throughout the year. I think this will be a good way to stay connected to Texas while I'm here and certainly a great way to network with fellow Texans on the Hill.
Wednesday went by pretty uneventfully until a constituent showed up at 3:00 pm requesting a tour of the Capitol. The staff assistant at the front desk sent an email back to the interns and asked who wanted to conduct the tour last minute. I felt the most comfortable with the tour route and information so I stepped up and volunteered. The lady was from Austin and was very nice. It turns out her daughter graduated from UNT, and she was interested to hear how the school was doing and what I was studying there. We toured the Capitol building for about 2 hours (my first solo tour) and she said that I was very pleasant and informative. It felt good to successfully make it through all the information without forgetting anything and my confidence in conducting tours was heavily strengthened after the positive experience. I'm finding that I really enjoy giving the tours and sharing the fascinating history of the Capitol with visitors (probably the history major part of me coming out).
Thursday was one of the best days of my time here to date. Early in the day, I unexpectedly ran into the senator in the office, and I mean literally almost ran into him. I was coming down the staircase in the back (our office is two floors) on my way to deliver some paperwork to one of the legislative assistants downstairs. As I turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, I found myself standing face to face with Senator Cornyn and hastily apologized for being in his way and asked him how his day was going. He laughed, said he was doing fine, and introduced himself. I got to talk to him for a second before he had to leave (he was headed out to a meeting) and it was nice to have some personal face time with him. Later in the day, the Senate Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing to approve the nominations of five newly appointed federal judges. One was being nominated for a place on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the other four were up for District Court seats in Arkansas, Illinois, and Maryland. While a lot of you may find that boring, I thought it was extremely interesting. Because Senator Cornyn sits on the Judiciary Committee, I was able to sit with two of his judiciary staff members on the benches behind the senator's table, facing the front of the room and observe all the proceedings from the senator's perspective. It was really cool to sit up front, looking down at the judges testifying before the committee and all the people in the audience and I have to say that I felt kind of important being up there. Best of all, though, I was able to understand all of the language the senators and nominees were using and had a good grasp on the issues, policies, and cases being discussed. It was really a great feeling to know that I was educated enough to follow the proceedings and I have to thank Dr. Bethany Blackstone and Dr. Kimi King for equipping me with that knowledge in their classrooms. Paying attention in class really does have a lot of benefits and it's awesome to be in an environment where I'm getting to use the knowledge and skills I learned at UNT in the real world.
Thursday night we went to a Texas State Society event at Hill Country Barbeque. Hill Country is owned an operated by a couple of people from Texas and looks like a Texas barbeque restaurant, complete with Texas shaped neon signs, Texas flags, wall-mounted longhorns and Shiner. Unfortunately, the food is only decent and comes nowhere close to Cousin's or Risky's. It's the best barbeque I've had yet in DC, but it still just isn't Texas. Despite this, we had a great time eating and hanging out with well over 200 Texas university students and alumni and it was great to talk to so many people from home. After the dinner, I went out with a group of new friends who are all interns from Texas Tech. We checked out an Irish pub with some live music and had a great end to the night. It was a lot of fun to spend the evening with fellow Texans and share stories about college life and the different offices we are working in.
Friday was just another day at the office, but Saturday was pretty cool. Our office set us up with a tour of the White House and that was a really great experience. We had to be there at 8 am, so it made for an early morning wake up, but it was well worth it. The Secret Service personnel who gave us the tour were incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the house and made my Capitol building tours look very amateur. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the West Wing or the Oval Office (which is what I most wanted to see) but we did get to tour the "state level" floors and see the interesting offices, dining rooms, libraries, and ballrooms of the house. We also saw the hallway with pillars and the red carpet where the president speaks to the press during important events (this is where you see the president coming around the corner and walking down the hall to the podium, like when President Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden). We got to walk down that hall and stand where the president gives those press briefings, and that was really awesome. At the end of the tour, I couldn't find the line for rides on Air Force One and when I asked one of the Secret Service agents where that was he laughed and told me to run for president. I really want to go on Air Force One, so everyone mark your calendars for the elections of 2036 and vote Robertson! Lol.
Anyway, it was great weekend completed by another great service at Frontline and I find that I'm getting to experience a lot of great things already. I've only been here a month and I'm loving everything about it so far. Looks like I'm going to be in for a great semester! I'll try to get some pictures uploaded to facebook soon (I have a ton of them) so be on the lookout for those. Hope you're all doing well in Texas and remember to call or write sometime because I'd love to hear from you!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Working, Exploring, and Learning
Hey everyone, so a lot has happened here since I wrote last and I'm going to try to fit it all in to this update. Sorry in advance for the length of this post. Here it goes.....
Last Tuesday, Christopher, Chris, and I decided we were hungry for Mexican food and decided to try and find some. We looked up the nearest places on line and settled on a place called "Las Placitas" on 8th St. After walking over to find this place, we were satisfied with the location and noticed that there are lots of other restaurants around 8th, including a Popeye’s! The service was good and quick, put the food turned out to be mediocre. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it just tasted bland and very boring. I have a feeling I'm going to miss Texas cuisine while living in this city.
Work continues to go well. I was given my first project from the press secretary Wednesday, and spent most of the day assisting her doing research. In just a short amount of time, I feel like I've learned a lot about the office and have gotten pretty good at putting names with faces. Cash and I are also doing a very good job with our work and have already been recognized for it. One of the schedulers gave us a major project the first day and told us to have it completed by noon on Wednesday. We submitted it to her at 5 pm on Monday and she was very impressed with the speed and quality of our work. Things do get a little boring, however, when you complete your work well ahead of schedule. The office is pretty slow right now since the Senate has been out of session, so we should probably try to drag our work out a little more to keep from getting so bored. Our supervisor does let us use our free time to walk around the office buildings and Capitol to get our bearings and learn our way around, so we've been able to make good use of the down time and have become pretty familiar with our surroundings.
After work on Wednesday, the other UNT interns and I went to a dinner/reception hosted by WISH for all of their intern residents. The food was barbeque, which was decent, but definitely not Texas. Mercedes and Ricky weren't here yet, but the rest of us attended and had a pretty good time. We met other interns from Massachusetts, North Carolina, California, and several other states who are all working for members of Congress. We also met several international students from countries like South Korea, Vietnam, and even Australia. They're here in D.C. working for various firms and companies. Overall, I was really surprised at the number of interns that are housed by WISH.
By the end of week one, I wrapped up the research assignment that was given to me by the press office and was personally thanked by the press secretary, who said that I did a great job with it and found everything she needed. It felt really good to have completed my first major task successfully. I understand that what I researched is going to be a part of Senator Cornyn's next speech, and it was a really good feeling to know that I contributed something valuable which will be read and directly used by him.
Walking back from lunch one day last week, I walked right past the Secretary of the Navy and a 3-star Admiral! They were in a hurry, so I didn't get to speak to them at all, but it was my first "government celebrity" sighting in DC and I thought it was pretty cool. Also, I got to meet our military liaison this week, who is an active duty Navy NCO! His name is Doug and he's on loan to Senator Cornyn for the year from the Navy to answer any questions the senator has about military issues and help him work on any military-related legislation. He's a really great guy interested in talking to me about the Navy and my plans for becoming a JAG and will be yet another great resource for me in that career pursuit. I think Senator Cornyn's office was exactly the right fit for me and where I needed to be! D.C. has been great so far and I really like it here. The office and the people are great and I really have to say that I enjoy my job. I was initially thinking that I would be pretty lonely until Mercedes arrived, since she is the only one I knew before NTDC, but I'm impressed with how quickly I've formed friendships with the other interns and how well we're all getting along.
Last weekend I returned home to pick up the rest of my things and bring everything back to DC with me. The trip was pretty uneventful, but I enjoyed getting to see my family and tell them all about my first week in DC in person. It's weird to think that it was cheaper for me to fly home and get the rest of my things than it would have been for dad to ship them to me with FedEx. Benefits of having a father who's an airline pilot! Coincidentally, I wound up riding next to one of Senator Hutchison’s (the senior senator from Texas) staffers on the flight to DFW, so we got to talk about life in DC and working for Congress.
I returned to DC on Sunday night and Mercedes arrived the same day. I was excited about this because Mercedes is a friend I’ve known for a long time. While I’ve gotten to know the other interns and we’ve gotten along really well, it’s nice to have someone here that I know well and have an established friendship with. Monday was MLK Day and our offices were closed. I used the time to show Mercedes around Capitol Hill and do some shopping for groceries. We toured the National Mall and went over to the National Archives. Inside the archives, we saw a lot of cool stuff, but nothing as incredible as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. It’s really powerful to see these original documents from the 18thcentury, preserved in pressurized glass cases and guarded around the clock. I can’t describe how incredible it is to stand in front of a document that was written by the hand of Thomas Jefferson in 1776!!! Although, I will say that I was surprised at how faded and worn it is. The Constitution is in relatively good shape, but the Declaration of Independence is hardly legible at all. The display room also looks nothing like the one in National Treasure and I concluded (after some brief surveillance) that it would be much harder to steal this document than Nicolas Cage makes it seem!
On Tuesday, Cash and I spent the entire day in Capitol Tour training. Learning the history of the US Capitol is really interesting, but spending the whole day in tour training gets really old really fast. We did learn a lot and became proficient with the layout and history of the building and I’m now qualified to give guided tours of the building. Wednesday we got quite a surprise when Claire, one of the Staff Assistants for Senator Cornyn, informed us that we would be giving our first tour. A couple of VIPs were in town and Cash and I were asked to give them a tour on behalf of the senator, a day after we did our training (talk about learning fast). Fortunately, the tour went really well and we seemed to remember just about everything. Our guests were very pleased and impressed and we served our office well. What a relief! Haha.
Two other interesting things happened this week. First, our third intern from the University of Texas (Kris) arrived and started work on Tuesday. He’s pretty cool, though he’s a little behind the curve since he’s starting late. Since Cash and I have already established a good working rhythm, we’ve had to work to incorporate him into what we’re doing. We’ve also been given most of the responsibility of training him, since we’re already trained. Also, while Cash graduated in December and I’m graduating this May, Kris is only a junior and has about 2 years left of school. He’s much younger than us, but I’m really impressed that someone so young is doing a Congressional internship already. Also, unlike Cash and I, Kris is taking a full 12 hours of classes at the Georgetown campus in addition to doing his internship. I can’t imagine how difficult that must be and am very glad that I’m not an intern from UT, which apparently makes all of their interns do this. Anyway, I think he’ll fit in just fine once he catches up and having him on board is going to lessen our workload even more. The second thing that happened was watching protesters have a run in with Capitol Police. We happened to be over at the Capitol building as thousands of protesters showed up from the Occupy Movement to try and occupy the Capitol Hill. We knew something was going on when a dozen USCP officers passed us carrying handfuls of flexi-cuffs. Curious, we followed them at a distance outside and saw them start to corral protesters off the sidewalks and streets. The protest didn’t last long and was much less eventful than those that occurred last year, but it was still interesting to see in person.
This weekend, it got pretty cold and we had a decent snow fall. I stayed inside most of the weekend and caught up on TV shows thanks to Hulu and Netflix. Other than one outing to go to church Sunday night, I pretty much spent 48 hours inside the apartment and stayed warm. Fortunately, the heater in our apartment seems to be eternally stuck on “hot” and we have no control over the internal temperature. While this does get annoying when you wake up at night sweating, it was very welcome this weekend.
Speaking of church, we did finally find a place where I think we will be very happy and I'm excited to tell you about it. Let me first back up and explain a bit about my situation. I am very blessed that out of the 5 other interns from UNT, 3 of them are practicing Christians (2 protestant and 1 catholic) It's nice to have fellow believers interning with me and this will be good for my spiritual life while I'm here in a very secular city. Unfortunately, finding a church in this city is not easy. Most of the churches here on the Hill are very old and are either Roman Catholic or very old-school Baptist or Methodist (old-school meaning hymnals only, pews, and long winded sermons). While there's nothing wrong with any of that, it’s just not a worship environment that I'm real comfortable in and not what I'm looking for. Also, these churches also offer nothing in the way of college or young adult ministry, so there is really nothing there for us. The other churches in the area are so "liberal" and "progressive" that they are completely un-Biblical. Danny described them as having a philosophy of "Let us make God in our image" and that about accurately sums it up. Anyway, after much online searching and consulting friends from Southwest Christian Church in Fort Worth (the church I grew up in) and The Village Church in Denton (my current home church), we found out about Frontline.
Frontline is a split off church of McLean Bible Church designed specifically to target young adults and college students. They are a multi-campus congregation with locations all over northern Virginia and southern Maryland. The campus closest to us is Frontline Silver Spring in Silver Spring, Maryland. It's about a 15 minute subway ride combined with about 15 minutes of walking, making the total commute about a half hour each way. While this is not real convenient, it's not bad at all and totally worth it. We fell in love with the place right away and just felt like it was where we needed to be. The church meets in an old theatre downtown, which gives it a feel very unlike any other church I’ve been in. The campus pastor's name is Mike and he's a very friendly, funny, knowledgeable, and spiritual young man with a passion for teaching God's word and reaching the southern Maryland and DC communities. I got to talk to him a little while after the service and was very impressed. As for the service itself, it's almost exactly like the Village and made me feel very at home. The music is all contemporary (mostly Hillsong) and the same songs we sing in Denton. I would say around 80% of the congregation is under the age of 30 (exactly like the Village), so I felt very comfortable being around people my age who are in the same life stage as me. What I really like is that the Silver Spring campus is small (only around 150 people), making it easy to meet and engage people. You don't feel like you're lost in a large crowd or fading into the background and everyone was very friendly and inviting. Their theology and teaching is solid and Biblically based and the church just feels like a very welcoming, comfortable place. I'm very glad to have found the Frontline Silver Spring community and I think the other interns and I are going to really enjoy worshipping and serving with them this semester while we're away from our home church. (Though I'm still podcasting Matt Chandler every week on iTunes, haha).
Last Tuesday, Christopher, Chris, and I decided we were hungry for Mexican food and decided to try and find some. We looked up the nearest places on line and settled on a place called "Las Placitas" on 8th St. After walking over to find this place, we were satisfied with the location and noticed that there are lots of other restaurants around 8th, including a Popeye’s! The service was good and quick, put the food turned out to be mediocre. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it just tasted bland and very boring. I have a feeling I'm going to miss Texas cuisine while living in this city.
Work continues to go well. I was given my first project from the press secretary Wednesday, and spent most of the day assisting her doing research. In just a short amount of time, I feel like I've learned a lot about the office and have gotten pretty good at putting names with faces. Cash and I are also doing a very good job with our work and have already been recognized for it. One of the schedulers gave us a major project the first day and told us to have it completed by noon on Wednesday. We submitted it to her at 5 pm on Monday and she was very impressed with the speed and quality of our work. Things do get a little boring, however, when you complete your work well ahead of schedule. The office is pretty slow right now since the Senate has been out of session, so we should probably try to drag our work out a little more to keep from getting so bored. Our supervisor does let us use our free time to walk around the office buildings and Capitol to get our bearings and learn our way around, so we've been able to make good use of the down time and have become pretty familiar with our surroundings.
After work on Wednesday, the other UNT interns and I went to a dinner/reception hosted by WISH for all of their intern residents. The food was barbeque, which was decent, but definitely not Texas. Mercedes and Ricky weren't here yet, but the rest of us attended and had a pretty good time. We met other interns from Massachusetts, North Carolina, California, and several other states who are all working for members of Congress. We also met several international students from countries like South Korea, Vietnam, and even Australia. They're here in D.C. working for various firms and companies. Overall, I was really surprised at the number of interns that are housed by WISH.
By the end of week one, I wrapped up the research assignment that was given to me by the press office and was personally thanked by the press secretary, who said that I did a great job with it and found everything she needed. It felt really good to have completed my first major task successfully. I understand that what I researched is going to be a part of Senator Cornyn's next speech, and it was a really good feeling to know that I contributed something valuable which will be read and directly used by him.
Walking back from lunch one day last week, I walked right past the Secretary of the Navy and a 3-star Admiral! They were in a hurry, so I didn't get to speak to them at all, but it was my first "government celebrity" sighting in DC and I thought it was pretty cool. Also, I got to meet our military liaison this week, who is an active duty Navy NCO! His name is Doug and he's on loan to Senator Cornyn for the year from the Navy to answer any questions the senator has about military issues and help him work on any military-related legislation. He's a really great guy interested in talking to me about the Navy and my plans for becoming a JAG and will be yet another great resource for me in that career pursuit. I think Senator Cornyn's office was exactly the right fit for me and where I needed to be! D.C. has been great so far and I really like it here. The office and the people are great and I really have to say that I enjoy my job. I was initially thinking that I would be pretty lonely until Mercedes arrived, since she is the only one I knew before NTDC, but I'm impressed with how quickly I've formed friendships with the other interns and how well we're all getting along.
Last weekend I returned home to pick up the rest of my things and bring everything back to DC with me. The trip was pretty uneventful, but I enjoyed getting to see my family and tell them all about my first week in DC in person. It's weird to think that it was cheaper for me to fly home and get the rest of my things than it would have been for dad to ship them to me with FedEx. Benefits of having a father who's an airline pilot! Coincidentally, I wound up riding next to one of Senator Hutchison’s (the senior senator from Texas) staffers on the flight to DFW, so we got to talk about life in DC and working for Congress.
I returned to DC on Sunday night and Mercedes arrived the same day. I was excited about this because Mercedes is a friend I’ve known for a long time. While I’ve gotten to know the other interns and we’ve gotten along really well, it’s nice to have someone here that I know well and have an established friendship with. Monday was MLK Day and our offices were closed. I used the time to show Mercedes around Capitol Hill and do some shopping for groceries. We toured the National Mall and went over to the National Archives. Inside the archives, we saw a lot of cool stuff, but nothing as incredible as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. It’s really powerful to see these original documents from the 18thcentury, preserved in pressurized glass cases and guarded around the clock. I can’t describe how incredible it is to stand in front of a document that was written by the hand of Thomas Jefferson in 1776!!! Although, I will say that I was surprised at how faded and worn it is. The Constitution is in relatively good shape, but the Declaration of Independence is hardly legible at all. The display room also looks nothing like the one in National Treasure and I concluded (after some brief surveillance) that it would be much harder to steal this document than Nicolas Cage makes it seem!
On Tuesday, Cash and I spent the entire day in Capitol Tour training. Learning the history of the US Capitol is really interesting, but spending the whole day in tour training gets really old really fast. We did learn a lot and became proficient with the layout and history of the building and I’m now qualified to give guided tours of the building. Wednesday we got quite a surprise when Claire, one of the Staff Assistants for Senator Cornyn, informed us that we would be giving our first tour. A couple of VIPs were in town and Cash and I were asked to give them a tour on behalf of the senator, a day after we did our training (talk about learning fast). Fortunately, the tour went really well and we seemed to remember just about everything. Our guests were very pleased and impressed and we served our office well. What a relief! Haha.
Two other interesting things happened this week. First, our third intern from the University of Texas (Kris) arrived and started work on Tuesday. He’s pretty cool, though he’s a little behind the curve since he’s starting late. Since Cash and I have already established a good working rhythm, we’ve had to work to incorporate him into what we’re doing. We’ve also been given most of the responsibility of training him, since we’re already trained. Also, while Cash graduated in December and I’m graduating this May, Kris is only a junior and has about 2 years left of school. He’s much younger than us, but I’m really impressed that someone so young is doing a Congressional internship already. Also, unlike Cash and I, Kris is taking a full 12 hours of classes at the Georgetown campus in addition to doing his internship. I can’t imagine how difficult that must be and am very glad that I’m not an intern from UT, which apparently makes all of their interns do this. Anyway, I think he’ll fit in just fine once he catches up and having him on board is going to lessen our workload even more. The second thing that happened was watching protesters have a run in with Capitol Police. We happened to be over at the Capitol building as thousands of protesters showed up from the Occupy Movement to try and occupy the Capitol Hill. We knew something was going on when a dozen USCP officers passed us carrying handfuls of flexi-cuffs. Curious, we followed them at a distance outside and saw them start to corral protesters off the sidewalks and streets. The protest didn’t last long and was much less eventful than those that occurred last year, but it was still interesting to see in person.
This weekend, it got pretty cold and we had a decent snow fall. I stayed inside most of the weekend and caught up on TV shows thanks to Hulu and Netflix. Other than one outing to go to church Sunday night, I pretty much spent 48 hours inside the apartment and stayed warm. Fortunately, the heater in our apartment seems to be eternally stuck on “hot” and we have no control over the internal temperature. While this does get annoying when you wake up at night sweating, it was very welcome this weekend.
Speaking of church, we did finally find a place where I think we will be very happy and I'm excited to tell you about it. Let me first back up and explain a bit about my situation. I am very blessed that out of the 5 other interns from UNT, 3 of them are practicing Christians (2 protestant and 1 catholic) It's nice to have fellow believers interning with me and this will be good for my spiritual life while I'm here in a very secular city. Unfortunately, finding a church in this city is not easy. Most of the churches here on the Hill are very old and are either Roman Catholic or very old-school Baptist or Methodist (old-school meaning hymnals only, pews, and long winded sermons). While there's nothing wrong with any of that, it’s just not a worship environment that I'm real comfortable in and not what I'm looking for. Also, these churches also offer nothing in the way of college or young adult ministry, so there is really nothing there for us. The other churches in the area are so "liberal" and "progressive" that they are completely un-Biblical. Danny described them as having a philosophy of "Let us make God in our image" and that about accurately sums it up. Anyway, after much online searching and consulting friends from Southwest Christian Church in Fort Worth (the church I grew up in) and The Village Church in Denton (my current home church), we found out about Frontline.
Frontline is a split off church of McLean Bible Church designed specifically to target young adults and college students. They are a multi-campus congregation with locations all over northern Virginia and southern Maryland. The campus closest to us is Frontline Silver Spring in Silver Spring, Maryland. It's about a 15 minute subway ride combined with about 15 minutes of walking, making the total commute about a half hour each way. While this is not real convenient, it's not bad at all and totally worth it. We fell in love with the place right away and just felt like it was where we needed to be. The church meets in an old theatre downtown, which gives it a feel very unlike any other church I’ve been in. The campus pastor's name is Mike and he's a very friendly, funny, knowledgeable, and spiritual young man with a passion for teaching God's word and reaching the southern Maryland and DC communities. I got to talk to him a little while after the service and was very impressed. As for the service itself, it's almost exactly like the Village and made me feel very at home. The music is all contemporary (mostly Hillsong) and the same songs we sing in Denton. I would say around 80% of the congregation is under the age of 30 (exactly like the Village), so I felt very comfortable being around people my age who are in the same life stage as me. What I really like is that the Silver Spring campus is small (only around 150 people), making it easy to meet and engage people. You don't feel like you're lost in a large crowd or fading into the background and everyone was very friendly and inviting. Their theology and teaching is solid and Biblically based and the church just feels like a very welcoming, comfortable place. I'm very glad to have found the Frontline Silver Spring community and I think the other interns and I are going to really enjoy worshipping and serving with them this semester while we're away from our home church. (Though I'm still podcasting Matt Chandler every week on iTunes, haha).
Monday, January 9, 2012
First Day
So today was my first official day of work. I reported to the Senator's office at 8:45 am and waited with the other intern to be let in at 9, when the first staff members showed up. There are 2 other interns for Senator Cornyn this semester (3 of us total). Cash, who I met today, just graduated from Texas Tech and will be attending grad school at A&M in the fall. The other is from UT, but he won't be starting until January 17th. After meeting the first two staffers in the front office, we were given binders of information concerning office policies, practices, and resources to assist us with the jobs we will be doing. We studied these for about a half hour and filled out some basic paperwork until our intern supervisor arrived to collect us.
Alisa, our intern supervisor, met us in the front office and escorted us down to the Sergeant at Arms to receive our ID badges, which get us access to the various Capitol offices and buildings. We then had an orientation and overview of expectations before being led around the office and introduced to the staff. Senator Cornyn has about 60 people on his full time staff, which means there are a lot of names to learn. Only about half of those are here in the D.C. office, with the rest back in Texas, but 30 faces is still a lot to remember, especially when you have to learn who is responsible for what so you can direct information and inquiries accordingly.
After the introductions, we were shown to our desks (we actually have our own desk with a computer, and telephone which is really nice) and set to work on our first task. The office is pretty strict with security policies and desires that all business remain inside the office. We aren't allowed to discuss what we work on with anyone outside the Senator's staff, so I can't talk a lot about the specifics of the job. Suffice it to say that we have responsibilities in different areas of the office and will get to work on a range of different projects during the semester, which are designed to expose us to the various issues and policies dealt with by the Senate on a daily basis. The work isn't that hard and some of it is actually interesting and informative.
As for the staff, everyone is very nice and friendly (typical Texans) and they were very willing to answer questions and assist us whenever we needed. The Senator sits on the Armed Services Committee for the Senate and I was excited to learn that one of his staffers is a former Army Judge Advocate. I was even more excited to learn that another junior staffer is currently attending law school and going through the application process to become a JAG. These people should be great resources for me and I look forward to developing relationships with them both.
As we were leaving for the day, we discovered that it was snowing for my first time since being here. The flakes are huge and accumulate (nothing like Texas "snow") and the scene was really pretty. Overall, it was a great first day and I think I'm really going to like it here. Now it's off to make dinner and get ready for the BCS National Championship tonight. GEAUX TIGERS!!!
-Drew
Alisa, our intern supervisor, met us in the front office and escorted us down to the Sergeant at Arms to receive our ID badges, which get us access to the various Capitol offices and buildings. We then had an orientation and overview of expectations before being led around the office and introduced to the staff. Senator Cornyn has about 60 people on his full time staff, which means there are a lot of names to learn. Only about half of those are here in the D.C. office, with the rest back in Texas, but 30 faces is still a lot to remember, especially when you have to learn who is responsible for what so you can direct information and inquiries accordingly.
After the introductions, we were shown to our desks (we actually have our own desk with a computer, and telephone which is really nice) and set to work on our first task. The office is pretty strict with security policies and desires that all business remain inside the office. We aren't allowed to discuss what we work on with anyone outside the Senator's staff, so I can't talk a lot about the specifics of the job. Suffice it to say that we have responsibilities in different areas of the office and will get to work on a range of different projects during the semester, which are designed to expose us to the various issues and policies dealt with by the Senate on a daily basis. The work isn't that hard and some of it is actually interesting and informative.
As for the staff, everyone is very nice and friendly (typical Texans) and they were very willing to answer questions and assist us whenever we needed. The Senator sits on the Armed Services Committee for the Senate and I was excited to learn that one of his staffers is a former Army Judge Advocate. I was even more excited to learn that another junior staffer is currently attending law school and going through the application process to become a JAG. These people should be great resources for me and I look forward to developing relationships with them both.
As we were leaving for the day, we discovered that it was snowing for my first time since being here. The flakes are huge and accumulate (nothing like Texas "snow") and the scene was really pretty. Overall, it was a great first day and I think I'm really going to like it here. Now it's off to make dinner and get ready for the BCS National Championship tonight. GEAUX TIGERS!!!
-Drew
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Grocery Shopping
So I wasn't going to write again until after I started work on Monday, but today's events required me to tell you all about a very interesting experience.
First, let me back up to last night. After posting yesterday's blog, Chris and I decided to go see the Lincoln Memorial lit up at night. Looking at the distance on a map, we didn't think this would be any problem and set out on our adventure. If you ever think about walking from the Supreme Court to the Lincoln Memorial: DON'T!!! The Mall (as the Capitol Hill area with all the museums and monuments is called) is considerably larger than it looks and the walk is quite a workout. It takes about an hour and fifteen minutes each way and by the time we got there we were exhausted. The Lincoln Memorial itself, however, is incredible. Just one more breathtaking monument this city has to offer and it looks especially awesome when its lit at night. The walk home about killed us and we've decided that we will never try to walk that distance again. Lesson 1: places in D.C. are further apart than they appear!
Now on to today's experience: grocery shopping. I should preface this by explaining to you that D.C. is nothing like Texas. In Texas, when you need something from the store, you simply get into your car, drive 10 minutes to your destination, pick up your items and drive home. In D.C., getting to the store is much more of a journey. Since we don't have cars and there are no superstores on the Hill, we have to travel via Metro (subway) downtown to get basic things like groceries, toiletries, and a pillow (that I didn't have room to pack and bring with me). We decided to go to Target today and I had no idea how difficult that would be. First, we walked a few blocks to Union Station, purchased a rail pass and boarded the Red Line train. We rode this for a few stops, then switched to the Green Line which we rode for another four or five stops. We then walked about a block to Target. Target, while similar to every other Target in layout and services, is a little bit different in the city than you may be used to. It's located off a sidewalk in downtown in a building similar to a small mall. The store takes up two floors, much like a Sears or Macy's in a shopping mall back home, and has not only escalators for people but specialized escalators for your shopping cart so you can move between floors. It's one of the weirdest and coolest things I've ever seen! Haha.
Anyway, after shopping and checking out the real task began. We now had to get back to our apartment which meant walking back to the subway station, waiting forever for the train to arrive, boarding the Green Line, switching to the Red Line (again waiting forever for the train), walking several blocks back from Union Station and then upstairs to the room, all while carrying all of our groceries in bags. Let me assure you this is quite a workout, not only on your legs but on your arms carrying all that weight. You have no idea how heavy groceries can be until you carry them for what seems like miles. The entire trip to Target took about two and a half hours and only about 20 minutes of that was spent shopping in the store.
The moral of today's story is that Texans have no idea what it means to walk everywhere or what it's like to live without a car to run your errands. People here use their feet and mass transit to get around and do basic chores like grocery shopping and its definitely a different culture that will take some getting used to. Whether walking to monuments or Target, I've probably walked 7-8 miles and I've only been here a day and a half. Looks like I'll be in pretty good shape by the time I return in May!
- Drew
P.S. We've learned that there is a store which delivers groceries you order online for a small fee (something like $20). After today's experience, I'm thinking that a convenience fee may well be worth it to avoid carrying grocery bags on the subway.
First, let me back up to last night. After posting yesterday's blog, Chris and I decided to go see the Lincoln Memorial lit up at night. Looking at the distance on a map, we didn't think this would be any problem and set out on our adventure. If you ever think about walking from the Supreme Court to the Lincoln Memorial: DON'T!!! The Mall (as the Capitol Hill area with all the museums and monuments is called) is considerably larger than it looks and the walk is quite a workout. It takes about an hour and fifteen minutes each way and by the time we got there we were exhausted. The Lincoln Memorial itself, however, is incredible. Just one more breathtaking monument this city has to offer and it looks especially awesome when its lit at night. The walk home about killed us and we've decided that we will never try to walk that distance again. Lesson 1: places in D.C. are further apart than they appear!
Now on to today's experience: grocery shopping. I should preface this by explaining to you that D.C. is nothing like Texas. In Texas, when you need something from the store, you simply get into your car, drive 10 minutes to your destination, pick up your items and drive home. In D.C., getting to the store is much more of a journey. Since we don't have cars and there are no superstores on the Hill, we have to travel via Metro (subway) downtown to get basic things like groceries, toiletries, and a pillow (that I didn't have room to pack and bring with me). We decided to go to Target today and I had no idea how difficult that would be. First, we walked a few blocks to Union Station, purchased a rail pass and boarded the Red Line train. We rode this for a few stops, then switched to the Green Line which we rode for another four or five stops. We then walked about a block to Target. Target, while similar to every other Target in layout and services, is a little bit different in the city than you may be used to. It's located off a sidewalk in downtown in a building similar to a small mall. The store takes up two floors, much like a Sears or Macy's in a shopping mall back home, and has not only escalators for people but specialized escalators for your shopping cart so you can move between floors. It's one of the weirdest and coolest things I've ever seen! Haha.
Anyway, after shopping and checking out the real task began. We now had to get back to our apartment which meant walking back to the subway station, waiting forever for the train to arrive, boarding the Green Line, switching to the Red Line (again waiting forever for the train), walking several blocks back from Union Station and then upstairs to the room, all while carrying all of our groceries in bags. Let me assure you this is quite a workout, not only on your legs but on your arms carrying all that weight. You have no idea how heavy groceries can be until you carry them for what seems like miles. The entire trip to Target took about two and a half hours and only about 20 minutes of that was spent shopping in the store.
The moral of today's story is that Texans have no idea what it means to walk everywhere or what it's like to live without a car to run your errands. People here use their feet and mass transit to get around and do basic chores like grocery shopping and its definitely a different culture that will take some getting used to. Whether walking to monuments or Target, I've probably walked 7-8 miles and I've only been here a day and a half. Looks like I'll be in pretty good shape by the time I return in May!
- Drew
P.S. We've learned that there is a store which delivers groceries you order online for a small fee (something like $20). After today's experience, I'm thinking that a convenience fee may well be worth it to avoid carrying grocery bags on the subway.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Arrival
Hey everyone! As you all know, I will be spending my final semester of college in Washington, D.C. interning for Senator John Cornyn. I have created this blog as a way to keep you all informed of my experiences here and share stories and pictures. I will try to post at least a couple of times a week so you can all keep up with what's going on in our nation's Capitol and what I'm getting to do here.
First of all, let me thank Mr. Kerry Frey who provided the title for this blog (if unintentionally). Also, for legal reasons I need to say that this blog is in no way affiliated with, endorsed by, or related to the 1939 film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Any similarity to "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" or to the characters, actors, or plot thereof is purely coincidental and unintentional.
So now to get started with the blog. Today I arrived in D.C. and the reality of this move finally set in. The flight was great (it's been a while since I got to travel First Class and eat a hot meal on an airplane) and I really have to thank American Airlines for letting me check two bags for free. If not for their generosity, I wouldn't have been able to bring even the little that I did. As a side note, you have NO IDEA how difficult it is to pack your life into two checked bags and a carry on. Dad is going to ship me a few boxes of things later, but I had to get everything I needed for at least a week or two into those three bags and it was no easy task. Anyway, the flight went great and I cannot describe to you how awesome it was to look out the window on approach and see the Capitol for the first time. It's weird to think that I'm about to graduate with a political science degree and am just now seeing D.C. for the first time. The pictures and textbooks do not do it justice!
After arriving, I caught a cab to my apartment (thank you UNT for paying for this place by the way) and my jaw almost dropped when I saw our location. We are literally living on the Hill! Seriously, I can walk out of my apartment, take 20 steps down the sidewalk, turn the corner, and I am standing across the street from the Supreme Court of the United States!!!! The Capitol Rotunda is visible right beyond that, so I'm about a five minute walk from my job. Incredible!
I met up with Chris Wilkes, another one of our UNT interns who had moved in already and we went out to explore the area. We started at the Supreme Court building, then went to Union Station, the Washington Monument, and took a guided tour of the Capitol Building. The Washington Monument is enormous and absolutely nothing like the pictures. It makes you feel extremely insignificant when you're standing at it's base looking up. As for the Capitol Building, I could write an entire blog on that alone. Again, pictures do no justice to this city and this building is incredible. The inside of the rotunda is simply breathtaking and the entire building just makes you feel small. Looking at the statues of our nation's heroes that adorn the walls throughout the Capitol give you the feeling that you are standing in the presence of giants and the simple knowledge that so many of our nation's leaders have walked where you are walking for decades gives you the feeling that you are standing in history. It really is an indescribable feeling and it's been rather overwhelming to just be here and soak it all in. I have a feeling this is going to be a great semester and I look forward to everything I'm going to experience during my time here.
I start work for the Senator on Monday morning at 9 am, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. The rest of my weekend will be spent settling in and learning the city as best I can, as well as studying policy and learning as much as possible about Senator Cornyn and his office. For those of you who had asked, my address is:
215 Constitution Ave. NE, Apt. 207
Washington, D.C. 20002
If you're going to mail something, address it to "Andrew Robertson" because that's how the building has me listed in the paperwork. And don't forget the "NE" because that's apparently very important in this city given that every street has a NE and a NW address. For instance, I learned today on my tour that 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW is the White House, while 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NE is a McDonald's!
I already miss Texas a little bit, but while I am a little nervous to be in a new city on my own, starting a new job of this caliber, I am also very excited. I know God has put me here for a reason and will allow me to get a lot out of this experience, while using me to accomplish His purpose. I can't wait to see everything He has in store for me this semester! Hope you all are doing well and I'll talk to you soon!
- Drew
First of all, let me thank Mr. Kerry Frey who provided the title for this blog (if unintentionally). Also, for legal reasons I need to say that this blog is in no way affiliated with, endorsed by, or related to the 1939 film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Any similarity to "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" or to the characters, actors, or plot thereof is purely coincidental and unintentional.
So now to get started with the blog. Today I arrived in D.C. and the reality of this move finally set in. The flight was great (it's been a while since I got to travel First Class and eat a hot meal on an airplane) and I really have to thank American Airlines for letting me check two bags for free. If not for their generosity, I wouldn't have been able to bring even the little that I did. As a side note, you have NO IDEA how difficult it is to pack your life into two checked bags and a carry on. Dad is going to ship me a few boxes of things later, but I had to get everything I needed for at least a week or two into those three bags and it was no easy task. Anyway, the flight went great and I cannot describe to you how awesome it was to look out the window on approach and see the Capitol for the first time. It's weird to think that I'm about to graduate with a political science degree and am just now seeing D.C. for the first time. The pictures and textbooks do not do it justice!
After arriving, I caught a cab to my apartment (thank you UNT for paying for this place by the way) and my jaw almost dropped when I saw our location. We are literally living on the Hill! Seriously, I can walk out of my apartment, take 20 steps down the sidewalk, turn the corner, and I am standing across the street from the Supreme Court of the United States!!!! The Capitol Rotunda is visible right beyond that, so I'm about a five minute walk from my job. Incredible!
I met up with Chris Wilkes, another one of our UNT interns who had moved in already and we went out to explore the area. We started at the Supreme Court building, then went to Union Station, the Washington Monument, and took a guided tour of the Capitol Building. The Washington Monument is enormous and absolutely nothing like the pictures. It makes you feel extremely insignificant when you're standing at it's base looking up. As for the Capitol Building, I could write an entire blog on that alone. Again, pictures do no justice to this city and this building is incredible. The inside of the rotunda is simply breathtaking and the entire building just makes you feel small. Looking at the statues of our nation's heroes that adorn the walls throughout the Capitol give you the feeling that you are standing in the presence of giants and the simple knowledge that so many of our nation's leaders have walked where you are walking for decades gives you the feeling that you are standing in history. It really is an indescribable feeling and it's been rather overwhelming to just be here and soak it all in. I have a feeling this is going to be a great semester and I look forward to everything I'm going to experience during my time here.
I start work for the Senator on Monday morning at 9 am, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. The rest of my weekend will be spent settling in and learning the city as best I can, as well as studying policy and learning as much as possible about Senator Cornyn and his office. For those of you who had asked, my address is:
215 Constitution Ave. NE, Apt. 207
Washington, D.C. 20002
If you're going to mail something, address it to "Andrew Robertson" because that's how the building has me listed in the paperwork. And don't forget the "NE" because that's apparently very important in this city given that every street has a NE and a NW address. For instance, I learned today on my tour that 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW is the White House, while 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NE is a McDonald's!
I already miss Texas a little bit, but while I am a little nervous to be in a new city on my own, starting a new job of this caliber, I am also very excited. I know God has put me here for a reason and will allow me to get a lot out of this experience, while using me to accomplish His purpose. I can't wait to see everything He has in store for me this semester! Hope you all are doing well and I'll talk to you soon!
- Drew
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