it's our whole life, down to one box

I'm writing this in the kitchen surrounded by cardboard boxes and luggage. I can't believe I'm actually packing to leave D.C. It really seems like just yesterday I got here. This has been an incredible four months.

I finished up a few projects at work this week and took my finals on Tuesday. The past few days I've just been trying to take everything in, wrap up some loose ends, and visit as many cupcake stores as possible. My supervisors took me to lunch yesterday before I left. It was really weird to think I've spent the past several months with them and suddenly - I'm gone.

I took as many jogs around the Mall as possible with my roommates this week. I just don't see how Denny Chimes and Gorgas are going to compare to Washington, Lincoln, and the Capitol. We also tried to hit up as many of our favorite restaurants as possible.

I had a graduation ceremony this morning and a goodbye dinner a few nights ago. Our coordinator put together a nice slideshow (there is one picture with yours truly making a typically adorable face) and gave out superlatives. They were mostly things like "Who will be in political office first." Needless to say, Hillary did not take home that award, haha.

My parents are in town to help me pack all of my things up. It's so strange to think of everything that has changed since my mom and I drove up here in January. I'll be going home and working with students getting ready for end-of-grade tests for a few weeks, then getting ready to head off to Ghana! I'll try to update from Africa, but it might be a little difficult :) This has been a really wonderful experience, and I'm so excited for the next few months.

like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun

Things are getting pretty crazy around here! I spent most of the weekend doing homework, writing papers, and working on study guides for my upcoming exams. I'm also getting down to crunch time with my movie. I've been working on outlining what I want to say, going through my interview notes, trying to pick film clips, etc. It's harder than I thought because I know what I want the final project to look like, but it's getting there that's a lot of work.

Last Monday, we went to the State Department. Our speakers were from the Afghanistan and Pakistan desks. I just finished reading Three Cups of Tea, which is about school building efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The speaker from the Pakistan desk has actually met Greg Mortenson, so of course I asked him about education initiatives in the region. Learning about the cultural differences in the area is fascinating and it's understandable why it's hard to install a democratic government. It was my favorite visit by far.

I've had a several research projects to do at work. It's funny how I'm taking on more and more responsibility the closer I get to leaving! I really have learned a tremendous amount at work though and I've enjoyed it. I've been able to dabble in so many different areas.

This weekend Robert and I went to a D.C. United game. It was so much fun, but the team is pretty awful! I think they've scored one goal all season. I really wanted to go play soccer afterwards and I actually had a dream about playing soccer in Ghana that night :)

On Sunday, we went to the White House to see the gardens. Every year, the First Lady opens up the back lawn to the public for a few days, and you can walk all over the grounds (well, not all over. I saw several people get yelled at for walking on the grass...). I mean, it's the White House, so of course it's beautiful, but I really enjoyed the tour. You could look in the Oval Office and see the American flag, the table where Obama had the beer summit, his daughter's playground, the new kitchen garden, Jackie Kennedy's garden, everything!

I'm about to scramble off to Georgetown for class, but I wanted to give everyone a quick update about how things are going! The next 11 days are going to be insane, but I am loving it.

these streets will make you feel brand new

Well, I'm at the three week mark of my semester! I can't believe that I've been in D.C. for almost three months, and I'll be leaving in just a few weeks. This semester has flown by.

I'm making some more progress on my film - I practiced editing with the film from the wedding I mentioned in my first post. It just seems like such a monumental task that I don't really know where to start! I've worked on a script and have started working out which clips I want to use, but it's still pretty daunting.

I had a fantastic meeting at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute on Monday. The institute focuses on education reform and policy, and I learned a lot. I thought I was pretty knowledgeable on the topic because so much of what we do at work is about education, but I definitely didn't know as much as a thought! I spoke with one of their policy experts, and she actually recommended some really interesting studies and ideas for to me look at. I love talking to people who are so passionate about what they do.

I was pretty busy helping our event planner this week. I had to look through agenda for about a decade's worth of meetings and put together a spreadsheet of speakers - it ended up being nearly one thousand people long. I know that doesn't sound very exciting, but it was actually neat to see these really recognizable names and organizations that our group has a relationship with. My next project is writing a piece on public-private philanthropy projects.

Classes are going well too - I'm going to have finals starting up in less than two weeks. The weather has been ridiculously spastic - high 80s yesterday, 50s today. I sat out and watched a storm roll in last night. I felt like I was back in the South :)

On a side note, I ate Ethiopian food on Wednesday! We went to a place up in Georgetown after class. It was definitely unlike anything I've had before. They brought out this huge pan covered in flat, spongy bread, and then just dumped everyone's entrees onto the bread! You don't get any utensils - the waiters brought us rolls of the bread that you scoop the food up in. I have a feeling my food experiences in Ghana this summer are going to be pretty interesting...

look at the stars, look how they shine

I spent most of the weekend editing my videos from the protests I went to last week. I cut down about 30 minutes to 14:30, so I've got a good idea of where I want this project to start heading. I feel so lucky to be in DC while there is such big legislation going down - it's changing the trajectory of my project, but I think it will be cool.

Editing hasn't been terribly difficult so far, just time consuming. It's really, really weird to hear myself talk on camera. I've also noticed that I talk a TON. I had to edit out so many good clips because I was carrying on in the background.

I'm working on setting up some more interviews. I've been talking with a staffer in Senator Hagan's office to get a legislative point of view from a Democrat. One of my professors is helping me set up something with a think tank. I'm also working on speaking with a policy expert at one of my favorite groups, the Thomas Fordham Institute. I heard their president speak about education and philanthropy last month and I've read a lot of their publications since then. It's probably the meeting I'm most excited about!

At work I've been doing some follow-up from our event and started preparing for another conference. The annual meeting isn't until October, but it's at a resort so there's already a lot of planning to do. I made a bunch of phone calls to photographers to get price quotes and worked on guest lists. I guess event planning is the part of PR that I don't really enjoy as much. It's something I can do if I have to, but I'd rather not.

On Friday, we went to the Federal Reserve. The security is really tight, but the interior of the building is just beautiful - marble floors, columns, crown molding, chandeliers. Our briefing was in the Board of Governors room, so it was neat to be in a place where Bernake and other high-ups meet. However, after an hour and a half briefing, I am still as clueless as to what the Fed does. When the speaker got talking about the recession, it was pretty interesting, but the structure of the Fed is just confusing!

Robert and I are going home this weekend for Easter, which I am really excited about! After Easter, it's less than a month until I'm home for the first part of the summer.

and i don't know how it gets better than this

On Monday, I had my first interview for my independent study project. I met with the Legislative Director in Senator Sessions office, and I ended up getting some good information from him. I'm trying to understand a bit more about public policy, including the policy process. I'm pretty familiar with the whole Schoolhouse Rock, "I'm just a bill, on Capitol Hill" concept, but there's so much more than goes into creating policy (especially in these huge Senate offices).

The one downside I've found is that many congressional offices are hestitant to let staffers appear on camera. For my staff interviews, I'm just going to have to take notes and make kind of a video-journal entry for my project. It's not what I'd orginally wanted to do, but it will just force me to be a little more creative! I'm hoping nongovernmental offices are more lenient.

With the healthcare debate heating up, there are a lot of protests this week. Today we went out to a big healthcare protest by the House offices - it was just mind-blowing. I interviewed several protesters and got some good footage. It was really neat to see these people who had never been politically active out fighting for something they believe in so much. Whether or not you agree with them, it's great to see democracy in action. That's what America is really about.

My big work project for the semester was on Tuesday. I worked 14 hours and then had a midterm the next day - not fun. Everything went pretty well, which I think is usually a suprise with event planning. I've ended up doing a lot more event planning and support than I expected here, actually. This week and next week, I'm mostly going to be working on the followup - thank you letters, evaluations, reports, etc - before jumping into another meeting that will happen in October.

I've only got 5 weeks left here, which is a bit strange. I felt like I was waiting forever to come to D.C. and I was so nervous about this semester, but it really has been a fantastic experience.

feeling lucky today, got the sunshine

I feel like I haven't been in D.C. much since I last updated - I spent last weekend visiting in Tuscaloosa and I'm back in Charlotte for a few days over my spring break. It's actually been nice to have a little break from the city, but the snow is pretty much gone and we're heading into the home stretch of the semester.

Work has been picking up a bit with our event approaching. I've been handling all of the RSVPs, which involves transferring information from one database to two others, updating my supervisors, and researching attendees. I told my supervisor that I was interested in Gulf Coast recovery, so I've been updating her on research about community rebuilding. Last week, I attended a meeting on the Obama administration's partnerships with nonprofits and foundations. I really feel like I've just been learning so much about nonprofits and philanthropies that I forget other people aren't surrounded by this all the time!

This week, we visited the World Bank on Wednesday and the Australian embassy on Thursday. I didn't really know much about what the World Bank actually does, so it was pretty interesting to hear about. The week before, we visited the Pentagon. It's actually not nearly as interesting as it sounds - the Pentagon really is just the world's largest office building. I'm sure plenty of interesting things happen there, but not that we get to find out about.

I'm hoping to get out and see some more museums this weekend. It's supposed to be in the high 50s for at least the next week. I've also got midterms coming up, some friends visiting in a few weeks, and before I know it I'll be in the last few weeks of my internship! I can't believe how quickly everything is going by.

I finally seem to be on track with my independent study too. I've been sending out requests for meetings and interviews, and my computer (fingers crossed) is finally updated with its new software. Once I start getting video shot, I'll post up the more interesting bits. I'm a little nervous about really getting into the editing, but I'm excited to give it a try.

a new day dawns, and i am practicing my purpose once again

The snow is melting, birds are chirping, tourists crowd the Metro, and I'm finally getting back in the swing of things in the capital. I'm hesitant to say spring is arriving, but it got up to 50 on Sunday and that was good enough for me! A few months ago, I listed Boston as a potential place to live after graduation. After (barely) surviving Snowmageddon, it's safe to say that this little bird is ready to fly back south...forever.

Last week I attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which is an annual gathering of over 10,000 conservatives, think tanks, and leaders. It was, to say the least, interesting. On one hand, it was a great opportunity to learn about issues, meet new people, and get excited about midterm elections. On the flip side, there were definitely some crazies. My personal favorite was the Tea Party rep who dressed up in a different pre-Revolutionary War outfit each day and waved his "Don't Tread on Me" flag from the balcony.

I got the chance to hear a lot of great speakers - Lynne Cheney, Dick Cheney (right before his heart attack!), Scott Brown, Newt Gingrich, Jim DeMint, Ann Coulter (speaker? comedian? who knows), and Mitt Romney. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone. Even if I didn't agree with everything they said, it was interesting to hear the opinions of people who really know what they're talking about.

Romney was definitely my favorite. For starters, he was the only one who really touched on reforming the education system, which I thought was great. He's a great speaker and has an excellent economic record, which is more than I can say about our sitting president. Gingrich was pretty good too, and he stayed away from the divise language that some of the other speakers used. He really hit home with his comments about the importance of bipartisanship during a bad economy, and he's gotten a proven record of successfully working across party lines.

In the epic battle of Hillary vs. Machine, it is currently Hillary, 0, Machine, a bazillion. The camcorder Mac told me to buy was not compatible with the software on my Mac computer, and the new software Mac sold me was not compatible with my Mac operating system. Luckily, I used the skills of persuasion I picked up from watching my mom sweet talk her way out of so many speeding tickets to talk my was past a two hour wait at the Mac store and into some new programming. Thanks, Mom.