Finally Feeling at Home

In my third week in D.C I am finally feeling at home. I am becoming a champion of public transportation, which is something that is nonexistent where I’m from, and am able to find places with ease. I am also on a mission to find the best restaurant in D.C; so far Sushi Damo is at the top of the list.

Out to dinner

In addition, my internship is still going GREAT! It’s a small office, so the other intern and I are really getting to know the people at the firm. I have never worked with such a diverse group of people and they all have very different, distinct personalities. Also, I was invited to a book signing party with Senator Conrad (D-ND) and his daughter, Jessamyn Conrad. Her book is “The Things You Should Know about Politics but Don’t.” We also attended a fundraiser for Congressman Serrano (D-NY) who is running in the upcoming election. I am a Republican, but it was interesting to listen to a room full of Democrats discussing everything from the economy to the election. Both were great experiences that I would never have dreamed of attending anywhere else but D.C.

The Hill

The Political Leadership Program held a joint event with the International Affairs Program about “The Future of the Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Ori Nir, a spokesperson for Americans for Peace Now and Ziad Asali, president and founder of the American Task Force on Palestine, spoke to us about the origins of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and what the necessary steps are to achieve peace.

Additionally, we started the Presidential Lecture Series, where TWC brings in prestigious speakers to speak to all students in the program. Dr. Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress spoke to us about the Iraq War and the problems that the Bush administration has faced since the initial invasion. Honestly, I did not care for the speaker. The speaker could have just started out the lecture with “Hi, please vote for Senator Barack Obama.” I felt it was incredibly inappropriate for a high level official to use his title to persuade a room full of students about his position on the 2008 election. It’s one thing to subscribe yourself to listen to a speaker whose purpose is to campaign, but it’s another thing to have to attend a mandatory lecture thinking the purpose is to discuss the Iraq War. The Political Leadership advisor and I discussed this and he told me there will be plenty of speakers to follow that are controversial, those of which I may agree with but other students will not. We will see next Monday.

Next week is going to be very busy considering the economic turmoil challenging the United States. I am looking forward to the Senate Committee hearings about the federal bank bailout.

Being goofy at the Newseum