I have been in Washington D.C. for over a week now and so far I have had a wonderful time. It has been all go since we arrived, so here is a quick run down of what we have got up to. On arrival at the airport the team was greeted by the families who would be hosting us for the next 8 weeks. Their generosity is amazing and they really are kind and decent people. I was placed with a temporary host family, Betty and Jack O Connor and we got on really well together. They are two of the nicest people you could meet. On Sunday I went to a barbeque for the interns in Virginia and our host Megan ensured we all had a great time. It was also a good chance to meet some of the families and other people involved in the program.
Then started what was to be probably one of the most eventful weeks of the summer. It was an awesome few days, so many high moments. On Monday we got a general introduction to life in D.C. and found out what was planned for the next few weeks. In the afternoon we visited the Newseum, which is a newly opened media museum in the city centre. On Tuesday we did a seminar on what type of personality/ character we each have and in the afternoon we went on a tour of Washington D.C. On Wednesday we got a guided tour of the Library of Congress. On Thursday morning we visited a primary school and shared some Irish culture with the children and in the afternoon we went to Capitol Hill where we met Senator Leahy from Vermont. On Friday the Northern Ireland Bureau held an event in the National press club where Gary, Sarah, Andrew and Elaine all delivered fantastic speeches and really made everyone in the program and all the other Irish people feel excited and positive about the future of our Island. That evening one of the host families, Lenore and Mike Martinez held a party in their house and a great time was had by all, they really made it a special night for everyone. On Saturday I moved in with Liz McCloskey and Peter Leibold in Falls Church Virginia which is a very nice neighborhood about 20 minutes metro ride from D.C. The family are great and are fantastic hosts. On Sunday evening a few of the guys played a game of soccer, and on Monday we had our leadership seminars, got great advice on speech writing and discussed the internships we were about to start.
When I look back at the last few days everything seems to have happened so quickly, yet we did some many different things. What a brilliant start to our summer in Washington D.C. !
