Entries by Bamford, Judith

Ok so I have got half way through and have not really wrote anything profound as of yet, I’m guessing anyone reading the blogs is not looking but profound literature (which is a good thing because I am not the most profound WIP blogger) but more of an insight into our experience.

I guess the best way to so this is to reminisce on the good times and maybe the bad… (MT reading this will be taking a deep breath and thinking oh, Lord what is this girl going to say…)

Well Washington in a nutshell is a city consumed with politics, I’ve said this before and ill say it again, they literally live, eat, sleep breathe this stuff – which in the beginning is something I struggled with – I’m not going to lie, when you come here it is so multicultural and beautiful but people will tell you it’s not like real America, which I agree with – having travelled some of America, these people are not quite what I remember!! Everyone that surrounds the WIP program are amazing, they are the most cheerful, supportive and kind beings that I have ever come across however when you step out of the WIP bubble its just not the same but I respect that, I respect that these people have very busy lives getting up at 4/5am for the gym and working tirelessly from morning to night, if I worked that much I would have grizzly bear attitude to life.

I think the WIP ‘bubble’ is the best thing – it is so much fun – now even more so since we have been through so much together …

I have found the best of friends in fellow WIPpers Laura & Neal, we gone through the summer side by side as an indispensable trio - which we love! There is also my love affair with The Buggy which cannot be forgotten… these friends are ‘Special’ to me (A statement that my fellow WIPpers know too well) I cannot forget the 22 other WIPpers who have been so much more that friends to me throughout, the SAWIP team who have taught me so much and the MT who have been so supportive, compassionate and dedicated – Its all these people who have shaped the summer to be so amazing!

My host family has also been a huge part of my experience here in DC – they have been so generous to The Buggy and I and are so respectful to our views, to our culture and to our needs and are basically interested in us. They have taken us under their little wings along with Ali (The 16 year old poodle) and taken the best of care of us!! On that note our little host family community must also be mentioned, these families are so committed to us as a team and have made the experience of stepping into a different and sometimes shocking culture a million times easier so Thank all You wonderful people for everything and I look forward to the following 4 weeks.

The bad parts of Washington… erm… my blisters from the crazy erratic weather change, having to carry two pairs of shoes daily for when the weather changes, the crazy occasional storms and rain and maybe the sometimes lack of sleep!!

Highlights have to be: The Buggy’s birthday celebrations, Hemlock, The Discussion, The bus post Hemlock, Leadership day with Mark Shields & Co and to be honest general team life!!

Monday 7th July has to be hands down the best leadership day ever. We had 4 speakers, Mark Shields a well known political analysis, Harold Ekles a friend and confidant of the Clintons who also worked on the Hillary campaign and Dottie Lynch a political pollster. They all gave really interesting and detailed insights into the backgrounds of the politics around at the minute. I guess for those who know me, know I don’t have a political bone in my body but I really was fascinated by the insights they provided. People go on about the ‘excitement’ of the politics in DC, now being a little girl from Carrckfergus who really was never that bothered with politics my initial response was always, yeah, yeah, yeah, where is this excitement but the further you delve into the campaigns and experience the city the more excited and wrapped up into the culture you get. Its amazing how consumed people are here with the politics but I guess what I’m saying is being here, in the centre of the political universe you quickly understand why!! Heck, I even want to get involved in politics more back home…

Later in the day we ventured to St.Albans School, a prestigious school that caters for all the politicos kids in the city; it even took Al Gore under its wing!! Basically they have a political summer school from young leaders to come to from all over the world. We had a casual debate with the St.Albans crew.

I have to say they were interesting characters … they asked if Ireland was under UK law (as in the whole of Ireland) because the Pope gave the UK Ireland as a gift in 1600’s … yeah could you imagine the reaction!! The same guy also asked Rosalind (a SAWIPper) if they had iphone’s in South Africa… so so much to learn!!

The Clinton & The Congress!!

On Tuesday we were all greeted mid afternoon with quite an exciting announcement… That we would meet Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton… we were excited to say the least!! Wednesday came and the Clinton was awesome, when you talk about charisma, that lady has got it!! As she waltzed around the corner with her little peach jacket she looked so elegant yet powerful… she possessed qualities that many women strive to have, she was feminine and respectful in a political world at the same time!! Wow – all this from 15 minutes of chatting… ok, ok, I lie so we were lined up, Senator Clinton came and spoke to us a little, smiled for a photo, said, ‘I would really love to talk to you guys more at some stage, we should organize that for a later date!!” and we were like uh huh yes please!!! All in all I very impressed and thanks should definitely be passed on to the wonderful miss O’Hare and co…

The Congressional Forum was later in the evening, Lauren Allison hosted the event with Laura, Fiona M, Luke & Catherine speaking, as one of the few WIPpers left who has not yet completed their leadership moment, fear has set in; the standard is so unbelievably high I fear the challenge but look forward to it. It must be said Laura’s speech brought a tear to my eye, the relevance of her speech and the ‘black bag and borrowed umbrella’ reminds of the good times we have shared throughout our summer in DC; its safe to say Laura and I have shared the most amazing experiences and of all the great experiences its her and Neal who have been by my side!!

The Congressional Forum turned out to be a record breaking event with 7/8 members of congress attending, most spoke about their Northern Ireland/Ireland experience and their perception of our politics and which many of them descending from our towns they proved inspirational and brought us all back to home a little.

The days events were fantastic – we are meeting so many people who are inspiring and evoke a passion in us all for our home towns and countries and for that I am truly thankful. I think also at this stage it is important to recognize the Management Team, a team of dedicated individuals who devote themselves to the better of the program, we are so thankful for their efforts and their work because without them we would not have the amazing and inspiring opportunities that we are faced with on this adventure that shall shape us to be better and more educated and wise individuals – thank you and keep up the great work!!

Friday was the 4th July aka my Graduation Day (Oh Woe) Oh, and it was also our host poodles 16th birthday!!

At this stage there is a real community established with everything WIP (WIP/SAWIP Team/Host Families etc) thus is was a real comfort and really enjoyable day to spend some time with our adopted families! The BBQ was great thank you to the efforts of the host families! It ended up being quite a wet and dull day which was slightly disappointing but did not stop us from our 4th of July Firework Mission. We all headed to ‘Foggy Bottom’ which is actually a location by the way and wandered down to the Lincoln Memorial. As the evening got darker everyone sat down and aww’d and wow’d at the fireworks – to look around you was actually pretty surreal, people from all communities and backgrounds were all seated covering every bit of ground surrounding the memorial lit only the back light of Lincoln and large sparks flying from the fireworks in the sky! It was a cool moment to look around and see what are now a group of close friends that all have this experience in common with you!!

The team has come so far in the past month and at this stage I think the fun really begins, when we pass the barriers that once existed of not knowing each other etc! Now we are all in a position to relax, enjoy and make the most of the remaining four weeks in DC with each other for sure as we know we will be back home in a heartbeat and missing each other and I think this night rung this true to home!!

The Halfway House!!

We were now about half way through the summer which is actually quite surreal as in one respect we do so much in a day that it feels like we’ve been here 6-8 weeks when in reality the time has actually flown by and we cant really believe how much we have got done in such a short amount of time.

Saturday was a relaxed day that was suppose to take The Buggy and I to the beach but with the weather being so unpredictable (Which by the way I think I need to have a word to the big man about, I mean I get this crappy weather at home – lets keep it there) we didn’t get so I went for a casual run through the local creek which was cool only to return home and Karen to ask if I would like to go for a cycle, which I jumped at! Little did I know I was going for 15 miles, but it was truly beautiful, we cycled from Maryland right through DC on a green trail to Georgetown where we had lunch and watched boats before cycling back.

The next day we went for an amazing tour of the national gallery of art – which was awesome and the rest of the day was cancelled due to necessity of more schleeps!!!

Leading into the 4th week we were set for a week of great attitudes – the whole city is in the best form! Work was normal on Tuesday but on Wednesday our host ‘mom’ Karen had presented the team with an opportunity to go on a tour of the Whitehouse – an ideal opportunity that we all pretty excited about – some even went to the extent to check President Bush’s schedule to see if he would be in, which he was, to our disadvantage. The reality being we would not see him in addition to the fact that with him being in we probably got to see alot less!! But it was pretty interesting and we were all thankful for the opportunity.

The highlight of Wednesday had to be the WIP media forum and debate…

The PR task force group had came to the idea of an event that would launch some aspect of WIP to the media etc however the great Aileen Gittens came up with the idea of a media forum where we had journalists attend who were questioned on the media situation in DC and globally regarding the current presidential campaign and war on Iraq etc. Thus raising the profile of WIP in the convenience of a pre organized event – very economical!! The media forum was a great insight to local and international media and with such names attending as we could not be anything but impressed.
Post media forum was the great debate. Three WIPpers had to battle three debaters from Georgetown University on the Guantanamo Bay. There has always been a stigma with the WIP debates so needless to say we were a tad apprehensive about it. The WIP team was pro immediate closure and the Georgetown Team we were opposing immediate closure. The WIPpers stood up with such confidence; knowledge and enthusiasm for the topic… the Georgetown team… were an active bunch didn’t quite address the issues they dragged up. Needless to say it was ‘no brainer’ as they say here in the State that the WIP won the debate hands down – however no formal vote was cast!! (I voted and they lost)

Thursday was a half day in the office due to the holiday weekend so the WIPpers had a voluntary group discussion on the North and South situation in Ireland. Over the past few weeks the group has grown closer and closer together however occasionally the odd comment would arise and people would get somewhat offended by what is perceived as a misunderstanding of what they represent. Thus in respect of this the opportunity arose for a group discussion on this matter. It was seen as an opportunity for people to explain where they come from and what and why they believe in what they do – it turned out to be the most positive evening, each person in attendance spoke about their situation followed by a question and answer session were very reflective and valid points arose. I think the evening promoted the best of understanding and appreciation for each other and brought the group even closer together for which the group should be congratulated for!!

I do however feel that this short passage does not give the even any justice – the wonderful Clare Herbert however has a fantastic rendition of events for which you should go read!!!
http://www.wiprogram.org/journals/archives/111-emstrongWashington-Us-on-Northern-Irelandstrongem.html

Post Hemlock the team continued in great spirit to a BBQ hosted by the Management Concepts owner Mr O’Hara and even greater spirits on the bus home when Ralphy led a choir of rather excited WIPpers into every song available to man kind.

We then attended Mt.Lebanon Church on Sunday 29th where I think touched home a little to allot of the WIPpers. The churches choir was very impressive and brought a real light to the service however I couldn’t help but feel that Kayne West was going to waltz into the room and share in gospel!! Comparing the gospellers to Kanye West obviously sets the mark for how amazing they were!! I must saying living the DC life for such a short while as I, I have quickly come to terms with how politics is the centre of everything, people live, eat, sleep breathe everything political so part of me was not so shocked when half the sermon was discussing politics! Oh, we were also referred to an oreo congregation – at an African American Church – I will let you all come to your own conclusion on that!!

The following leadership day existed of a trip to Georgetown University to see a lecturer on International relations in addition to meeting and chatting to the Irish Ambassador who proved to be very interesting.

The WIP & SAWIP team joined forces on Saturday 28th June to experience the Hemlock Challenge. Hemlock did not know what hit it with 40 all singing, all dancing Irish, British & South African kids hit it. It was off to an early start with everyone in the best form unsure of what was ahead of them. We arrived to meet our enthusiastic leaders who spilt us into groups which would completely individual tasks.

As part of the ‘WIPpets’ … “WHOOP PAH” We had tasks that required quick thinking, effective team work and even more effective leadership. Our secret to success was our fast thinking attitude. We completely balance tasks and blind mazes to name but a few. The morning proved ever so successful, the team was in great spirit.

Post munchies we joined with another group to complete some slightly more challenging tasks including a needle and thread game where we had to thread a piece of wood through wire holes that were 10, 12 and 14 feet high using only what people we had in our team. At this stage with the numbers increasing and tasks getting more technical it was inevitably going to take a lot longer. As a team we were proud to complete the 10 and 12 foot needle and thread, as an individual I was relieved to not complete the 14 foot tasks as I was the lucky little victim that was going to get hurled 14 feet in the air in a three storey high triangle of some sort… I am no cheerleader and apparently they are the only ones who can complete that!!!

Each task throughout the day had its own challenge and its fair to say taught each and every team member a little about not only themselves but each other. There was a stigma attached to the Hemlock day as one that ‘would bring everyone together’ which we all approached with a rather blasé attitude only to be surprised when actually it did bring us closer together. Congratulations WIPpers of 2008 for such a successful day.

1. Why did you choose to intern at Powell Tate?

I have just finished my degree in Public Relations at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland so a Public Relations/ Public Affairs company was definitely what I wanted to work with in my short time in Washington DC.

Powell Tate’s portfolio and reputation was a definite attraction – we also have a Weber Shandwick based in Belfast so to get an insight into that aspect of the company would definitely be a bonus for the future!

2. What is one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you?

Ohhh…. Maybe the fact that I have travelled a little, I have been to Uganda and Romania on charity work, represented Northern Ireland at a global conference in Abu Dhabi at the Emirates 7* Hotel. I also travelled Australia and New Zealand, taught kids to ride horse at a camp in Texas for 3 and half months and travelled to Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco (which I love) and New York … And now I’m here, all while still in full time education! I haven’t spent a summer at home for some time now!

3. If you could have dinner with three people, dead or alive, who would they be?

Audrey Hepburn – she’s my icon
Edward Monkton – he is the most hilarious author – that would be a fun get together
Nelson Mandela – he is an amazing character, I mean it would be an honor … so if you could hook that up that would be great… thanks!!

4. Do you prefer the beach, city or country? Why?

Country… I live in the county in Northern Ireland and am close to both the city and the beach… the best of all worlds! I’m also a bit of a pet fanatic and I can’t really have that in the city or the beach!!

5. What is your favorite website?

Perezhilton.com … he’s the celebrity ‘bitch’ (his words not mine) … he kept me sane through my finals and was one of my only sources to the outside world!!! Sorry, its probably not the intellectual, political, informative blog/site you maybe expected!
6. Who is your favorite musician/band?

Laura Marling, she’s an English indie singer, very cool! Everyone should MySpace her and listen to Ghosts or Failure. Also Peggy Sue and the Pirates, or Kate Nash… All are relatively new and up and coming musicians to the UK. I think we have way better music than in America… no offence, it’s just a bit more eclectic.

7. What is your favorite aspect of D.C.?

So far… The Front-Page @ Dupont Circle … its proving to be a favorite spot for us Isle of Irelanders!!

So seriously… What I love most about DC though is A.) Its weather, you may have storms but at least you have daily sunshine, something we don’t get that often in N.I. B.) I’m not the most politically minded person but DC really strikes a chord with me, it excites me in that respect combined with the beauty and history your surrounded by when just going around the city and the people I have met have been lovely … the accent always gets attention!

I guess that the beginning of our internships marked a huge change in the program for all of us, we were all taking our separate routes by ourselves and admittedly this was a shock. The huge city seemed somewhat bigger and busier without my 25 other Isle of Islander amigos, for the first time on the trip I almost felt lonely, but one major benefit was that I had a second to process my thoughts and realize just what the program has meant so far!!

WIP friendships have gone from strength to strength as we realize we are on common grounds with each other, the reality is, we are different here! I don’t want to be all gooey though, the fact of the matter is, I have really started to appreciate the team and my fellow WIPpers for probably the first which makes the times we meet up sooo much more fun 

A few things have really hit home with me, things that we don’t really value in Northern Ireland but in reality, should. Networking is a huge part of life in this city, every second of everyday people are on network outlook, looking for opportunities for personal and business reasons and going to specific networking events; its almost a common code, people are aware of ditching techniques and so on but they are also really keen to exploit what they have to offer… maybe it’s the accent, but it has definitely worked to my benefit so far! When I relate this to N.I I realize that people are somewhat backward, people are reserved when the reality is that networking is a major tool of opportunity for everyone and more should be done to exploit this.

Public transport here is major – N.I most definitely has some of the worst public transport in what must be the world!!!! Monday – Friday metros and buses run constant, weekends… well there interesting!! Although the metros are always on, do not be fooled for they are not always reliable!! … 8am is always a rush… people are crammed onto the metros; I promise you loose all recognition of personal space! This week I have had some of the most interesting experiences with the metro, bearing in mind in the fortnight (that’s two weeks for all Americans) we have been here there have been power outages on numerous occasions, a metro derail and a fire in the metro station – well one morning the metro was extraordinarily packed and post a 15 minute wait with me verging on fainting they decided to empty the metro – I swear when the stations and metros are packed like this its rather surreal, you feel almost vulnerable… lets just say you look forward to fresh air, I’m not going to ramble on about that though!

This week has been interesting so far, we had a jam packed leadership day with the team on Monday, its cool now with the team, everyone is getting at ease with each other and people are more forthcoming which is definitely a benefit to us all! WIP work has gone into overdrive, between random PR events and White House Tours, planning is crazy, its good to get stuck in but the reality of our easy breezy summer has quickly been swept away. We are all being challenged in the most unique ways.

Work at Powell Tate has also gone into overdrive, deadlines have been imposed so I’m busy working at that! It’s an interesting set up at Powell Tate, they operate in conjunction with Weber Shandwick. Their core values seem to overlap but I get rather confused sometimes with the double identity, although coming from Northern Ireland I’m kind of used to that!! The office is very large, there are two floors in a huge building, with about 100 employees, but they have a lot of procedures in place to ensure employee satisfaction which is great to see, a lot of businesses back home could most defiantly learn from them. Powell Tate/Weber Shandwick are also performing fantastically in spite of the current recession in the States, where a lot of similar organizations are tightening up, so it’s an exciting time to work for them!!

The weekend ahead is set to be busy, with the ‘V’ festival pub quiz tonight in Virginia, Our outdoor pursuit at Hemlock on Saturday and visit to local church on Sunday there won’t be a second to spare.

Oh – one of my photos was WIP photo of the week… WOO HOO… That’s Special

This week has been very different from last … I think we were all getting used to the little WIP party going on of sight seeing, seminars and sun, but were all in our offices now and pretty much settled in for the next 5 weeks ahead of our internship.

After spending the last first crazy jam packed week with fellow WIPpers its safe to say I was definitely missing them when hitting the streets of DC on my own trying to find my way so I think we all showed our appreciation for each other this weekend.

After surviving the first week and trying to get WIPpers together for little socials throughout the week, were all settled in to our parts of town and figuring out who is located a block or two away from us to get together for coffees and lunch in the mornings!!

Well, my first week at Powell Tate and Weber Shandwick has been a blur, from the second I walked in I was whisked through orientation, given an email and address and from then on work has pretty much poured in, which is great! I’m working on a few clients, currently doing research for Toyota in addition to the US Army and Mastercard to name but a few. After a rocky first few days I’m getting settled with my fellow interns, all of which are from the States, me and my little mixed up American/Northern Irish accent stands out like a sore thumb and is definitely causing a few issues when I’m calling people, ‘Weber Shan…ick?”…. Nope, ShandWICK… ‘It’s Special!’

This weekend has been dedicated to fellow WIPs, we had an ice-cream social (heaven) mixing American and WIP interns then headed out for a meal and dance for The Buggy’s 21st… which she loved thanks to the team!!! We successfully took over the dance floor dancing to cheesy pop music like Jackson 5 and Grease which Chesney and I ruled the dance floor of and impressed the Buggy SOOO much so that she has decided to give up on her career and dedicate her life to the dance duo that is Judi and JC… Special!! The Buggy and I then celebrated her birthday boxing day is lazy style!

Saturday night a few of us met up and got pizzas before meeting up with the crew in Dupont. When we got off the train and we could hear was the bellowing of trumpets and drums so we followed the sound out of curiosity only to find a huge crowd surrounding this jazz band who were busking, there was about 10-15 people, all ages, playing the trumpets and drums, with and massive crowd around, some dancing and some staring in awe… It was soo cool, I mean these guys were amazing, and there was one little kid who was tiny and was rocking the show with his trumpet. I was shaking my ‘thang.’ It was so much fun though! Oh we also have to give a mention to the little lady who to be honest I was concerned for her life, this lady was high on jazz and loving it, giving it crazy little stacks, it was a highlight of the show for me! We then joined the rest of the crew for more dancing.

It has been decided that were going to hunt out a jazz and comedy club.

Sunday has then been dedicated to Karen and Bonnie’s fundraising party for local independent cinema, Avalon. The day was great; sushi was amazing, ice cream amazing, popcorn amazing, fruit amazing, candy amazing… all my favorite food groups!

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'We all live in the gutters, some of us just look to the stars!!'

Oscar Wilde

Friday 7th June – Leaving for DC

So things definitely got off to a bang, Friday night at 12pm I was questioning just how worthwhile this Washington Ireland thing would be, the stress of packing my life in one 23kg case was proving too much plus the realization that I was getting little or no sleep was not helping in addition to the fact that there was issues with my visa!! I managed to fit in about a good 20 minutes on the floor of Dublin airport on various occasions and slept the whole way to Toronto! Any who cutting the story short we arrived in DC, a little tired but uber excited to find our little DC families and be choked by the 100 degree heat…. Its all good though I was taken home in an Audi convertible and taken to the most beautiful house, given lucky charms and a floor in the house specially for fellow WIPper ‘The Buggy’ and I with everything we could possibly need. Our ‘mom’ Karen and dad Jim are amazing and we have also inherited a 16 year old deaf and blind poodle… that we love very much!!

Oh it proceeded to storm on our first night!!

Sunday 9th June

My first morning in DC consisted of Lucky Charms and coffee… I was in sheer bliss! Later in the day we had a BBQ to meet fellow host families and WIPpers!!

Post BBQ we went to Cathy Wolfes house who we knew from orientation for a desert party for the local Round House Theatre!! We got fresh limeade and cookies so I was loving it… the actors and director were cool … we compared Irish accents and possibly blagged a few tickets to their play Nixon’s Nixon… TBC!

Monday 10th June

This was our first day venturing not the heart of the city by ourselves… most definitely a daunting task!! Our daily commute consists of an 8 minute walk, a 12 minute bus journey and several metros depending on required destination. Initially, The Buggy and I out of sheer ‘not wanting to get lost’ decided to ask people for everything, our first question was ‘excuse me, can you tell me where we get the metro to metro centre’ bearing in mind we were in the metro station with lifts going either down or up, the guy made us feel ridiculous and pointed in the one and only direction, oops! So we got cramped into our metro and made the double commute to the White House, got out and asked, ‘excuse me, can you tell us what way we go to the White house?’ the most wonderful gentleman kindly directed us, we got closer and assumed we were outside the Whitehouse, The Buggy (I blame the Buggy) decided to ask someone else though and once again we got the ridiculous look which we are now getting very used to!!

Anywho we met a fellow WIPper and did the very Washingtonian thing of getting a Starbucks, arriving at our destination and changing into our formal shoes!! Our morning was mostly orientation and post luck we went to the Newseum (A museum dedicated to the news, media and journalism) an amazing stop for any media focused student/professional, We then went for a dinner that consisted of a burger the size of my head!

The commute home took a while since it was our first and after a day in 105 degree heat we were straight to bed… really living it up eh? The funniest moment of the commute was getting on to the wrong metro, shouting at Fiona to get off and jumping off only to turn around and see Fiona locked behind the tube doors sailing in the wrong direction, I could do nothing but laugh… our proper tube came and a couple minutes later I saw Fiona running up the stations screaming, “Judi Judi get on get on,” so we ran to get one stop down and the tube broke down, funny that funny that!!

Tuesday 11th June

Tuesday was another early wake up call to commute to town, everything was going well, we had a lecture by an amazing guy who talked about psychology… sparking a bright spark of a psychology masters eh eh?? We then went in the boiling heat on a tour of the dead presidents, on the hottest day ever, amazingly sweaty sums it up but its cool, the memorials were pretty amazing, the class of the city is out of this world, truly beautiful!!

Wednesday 11th June

Leadership skills seminar… consisted of debating leadership and writing a speech on … you guessed it … leadership!!!! We then went to the library of congress for a tour, which was actually awesome… an amazing building… I was impressed anyway!!

We ventured Georgetown to get a taste for the area, so we skipped on down to M street… well actually, we didn’t, we got a bus, but who’s looking at the technicalities!! We went shopping in the usual DC spots.

Thursday 12th June

I woke up to a text … only to realize my degree classification was out… I ran through the house like a baby elephant to the computer to stare sat it confused for 15 minutes and googling what it said only to realize I got a 2:1 WHOOP WHOOP!! … I was uber impressed with myself and well slightly hyper to be honest!!

We went to J O Wilson Elementary school this morning to put on an all singing all dancing Irish show for the kids… they loved it! It was Neal’s 21st so we sufficiently embarrassed him!! We then did a quick change in dodgy room in the school before heading down to meet Senator Leahy at the Capitol… he was really cool to meet and it was a big deal that he took time out for WIP!!

We then proceeded to get a tour around the Capitol, by interns, ours was special … I must say I had a giggle, we had to inform him that the North and South of Ireland had two different political systems, that we did get American movies and we didn’t live in mud huts!!!

Friday 13th June

Friday the 13th … dun dun dun!!! There was a fire at Metro Centre and power outages across all metros and half of downtown… unlucky eh??

We began the day in the WIP Office by having a professional Washingtonian networker come and talk to us Isle of Irelanders about how to network!!

We then had a conference at the Press Club in conjunction with the Northern Irish embassy, it was a great event were we met a lot of people that we don’t normally get a change to meet who are part of the program, it was also really cool to meet Carol Wheeler herself. Now is also a great time to once again congratulate, Gary, Elaine, Sarah and Andrew, they all performed fantastic speeches for the audience, they have most definitely set the standard for speeches to come!! Well Done!!!

Post Press Club a few went on a mad hunt for the only costume store in DC which was not so convenient!! After a rummage of the store and being informed that the cashier guy’s grandmother was in the potato famine we all left with a few bits and pieces for the 90’s icon costume party tonight!! I managed to create a Pocahontas outfit … which for all you rebels that ask why Pocahontas – Disney made the film in the 90’s!!! A fun, fun night was most definitely had!!!

Saturday 14th June
First Day Off … WOO HOO!!!!! … What do you do… go shopping!! I quickly learnt that public transport in DC at the weekends is not so great; a trip that would take me 45 minutes during the week took me over 2 hours…. I managed to calm myself with some shops though!! We then decided to experience the fine dining of Georgetown…

Sunday 15

The Buggy and I were the best host daughters and took our American daddy out for some fathers day lunch… perfect little WIPpers!!!


Monday 16th June

We ventured to the WIP office for further seminars, to meet the South Africa Team and get speech writing training; all fun and games until we order raw fish by accident!!!

Tuesday 17th June

Okay Okay, lets not all be fooled I mean were not here for an 8 week party there is work to be down… and so the internships begin!!! I started at Powel Tate, Weber Shandwick, went trough orientation all morning, got my own desk, use of the gym, yoga classes, Wii machine (Which with my Wii anger I should probably stay away from!!!) Unlimited coffee, treats and fruit, I mean why how great is this!?! Ok, post excitement I was informed that I would be part of the Planning for Life Campaign, an ongoing campaign in conjunction with the US Army that aims at encouraging younger people to take better care of their health, diets and education all around the States. I’ll hopefully get to visit some of the classes and will be involved in research and media planning, amongst other aspects of the campaign along with dabbling in areas of other campaigns. The internship most defiantly has a lot to offer so I stooped being so nervous and the excitement is on a steady run!

WOW, that’s a blog and a half!!