Category: D.C.

The McDonald’s fight.

February 4, 2009

There was a fight at McDonald’s today, and it was all because of me. Well, you see what happened was … I decided to stop at McDonald’s and grab a bite to eat before class. What I did not count on was the weird guy talking to himself in the corner. He was sitting on my left and, when he started talking to me, I made the mistake of answering the questions especially the one asking what I studied. He obviously did not like journalists and started to get upset with me. I ignored him and eventually this woman, who previously had been sleeping in a booth on my right, came to my defense. Let’s just say it was a fight waiting to happen and I made my escape as they yelled at each other about where each other and their mamas could go. It was an eventful 10 minutes and I am still upset about it. It was so stupid but one thing is for sure – I am never going to that McDonald’s again! I ended up being late for my first day of class and luckily the professor did ont call me out for it. The class seems like it is going to be okay. We are starting the course out with a field trip to the National Press Club to see The Kalb Report. I am kindof excited about the trip. It should be interesting. The only thing I do not like is that the professor announced that she does expect each student to participate vocally in role playing and answering/debating. I am not looking forward to this part of the course-I was shaking today when all I had to say was my name, internship, university and major. It was a simple announcement, but I was freaking out. However, the course should help me reach one of my personal goals this semester-to be able to announce my opinions more freely and be able to defend them. This morning, I went to more department meetings at work, and met with the association’s president. This was all great, but the best part of work was meeting with my superviser and finding out what all she (and therefore me) would be in charge of. I was not able to start working officially on any projects yet, but I am supposedly going to be able to start on my first project-writing a blurb for a web story-tomorrow. I cannot wait! I am ready to begin working! It is interesting to note that at work, everyone is very independent. The departments work with each other but each has a specific duty that they do not really ask for help with. I am mentioning this because they are all so busy. I mean they are all juggling so much and working so hard, yet they are able to accomplish it all with smiles and laughter throughout the day. Speaking of smiles, Ever and I bonded after I got home from work and class. We aired our separate grips and complaints from the day, such as me disenabling our Internet service this morning when I was half-asleep. It was fun talking about work, major events and boys. Our little complain session made me feel better and reaffirmed that we are going to work out as roommates!

The work experience

February 3, 2009

I began my first day of work 24 minutes early. It was snowing outside and I was one of the first people to arrive at Pulmonary Hypertension Association. It was a one-and-one-half hour commute by metro and I was afraid to be late. It was still better to be early than late and it was a telling experience of my co-workers: They are nice, friendly and extremely helpful. PHA, which is in offices on the fourth and fifth floor, has about 30 co-workers. My boss and a few others, whiches includes the PHA president, happen to be on the fifth floor. Since no one was in that office when I arrived, a co-worker on the fourth floor kindly took me under her wing and showed me around, talked to me and basically made me feel welcome. Once everyone was in the office, it was an interesting day. Each department is made up of two to three people who are taking time out of their schedule to introduce themselves to the interns. While everyone has their own projects, it is neat how they all interwine together and the association does have a strong desire to involve their community of people involved in PHA. All my co-workers have a strongly defined character: Compassionate, opinionated and very kind-hearted. My boss and two co-workers took us interns and a new co-worker out to lunch as well. I was slightly worried when I realized that we were talking so much that two-and-a-half hours had passed. We only have one-hour breaks and it was my first day, but then again, I was with my boss. I guess, for the circumstances, it was forgivable since she was right there with me. They seem to be a tight-knit group and it will be interesting getting to know each of them. I was slowly introduced into my new role at PHA as the web publications and content management intern. I have figured out some of my duties, which will include writing, editing and learning some basic IT services work. I have not discovered the exact duties I will be doing but I will learn more tomorrow.

I will also be attending my first night of class tomorrow. I am in Press, Power and Politics. The class will be talking about why people leak information to the media, the role of press conferences, communications strategies and self-promotion. The class should complement my previous studies, which have mainly focused on gathering the news and reporting for feature and news stories. In my college experience, I have attended press conferences and received leaked information, but my classes have never really focused so much on getting it and understanding it as much as the correct style to report on it. The class should help me understand the reality of why press conferences and other class topics are taking place when I cover them for a newspaper. The class will also help me become more knowledgeable within my field, and that is basically my number one goal: To strive to become successful at my chosen career.

What have I done?

February 2, 2009

I have signed up to participate in the third annual Egyptian-American Dialogue on “Critical Issues Facing the U.S. and the Arab World.” It will feature 20 Egyptian students in D.C. for an month-long exchange program and around 2o TWC students varying in majors and where they are from. I am more than a little nervous on this dialogue. The three main issues we are discussing will be 1. the Arab-Israeli conflict, 2. the foreign policy challenges for the Obama Administration in the Mideast and 3. Correcting negative stereotypes Americans and Arabs have about each other. I guess I am most nervous in the fact that I am not the most coherent person in the world, I mean that is why I chose writing as my profession. I am also horrible at talking in front of groups that I do not know. However, both of these reasons are why I chose to be in this program, other than the fact that I find it an interesting topic. One of my goals for this semester with the TWC and the internship is to brush up on my public speaking and knowledge of world events and history, which I have slacked on in recent years. A mandatory briefing on the Middle East was held today for over two hours for all of us TWC students participating. I have two of my roommates participating as well. It was a long meeting as we covered as much as possible on the history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and more. However, one good thing did come from this, well I did learn a lot as well, but I now know of one topic now that I can speak out about-the correcting negative stereotypes Americans and Arabs have about each other. I have Arkansas State to thank for that! I now have until 4 p.m. Thursday to brush up on my Middle East knowledge and to prepare. The dialogue is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the TWC with dinner following to allow all the students to mingle.

A “wicked” weekend

February 2, 2009
Caylah (from left), Sheila, me and Ever.
The Roommates: Caylah (from left), Sheila, me and Ever.

It was my first weekend in Washington, D.C., and all TWC interns were free to do whatever they like. I chose to spend the time getting to know my roommates. Our fourth roommate, and the girl I would be sharing a room with, finally came back to the apartment after spending the week with her mother and grandmother. Her name is Ever, as in forever and ever (that is how she described her name to us). She is from Mexico and pretty nice. Anyways, Saturday started off with a nice and free pancake breakfast followed by a free Georgetown Walking Tour. I got to visit The Old Stone House, home to the historical Adams’ family, the Potamic River, the steps featured in The Exercist and also Georgetown University. The group consisted of a variety of TWC interns and it was fun getting to know everyone. Here’s some pictures from it.

Passing by a canal.
Passing by a canal.
The steps shown in The Exercist
The steps shown in The Exercist
Are we not such studious GU students?
Are we not such studious GU students?

Sunday was the best part of the weekend. Sheila’s friend Johnny is stationed here in D.C. with the Army and offered to take us on a tour. We obviously were not going to to say no to an offer like that, especially since he had a car. It was a laid back day while we toured D.C., looking at the White House, the memorials and fed the birds and squirrels at a refreshment stand near the Lincoln Memorial. Johnny teased us, especially Ever, by picking us up with Starbucks in hand and we could not find a Starbucks anywhere for us girls to get one until near the end of the tour. We finally ended up at Johnny’s coworker’s girlfriend’s apartment for the Superbowl. We missed the kick-off due to the Puppy Bowl. It was annoying, but the puppies were so cute! Here’s some photos of Sunday.

The White House with Secret Service on top!
The White House with Secret Service on top!
Feeding the jealous seagulls
Feeding the jealous seagulls
At the end of the day outside Congress
At the end of the day outside Congress

Tomorrow is the big day- I attend my first day at the office. I will be in meetings all day, so I am nervous. It will be a different environment from the newspapers I have worked at and school. I did a test run to my work bright and early today. Ugh. It took me two hours to get there. So I will be up pretty darn early if anyone needs a wake up call within the next four months. Well-wish me luck!

I survived the metro

January 29, 2009

I have finally ran into some luck. I rode the metro into D.C. today for the first time and it was easier than I thought it would be. I will only have to deal with one line when I need to go to work or The Washington Center’s office. My apartment is on one end of the line, my work is on the opposite end of the line with D.C.’s main attractions such as the White House and The Washington Center, well for me, in the middle. Ah, what luck! Other than riding the metro, I have finally met the rest of the TWC media group at orientation. The other interns and our program adviser all seem pretty nice. For lunch, I met up with Teresa-one of the girls that I met last night-and it was  an hassle trying to find each other-Teresa, who is in the International Relations program, had orientation in a different location. Okay, really I got lost, but I eventually started to understand their street design, which helped. After I did a huge square trying to find my way to her, we finally chose a nice cafe around the corner from our designated meeting spots. It was great with hot, delicious sandwiches and a Chinese buffet that I am going to have to try sometime-it looked so good. After lunch, my program’s orientation was over two hours early giving me time to make my way back to the apartment alone for the first time. I wanted plenty of time to correct mistakes if I made them! I also finally received a call from the airport-they are sending my luggage to me tonight. I will soon have clothes!

All I can do is wait.

January 28, 2009

Waiting. It is the main thing I have accomplished all day long. I began the day bright and early at the Little Rock Airport at 4:15 a.m. in the hopes that I would avoid long lines and confusion while boarding. I also did not want to be late due to the weather.

What I did not consider, however, was the fact that Southwest Airlines did not open their doors until 5 a.m. It was a long wait. However, we were first in line to check in my luggage and my parents were able to walk me to the security check point. It was there that I discovered-well security discovered-that I was carrying lotion and toothpaste over the liquid limit allowed. It was the first time I had a bag of mine searched and it was pathetic to discover it was over a half-used bottle of lotion and an almost empty tube of toothpaste. However, I was able to get the security guard to take them both to my parents who were able to tuck them into my checked-in luggage on the way out of the airport. I was now on my own to wait for my 6:15 a.m. flight and my troubles were only beginning. I was to fly to Louisville, Ky., and then take a connecter flight to Baltimore, Md. Well, my plans detoured from the very beginning. I had a scare in Little Rock when I discovered my flight was going to St. Louis before I discovered my plane was only dropping people off and having more board the plane before continuing to Louisville. In St. Louis, I was forced off the plane around 8:30 a.m. due to the Louisville Airport closing, and the St. Louis Airport did not look that great itself as you can see below.

stuck-in-st-louis-002

Southwest Airlines, however, was able to set me up with a direct flight from St. Louis to Baltimore that was supposed to leave at 10:25 a.m. though it was delayed until closer to 11 a.m. for the de-icing of the Baltimore Airport. I finally arrived at Baltimore at 3 p.m. only a few hours behind my original arrival time of 11:30 a.m. It was a foggy landing and I was unable to see anything but cloud during our landing until we were practically on the landing. Below are two pictures I took while landing. The first photo was taken while the plane was headed toward the runway, and the second photo was taken while we headed toward our gate.

I was tired but still in a decent mood when we landed in Baltimore. However, I soon realized that while I was in Baltimore, my luggage was not. I ended up waiting for two hours for my luggage to come in on the next flight only to discover my two suitcases were not on the flight. I was tired and, along with two older couples, eventually boarded a Super Shuttle bus, which took all of us to our final destination. I finally made it to my apartment at 6:30 p.m.-just in time for a apartment complex meeting for all Washington Center interns staying at the complex in Rockville, Md. My luck did turn around at the end of the day. I met two girls at the meeting and ended up traveling with them and their roommate to Target for necessities lost with my luggage. I now have sheets, towels and clothes for tomorrow! I am a happy woman!  Next up now: Praying for my luggage to show up soon and waking up for a 9 a.m. orientation in D.C.

A change of plans

January 28, 2009

In about 12 hours I will begin the first day of my 4-month stay in the Maryland and Washington, D.C., area. I am nervous and excited as I make the final preparations for my travel. My parents and I left Wynne, Ark., earlier than we planned due to winter storms. As it was, we bypassed a 6-7 vehicle pile-up involving tractor trailer rigs on the interstate near Lonoke. Traffic was backed up for over 10 miles and we were luckily stopped by the accident near an exit ramp. So we were able to avoid the hours of waiting by taking backroads. It was a smooth trip despite the constant rain, and we were able to get to Little Rock without any serious problems, well except for the time dad rolled mom’s window with the GPS unit attached to it down. It was a chilling few moments until we realized the GPS was alive and well.