Today I finally had my Capitol Visit ("Public Policy Dialogue") where I met with one of Diane Feinstein's (D-CA) legislative assistants. I was "late" to the meeting because they went in early and I had gone the wrong way on the street. Thankfully, there were three other students within the next fifteen minutes, so my accidental faux pas was less noticeable.
I hadn't been looking forward to it, but it turned out to be pretty interesting. One of the things I discovered was that members of the senate don't necessarily hate each other; there's a lot of compromise and working across the aisle to get things done. Sure, everyone has pretty different ideas about how to get stuff done, but they work together until everyone is happy(/ier).
I hurried back to Special Olympics afterwards, though not without being stopped in my tracks by a huge rat. Yes. A RAT. (Those who know me know that these creatures (animated, real, wild, or domesticated) give me goosebumps and make me incredibly uncomfortable. Bad experience as a child... but that's another story.
The professional lunch I had RSVPed to at TWC headquarters was canceled last minute, and so I changed my plans and went out to lunch with the other interns.
Because my final was due this evening, so I left work since I had nothing pressing and went to finish that. It ended up being a typical long night, but our professor let us go after half an hour so I was able to use the evening to finish up my final case study and situational analysis. Sigh. Our class has been such an enjoyable experience that I'm sorry to see it go, although pretty happy that we won't meet next week during the frenzy of packing, cleaning, and dashing about DC like headless chickens in order to take in the sights one last time. Half of the class (maybe?) needed an early grade, so he made it so that we all received the early grade. That was a nice surprise.
I walked across the hallway to the computer lab to finish my final project, and at 9:00, I put my computer back in my bag and went to practice commencement speeches in the auditorium with the other two students. Owen, who I had met last night (we're maybe 45 minutes apart from one another in southern California... what are the chances?), and Bianca, who I can't recall ever laying eyes on. They were sweet, and another friend showed up to practice a song that's meant to end the ceremony. It was a fun evening, and we were able to give feedback to one another to help tweak the little pieces that would bring everything together beautifully.
This is making it real. My summer in DC is winding up....
Blessings,
Clarice
Clarice