I am really blessed to be able to be part of BYU's Washington Seminar Program. Every day I realize even more what a fabulous opportunity this is. I have been surprised at the positive responses I have heard from people when they find out I am from Utah. One of the first things a couple people have asked when they find I am from Utah is if I go to BYU. Apparently we are well known in this city and people always have good things to say about others they have known from BYU. I am blessed to have a nice place to stay that is probably the cheapest housing in town. It is called "the Barlow Center" and it is owned by BYU specifically for the purpose of housing Washington Seminar interns. The building is also used for LDS Institute of Religion classes and for the LDS Church's government affairs offices. I have nice accomodations, even if it is a bit small, it has just enough storage and is certainly a well kept property. I am in a great location located conveniently close to a metro station, and I'm surrounded by other great interns from BYU. My roomate, Ruth, is great and we are getting along famously.
I have had a busy first couple of days getting oriented to the city and learning more about my internship. I have learned a few interesting things about Washington DC. One humorous fact is that people here tend to freak out about the smallest chance of inclement winter weather. At my internship they said that if there is any threat of snow or ice, often the federal government will call a "delay" where they notify people coming into the city to delay their commute by 2 hours or more so people arent rushing to get through traffic, or if there really is a storm, they will shut down altogether. Now, for someone coming from Utah where we have heavy snow storms on a regular basis, this all seems a little silly, but I guess people here consider themselves more important than the weather.
Anyway, yesterday we spent the day becoming familiar with the metro system and finding our internships. I saw my first motorcade parading down Pennsylvania avenue. I'm not sure who was in the big black suburban, but they must have been pretty important because they shut down all the side streets and the suburban was accompanied by a parade of motorcycle police, an ambulance, a firetruck, and several other big black suburbans with serious looking dudes with guns looking out the windows. It might even have been the President!!
I walked by the Capitol building, bought a metro card with a commemorative photo of Barack Obama, and almost got stuck in the metro doors because they don't wait for you to move before they close. :-\
I found the place where I will be interning which is in an office 3 floors underground beneath the Smithsonian Castle. The entrance to the building is a little structure that has a roof that looks like an upside down tulip. The great thing about my location is that its one of the safest places to be if there was any kind of attack or anything. The bad thing is, that if there was an attack, I would likely be stuck underground for 3-4 days with the rest of my co-workers. So they advise us to pack an emergency bag to keep at our desks with food and water to last for a few days. Also, since I am so far underground, I get absolutely no cell phone reception, so if anyone wants to contact me while I'm working, sending me an email is probably the best way to get in touch. I am located right on the national mall, so sight-seeing after work or during lunch will be quite convenient for me.
This was our first ride on the metro on our way to church.
If you would like to know more about the Washington Seminar program, check out this link:
I have had a busy first couple of days getting oriented to the city and learning more about my internship. I have learned a few interesting things about Washington DC. One humorous fact is that people here tend to freak out about the smallest chance of inclement winter weather. At my internship they said that if there is any threat of snow or ice, often the federal government will call a "delay" where they notify people coming into the city to delay their commute by 2 hours or more so people arent rushing to get through traffic, or if there really is a storm, they will shut down altogether. Now, for someone coming from Utah where we have heavy snow storms on a regular basis, this all seems a little silly, but I guess people here consider themselves more important than the weather.
Anyway, yesterday we spent the day becoming familiar with the metro system and finding our internships. I saw my first motorcade parading down Pennsylvania avenue. I'm not sure who was in the big black suburban, but they must have been pretty important because they shut down all the side streets and the suburban was accompanied by a parade of motorcycle police, an ambulance, a firetruck, and several other big black suburbans with serious looking dudes with guns looking out the windows. It might even have been the President!!
I walked by the Capitol building, bought a metro card with a commemorative photo of Barack Obama, and almost got stuck in the metro doors because they don't wait for you to move before they close. :-\
I found the place where I will be interning which is in an office 3 floors underground beneath the Smithsonian Castle. The entrance to the building is a little structure that has a roof that looks like an upside down tulip. The great thing about my location is that its one of the safest places to be if there was any kind of attack or anything. The bad thing is, that if there was an attack, I would likely be stuck underground for 3-4 days with the rest of my co-workers. So they advise us to pack an emergency bag to keep at our desks with food and water to last for a few days. Also, since I am so far underground, I get absolutely no cell phone reception, so if anyone wants to contact me while I'm working, sending me an email is probably the best way to get in touch. I am located right on the national mall, so sight-seeing after work or during lunch will be quite convenient for me.
This is the inside entrance to my office at "The Smithsonian Associates." The entrance is nice, my cubicle is okay, but my computer makes a strange sound that makes me think it is going to self-destruct in 4.5 seconds. ;-)
I learned a little bit about what I'm going to be doing, but didn't have much time to do a lot today, so I'll save the details for another post!
Hey Valerie! Good for you! I had no idea you were going to D.C. I love that place. You are going to have a great time, I am sure. And, hopefully you'll learn a lot while you're there, too. Enjoy! (And don't forget to take a side trip to NYC if you can!)
ReplyDelete