White House and Natural History

Thanks for making some comments. It is no fun to write when I feel like no one is reading.

I am officially finished with my first week of work! I guess because I am so used to crazy waitress jobs, I keep expecting to get overloaded with work. But so far it has been a very nice, fairly relaxed atmosphere. Of note, I took my first group on a tour of the Capitol this week! I had a group of 11 from Sheridan. They were part of a larger group of 70 that we all split up. Amazingly, it went really, really well! I remembered all my facts and answered all their questions (and most importantly, didn’t get lost!). I had one smart-alec kid who kept trying to contradict me, and I wanted to smack him, but then one of the chaperones did so all was good. The hardest part was keeping my group together and moving. It was seriously like herding chickens! But afterwards, when I told them that I had only been here since Saturday and this was my first tour, they were blown away. Besides one weird, spacey woman who wandered away from her group (and was later found by another intern), the whole thing went flawlessly and our intern coordinator even let us go get ice cream afterwards. ;-)
We even finished off the week by an apparently traditional Friday Enzi office competition. Everyone in the office puts in a dollar and then throws a quarter from the back office towards the front door. Whoever gets the quarter the closest to the door wins the money. I really doubt Kerry’s office does this sort of thing. I did alright, and fortunately one of my fellow interns won! The more people I meet, the more I am realizing how much I love Wyoming people.
This morning, Mindi and I took a tour of the White House. The temperature is already in the triple digits and I was dripping sweat by the time we got there. The tour was interesting, but I must say not very impressive. It was really short, and there was virtually no information available. I guess that’s what happens in a still functioning building.
Despite the heat though, we met up with David Crow (a guy I knew from debate back in high school!) and all three of us toured the Smithsonian Natural History museum. Not a bad Saturday, huh?

Work

Hello! If my family does not leave comments so that I know you are reading, I will quit posting! I mean it!

I have had two full days of work. I am very, very tired.
This is my office building. It is the Russell Senate Office Building. There are two more. Our first day was lots of meeting people and orientations. We did get to see Senator Enzi, but only during a staff meeting with Wyoming. They teleconferenced in. They let us sit in on it and introduce ourselves. Later, I got a little desk in one of the offices. The craziest thing was that they sent us on two teams on a scavenger hunt (in which we had to get everything from business cards to pamphlets) of various places through out the Senate Office Buildings, Capitol and House Offices without any clue. It was kind of brilliant though because we ended up learning where everything was all on our own. It is still kind of shocking to actually be in the Senate! I have a big ID card I have to have visible at all times. The only problem is I wore a new pair of high-heeled shoes that literally cut and rubbed my feet until they were bleeding.
I found out that we have to start giving tours of the Capitol on Thursday. The only problem is that I’ve only been in there a couple times! We have to give tours on our own routes with our own research in just a couple days. I spent almost all day though walking around and memorizing facts from websites. Wish me luck, I already have two tours scheduled on Thursday and two on Friday… Also, the people in the office give us various errands to run. Once I get over the initial panic of having no idea where I volunteered to take something, I am pretty good at figuring it out.
The coolest thing though is the environment. I walked around a corner today (after spending all day admiring the Capitol) and very nearly crashed into John Kerry! Being a lowly intern, we are not supposed to run into the Senators. He is as tall and craggy as he appears on TV. I am surrounded by so much history, I have to stop rushing and take it in. I get to walk the halls that many of the most influential people in our history walked!

Sightseeing

Hey all, Today ended up being a random sightseeing day! I met up with Mindi and Tony (a guy who lives on our floor and knows the DC area well) and went out to see the major monuments. We found the office I will be working in (the Russell Senate Building), which is only two blocks away!
Then, we ended up walking and metro-ing around to the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam War Memorial. I saw the Capitol and the White House from a distance (I will be getting tours of those later on), as well as the various parts of the Smithsonian and the National Archives. So much history in one day! The best part is that I figured out the metro, as well as the closest stop (Union Station) to my dorm. Now, nothing is stopping me from touring all the museums I can stand. What a fabulous day! Then, I came back for a mandatory dorm meeting. Living in a conservative dorm, I don’t think I have ever seen so many polo shirts and khakis (with belts!) in my life…

I'm here!!!

Hello all!
Happy birthday to me, I am in our nation's capitol! What a crazy long day it has been! It started by flying out of DIA this morning around 11:30am (our time) and getting here at 5pm (DC time...I lose 2 hours). Because of all the new flying regs, I had to pay a whopping $50 for one of my bags that was only 8 pounds over the 50lb. limit. I could have pulled out 8lbs, I suppose, but what an incredible pain. At least Frontier still lets you check two bags.
I had a very hard time leaving Mom this morning when she took me to the airport. She is so sweet, and seeing her get all choked up at my departure just made it harder to go. But, then I met up with my fellow intern, and we had a pretty bumpy flight to DC. The first thing I noticed getting off the plane was the overwhelming humidity. I felt like I was drinking the air rather than breathing it! But we took a cab to the Johnson Building and got all checked in. On the way, I saw the Washington Memorial and the Capitol Building. The rooms are incredibly nice, with a TV, kitchen, Internet, etc. It is also 2 blocks away from the Senate Office building! What a stroke of luck to find this place.
As soon as we got here, we went out to get food. After walking almost 3 miles in the intense humidity to a Safeway store, we came home to find that there is a grocery delivery service at a local store. Oy.
But, after unpacking, grabbing dinner and beginning to settle in, I am feeling alright about everything. Already, I am realizing all the skills I have learned (mostly from France!) about surviving on my own. I feel totally at ease striking out and finding what I need in a totally new place. I am so grateful to have lived the life I have and been surrounded by people and environments that have taught me how to take care of myself, no matter what the world throws at me. So, with that, I think I will take a shower and crash.
Oh, and as much as I wish I had taken this picture, I haven't had a real chance to take any yet. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Tornadoes in the MW?

Hey folks, I leave for DC in one week! Shocking, isn't it?
I like writing a few blogs before I go just to get in the swing of it, obviously. I assume all of you in the Mountain West region are all still reeling from the craziness of the weather lately. Can you believe all these thunderstorms and tornadoes?
My mom and I spent the afternoon hunkered down with our family friend Henry Tanner, and his wife and their toddler (they were on their way to Denver and wisely decided to wait out the storm with us). We had nothing but think fog until about 4 and then the fog instantly cleared and the rain began pouring (Meanwhile we were watching all the destruction going on in poor Weld County and getting updates from friends and family in Laramie and Denver). There were tornadoes touching down all over, but seemed to clear out pretty fast. My mom and I even though it would be cool to run into town so I could buy some shoes.
Then came round two. As we were leaving Kohl's, the rain began coming down in sheets. We stood at the windows debating whether to run to the car when we saw a large funnel cloud dipping down and back up. Rox was home by herself, so we decided to try to make it home, since the cloud was east and we live north. As soon as we got to the car, however, the tornado sirens came on. So, we ran back in and spent a few damp minutes back in Kohl's before deciding it was safe to head home. All, in all, tornadoes touched down in Laramie, Cheyenne, Wheatland, Winston and Ft. Collins among others. So crazy... Even today you could still see those odd, almost greenish clouds that signal tornadoes.
But, we shouldn't see many more twisters soon, and as Becky said to me from Chicago last night, "I'm glad you didn't get blowed away!"

Graduation

Before I can go to DC, I had to get that whole graduation thing out of the way. Fortunately, it went fabulously. I graduated on Saturday in a 1:30-4:30pm ceremony. It was ridiculously long and boring, so thanks to my wonderful family for coming and sticking through it. I was in the biggest college (Arts and Sciences) so it took a long time to get through all the grads. I was one of the last majors to go, so at least we all had the anticipation. We all wore brown robes with gold trim, which weren't nearly as ugly as I thought they would be (I believe I compared myself to a puffy turd before the ceremony). I was especially happy that I crossed the stage without falling in my high-heeled shoes! It was awesome to meet up with everyone afterwards, get some beautiful flowers (compliments of my grandma) and take pictures before going back to my apartment for cake and coffee. It went very well considering there were eight people and only five places to sit. I went out to dinner with Matt, hit a few grad parties and crashed hard. The next day I went to Cheyenne, went to Rachel's grad party and finished the weekend off with a Mother's Day/Graduation extravaganza at the Melting Pot!! Whew, what a weekend. Thanks to everyone who made it so perfect. I loves ya all.

Paris....

And now for a Molly's blog exclusive (as in, I haven't told ANYONE about this yet)! I might be headed to old Par-ee for a few days. My family and friends often talk about me getting thunked in the head with good luck, and it seems like it may have happed again. My good friend Eric, who is currently working in LA, did some work for Rosetta Stone a few years back. For those of you not familiar, it is a program aimed at teaching people foreign language skills in a quick, convenient way. Anywhoo, they are shooting commercials for Rosetta Stone in Paris, Madrid and Rome this month. They contacted Eric to see if he could be in the Paris commercial. Apparently they needed people with French skills who are good on camera. Eric will be busy on these dates and sent them my information. Basically, it would be an all-expense paid trip to Paris from May 18-22 to shoot this commercial.
I got a call from them this morning and they are pretty interested in having me do it. I still have several details to work out, and the whole thing could still fall through, but still. I might get a quick, free trip to France before I go to DC!! What a life, huh?