My first official day of programming/sweet dessert.
Monday 6/3:
Today we were in for a long day as it was going to be our first official programming day with CHCI. We all woke up early and headed towards the Washington Center where we had breakfast than performed our stimulation. In preparation for today we had to cover certain scripts. I was to be a lobbyist giving a testimony about gun violence. The purpose of this stimulation was to observe the process that it takes for a bill to get passed. We observed the democratic and republican side and had several testimonies. I, was one of them, I felt attacked is all I can say. This stimulation opened my eyes to the reality of politics and the process. Being able to see the backstage process was definitely a great learning opportunity.
Tuesday 6/4:
Today was my first official day in my placement. I was super nervous but I knew that I had to go in with a positive attitude. I was really looking forward to seeing how I would get around by myself and to my surprise, I did it! I got on the metro, I arrived almost an hour early, and I got a chocolate croissant. Once I met up with my supervisor I felt just a little more nervous but I went right in and was put on my first task. I was given the assignment of looking through a panel packet from a meeting that had just occurred and I needed to pull anything that had to do with agriculture. Later that day, I attended my first meeting. Today was definitely a busy day but I had fun. Today I also got some ice cream as a first day treat. It was so good!!! Captain Cookie definitely blew me away, plus they have amazing cookies!!!
Thursday 6/6:
Today was my third day of work and although I was super excited about being in an office I got to work from home today. I focused on two main assignments that consisted of reading, annotating, and attending meetings. From being home all day I felt like I needed to go out and so I did. I went on my first run (all by myself); I was super excited to be able to get out all alone and explore. I went to the national mall and I spent about two hours admiring the sunset, monuments, and the scenery.
Saturday 6/8:
Today I woke up and decided it would be a good day to explore. Cindy and I headed towards Georgetown. We first stopped at Georgetown Cupcake where I got "vanilla birthday cake and salted caramel" cupcakes and boy were they good. Not very sweet and super soft. After we finished we decided to walk around town for two hours and explore. Once we got tired, we headed back on the bus towards the metro station. We boarded and decided we wanted to continue exploring and so we stayed on the metro and headed towards the botanical gardens.
The botanical garden was amazing however I wanted to see tulips and they didn't have any. After not finding the tulips we kept exploring and found ourselves in different sections of the garden where the climate kept changing. We were able to feel in real time the change in environment in which these plants live in. Side note, we wanted to explore the top part of the "forest" and boy did we regret it. It felt so humid the minute we stepped off the elevator that we turned right back around. It was interesting how the temperature changed with only one higher level of elevation. That was my day today and I'm looking forward to the new week.