The First Day

Monday marked my first day of work in DC. It was all around a fabulous first day. Everyone was extremely busy, so I got tossed around from person to person, but this allowed me to learn a lot of new things.

Quick Brief
THE BEST: Meeting the senator (right at 6pm, nonetheless) and getting to take several important documents to the Senate Floor in the Capitol.

THE WORST: Signing countless constituent letters with the Auto Penner (hence realizing that the senator really didn't sign my intern letter himself) and having no idea how to navigate the three senate buildings (that are all connected).

Lengthy Version
I left WAY too early and arrived to work half an hour early. My intern coordinator was half an hour late, so I ended up reading all of the material on our front table...at least once! After routine paperwork, I learned my daily responsibilities (auto penning and filing) from the mail clerk. Then a Legislative Assistant (LC) showed me how to navigate a plethera of intranet sites. Several of the LCs (Legislative Correspondents) invited me to lunch with them in the HUGE cafeteria in the basement. Everyone in the office was very accepting and nearly all of them told me that they, too, had started as an intern. This was comforting to hear, because I think they will all respect what I am doing for them and realize their work would be a lot more difficult without the interns.

After lunch I took two documents to the Senate Floor with another intern. Although there wasn't anything big going on while we were there, it was pretty darn cool. I ended the afternoon with a few quick projects and some filing. Just as I was rushing to finish one last stack, the senator startled me by coming in the leg conference room to meet me. It caught me off guard, but we did have a few minute conversation before he needed to head out. The experience was more meaningful because he made it a point to meet me on my first day, something Joe (the other leg intern, whom I will spend a lot of time with) didn't get...and one of my housemates who is working for Senator Harkin didn't have a chance to do either.

Not only was it my first day of work, but it was also my first night of class. Our professor, Mike Tucker, is quite the character. He's from New York and he loves to joke around. WIth just nine of us in this class, it would appear we are going to have a blast. Our other housemates said they couldn't believe how we could have gotten anything accomplished with the amount of laughing we were doing. I got called out for being one of the outspoken ones to watch (go figure!), so Mike has me pegged already.

Day two in the office was not nearly as eventful. Much of my day was spent trying to get caught up on the filing. I did get a chance to go to lunch with all of the other interns in the office, and Joe & I explored the entire senate grounds for a while to try orienting ourselves. I also got my official ID badge this afternoon, so I now have access to move freely about all the official buildings on the Hill :)

The vacuum cleaner stopped working, and I was only done with half of the stairs. That was quite upsetting. Hopefully once I finish cleaning a few more things, my house will feel like home and I won't have to wear shoes every minute of the day. Super Tuesday news has been fun to keep up with, and everyone here is as interested, if not more interested in the presidential race than me, so I should get back to that.

Have fun in the snow...its around 70 here!