WOW! The first week is officially done. I absolutely love my job. I would try to describe my least favorite part but I can’t because my internship is phenomenal!
My first day, I got there about 30 minutes early along with another intern who was starting the same day. We were both slightly nervous as we anticipated what was to come. There were already 5 other interns working. They started three weeks prior and only have three weeks left before they leave. I’m really excited because my internship will be 10 weeks! During the first day, I went through orientation and met the staff (the press secretary, schedulers, legislative assistants, and legislative correspondents). My intern coordinator took us on a tour of the office building. It has 2 cafeterias, a post office, a gift shop and a really fun underground railway system. According to the staffers it is also know for having the best frozen yogurt (aka fro-yo) in town. The underground trains take you into the capital building. The capital is absolutely amazing. There is so much history and art that it never gets old to look at. It’s fun to think that our founding fathers and every great American leader walked through the same hallways.
Now let me fast forward to Wednesday. I believe this was the craziest day I’ve had either ever or in a really long time. I woke up at 6 am and began my normal routine. Everything was on schedule for me to leave at eight. At about 7:15 I was in the kitchen grabbing a cup of water. Directly behind me my roommate was making breakfast on the stove. All of a sudden I heard an explosion, and then orange and yellow colors were illuminating off the kitchen walls. My first reaction was extremely embarrassing and it unfortunately showed me where my priorities were. I ran out of the kitchen, not even looking back to see if my roommate was even alive, I screamed and said “Oh my gosh, I have hairspray in my hair!” For some reason I thought that since the kitchen was exploding I would too if the fire got into my hair. Once I selfishly finished checking myself for any signs of fire on me, I looked over at my roommate. She stood there watching a solid 3 foot flame rise out of the pan, all the while black smoke came fuming out of it. I yelled for her to open the kitchen window. I did not want the fire alarm to go off. Can you imagine how made the apt. building would be if they had to be evacuated before work? I believe we would have received death threats. As I was running around the apt. trying to open every window we had, my other roommates came out and yelled at the cook to throw flour on it. The cook just stared at the flames. By now our smoke alarm was sounding off (at least we know it works). Finally my one roommate Jeannine took matters into her own hands. She stormed into the kitchen grabbed the flour threw it on the pan and stormed back out. We unfortunately can’t ban the cook from the kitchen. So now she cooks at her own risk. Well, actually cooks at the risk of everyone in the apt and the building. Here is the remains of the pan…
The second crazy thing to occur that day happened while I was at work. The office interns and I were giving a tour to a group of fifth graders and their chaperones, equaling a total of 70 people. Each intern had a group of 15 people. I was shadowing one of the interns because I still haven’t learned all the ropes yet on how to give a tour. Everything was going fine. The kids seemed to be somewhat intrigued and the parents were excited to be there. When we finished the tour we walked out the west steps (the “front”) to see a huge storm rolling in over the Mall. I wish I had a camera because it set the monuments in amazing lighting that was breathtaking. Anyways, half of the group was waiting below for the bus to pull up. We met the group at the bottom of the stairs. The parents were starting to get a little anxious. Then another group started spreading word that there was a tornado by the airport. Keep in mind the airport is only across the Potomac, which isn’t to far from the Mall. Now the parents began to freak out, while the kids were excited to get wet. They just didn’t realize this isn’t the kind of rain you want to play in. We had one big problem. Since security for the Capital is so strict we could not take the group back into the building to be with the rest of the group. We had to think fast. The moms were getting upset and wanted to take cover somewhere quick. So we sent them with two interns into the closest House of Rep. Office buildings. One intern remained outside incase the rest of the group came out. It was my job to run back inside and find the rest of the group and tell them to cut it short. I was excited about the adventure, except I was wearing high heels and didn’t know my way around the building. I ran to a security guard, flashed him my badge and he let me in past security. Once I searched all of the building, I could of only one other place they could be…the Brumidi Corridors. I ran down the hall and found them there. As soon as I pulled the interns aside to tell them about the storm, the Capital intercom system came on. The only audible words in a series of sentences was “Tornado Warning!” This quickly sent the children into a panic. Their eyes started welling up with tears. A couple of them asked me if they were going to die. That is not a question I expected to answer that day. Well, be the bright interns that we are we did not know the phone number of our office. Needless to say after walking two and a half hours through the capital and through the underground system, we got the group back together and on their way home.
I was so excited to get home that day and rest. I was sitting on the sofa talking with my roomie and Orlando. All of sudden, Orlando got up and ran into the sunroom. I thought he saw somebody jump off the roof from the expression on his face. He finally pointed to what he was looking at. A huge hole was right in the corner of our window. I believe the tornados caused the damage. A person came to fix it, but now we avoid being in our sunroom. Here are the pics…
My first day, I got there about 30 minutes early along with another intern who was starting the same day. We were both slightly nervous as we anticipated what was to come. There were already 5 other interns working. They started three weeks prior and only have three weeks left before they leave. I’m really excited because my internship will be 10 weeks! During the first day, I went through orientation and met the staff (the press secretary, schedulers, legislative assistants, and legislative correspondents). My intern coordinator took us on a tour of the office building. It has 2 cafeterias, a post office, a gift shop and a really fun underground railway system. According to the staffers it is also know for having the best frozen yogurt (aka fro-yo) in town. The underground trains take you into the capital building. The capital is absolutely amazing. There is so much history and art that it never gets old to look at. It’s fun to think that our founding fathers and every great American leader walked through the same hallways.
Now let me fast forward to Wednesday. I believe this was the craziest day I’ve had either ever or in a really long time. I woke up at 6 am and began my normal routine. Everything was on schedule for me to leave at eight. At about 7:15 I was in the kitchen grabbing a cup of water. Directly behind me my roommate was making breakfast on the stove. All of a sudden I heard an explosion, and then orange and yellow colors were illuminating off the kitchen walls. My first reaction was extremely embarrassing and it unfortunately showed me where my priorities were. I ran out of the kitchen, not even looking back to see if my roommate was even alive, I screamed and said “Oh my gosh, I have hairspray in my hair!” For some reason I thought that since the kitchen was exploding I would too if the fire got into my hair. Once I selfishly finished checking myself for any signs of fire on me, I looked over at my roommate. She stood there watching a solid 3 foot flame rise out of the pan, all the while black smoke came fuming out of it. I yelled for her to open the kitchen window. I did not want the fire alarm to go off. Can you imagine how made the apt. building would be if they had to be evacuated before work? I believe we would have received death threats. As I was running around the apt. trying to open every window we had, my other roommates came out and yelled at the cook to throw flour on it. The cook just stared at the flames. By now our smoke alarm was sounding off (at least we know it works). Finally my one roommate Jeannine took matters into her own hands. She stormed into the kitchen grabbed the flour threw it on the pan and stormed back out. We unfortunately can’t ban the cook from the kitchen. So now she cooks at her own risk. Well, actually cooks at the risk of everyone in the apt and the building. Here is the remains of the pan…
The second crazy thing to occur that day happened while I was at work. The office interns and I were giving a tour to a group of fifth graders and their chaperones, equaling a total of 70 people. Each intern had a group of 15 people. I was shadowing one of the interns because I still haven’t learned all the ropes yet on how to give a tour. Everything was going fine. The kids seemed to be somewhat intrigued and the parents were excited to be there. When we finished the tour we walked out the west steps (the “front”) to see a huge storm rolling in over the Mall. I wish I had a camera because it set the monuments in amazing lighting that was breathtaking. Anyways, half of the group was waiting below for the bus to pull up. We met the group at the bottom of the stairs. The parents were starting to get a little anxious. Then another group started spreading word that there was a tornado by the airport. Keep in mind the airport is only across the Potomac, which isn’t to far from the Mall. Now the parents began to freak out, while the kids were excited to get wet. They just didn’t realize this isn’t the kind of rain you want to play in. We had one big problem. Since security for the Capital is so strict we could not take the group back into the building to be with the rest of the group. We had to think fast. The moms were getting upset and wanted to take cover somewhere quick. So we sent them with two interns into the closest House of Rep. Office buildings. One intern remained outside incase the rest of the group came out. It was my job to run back inside and find the rest of the group and tell them to cut it short. I was excited about the adventure, except I was wearing high heels and didn’t know my way around the building. I ran to a security guard, flashed him my badge and he let me in past security. Once I searched all of the building, I could of only one other place they could be…the Brumidi Corridors. I ran down the hall and found them there. As soon as I pulled the interns aside to tell them about the storm, the Capital intercom system came on. The only audible words in a series of sentences was “Tornado Warning!” This quickly sent the children into a panic. Their eyes started welling up with tears. A couple of them asked me if they were going to die. That is not a question I expected to answer that day. Well, be the bright interns that we are we did not know the phone number of our office. Needless to say after walking two and a half hours through the capital and through the underground system, we got the group back together and on their way home.
I was so excited to get home that day and rest. I was sitting on the sofa talking with my roomie and Orlando. All of sudden, Orlando got up and ran into the sunroom. I thought he saw somebody jump off the roof from the expression on his face. He finally pointed to what he was looking at. A huge hole was right in the corner of our window. I believe the tornados caused the damage. A person came to fix it, but now we avoid being in our sunroom. Here are the pics…
1 comment:
What a memorable first week. Nine more weeks of more adventures with great stories : )
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