Week

Hello All! I can’t believe this week has flown by, and what an eventful one it has been. While I did nothing but work, that in itself was pretty interesting. To start the week, the fire alarms at my Heritage dorm went off at 6:30am and I had to stand on the lawn in busy, downtown DC in my pajamas, glasses and scary slept-on-humidity hair. Oh, and lost my last hour of sleep. I was pretty grouchy that morning. Then, the very next day my building actually did catch on fire! I wasn’t home at the time, and one of my friends from down the hall in Heritage actually came all the way to Enzi’s office to tell me. Fortunately, the dorms weren’t damaged, and the Heritage Interns even got the day off (hence the visit over in the Senate offices).
The highlight of the week was a lunch with Senator Enzi, his wife Diana and the interns from his office and the HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, of which he is the chair) Committee. Everyone was a little nervous eating with our big boss, but he and Diana are such great people that we all relaxed pretty soon. They took us to the expensive Senate Restaurant, and I ended up sitting next to the Senator. Believe it or not, we spent a good amount of time talking about fly-fishing! What a guy, huh? Also, they told us amazing stories about all their travels and experiences, especially in Africa. I respect him to no end for the job he is doing. If only all Senators and Reps were like him, I think this whole country would work a lot better! Oh, and sitting at the next table over was Joe Lieberman. This is certainly a crazy job.
The week has been one of settling in. I have been getting assigned bigger and more interesting tasks (researching legislation, reading and responding to constituent mail) as well as continuing with the grunt work (answering phones, running errands, Capitol tours). I am getting to know the people in the office better and am getting more comfortable everyday. So far, I haven’t screwed up anything!