Work work work work

12 days straight without a day off and Laura starts to lose it….. a little more than usual.

So our itinerary over the last two weeks has looked something like this;

Monday: aka Super Monday 4 amazing speakers including Mark Shields and Harold Ickes (the honor of meeting Mr Ickes in particular only hit home when I was reading a Vanity Fair article on the bus home from New York in which Mr Ickes was featured pretty heavily!) Visit to St Albans school in the evening and then to Starbucks to work on my speech.
Tuesday: Work, then Speechwriting at night (we got Chinese food – it was the best Chinese I’d had in ages!)

Wednesday: Work in the morning, met Hilliary Clinton in the afternoon (as you do!), before the WIP Congressional Forum in the evening. A REALLY crazy day! A huge success for the Program in that we had 10 Congressmen attend and many spoke very highly of WIP and their experiences with it. My favourite memory of the day is getting lost somewhere in the maze of underground tunnels between the Rayburn building and the Russell building, with Colm leading the way (somewhat blindly!)

Thursday: Work, then I managed to make it home before dark for the first time all week! I don’t think my host family recognized me! Oh and Pat made mashed potato and peas specially for me, yum yum!

Friday: Catholic Business Breakfast in Virginia in the morning (beginning at 7.30am!!! What’s that about??) Retreat day at in Virginia, and Soccer Friday (Heather and I gave the boys a run for their money, we might have got a little overcompetitive and there may have been some dodgy tackles involved……)

Saturday: New York Bus up in the morning, Shopping in Chinatown, dinner, Monster Energy drinks, dancing in salsa club – this was the funniest experience as none of us knew how to Salsa, then finally, Time Square in search of late night ice-cream! (McDonalds had run out! Boo!)

Sunday: Breakfast in Central Park, shopping on 5th Avenue with Judi, Beast Boat ride where I got absolutely drenched, I swear I would have been drier if I had actually jumped into the Hudson River!, dinner overlooking the Hudson River and all the bridges (I was told to think of it as BMW – Brooklyn, something, something….) Red Bull Energy drinks, Times Square for coffee, collapsed into bed.

Monday: Cliona, Sarah, Vuyo and I shared a room in New York. Despite several alarms being set, we slept through them all, only to wake up with half an hour to make it down to the lobby. We did it, don’t ask me how, but we did it! Our visit to the UN, decked out in Dress Code One+ (that means perfection in the WIP world!) included seminars on the roles of peacekeepers, the UN Secretary General and the United Nations Population Fund, It was so inspiring! This was followed by 1 hour of speed shopping for I Love NY t-shirts, dinner in an Irish bar, stretched out across 3 seats on the bus home and the aisle (people had to jump over me, I wasn’t going to move!), home and collapse into bed! An amazing day, credit for which must go to Colm! Well done you!

Tuesday: Work, home at a decent hour, and then I went to the cinema and for late night ice cream (this is one of my favourite activities!) with my host sister Steph and her friends, where we discussed the merits of the 10 second rule when you drop food. I think we all came to a consensus that there is a sliding scale which considers other factors such as the food itself and the conditions around you, ie cleanliness, level of hunger etc.

Wednesday: Work, WIP Politics Panel event. This is probably one of the things I love the most about being here, the fact that DC is consumed by politics and you can’t help but be swept away by it. I could have happily listened to the Panel talk for a good few hours! Home to Bethesda for some Chinese food with the group and then, I’m sensing something of a pattern here, late night ice ream with Judi, Neal and the Buggy. I was so full of energy when I got home that I went for a run! Finding time, and energy, for a run here is hard, especially when you couple it with the heat, so when I get a chance I take it, even if it is 11.30pm at night and still 80oF.

Thursday: Work, Senate Hearing on Guantanamo Bay Interrogation Rules – as this was such a high profile hearing it was being shown over the internet, so I got to sit in the comfort of my office and listen to a Senator ask if torture was allowed in times of war. He was met with a simple answer. No. He then went on to ask if torture was allowed if it got results. Again, the answer was NO! It was exasperating to listen to! After work it was off to the WIP office to meet the Board of Directors, the ones I met were lovely and a BIG thanks must go to them for keeping the program running!!

Friday: Work, pulling together my report to hand in next Friday on my last day of work so I’m busy busy! Also getting myself mentally prepared for the Soccor Sunday grudge match, there is a trophy involved now so its even more serious than before! Going to the SAWIP farewell party tonight. Its crazy to think that they are going so soon, because that means that I’m going home soon too! NOOO!

Best thing about today? Its Friday, therefore no early morning tomorrow and that can only mean good things