The First Month

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!