Journal of Week 1
Sunday- Day One...
Woke up ready for the day...3am...unimpressed. Went back to bed and was up again at 5am... still unimpressed. After 3 more hours of severely forced sleep I got up and unpacked.
I am staying with Bill Seedyke, Elizabeth Pugh and their daughter Jess. They are an amazing family, extremely generous and they are making me feel very at home. Bill took me out for my first daytime outing- we went to the Giant store to buy ice. Bill drives a 'stick' car aka Manual, which I was really impressed with! My family hosted the MD Welcome BBQ so, accompanied by Hillary and Barrack cutouts, we had a brilliant time meeting the other families, eating good food and swimming in the pool! The pool was definitely appreciated by the interns and host family kids and we all had a few fun (if not violent) games of 'donkey'.
Many thanks to the Seedyke-Pugh family for a wonderful day, which we all enjoyed immensely!
Later that night I went to church with my host parents. It was a lovely service and very different to my church experience growing up and as a reward the family took me to Baskin Robins... not bad eh?
Monday- Day 2...
Monday saw our first day in the WIP office. We met at the White House (yes, I got lost trying to find the White House) and headed over to 'Eye' street. Orientation was broken up with a break for consumption of Lenore's 'Monkey Bread' (Thank you Lenore!!) and ended with lunch at Potbellies. Credit should go to Mr Mannion who saved me from a gorilla on the way to lunch (apparently when I say 'grill', as in the street grill in which I got my heel trapped, it sounds like 'gorilla').
After lunch we went to the Newseum. My favourite exhibits included the 9/11 exhibit showing the top of one of the towers, the 4-D movie and the Pulitzer Prize winning photo exhibition. I'll be honest- there were some pretty upsetting exhibitions but the Newseum is a must-see in DC for anyone thinking of visiting.
Dinner was at 'America' diner in Union Station and afterwards I went shopping.
Getting home was slightly problematic (not due to the weight of the shopping!) as buses don't run past 7pm and as it was 7.15pm I was stranded at the metro with a 'cell' phone that was refusing to make phone calls. Out of the distance appeared Chris, Matt and Phil so I managed to chase after them for a lift home- thank you Lenore!
Tuesday- Day 3
Tuesday was a busy, busy day. We had a seminar on personality traits and how we can identify these in other people and use them to relate to each other in better ways. It was fascinating and apparently I am a red although this program is making me a little greener. Fiona has an amazing supervisor!
Afterwards we went on Oakley's Death Tour. On this tour we saw the graves of the Kennedy family, the unknown soldiers and then went to Lincoln and Roosevelt memorials. Excuse the pun but the heat in the cemetery nearly killed me. Genuinely, I can say that I haven't felt heat like that except maybe in Ephesus in Turkey and that was during a heat wave in July. I find it remarkable that, although the American People only have just over 200years of US history, they are brilliant at preserving it. The Lincoln and Roosevelt memorials were beautiful.
Apparently I am still having issues with the Metro. I tried to exit to the street and got lost in Macy's. That was a costly mistake. Literally.
Random fact:
I met a girl who studied at my university 3 years ago and stayed, not only in my dorm, but two doors away from the room I stayed in this year.
Wednesday- Day 4
Library of Congress tour:
My host 'Mom', Elizabeth, should be thanked not only for getting us amazing access to some historic documents but also for donating her time to give us a brilliant tour of the Library of Congress. We had access to some of the most amazing documents ever; a prescription from Freud, notes from Justices Douglas, Frankfurter and Burton to Chief Justice Warren over Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, a letter from a 10-year-old boy to the Supreme Court over his beliefs concerning the Pledge of Allegiance vs. his faith, a letter from JFK to Mrs Booth Loose, two letters from Jefferson, one from Hamilton, another from Madison calling John Adams 'his rotundary' and also one from Benedict Arnold. Then there were the 'headliners' of the documents such as the telegram about Pearl Harbor note being 'a drill', a letter from Lincoln to Mary Owens in which he 'releases' her from any 'duty ' she may feel towards him (in Norn Iron terms- 'you're dropped love, I don't foncy ye leek') and T. Roosevelt wrote a letter to his two-year-old son with drawings of a pony and a bear which we saw also.
After that we went for a tour around the Library and got access to the Congress reading room among other exclusive places. It was a spectacular building!
Thursday- Day 5
I really don't feel I am doing this week justice and I want to reiterate what an amazing week we have had. Thursday was particularly special. We attended J O Wilson Elementary to entertain the kids on their last day of school. We were told that it was in a disadvantaged area and after doing some children's work in the Markets Area in Belfast I was braced for the worst. This was not the case. These kids (apart from being adorable) were quiet when their teachers clapped they listened, were attentive and were all enthusiastic about the dancing, singing, learning Irish and acting to the Children of Lir.
A few hours later and we were standing on the steps of the Capitol wearing Dress Code 1 meeting Sen. Leahy. We are very grateful to Kieran for arranging this and it was an amazing experience. It was such a contrast to running about an elementary school singing 'I'll tell me ma'. Sen. Leahy was fascinating and it was really generous of him to give up some of his time to speak to us. Thank you Senator Leahy. Interesting fact: he will be in the new Batman movie: The Dark Knight!
We had a tour of the Capitol buildings including seeing the old Supreme Court Chambers, sitting in the Senate listening to Sen. Dodd talk about Sen. Leahy, who we had just met, and we also saw the impressive Rotunda where Rosa Parks lay after her death. Thank you to Sen. Conrad for arranging this.
Friday- Day 6
Friday saw 4 of my fellow interns giving speeches in the National Press Club hosted by the Northern Ireland Bureau. I loved the speeches and I was in awe of the professionalism and delivery of the speeches and now am annoyed at Neal, Sarah, Andy and Elaine for setting the bar so high for the rest of us! Seriously though, these guys did an absolutely fabulous job on their speeches and kudos should go to both them and the MT for the evenings of work they all put in.
Friday night was brilliant. The wonderful Lenore put on our official welcome party, which was 90's themed. The costumes were brilliant- we had Princess Diana, the Simpsons, Genie from Aladdin, Dame Edna, Superman and Woman, the Saved by the Bell crew and Bill Clinton to mention a few. It was a brilliant night ending in a bit of a singsong with Matthew on guitar.
Friday also was the day that I moved into the Dwyer family home for a week. The family is so welcoming and I am thrilled to be their host 'daughter' for a week. Thank you for having me Dwyer Family!
Saturday- Day 7
- Marilyn Monroe once said:
"I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot"
As you can see from our itinerary and the aforementioned heat- high heels weren't exactly the ideal choice of footwear. Unfortunately, due to some formal events, Dress Code One was required often and consequently high heels became the bane of the girls' lives. No one more than Catherine Green. Catherine Green would have a lot argue against the late Miss Monroe's statement as her high heels took a vendetta against poor Catherine's feet and she ended up in hospital.
That night we visited Catherine in the Hospital- poor girl! She should be credited for being such a trooper- if I was in her position I would have been complaining and probably in tears wanting to go home.
Earlier in the day I had met with Fiona M, Heather and Elaine for a girly chitchat and a bit of shopping. We ended up in Montgomery Mall, which was brilliant.
Sunday- Day 8
This Sunday I thought I would something different again. After being invited by Heather, Phil, Neal and Chris, we headed to Union Station for church. Yes, the metro station. Once in the metro station we headed to the cinema, got a free doughnut, went past the bright light bulb signs and into a screen for church. Yes, you could say this was rather different! The offering was collected in Popcorn Boxes, the sermon was delivered on the big screen and the church was split over several venues. This was a big extreme from last week's service!
Afterwards I hit CVS (twice)... It is evident that the weight restrictions on the way home may be a problem!
It was Father's Day so the Dwyer family had steaks and corn on the cob. It was a lovely dinner and it was nice to be with the family.
That night Heather, Elaine, Fiona and I went to watch the boys play a Northern Ireland vs The Republic of Ireland football match. Unfortunately we missed it all together but had a nice night having more food and good conversation. Thank you to Bob Van Heuvelen for having us over!
~Happy Father's Day Papí, Love Bee Bee~
Monday- Day 9
If you have made it this far Congratulations.
This is the last of my summary until I update you on today, my first day of work! Today we had a seminar on leadership and speech writing. I really enjoyed today and feel I learnt a lot from the classes.
This being said I was probably a little too excited about meeting SAWIP to concentrate fully. I felt like I was at a children's Christmas party waiting for Santa to come in! It was brilliant to finally meet the SAWIP team and match faces to the emails. I hope that they are recovering from the flight! Good luck with your first day of the internships this week!
