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