(May 30 - June 5)
Monday
Monday was Memorial Day which was the perfect day to do some sightseeing. Despite it being unbearably hot, there was plenty of shade to go around. We began our trip through the western side of the National Mall which is the Lincoln Memorial and then made our way east. We stopped multiple times to look at all the memorials throughout the mall which were incredible to finally see in person. We then did a quick lunch break in one of the Smithsonian museum’s cafeteria which was surprisingly better than what I had expected. Although, definitely not a lot of variety! Throughout the day we briefly went into other Smithsonian museums which were very interesting learning the context behind some viewpoints and events that I had previously never really thought about. But after some serious walking in the heat, we all decided to get some ice cream to end our day. A very sweet end to the beginning of our stay here in the nation’s capital.
Wednesday
Today in the morning we visited the first placement of one of my fellow HEP/CAMP interns, Janet. She’s placed with the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) which was very interesting to learn about. They have their own law fellowship which I was particularly interested in and perhaps thought of applying myself in the future. By noon we had to attend our CHCI orientation meeting through Zoom. Today we had various Q&As with CHCI leadership and members of other congressional staffer organizations like CHSA. Although those organizations don’t apply to me at this moment, it was nice to hear the growing support for the well-being of interns and staffers alike at Capitol Hill.
Friday
Today has been dedicated to visiting the rest of the intern placements. We started the day by stopping at the USDA and meeting my supervisor and office which is right next to the National Mall and various Smithsonians, which was really cool to see. We then made our way to Capitol Hill and visited two separate Congressional offices and had a brief tour of the underground section, the most surprising fact was the small subway station they have that connects the offices with the actual capitol itself. We then made our way to the Office of Migrant Education and have a conference meeting with the people in charge of the office and heard about their stories which led up to them in this current position. We finally ended our visits with the United Farm Workers at the Human Rights Campaign building. After all these visits we ended the day with a dinner at a close-by Italian cuisine restaurant which was incredibly good.
