Week 10: Reflections

I have exactly one day left here in DC. And it is with great satisfaction that I prepare for my departure. I came here with a very limited idea of what I wanted for myself in the future. After nearly three months of feeling my way around the city, I’m leaving with so much more direction and certainty about exactly where it is I’m going in life and I think that’s monumental. I’ve learned some of the most invaluable lessons on the importance of professionalism and personal growth. As I pack up to leave, and go back home, I feel as though I’m embarking on a new journey in adulthood, and I’m so looking forward to everything it has to bring. I’m confident that I made the right choice in interning with The Washington Center, and given the chance to do it all over again I would make only minor changes, as the organization has definitely played an integral role in helping to equip me with some of the necessary tools to realize my career goals. For that I am forever grateful.

If I had to pick out the single most important lesson learned through this experience it would probably have to be one that was echoed in nearly every single speech I have heard since I got here; and that's the importance of being open to wherever life may lead. I have heard so many people say that when they were twenty-something they knew exactly what they wanted to do with their life, but because they walking through open doors as they came along, these people have been able to put themselves in good positions doing things they love. Had they been narrow-minded and inflexible they could have very well missed their chances. Success isn’t always the first place you would think to look, and there is something to be learned in every situation, because no matter what nobody knows everything there is to know. So take a second and think about what it is you may stand to benefit even when circumstances aren’t ideal.

In conclusion, goodbye for now, DC, and hello to a new adult world… Here I come!

Week 9: What I wish I'd known

This is my ninth week here in Washington, DC and time has gone by so fast, it’s really unbelievable. There are so many opportunities for many unique experiences but it seems to me that sometimes you have to know where to look. Constantly I find myself learning about things and places and wishing I had known that place was there in the beginning. So I thought it would be cool if for the next to last week of my blog I blogged about some things I wish I had known about the first week I was here. There are also some things that are unique to the city, so given the chance to come here you should take advantage of them.

1. One of the best things about being in DC is its proximity to other cities. Surprisingly it’s really easy to find cheap bus tickets to great place like Philadelphia, Boston and New York. I’m really excited as this weekend I’m headed to New York on a bus line called Tony Coach, and I only paid like thirty bucks for round trip tickets. On websites like megabus.com you can even tickets as cheap as $5.

2. I’ve been here since the beginning of June and it was just a couple of weeks ago that I realized that this place called Au Bon Pain has half-off baked goods after five o’clock. It’s like carb lovers' heaven, there are pastries, brownies and literally every baked treat imaginable. They make an awesome “confetti cookie,” which is my personal favorite but if you’re looking for something a little more healthy they also have some great bagels and breads. Locals actually call it “ABP;” apparently DC doesn’t have enough government acronyms, restaurants have to have abbreviations too. Getting half price pastries is actually pretty competitive downtown, but it seems there is one on almost every corner. There are seriously like four in very close walking to distance to where I work.

3. The National Mall of course is here in the Nation’s capital. It’s normally just like a huge yard with the Capitol building and the Washington Monument on either side. This summer there have been festivals on it. In the beginning of July there was the Folk Life Festival. There were people everywhere with song and dance from various countries around the world. I went the day after Fourth of July and they had tons of venders with ethnic foods and drinks to try. Of course it was million degrees outside but the mall is right in the middle of the Smithsonian museums, so when I was ready to take a break my friends and I cooled off in the Natural History Museum while we checked out the hope diamond all for free.

4. Conferences are a great idea to participate in while here in the city, and there is certainly an abundance of them. I get an email inviting me to conference every other day. There are conferences for young people, old people, liberals, conservatives, or those interested in globalization policies. You name it—somebody in DC will hold a conference for it. Pick the ones that you’re interested in and they are normally really informative and enlightening. Not only you will feel smarter, but they usually have food for participants, which is a lifesaver for those of us living on an “intern budget.” Not only do they feed you, but they are a great way to network. Join “listservs” to stay in the loop of these kinds of events.

Again these are just a few things I wish I had known more about in the beginning. Hope someone finds them helpful.

Week 8: Whirlwind Schedule

As the summer winds down it seems like the world around me is in a whirlwind. The end is approaching so there are lots of last minute things to take care of as I try to stay on top of assignments and whatnot. This past week was a procrastinator’s worst nightmare! Since Monday I have had a paper due for somebody every time I turn around. I think I owe everybody in Washington, DC metropolitan area a paper. I’m actually exaggerating quite a bit, it wasn’t really that much work to do it was simply a matter of sitting down and making myself complete the work. I’ve found that many of the writing assignments help me to organize my thoughts and reflect on what exactly I learned from many of my experiences here.

Anyone interning through The Washington Center will soon find out that all interns are expected to complete two informational interviews. The interviews are supposed to be with people you find interesting and you get the chance to learn about what it is they do, and how they got there. The idea is that you are able to explore some companies, and through meeting new people begin to build your own network. So this week I got to meet with the executive director of D.C. LEARNs. The visit was very informative and an all-around great experience.

I thought I was going to come to D.C. and relax and enjoy myself. I’ve definitely enjoyed myself but the relaxing I thought I would do was a fantasy as my datebook is working overtime. That’s okay though, I have come to the conclusion that staying busy makes for a more interesting life. Every day brings a new adventure and a different place to be or event. I’m literally booked for weeks! I feel like I need “people” and a personal assistant to help me keep an agenda. So for now it’s off to class, then home to prepare a presentation, and then the Arsalyn conference in the morning.

Week 7: Meridian at Courthouse

On my way here I was seriously worried about what my living arrangements would be like. Admittedly, the idea of sharing a two bedroom apartment with three other people nearly made me nauseous. But I must say that worry was unwarranted because things actually turned out a million times better than I could have ever expected. I definitely lucked out all the way around. My roommates are nearly as beautiful as the apartment we live in. While all four of us are from completely different walks of life, I’ve found that I genuinely enjoy the company of all of them. I don’t think I could have done better if I had hand-picked them myself.

My bedroom

Our living room

Having roommates can have the effect of seriously limiting alone time, but the apartment building has that covered too. There is a clubhouse on the building’s top fourteenth floor that not only has a beautiful view, but has a flat screen television, pool table, and sitting areas. The clubhouse has been a lifesaver for me, it’s got a great wireless internet network and when I need to I sneak up there with my computer and work on projects and assignments, or read. I thought it would have been really loud, but most of the time I go there I’m actually the only one there and usually if I’m not there aren’t more than a handful of people and they generally have the same idea I do.

View of the courtyard

And of the pool...

If for some reason I’m feeling athletic, there is gym with a really nice variety of equipment. I think it’s cool because it stays open all night, so I can go downstairs and workout anytime. It’s been really convenient at the end of the day right before bed when I seemed to need a brisk walk on the treadmill before bed.

Fitness center

The other side of the fitness center...

There is also a convenience store on the first floor. They carry a lot of things that really come in handy when you need last minute items to finish dinner. The store even has dry cleaning and shoe repair. You can also have sandwiches made.

The apartment is located in Arlington, VA and we live so close to Arlington Cemetery that we can actually hear the trumpets playing their salutes through the night is you listen closely. I work in the District and door to door my commute is only about twenty-five to thirty minutes, and best of all the Metro is only about a block and a half away from our building.

Our apartment building offers a 24-hour concierge, plus it’s pretty hard for non-residents to get in the apartment if they don’t have a key fob that allows only residents access to the building, and if that’s not enough, we are almost directly across the street from the police station.

The front lobby

Since everything I could ever possibly need is already in my apartment building I never want to leave. But when I get a hint of cabin fever, there is plenty to do that’s in close walking distance. All I have I do is walk a block or so over to Wilson Boulevard and there are bars and restaurants lining the street. Up a few blocks in either direction there are grocery stores.

It’s official…. I love it at the Meridian at Courthouse!

N. Taft and 15th Streets!!!

Week 6: A Love Affair

After about six weeks of casual visiting and sightseeing here and there, on the fourth day of July as I gazed out of the floor length window of the club house room on the fourteenth floor of my apartment building watching fireworks in the Nation’s capital, in the shadow of the Washington Monument, the glistening Potomac and city lights…it happened. I fell in love with Washington, DC. Infatuated, I watched the dark blue sky fill over and over again with random bursts of color above this beautiful city as the orchestra played. And once the fireworks approached the Grand Finale, I knew at that moment that there wasn’t a single place in the world I’d rather be. I realized then that I could live here forever and make this place my home.

It’s like we were meant to be together, DC and I. Admittedly, we got off to a rocky start and I actually considered walking out, but once we adjusted to each other things began to fall in place as everything came full circle. We finally began to understand each other, and it was the beginning of pure bliss. Initially I was looking forward to going back home and enjoying the comforts and familiarity it would bring. Now, every day I live with the saddening reality that we only have a few more weeks together. So I lay awake at night plotting of ways that I can get back here and spend more time with DC when my internship is over. I’m thinking about weekend visits or spring break trips because I just don’t know if I can quit the District cold turkey!

I had a lot of fun writing this blog, but I have to share my inspiration. A couple of days ago I was shopping and lady in the same store was talking on the phone about the weekend she fell in love with DC, and I thought to myself...I think I’ve got the bug too. So I decided to blog about the moment DC tripped me and made me fall head over heels.

Week 5: The Upside of a Summer Class

When I made the decision to come to Washington, DC and intern for the summer my main goal was to explore a career in a nonprofit organization. Participating in The Washington Center’s program requires that all interns take a class that meets once a week, so before coming I scoured the course catalog for an appropriate class. Last week I blogged about the organization I’m interning with, and to complement my internship placement I chose to take the Nonprofit Management course offered by The Washington Center. The course is taught by a professor named Dr. Anita Plotinsky, who has over twenty years experience being a leader in the nonprofit world. Previously Dr. Plotinsky served as the Director for The Foundation Center here in Washington, DC for eight years. The Foundation Center exists as a resource to nonprofit organizations by housing research libraries and in house assistance for individuals interested in founding nonprofits. It is this type of real world experience that Dr. Anita Plotinsky brings to class every Thursday night at The Washington Center.

Last week marked the beginning of the three-part series in which great leaders from various divisions of the nonprofit sector come and speak to the class about issues relevant to the service arena. Our first speaker was a man by the name of Dr. Alan Abramson who spoke to the class about the importance of nonprofits and the role they play in our society and in relation to our government. This week there is another speaker scheduled for the beginning of class…and then...what better way to kick off Fourth of July weekend than a test? There is a mid-term exam marking the halfway point of the class. The class is also gearing up for the final project, in which we all will have to analyze an organization that we have chosen to be in contact with throughout the term.

So far we have spent time finding resources that nonprofit organizations may use in their everyday operations. Also, we learn about the aspects that separate nonprofits from other types of businesses. For instance, I didn’t know that all nonprofits have a board of directors who are legally responsible for all actions of the organization. This class is great and seems to focus on how organizations exist to meet needs with which our government might not necessarily be willing to get involved. So while it’s a bummer to be taking a class in the summer, it’s a really cool class and I’m excited about what I’m learning.

Week 4: Mobilize.org

This summer I am working at Mobilize.org, formerly ‘Mobilizing America’s Youth’ the organization is an “all partisan” organization that focuses on encouraging those included in the Millennial Generation to become involved in political and civic engagement. I’m definitely a little partial, but I seriously think I have absolutely the best, coolest internship placement. Seriously, these people literally wrote the book on grassroots mobilizing, in which they outline the steps of rallying around an issue and ways in which Millennials can have impact on issues of importance to them.

I was expecting to work in a very conventional office, where everyone worked 9-5, with the girls in heels and business suits and guys wearing ties...so I was pleasantly surprised to find everyone in the office wears blue jeans, tank tops, flip-flops, and shorts. My day starts when I get to work at about ten and ends at five thirty or when I’m done with my work for the day...whichever comes first. So what is it that I actually do? Well, officially my title is Communications Program Associate, and that means that I am helping out with the communications of Mobilize.org--for instance, I compile information for the press list so that the organization can have an effective communication model, have spent a lot of time preparing for a Money In Politics Grant Summit that’s scheduled to happen here in DC during September.

Normally I spend time everyday browsing internet news sites and blogs to find out what kinds of research is being conducted on the Millennial Generation. My favorite thing to do at work is check Facebook, which I must do frequently because we use the site for a great deal of networking and event planning. I know a lot of people who sneak onto Facebook at work, but how many people can actually say that Facebook is included in their job description? And as if that’s not cool enough, in the next couple of weeks we are moving to share an office space with THE Facebook! I’m really looking forward to that.

On my way to DC for this internship, I was already really excited about the work of my organization, but the description I was given over the phone and from the website could not even begin to scratch the surface of everything the organization actually has a hand in. Almost weekly, I attend conferences of our partner organizations, during which I have opportunities to sit in on some amazing panel discussions with people who have led distinguished and successful lives and careers. These leaders talk about ways in which individuals can be effective in impacting policy and ways to hold people in power accountable. I’m really excited, because I think it’s so important that people our age wake up and realize that we are the future of our government. “We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for,” as a discussion panelist phrased it. Mobilize.org is incredibly innovative--any time they think of idea that hasn’t been thought of before and it has no name, they just make up their own.

Outside of the office building

About to go to work

At my desk working

One of our offices

Week 3: Washington, D.C. Art and Culture

DC is one city that everyone should consider visiting at least once. However, after coming once you’d certainly want to come back because the area has so much to offer. It seems as though there are literally millions of things to do and see. This place is absolutely oozing with culture. As I walk to and fro on the street, it amazes me that there are so many different types of people here--obviously from many different walks of life, and I’m astounded by the immense diversity and all that it brings. There is so much art here in so many different forms. It’s hardly fair that so much character is packed into one tiny corner of the world.

I went to Macy’s at Metro Center, which is an area in the District that has some great shopping, but as I got inside the store, I kept hearing something that sounded like drums. I walked to around to find out where the music was coming from, only to find that a high school drum line was performing right in the middle of Macy’s. The kids played beautifully and their sound kind of enveloped the entire shopping center because no matter where I went in the store I could hear them. I thought this was really cool because it’s not every day that you can walk past the makeup counter in a department store and find a drum line. That’s just one example, but instances of art are literally everywhere, it’s as if you can’t help but be overtaken with them. Any day of the week you can find somebody singing, dancing, or playing some kind of instrument in the Metro station. On my way to this week’s class session, I walked through McPherson Square anda band was set up performing on a stage, right there in the park in the middle of the week.

In my twenty-one years of life I can count on one hand (not using all fingers) how many art galleries I have visited. On Saturday, I went to a gallery that housed tons of art; I saw more art in one building than I have seen throughout the course of my life. It was called Artomatic and it housed in a fourteen floor building, chocked full of every type of art imaginable (and some not so imaginable). There were music performances, runway models, I even saw body art. There were photographs, paintings, portraits, and sculptures. There was so much happening underneath one roof that there was no way I could possibly look at every piece.

Spending time in this wonderful city has helped me to take note of the simplest and most obvious forms of art that I never before realized were important. There are musicians playing their hearts out in the Metro stations and in the parks. I’m excited and proud because I feel like this is a great step in becoming a more mature and well-rounded person. What I’ve come to realize is the beauty of the smallest and most simple things in life.

Week 2: The Fiery Furnace that is DC

When I got to DC, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the weather here was much milder than what I was used to in Kentucky. For about a week straight, I was constantly remarking about how good it felt outside, and then one day...it happened. The weather went from amazing to absolutely unbearable! I mean thunderstorms for like three days in a row, and when it wasn’t raining it seemed to be a hundred plus degrees outside. I had made the proclamation that Kentucky was most definitely hotter than DC. When I talked to family and friends I was telling them, “It’s hot here, but this is nothing. At home I would never be able to walk around like this.” Now that statement is completely and utterly false. The absolute truth is it’s ten times hotter here than in Kentucky… in fact I’m sure that it’s about five times hotter here than in hell! I have never in my life experienced this degree of heat outside of a sauna, not even in Florida. Reasonably, you’d think the ongoing rain showers would have the effect of making it cooler… but that’s so not the case because apparently the rain only makes it even steamier outside. This weather would certainly make me very grateful to have the car I left at home.

As if the battle I’m having with the weather this week wasn’t enough, I had to learn the hard way that my standby shoe of choice, the flip flop, may not be well-suited for the terrain of DC. Saturday after I spent most of the weekend in my apartment, I ventured out that night figuring there was fun to be had in the city and I needed to find it. Only I found that my plans were again threatened by this weirdo weather. It wasn’t raining yet, but it was thundering and lightening so I thought I better high tail it back to the Metro station. As I was racing the rain back to the Metro, my shoe broke…great! So now I’m walking on the Metro barefoot and trying not to think of the things that have been in contact with the same ground I am now walking on. Through being barefoot on the Metro and tiptoeing across streets, I'm praying that I don’t step on a piece of glass or anything else that might be just cause for a tetanus shot. With the odds stacked against me and on the verge of tears, I made it safely back to my apartment to talk over the night’s events with my roommates. It was then I decided it is going to be tennis shoes and umbrellas for me if I want my stay in this city to be a success.

If you don’t already have working relationship with any weather forecast websites. You should get one, I recommend weather.com or maybe even weather alerts on a google desktop. Even though the flip flop has become a shoe staple in America I would STRONGLY advise against them. Not only because I’ve broken a couple of them since I’ve been here, but also because I saw a young lady get her foot stepped on by another lady wearing stilettos on the Metro. I don’t think any further explanation is needed. That’s absolutely no way to start your morning commute.

Pictures are soon to come! When I’m going back and forth to work, I make a conscious effort to try and blend in, but at some point I will do the “tourist thing” and take some pictures. I’ll make that a goal for the week!

Week 1: Navigating the D.C. Metro

My name is Ameshia Elliott, and I am from the medium/large city of Bowling Green, Kentucky. This fact is very important to keep in mind, because public transportation is virtually non-existent. To get any and everywhere people must drive their own cars. Parking lots are aplenty. However, DC is a completely new world as far as transportation is concerned. Anyone who plans on spending a significant amount of time in DC without a car, must have a substantial working knowledge of the labyrinth that is the Metro. I thought I had the experience necessary to navigate the Metro since I previously visited DC and rode the Metro…but I was sadly mistaken! When it was actually time to take that plunge at the Metro stop I completely froze. I had no idea where I was going, or how to get there. I asked a man for directions and he pointed me in the direction of a Metro map and I just stood there feeling dazed and confused as the map meant absolutely nothing to me. I remember thinking, "is this the map that had earlier been described to me as a 'Fisher Price map?'"

I was terrified of trekking through the subway by myself. Every time I even got close to a Metro stop I felt overtaken with panic. When I stepped on the escalators that go to seemingly unknown depths, I felt nauseous. I could imagine people falling down the escalator to their demise after they missed a step in their haste to catch trains; these imaginations were normally interrupted by the people yelling behind me because I was standing on the wrong side of the escalator. I had to learn the hard way that if you actually want to calmly ride the escalator down; you MUST stand to the right so that people can freely hurry down the escalator. And when you finally get into the Metro platform, as the trains come by there is this “big swoosh,” or some kind of suction as the trains come and go that just heightens my anxiety.

So instead of going it alone, I had to regroup and come up with a new game plan. In an attempt to avoid making sense of all the different colored squiggly lines myself, I just thought I would mooch off someone who obviously seemed to grasp the idea of this subway business. So I spent the next few days tagging along with my roommate, and this worked out fine for me…I was certainly satisfied. But maybe she didn’t like it so much, and that’s possibly the reason she pushed me out of the nest and onto the subway by myself.

So, I was finally able to get over the fear and panic I was stricken with and jump on the Metro to go where I needed to go with little event. Then came the ultimate test… I was on my way home, waiting on the train at the Rosslyn station, and as I stepped on the train a lady asks, “Is this the green train?” Having become quite the expert on the metro over the last couple of days I was like, “No, this is the orange train.” So, it’s official… I know where I am going!