So after the last two days of early bedtimes, but little rest, I slept in until 11:15. This was a bit problematic since I was hoping to attend the TWC's picnic that started at 11 am. I took my time, though, to eat breakfast and stretch a little before going off to the Metro station by myself. I ran into another group of people and we traveled together.
At the picnic, I encountered the problem, yet again, of finding a place to sit. I am a loner, by nature, and it's at these gatherings that the isolation feels sharpest. Fortunately, I was adopted by two South Koreans and they brought me along with their friends. I felt a little awkward at first, intruding on another gathering, but they were wonderful at making me feel welcome.
Some of them were talking about "going to Boston" after the picnic had ended, and one of them said that it was only one stop away. At this point, I interrupted, because I know my US states, and the distance between Boston and D.C. is...not one Metro stop away. So in my typical manner, I said, not rudely, but in confusion, "We're going to Boston? As in, Boston, Massachusetts?"
Then it was quickly clarified that we were going to "Ballston," a neighborhood that was only a couple blocks away with a massive shopping center. I wavered between going with them, and going to Arlington Cemetery by myself. However, given that the weather looked ominous and I wasn't properly prepared to go there, I ended up wandering over to the Ballston Common Mall.
Three floors of shops, all very nice and new looking, though the hallways were much narrower than I am used to. It had a classy hotel feel to it, but somewhat hemmed in. There, at the Payless, I brought a nice new bag for class, work and shopping, so yay! It's roomy and seems well made to my eye, though I have no idea if it's waterproof or not.
Then we dropped by the Rosslyn Jazz Festival, which was nice. I'm not a huge jazz fan, but the music didn't grate or anything. The volunteers there, though, were pretty aggressive in a joking sort of way, very insistent on handing us more than one copy of the program. It was...odd.
On the Metro on our way back, we ran into a lot of self-proclaimed, "Tea Party Patriots."
Once I got "home," I took a nap for the better part of the early evening. I've only just gotten up, give or take two hours, and so...I need to find dinner before dozing off again.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
"Where is Room 2335...?"
This morning marked the second, and last, day of the conference. With an arrival time of 7:45 am, I decided to get there as early as possible, just in case there was an emergency. When I woke up, it was to find that it was raining pretty steadily outside. So I ditched my flats and went with sneakers instead.
Walking out into the rain, it was almost like home during the winter time. While it would have been nice to meander my way to teh station, I saw my train waiting at the platform when I stepped out into the plaza and I actually made it onto the same train. That usually doesn't happen. Granted, there's been repairs and/or maintenence being done on the lines, so the Metro train I take is usually delayed and/or slow.
Anyway, so I arrived early on base (that feels weird to be saying in reference to myself) and, as I walked past the checkpoint, the security guard said, "Good morning, Ma'am." He had done the same thing yesterday and I had gone off to work with a flattered smile on my face. I've been called "Ms." and "Miss" before, but never with a respectful "Ma'am" from a stranger. It was an extremely nice start to the day. Like yesterday, I went off to work with a flattered grin and was the first intern there.
It was quiet in the section where my office is, and the only people I ran into were the cleaning ladies. They're very nice and I try to pay attention to them. It's the right thing to do.
Since my supervisor was probably escorting the attendees at their hotel, I went and hovered in my semi-supervisor's doorway, and asked if I could eat breakfast (as in, if they would mind me eating there) and they were totally like, "Of course! We're not tyrants!" I settled down and started eating while working my way through a copy of the first presentation.
After I'm done eating, one of my supervisors asked me to put up signs on the walls for each of the 4 break-out sessions/working groups on the various rooms. At this time, I run into my fellow intern and we split the rooms, 2 for 2, with her taking the ones on one end of the building, and me taking the other.
I find the first room without a problem and tape the sign to the wall and everything's dandy. Then I go off to find Room 2335. I start counting the rooms, 2333, 2334, 2336, 2337...wait... I go back in the hallway. It's an L-shaped hallway that dead ends on one end with an emergency staircase. On one side of that hallway is 2334, 2337, 2336 in that order going from right to left, towards the stairs. The other side of the hallway is the wall to a massive conference room, 2333. All right, so I'm wondering if I'm sleep-deprived or just plain stupid not to find 2335. I wander around for five minutes, checking all the room numbers before I run into my friend who comes to help me figure out what's going on. Our supervisor's partner comes by and after we explain the situation to her, tells us that she has seen the room. Once we're in the area, though, she can't find the room either. She goes off to figure out what happened, because how could a room disappear?
Then my semi-supervisor shows up and tries to help. At this point, I know we might be in a spot of trouble, because the conference attendees are arriving at 8:00, and we have a disappearing room. All three of us, my supervisor, my friend and myself, wander down the corridor, counting, 2331, 2332, 2332...and so on, until we skip 2335, again. When my supervisor opens the door to 2337, she discovers that it's the size of a coat closet, a large coat closet, but there's no way that we could fit all 32 participants in that room.
On a whim, because it's early, and I've been up early for two days and I'm tired and a little exasperated since NDU is not Hogwarts, that I whimsically decide to check the stairwell. Maybe someone, in a fit of genius, decided to stick 2335's entrance in the staircase area. It's probably happened somewhere before, and I'm not at all familiar with the layout of this place, so maybe that's what's happened. I open the door of the staircase and I stare at the wall, and then I start laughing uncontrollably.
On the wall, there is a plastic plaque, the same kind that's been outside all of the rooms with the function of the room and the room number, and on that plaque, in the staircase, it says: "Emergency Staircase, Exit on Floor 1, 2335."
We had placed 32 high-ranking military officials on the landing of an emergency exit/stairwell. Obviously that wasn't going to work, but we all just started laughing because really, this....this beats any other story of harmless chaos that could be told. We fixed it, obviously, and this story ends well, but yeah... :)
Today was much quieter than yesterday, calmer too. We were allowed access to the breakfast buffet during the morning panels. I went in and counted people's heads for a lunch count and had a difference of 10 people (between 98 to 105), but everyone did get lunch (and again, there were leftovers) so no harm done. Then my friend and I went up to my office to "work" but we ended up bonding instead and exchanging stories about our lives and experiences. It was nice to have a little peace and quiet, behind a locked door, so neither one of us had to worry about our downtime of simply sitting down and not thinking being interrupted by anyone. I had my readings to do (including a book written by a panelist from yesterday's presentation, that a professor loaned his personal copy to me. Eep!) and she needed a break from all the running around. So we locked the door, and then, when we left, shut it behind us, unknowingly locking my door. I don't have a key, so we couldn't get back in. Cue awkwardness later on...
When we're supposed to be directing people from the main auditorium to all the different rooms, first I get swarmed with people all talking to me at the same time, then I get yanked from that duty to baby-sit a printer that jams three times and requires to have itself taken apart to work again, and swarmed again by people and then back to baby-sitting. Somewhere, in the middle of all of this, my friend and I discover that we can't get to our lunches or our belongings, so I suggest she find a cleaning crew for help. She finds my boss, instead, and I manage to catch up with him and her and have that important conversation about my position and duties at NDU. Needless to say, I think we ended up on the same page, though I was amused when he told me that "we're laid-back here"...while wearing a suit and tie.
While on printer baby-sitting duty, one of the professors dropped by and told me that I had to stay for the very last presentation. I was already planning to stay late, but she was extremely insistent that I should attend and I promised that I would spread the word to the other interns. Then, of course, I asked if we could have a conversation sometime, since she was an ex-FSO and her interest is in illicit networks which I would like to learn more about. She said of course, and that she would be happy to have me work on some of her projects. Then she brought up yesterday's panel, the one she was on, and I agreed that it was a memorable panel. She told me once that she taught a class of Green Berets and Navy SEALS, and on her feedback forms, one man had written, "She's small, but scary smart." We both laughed, because as petite Asian women, our brains may very well be our most valuable tool and equalizer in a heavily male-dominated field.
Once she had left, I started reading my articles and writing bits and pieces of my annual journal entry. Today, after all, is the eighth anniversary of 9-11, and I am on the East Coast, interning at NDU. There's a path between the two subjects, and it's one I'm still figuring out myself.
When the printer ran out of paper, my supervisors showed up and shooed me off to lunch, which I had with another fellow intern and with the tech/supply lady. Since it was a beef-based meal, I pleaded vegetarianism. I think I confused the catering people, but they were kind about it and gave me an extra serving of stuffed tomatoes, which were pretty good. I loved their mashed potatoes, though, my little weakness.
After lunch, I wandered around again before going to the fourth, and last panel. I ended up being called out at the end of the first presenter to run errands (including the game of "find the photographer"), so I missed most of the panel, except the very end, where I was yet again working, though wandering quietly around. I did a mail run to the other building, discovering where the university's mail room is, and managed to get direct permission from my supervisor to call him by his first name. (I found out later, that earlier in the day, my friend had called him by his last name and he had asked her, in confusion, "What's with all this Mr. Fisher business?" before telling her to address him by his first name. I didn't know that, so I was apologizing for slipping up and calling him by his first name when I was tired (which was often, over the past two days). He told me not to worry about it. Yay!) (Oh, and I also got permission today to leave early on Wednesday afternoon in order go to the New America Foundation's presentation, yay!)
Anyway, so I attended the last conference presentation on nuclear terrorism and nuclear terror, given by Dr. Jenkins of the RAND foundation. That man is a wonderful presenter who was informative, yet never talked down to us. It was a lively, engaging and interesting talk on a complicated subject and I am grateful that the professor had recommended that I stay late for it. It was 6:15 when I walked out of the building with my friend, and we had to miss the conference's closing comments in order to make the USCG shuttle bus to the Metro.
While on the Metro platform, I actually bumped into a delegation of our attendees from Indonesia and we rode the same train together. It was a nice satisfying feeling to be helpful beyond the work day, and I hope I upheld CISA's reputation with our(?) students.
One thing about the last presentation... I was called up to do microphone handling during the Q&A session, and just as I handed the microphone to someone seated near me, I leaned forward and whispered to my friend a favor, to bring a thank you plaque in from the Green Room into the auditorium. Just as the Q&A session was coming to an end, the professor I'd been "assigned" to had a note passed to me that basically said, "Please fetch the plaque and give it to CISA's director to present to the speaker." I was able to put the microphone away, take the plaque (with profound thanks to my friend, because she insisted she didn't know who the director was) and give it to the man I had met on my very first day of work.
Wow, for four days...that's a pretty fast transition from totally confused to some degree of knowledge. It won't always be like this, of course. I had run into the Director, sometime while I was baby-sitting the printer, probably right after I talked with my supervisor, and he asked me how I was doing. I had responded that I was very happy and that while I thrived on the conference, I also looked forward to when things settled down closer to normal. He had looked at me and chuckled before asking me to "tell me when you think we're at normal." or something along those lines,. So this internship will be one ride, that's for sure.
Anyway, it's been a wonderful first week, and I'm going to have so much to distill down into a single entry for Heather over this weekend. Yay! Tomorrow, supposedly, there's going to be a BBQ picnic in the park, but I'm not sure how that's going to work, given the rain today or possibly tomorrow as well. My experience has taught me that this type of rain tends to stick around and not move on, so...we'll see.
Okay, it's 1 AM and I have now officially been awake for over 20 hours. I'm done. Bedtime!
Walking out into the rain, it was almost like home during the winter time. While it would have been nice to meander my way to teh station, I saw my train waiting at the platform when I stepped out into the plaza and I actually made it onto the same train. That usually doesn't happen. Granted, there's been repairs and/or maintenence being done on the lines, so the Metro train I take is usually delayed and/or slow.
Anyway, so I arrived early on base (that feels weird to be saying in reference to myself) and, as I walked past the checkpoint, the security guard said, "Good morning, Ma'am." He had done the same thing yesterday and I had gone off to work with a flattered smile on my face. I've been called "Ms." and "Miss" before, but never with a respectful "Ma'am" from a stranger. It was an extremely nice start to the day. Like yesterday, I went off to work with a flattered grin and was the first intern there.
It was quiet in the section where my office is, and the only people I ran into were the cleaning ladies. They're very nice and I try to pay attention to them. It's the right thing to do.
Since my supervisor was probably escorting the attendees at their hotel, I went and hovered in my semi-supervisor's doorway, and asked if I could eat breakfast (as in, if they would mind me eating there) and they were totally like, "Of course! We're not tyrants!" I settled down and started eating while working my way through a copy of the first presentation.
After I'm done eating, one of my supervisors asked me to put up signs on the walls for each of the 4 break-out sessions/working groups on the various rooms. At this time, I run into my fellow intern and we split the rooms, 2 for 2, with her taking the ones on one end of the building, and me taking the other.
I find the first room without a problem and tape the sign to the wall and everything's dandy. Then I go off to find Room 2335. I start counting the rooms, 2333, 2334, 2336, 2337...wait... I go back in the hallway. It's an L-shaped hallway that dead ends on one end with an emergency staircase. On one side of that hallway is 2334, 2337, 2336 in that order going from right to left, towards the stairs. The other side of the hallway is the wall to a massive conference room, 2333. All right, so I'm wondering if I'm sleep-deprived or just plain stupid not to find 2335. I wander around for five minutes, checking all the room numbers before I run into my friend who comes to help me figure out what's going on. Our supervisor's partner comes by and after we explain the situation to her, tells us that she has seen the room. Once we're in the area, though, she can't find the room either. She goes off to figure out what happened, because how could a room disappear?
Then my semi-supervisor shows up and tries to help. At this point, I know we might be in a spot of trouble, because the conference attendees are arriving at 8:00, and we have a disappearing room. All three of us, my supervisor, my friend and myself, wander down the corridor, counting, 2331, 2332, 2332...and so on, until we skip 2335, again. When my supervisor opens the door to 2337, she discovers that it's the size of a coat closet, a large coat closet, but there's no way that we could fit all 32 participants in that room.
On a whim, because it's early, and I've been up early for two days and I'm tired and a little exasperated since NDU is not Hogwarts, that I whimsically decide to check the stairwell. Maybe someone, in a fit of genius, decided to stick 2335's entrance in the staircase area. It's probably happened somewhere before, and I'm not at all familiar with the layout of this place, so maybe that's what's happened. I open the door of the staircase and I stare at the wall, and then I start laughing uncontrollably.
On the wall, there is a plastic plaque, the same kind that's been outside all of the rooms with the function of the room and the room number, and on that plaque, in the staircase, it says: "Emergency Staircase, Exit on Floor 1, 2335."
We had placed 32 high-ranking military officials on the landing of an emergency exit/stairwell. Obviously that wasn't going to work, but we all just started laughing because really, this....this beats any other story of harmless chaos that could be told. We fixed it, obviously, and this story ends well, but yeah... :)
Today was much quieter than yesterday, calmer too. We were allowed access to the breakfast buffet during the morning panels. I went in and counted people's heads for a lunch count and had a difference of 10 people (between 98 to 105), but everyone did get lunch (and again, there were leftovers) so no harm done. Then my friend and I went up to my office to "work" but we ended up bonding instead and exchanging stories about our lives and experiences. It was nice to have a little peace and quiet, behind a locked door, so neither one of us had to worry about our downtime of simply sitting down and not thinking being interrupted by anyone. I had my readings to do (including a book written by a panelist from yesterday's presentation, that a professor loaned his personal copy to me. Eep!) and she needed a break from all the running around. So we locked the door, and then, when we left, shut it behind us, unknowingly locking my door. I don't have a key, so we couldn't get back in. Cue awkwardness later on...
When we're supposed to be directing people from the main auditorium to all the different rooms, first I get swarmed with people all talking to me at the same time, then I get yanked from that duty to baby-sit a printer that jams three times and requires to have itself taken apart to work again, and swarmed again by people and then back to baby-sitting. Somewhere, in the middle of all of this, my friend and I discover that we can't get to our lunches or our belongings, so I suggest she find a cleaning crew for help. She finds my boss, instead, and I manage to catch up with him and her and have that important conversation about my position and duties at NDU. Needless to say, I think we ended up on the same page, though I was amused when he told me that "we're laid-back here"...while wearing a suit and tie.
While on printer baby-sitting duty, one of the professors dropped by and told me that I had to stay for the very last presentation. I was already planning to stay late, but she was extremely insistent that I should attend and I promised that I would spread the word to the other interns. Then, of course, I asked if we could have a conversation sometime, since she was an ex-FSO and her interest is in illicit networks which I would like to learn more about. She said of course, and that she would be happy to have me work on some of her projects. Then she brought up yesterday's panel, the one she was on, and I agreed that it was a memorable panel. She told me once that she taught a class of Green Berets and Navy SEALS, and on her feedback forms, one man had written, "She's small, but scary smart." We both laughed, because as petite Asian women, our brains may very well be our most valuable tool and equalizer in a heavily male-dominated field.
Once she had left, I started reading my articles and writing bits and pieces of my annual journal entry. Today, after all, is the eighth anniversary of 9-11, and I am on the East Coast, interning at NDU. There's a path between the two subjects, and it's one I'm still figuring out myself.
When the printer ran out of paper, my supervisors showed up and shooed me off to lunch, which I had with another fellow intern and with the tech/supply lady. Since it was a beef-based meal, I pleaded vegetarianism. I think I confused the catering people, but they were kind about it and gave me an extra serving of stuffed tomatoes, which were pretty good. I loved their mashed potatoes, though, my little weakness.
After lunch, I wandered around again before going to the fourth, and last panel. I ended up being called out at the end of the first presenter to run errands (including the game of "find the photographer"), so I missed most of the panel, except the very end, where I was yet again working, though wandering quietly around. I did a mail run to the other building, discovering where the university's mail room is, and managed to get direct permission from my supervisor to call him by his first name. (I found out later, that earlier in the day, my friend had called him by his last name and he had asked her, in confusion, "What's with all this Mr. Fisher business?" before telling her to address him by his first name. I didn't know that, so I was apologizing for slipping up and calling him by his first name when I was tired (which was often, over the past two days). He told me not to worry about it. Yay!) (Oh, and I also got permission today to leave early on Wednesday afternoon in order go to the New America Foundation's presentation, yay!)
Anyway, so I attended the last conference presentation on nuclear terrorism and nuclear terror, given by Dr. Jenkins of the RAND foundation. That man is a wonderful presenter who was informative, yet never talked down to us. It was a lively, engaging and interesting talk on a complicated subject and I am grateful that the professor had recommended that I stay late for it. It was 6:15 when I walked out of the building with my friend, and we had to miss the conference's closing comments in order to make the USCG shuttle bus to the Metro.
While on the Metro platform, I actually bumped into a delegation of our attendees from Indonesia and we rode the same train together. It was a nice satisfying feeling to be helpful beyond the work day, and I hope I upheld CISA's reputation with our(?) students.
One thing about the last presentation... I was called up to do microphone handling during the Q&A session, and just as I handed the microphone to someone seated near me, I leaned forward and whispered to my friend a favor, to bring a thank you plaque in from the Green Room into the auditorium. Just as the Q&A session was coming to an end, the professor I'd been "assigned" to had a note passed to me that basically said, "Please fetch the plaque and give it to CISA's director to present to the speaker." I was able to put the microphone away, take the plaque (with profound thanks to my friend, because she insisted she didn't know who the director was) and give it to the man I had met on my very first day of work.
Wow, for four days...that's a pretty fast transition from totally confused to some degree of knowledge. It won't always be like this, of course. I had run into the Director, sometime while I was baby-sitting the printer, probably right after I talked with my supervisor, and he asked me how I was doing. I had responded that I was very happy and that while I thrived on the conference, I also looked forward to when things settled down closer to normal. He had looked at me and chuckled before asking me to "tell me when you think we're at normal." or something along those lines,. So this internship will be one ride, that's for sure.
Anyway, it's been a wonderful first week, and I'm going to have so much to distill down into a single entry for Heather over this weekend. Yay! Tomorrow, supposedly, there's going to be a BBQ picnic in the park, but I'm not sure how that's going to work, given the rain today or possibly tomorrow as well. My experience has taught me that this type of rain tends to stick around and not move on, so...we'll see.
Okay, it's 1 AM and I have now officially been awake for over 20 hours. I'm done. Bedtime!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
"Is that on the Metro?"
Let's start off this entry with the warning that I am somewhat dazed right now, because I've been awake for over 12 hours and on my feet, running about for the last... er, whatever the difference is between 4:30 and 6:45 is, and then subtract from 12. I don't think that made sense...but I think you get the point. My brains are just slightly better than the scrambled/fried eggs I made for lunch tomorrow.
Where was I?
Today was the College of International Security Affair's inaugural conference (since they became CISA), so we had 230 people descend on our building (in addition to, apparently, eight other conferences on the base. Hello Confusion, would you like to register for an extended stay?) and there were some small hiccups as we switched people's first and last names around, late registration participants and general rank confusion (as in, someone went from Colonel to Mr. which is...awkward) but thankfully, everyone was very gracious about the problems and we managed to get them quickly straightened out. There was a span of about five minutes in which all the contractors who were helping to run this conference (including my escort/semi-supervisor on the first day, and who continues to be my semi-supervisor) had a rapid discussion on which American military branches capitalized their ranks and which did not. Let's put it this way, I need to brush up on United States military ranks...before I misstep and do/say something that will make me want to disappear into thin air for a few days...or months.
Anyway, I had the task of inserting myself into various conversations that multiple High-Ranking Military Officers were having with each other. I did not have a breakdown or have panic attacks; none of the men (and the handful of women there) got upset at me or took offense at my interruption. There were awkward moments when I had to tell them that they couldn't even take bottled water into the auditorium where the conference was being held, but thankfully I was not the person who was in charge of explaining the rules.
I sat in on almost all the lectures/presentations, except during lunch (yes, they had a presentation from the Filipino ambassador during lunch. I did not realize that the man was the ambassador and thought it rather unusual that two men would go to the restrooms together until I realized that it was the ambassador and his bodyguard. Clearly, my observation skills were shot and/or drugged.) and when I was running around doing errands for people. From these presentations, I have a list of articles and books I want to read and professors that I want to talk to, including a female ex-FSO who lectures on the subject of illicit networks at CISA.
I ended up being assigned by my supervisor to the professor I've been working with the past three days. The man is running the conference, so I became his spare hand, of sorts. I held plaques (that thanked each of the presenters), ran the microphones (and my eye-to-eye contact/reading abilities improved over that session, as I learned how to interpret pointing gestures to a specific person. Granted, I was rather startled that the audience did not raise their hands so much as they lifted their hands...ish, which made it difficult to pick them out of the crowd), passed out photocopies (and figured out how to make an accurate and quick count of attendees in a row), and ran his malfunctioning Blackberry to IT (up and down three flights of stairs, 2.5 times).
In between, I had the opportunity to speak to a man from West Africa. In French. In horrible and broken French (on my part). But I enjoyed chatting with him as I walked him to lunch. He is Muslim, so he was fasting and could not partake in the meal, so I kept him company for as long as I could, until the speaker came into the room. (It was very sweet of my semi-supervisor and her coworkers to think of setting up a prayer room with dates at the hotel last night. Apparently all 20 or so Muslims who are at the conference were touched at the thoughtful gesture of being able to break their fast together with dates, which is what the Prophet (PBUH) did with his earliest followers. One of them had brought dates, carefully wrapped in a paper towel, to share with everyone, since they hadn't expected to be provided with the fruit. I think I'll always remember this story, and I'll share it over and over again, because it touches the heart and the mind. The dates were a small gesture, yet the effect will linger on the people who made the gesture and those who received it.) We had a fascinating conversation about the education system here and where he was from, and I answered his questions about myself. He seemed startled to hear that I came to the East Coast without my parents and that I had no family or friends living here. Perhaps where he is from, that simply isn't done by young women for a variety of reasons. I didn't press. I wish I had gotten his name, though. Our conversation was cut short by my assigned professor asking me to run and print out a copy of NDU's vice president's biography.
This time, I was smart and I simply ran up to the library (which was on the floor above the lunch area) on the assumption that if the library has copiers, it's going to have printers as well. Then came a game of use the computer and my brain being dumb. After enlisting the librarian's help (a different librarian), I ended up using Google to find the biography and then my experience with printer set-ups to get the item printed out and back to my professor before he had to go up on stage to introduce the very important person who was going to introduce the Filipino ambassador.
Oh, and speaking about lunch...One of my major tasks throughout the day was to help people find places, like registration, the auditorium, restrooms, and lunch. I had no idea where the lunch place was, so I'm talking in semi-French with one person as I'm walking him down to this room that I had never been before, silently praying that I will know where to stop without looking like an idiot. We ran into three US air force (?) officers, who ask me if I know where lunch is. I told them yes, and then was sweet and cheeky and told them that "It's my third day here, and I don't quite know my way around yet, so if I get us lost, I apologize in advance." They joked that I could get fired, and I volleyed back, "I'm an intern and I don't get paid. They can't fire me." Everyone laughed, and that was a sweet and bold moment for me.
After checking in with my professor that I could grab lunch, I decided to take an hour off. According to the program, lunch was supposed to be from 1230 to 1430. We were running a little late, so it was a little before 1300 at the time. I figured that I could eat lunch, take a quick power nap and be back on duty by my professor's side by 1400. So that's what I did.
It would have been a perfectly executed plan...except that they broke lunch early and were back in the auditorium by 1400 so I was late. Oops. On the other hand, since I was "late" I ran into another staff member who handed me the spare water bottles and glass that had not made it onto the stage in time, so I got to wander quietly up on stage and hand the presenters their refreshments.
Halfway through the presentations, I had to leave to get my professor's Blackberry fixed. Prior to today, the only other time I've gone to the IT department was on my first day, early in the morning, when I was still a little disoriented and confused about what was going on. I did end up having to ask for directions from a nice man I met in the hallway, but it turns out that I was only a handful of doors away from the place, so \O/ for my memory and spatial orientation skills! The IT personnel were very sweet and helpful, even though they did have to end up wiping the Blackberry and reinstalling everything since the device went bonkers. The person who was helping me asked if I liked jokes, and I smiled and said yes and then one of his coworkers said, "Stop goofing off. What kind of a question is that?" We all laughed, and as I left, I heard his coworker rag on him about asking me whether or not I liked jokes.
At the end of the conference, a man asked me if I knew how to get to Union Station, and I asked him if it was on a Metro line. He told me yes, and that he had asked someone else how to get to the Metro, and she had told him that she was from Virginia, and therefore didn't know. As a semi-joke, I told him where I was from and then clarified with my hometown. He gave me a look and told me that I was far out of my region of the woods. I laughed and told him that if it was a Metro station, I could probably help him get there. That led to an entire conversation about whether or not I could get him onto the USCG shuttle, as opposed to sending this distinguished professor walking to the nearest Metro station (that is also next to/under a massive construction site). The unfortunate answer was that I couldn't get him on the shuttle as he was "just" an academic, but thankfully, the buses that were taking most of the attendees back to their hotels were just about ready to leave and would drop the people off next to a metro station. Thank. Goodness. He was just so sweet and patient about the whole thing too, and I felt bad that I couldn't send him safely and directly to the station. The area around the fort is residential, but even if it wasn't, I still wouldn't have been comfortable telling this professor, "Well, you're going to need to walk seven to ten minutes to the nearest Metro station and that's if you don't get lost in an area you've never been before."
I finally returned to my office at around 4:23 pm, after having stepped in there three times. Once in the morning when I first arrived to drop off my belongings; the second time to drop off my button that fell off my blouse (thankfully not from a noticeable spot); and the last time to grab my lunch. I know what time I went off duty because my parents had called me at 4:20 pm. At first, I didn't know who had left me a voicemail, so I didn't immediately listen to it. I passed by one of the presenters in the hallway, and while I semi-waited for her to finish, I decided to listen to the voicemail.
I mentioned earlier that for someone who is very close to her parents, it was rather odd that I wasn't breaking down or having panic attacks with an entire continent (well, actually, ocean for the past few days. They've been in Italy for the past ten days. We actually left home on the same day) between us. Well, as soon as I heard my father's voice on the voicemail, I started to cry, and I had to end the call without listening to the entire message before I let out more than the whimper and sob that escaped me. I'm still tearing up now just thinking about it. On my way out of the building, still trying not to cry, I met my supervisor's supervisor who was very kind and energetic. He did ask me if I was all right and if I needed to take a minute to sit in someone's office. I told him that I was fine and thanked him for the offer. He then told me that I "did an excellent job today," to which I happily responded that I'd see him bright and early tomorrow.
On my way to the shuttle stop, I managed to hold myself together, though I had to fight to keep my composure when I listened to the entire message and tried to call my parents back before they had to board their transfer flight. I didn't have their number (the phone didn't record it, for some reason) so I had to guess. I first called Father's cell phone, and had to leave a message. Then I called home, to warn them not to call me tonight or tomorrow morning since I would be either asleep or busy.
I was surprised that there was no cell service on the Metro, even when we were above ground, but I guess that's the way it is with my network. C'est la vie. Luckily, I was able to call my semi-supervisor to confirm my arrival time tomorrow, give her the phone number of my fellow intern and then figure out that my father was using another phone number to call me. So I called them.
I did manage not to cry when I was talking with my parents, but...yeah, homesickness is alive and well, and I need to sit down and breakdown before I go and call them tomorrow on Skype. I don't want them to hear and/or see me crying. The separation is hard enough on my parents without having me burst into tears in front of them.
Well, it's an early start tomorrow as well, so night!
Where was I?
Today was the College of International Security Affair's inaugural conference (since they became CISA), so we had 230 people descend on our building (in addition to, apparently, eight other conferences on the base. Hello Confusion, would you like to register for an extended stay?) and there were some small hiccups as we switched people's first and last names around, late registration participants and general rank confusion (as in, someone went from Colonel to Mr. which is...awkward) but thankfully, everyone was very gracious about the problems and we managed to get them quickly straightened out. There was a span of about five minutes in which all the contractors who were helping to run this conference (including my escort/semi-supervisor on the first day, and who continues to be my semi-supervisor) had a rapid discussion on which American military branches capitalized their ranks and which did not. Let's put it this way, I need to brush up on United States military ranks...before I misstep and do/say something that will make me want to disappear into thin air for a few days...or months.
Anyway, I had the task of inserting myself into various conversations that multiple High-Ranking Military Officers were having with each other. I did not have a breakdown or have panic attacks; none of the men (and the handful of women there) got upset at me or took offense at my interruption. There were awkward moments when I had to tell them that they couldn't even take bottled water into the auditorium where the conference was being held, but thankfully I was not the person who was in charge of explaining the rules.
I sat in on almost all the lectures/presentations, except during lunch (yes, they had a presentation from the Filipino ambassador during lunch. I did not realize that the man was the ambassador and thought it rather unusual that two men would go to the restrooms together until I realized that it was the ambassador and his bodyguard. Clearly, my observation skills were shot and/or drugged.) and when I was running around doing errands for people. From these presentations, I have a list of articles and books I want to read and professors that I want to talk to, including a female ex-FSO who lectures on the subject of illicit networks at CISA.
I ended up being assigned by my supervisor to the professor I've been working with the past three days. The man is running the conference, so I became his spare hand, of sorts. I held plaques (that thanked each of the presenters), ran the microphones (and my eye-to-eye contact/reading abilities improved over that session, as I learned how to interpret pointing gestures to a specific person. Granted, I was rather startled that the audience did not raise their hands so much as they lifted their hands...ish, which made it difficult to pick them out of the crowd), passed out photocopies (and figured out how to make an accurate and quick count of attendees in a row), and ran his malfunctioning Blackberry to IT (up and down three flights of stairs, 2.5 times).
In between, I had the opportunity to speak to a man from West Africa. In French. In horrible and broken French (on my part). But I enjoyed chatting with him as I walked him to lunch. He is Muslim, so he was fasting and could not partake in the meal, so I kept him company for as long as I could, until the speaker came into the room. (It was very sweet of my semi-supervisor and her coworkers to think of setting up a prayer room with dates at the hotel last night. Apparently all 20 or so Muslims who are at the conference were touched at the thoughtful gesture of being able to break their fast together with dates, which is what the Prophet (PBUH) did with his earliest followers. One of them had brought dates, carefully wrapped in a paper towel, to share with everyone, since they hadn't expected to be provided with the fruit. I think I'll always remember this story, and I'll share it over and over again, because it touches the heart and the mind. The dates were a small gesture, yet the effect will linger on the people who made the gesture and those who received it.) We had a fascinating conversation about the education system here and where he was from, and I answered his questions about myself. He seemed startled to hear that I came to the East Coast without my parents and that I had no family or friends living here. Perhaps where he is from, that simply isn't done by young women for a variety of reasons. I didn't press. I wish I had gotten his name, though. Our conversation was cut short by my assigned professor asking me to run and print out a copy of NDU's vice president's biography.
This time, I was smart and I simply ran up to the library (which was on the floor above the lunch area) on the assumption that if the library has copiers, it's going to have printers as well. Then came a game of use the computer and my brain being dumb. After enlisting the librarian's help (a different librarian), I ended up using Google to find the biography and then my experience with printer set-ups to get the item printed out and back to my professor before he had to go up on stage to introduce the very important person who was going to introduce the Filipino ambassador.
Oh, and speaking about lunch...One of my major tasks throughout the day was to help people find places, like registration, the auditorium, restrooms, and lunch. I had no idea where the lunch place was, so I'm talking in semi-French with one person as I'm walking him down to this room that I had never been before, silently praying that I will know where to stop without looking like an idiot. We ran into three US air force (?) officers, who ask me if I know where lunch is. I told them yes, and then was sweet and cheeky and told them that "It's my third day here, and I don't quite know my way around yet, so if I get us lost, I apologize in advance." They joked that I could get fired, and I volleyed back, "I'm an intern and I don't get paid. They can't fire me." Everyone laughed, and that was a sweet and bold moment for me.
After checking in with my professor that I could grab lunch, I decided to take an hour off. According to the program, lunch was supposed to be from 1230 to 1430. We were running a little late, so it was a little before 1300 at the time. I figured that I could eat lunch, take a quick power nap and be back on duty by my professor's side by 1400. So that's what I did.
It would have been a perfectly executed plan...except that they broke lunch early and were back in the auditorium by 1400 so I was late. Oops. On the other hand, since I was "late" I ran into another staff member who handed me the spare water bottles and glass that had not made it onto the stage in time, so I got to wander quietly up on stage and hand the presenters their refreshments.
Halfway through the presentations, I had to leave to get my professor's Blackberry fixed. Prior to today, the only other time I've gone to the IT department was on my first day, early in the morning, when I was still a little disoriented and confused about what was going on. I did end up having to ask for directions from a nice man I met in the hallway, but it turns out that I was only a handful of doors away from the place, so \O/ for my memory and spatial orientation skills! The IT personnel were very sweet and helpful, even though they did have to end up wiping the Blackberry and reinstalling everything since the device went bonkers. The person who was helping me asked if I liked jokes, and I smiled and said yes and then one of his coworkers said, "Stop goofing off. What kind of a question is that?" We all laughed, and as I left, I heard his coworker rag on him about asking me whether or not I liked jokes.
At the end of the conference, a man asked me if I knew how to get to Union Station, and I asked him if it was on a Metro line. He told me yes, and that he had asked someone else how to get to the Metro, and she had told him that she was from Virginia, and therefore didn't know. As a semi-joke, I told him where I was from and then clarified with my hometown. He gave me a look and told me that I was far out of my region of the woods. I laughed and told him that if it was a Metro station, I could probably help him get there. That led to an entire conversation about whether or not I could get him onto the USCG shuttle, as opposed to sending this distinguished professor walking to the nearest Metro station (that is also next to/under a massive construction site). The unfortunate answer was that I couldn't get him on the shuttle as he was "just" an academic, but thankfully, the buses that were taking most of the attendees back to their hotels were just about ready to leave and would drop the people off next to a metro station. Thank. Goodness. He was just so sweet and patient about the whole thing too, and I felt bad that I couldn't send him safely and directly to the station. The area around the fort is residential, but even if it wasn't, I still wouldn't have been comfortable telling this professor, "Well, you're going to need to walk seven to ten minutes to the nearest Metro station and that's if you don't get lost in an area you've never been before."
I finally returned to my office at around 4:23 pm, after having stepped in there three times. Once in the morning when I first arrived to drop off my belongings; the second time to drop off my button that fell off my blouse (thankfully not from a noticeable spot); and the last time to grab my lunch. I know what time I went off duty because my parents had called me at 4:20 pm. At first, I didn't know who had left me a voicemail, so I didn't immediately listen to it. I passed by one of the presenters in the hallway, and while I semi-waited for her to finish, I decided to listen to the voicemail.
I mentioned earlier that for someone who is very close to her parents, it was rather odd that I wasn't breaking down or having panic attacks with an entire continent (well, actually, ocean for the past few days. They've been in Italy for the past ten days. We actually left home on the same day) between us. Well, as soon as I heard my father's voice on the voicemail, I started to cry, and I had to end the call without listening to the entire message before I let out more than the whimper and sob that escaped me. I'm still tearing up now just thinking about it. On my way out of the building, still trying not to cry, I met my supervisor's supervisor who was very kind and energetic. He did ask me if I was all right and if I needed to take a minute to sit in someone's office. I told him that I was fine and thanked him for the offer. He then told me that I "did an excellent job today," to which I happily responded that I'd see him bright and early tomorrow.
On my way to the shuttle stop, I managed to hold myself together, though I had to fight to keep my composure when I listened to the entire message and tried to call my parents back before they had to board their transfer flight. I didn't have their number (the phone didn't record it, for some reason) so I had to guess. I first called Father's cell phone, and had to leave a message. Then I called home, to warn them not to call me tonight or tomorrow morning since I would be either asleep or busy.
I was surprised that there was no cell service on the Metro, even when we were above ground, but I guess that's the way it is with my network. C'est la vie. Luckily, I was able to call my semi-supervisor to confirm my arrival time tomorrow, give her the phone number of my fellow intern and then figure out that my father was using another phone number to call me. So I called them.
I did manage not to cry when I was talking with my parents, but...yeah, homesickness is alive and well, and I need to sit down and breakdown before I go and call them tomorrow on Skype. I don't want them to hear and/or see me crying. The separation is hard enough on my parents without having me burst into tears in front of them.
Well, it's an early start tomorrow as well, so night!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
"Bless your heart, there's three copiers in the library."
So my second day of work was also exciting and productive while still cloaked in the awed "wow" perspective of an unassigned intern. This morning I got up a little later, got in around the same time (without the use of "the long way around" kind of walks) on the USCG shuttle (though yes, I was apparently lost for 10 minutes trying to find the shuttle stop) and checked in with my supervisor and with my semi-supervisor for work.
Yesterday, I didn't have the time to burn the CDs a professor wanted for one of his classes, so I went and asked the lady in-charge of supplies, technology and books for 40 CDs. This set off a chain reaction in which she went to talk to her higher-up, who then went to my supervisor to check to see what I was going to do with the CDs while I silently prayed that I had not gotten anyone into trouble on my second day of work. The CDs were cleared and I breathed a mental sigh of relief.
So I started burning CDs and discovered that it was, for lack of a better descriptor, busy-work. In order to not waste my time mindlessly clicking a mouse button and reloading the CD tray, I "borrowed" the readings I had spent yesterday afternoon organizing and started to studying. The professor I was burning the CDs for has sort of appropriated me as his own assistant. (As a side note, the professors I met yesterday all seem to remember me, and I managed to greet them all by face, if not by name, not yet anyway. :D I also have been playing a bit of messenger intern with people, including telling one professor "I think your partner is looking for you. He's tall, and has a hearing aid." Part of that particular conversation came from the fact that I wanted to say Mark, but I couldn't remember if it was correct, and I'm not supposed call people by their first name unless/until they give me permission to. It turns out that his last name is "Marks.")
Some time mid-morning, one intern walks into the Interns Room and asks why there's a security guard sitting by the auditorium stairwell. We all shrug because none of us have any idea what's going on. A quarter of the way through my stack of CDs, another intern walks in and announces, "Petraeus is here." Everyone in the room stares at her and goes, "Really? General Petraeus is here?! Can we get in to see him?" The answer, unfortunately, is "No" since there was no room in the auditorium for even our professors, never mind us interns. I joked with another intern that we'd all stand on the second floor and wait for him to come out so we could tell our families and friends that we saw the back of Petraeus' head. However, guess who was the security guard on duty by the auditorium? Yes, the same man from yesterday, so I made it a point to drop by and say Hi and chat a little when I had some time on my hands. I need to learn his name, if only to be polite for all his graciousness and kindness to me yesterday.
Anyway, so back to the professor who I am semi-working for... He took me to the library and introduced me to the librarian on duty there, a nice Southern lady. I had to fight to keep my voice from changing to match hers as we talked, but she was very nice and helpful as we tried to hunt down the missing articles from the professor's bibliography. In the end, we had to do an intra-library loan, including one from the Pentagon's library. To do that, I had to copy some papers. Well, I've been in the building for less than 48 hours, so I only know where a few copiers/printers are, and none of them, as far as I know, are in the building that I'm in. So I walked back across the building to where I work, went up to the second floor and made copies, walked back down and across to the library. (Oh, and while I was making these copies, my supervisor scared me when he came into the small room while my back was turned. Apparently, I jumped a little dramatically in surprise. I seriously did not hear him enter. He just ... appeared.) When I returned to the library, the librarian asked me where I went, because she just turned around for a second, and... it turns out that the library has three copiers, including one that was less than five yards away from the front desk where we were standing.
Yes...there are times when I take the harder road to accomplish a task.... She was very sweet about it, though, so I wasn't too flustered.
Anyway, so after that was done, I went to lunch with another intern and we took a walk to the waterfront on base afterwards, wandering a bit around the place. We chatted a bit about our histories and experiences, and that was nice. Everyone has been extremely friendly and it's not brittle or false, but actual honest warmth when they say, "Good morning" or "Hi." It's those little gestures that make the place so nice to work in.
Anyway, I finally managed to get the CD labels printed out (after scolding the printer in front of my supervisor and the tech/supply lady. That was not a smart move, but I'm going to blame it on a lack of coffee and never do it again. I hope.) and affixed to the CDs. Once I handed those in to the professors (receiving some lovely compliments in response), I went back to work on another set of articles/bibliographies. The end result of that is that I will have to go back to the library tomorrow and request a book from Ontario Canada because....that's the only copy that's available in the world library catalog.
So, tomorrow... Tomorrow is our first major conference since the NDU became NDU apparently, so it has to go well. As a result, I will be clocking in at around 7:30 am (originally, it was 7:00 am, but then it was moved back for some reason, not that I'm complaining) and staying until I'm done, I suppose. There will be around 200 people coming to the conference, and I'll be an extra set of hands to help deal with anything that might need to be done. So it's an early bedtime tonight, possibly within the next half an hour.
Let's see what tomorrow brings. :)
Yesterday, I didn't have the time to burn the CDs a professor wanted for one of his classes, so I went and asked the lady in-charge of supplies, technology and books for 40 CDs. This set off a chain reaction in which she went to talk to her higher-up, who then went to my supervisor to check to see what I was going to do with the CDs while I silently prayed that I had not gotten anyone into trouble on my second day of work. The CDs were cleared and I breathed a mental sigh of relief.
So I started burning CDs and discovered that it was, for lack of a better descriptor, busy-work. In order to not waste my time mindlessly clicking a mouse button and reloading the CD tray, I "borrowed" the readings I had spent yesterday afternoon organizing and started to studying. The professor I was burning the CDs for has sort of appropriated me as his own assistant. (As a side note, the professors I met yesterday all seem to remember me, and I managed to greet them all by face, if not by name, not yet anyway. :D I also have been playing a bit of messenger intern with people, including telling one professor "I think your partner is looking for you. He's tall, and has a hearing aid." Part of that particular conversation came from the fact that I wanted to say Mark, but I couldn't remember if it was correct, and I'm not supposed call people by their first name unless/until they give me permission to. It turns out that his last name is "Marks.")
Some time mid-morning, one intern walks into the Interns Room and asks why there's a security guard sitting by the auditorium stairwell. We all shrug because none of us have any idea what's going on. A quarter of the way through my stack of CDs, another intern walks in and announces, "Petraeus is here." Everyone in the room stares at her and goes, "Really? General Petraeus is here?! Can we get in to see him?" The answer, unfortunately, is "No" since there was no room in the auditorium for even our professors, never mind us interns. I joked with another intern that we'd all stand on the second floor and wait for him to come out so we could tell our families and friends that we saw the back of Petraeus' head. However, guess who was the security guard on duty by the auditorium? Yes, the same man from yesterday, so I made it a point to drop by and say Hi and chat a little when I had some time on my hands. I need to learn his name, if only to be polite for all his graciousness and kindness to me yesterday.
Anyway, so back to the professor who I am semi-working for... He took me to the library and introduced me to the librarian on duty there, a nice Southern lady. I had to fight to keep my voice from changing to match hers as we talked, but she was very nice and helpful as we tried to hunt down the missing articles from the professor's bibliography. In the end, we had to do an intra-library loan, including one from the Pentagon's library. To do that, I had to copy some papers. Well, I've been in the building for less than 48 hours, so I only know where a few copiers/printers are, and none of them, as far as I know, are in the building that I'm in. So I walked back across the building to where I work, went up to the second floor and made copies, walked back down and across to the library. (Oh, and while I was making these copies, my supervisor scared me when he came into the small room while my back was turned. Apparently, I jumped a little dramatically in surprise. I seriously did not hear him enter. He just ... appeared.) When I returned to the library, the librarian asked me where I went, because she just turned around for a second, and... it turns out that the library has three copiers, including one that was less than five yards away from the front desk where we were standing.
Yes...there are times when I take the harder road to accomplish a task.... She was very sweet about it, though, so I wasn't too flustered.
Anyway, so after that was done, I went to lunch with another intern and we took a walk to the waterfront on base afterwards, wandering a bit around the place. We chatted a bit about our histories and experiences, and that was nice. Everyone has been extremely friendly and it's not brittle or false, but actual honest warmth when they say, "Good morning" or "Hi." It's those little gestures that make the place so nice to work in.
Anyway, I finally managed to get the CD labels printed out (after scolding the printer in front of my supervisor and the tech/supply lady. That was not a smart move, but I'm going to blame it on a lack of coffee and never do it again. I hope.) and affixed to the CDs. Once I handed those in to the professors (receiving some lovely compliments in response), I went back to work on another set of articles/bibliographies. The end result of that is that I will have to go back to the library tomorrow and request a book from Ontario Canada because....that's the only copy that's available in the world library catalog.
So, tomorrow... Tomorrow is our first major conference since the NDU became NDU apparently, so it has to go well. As a result, I will be clocking in at around 7:30 am (originally, it was 7:00 am, but then it was moved back for some reason, not that I'm complaining) and staying until I'm done, I suppose. There will be around 200 people coming to the conference, and I'll be an extra set of hands to help deal with anything that might need to be done. So it's an early bedtime tonight, possibly within the next half an hour.
Let's see what tomorrow brings. :)
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
"Excuse me, do you know how to use the copier?"
So today was the first day of my internship. I'm still slightly shell-shocked, in a good way, about what happened today, if only because I haven't really had time to process it properly.
I got up at around 6:30 am to rush out the door at 7:00 am. While the walk was a bit panicked, I managed to get myself on the proper Metro line by 7:30 and on my way to NDU. That is, if the Metro was actually moving, which it periodically was not as we lurched our way out of Virginia and into D.C. proper.
Even with the confused Metro train, I managed to arrive at one of the gates by 8:10 am. Thus, I was faced with a dilemma. I was planning on arriving 15 minutes early, but not 50 minutes, but what was I going to do? Dwaddle outside the gate? Go in and then wander around "lost" on the base? Instead of choosing either one of those options, I decided to go out to a nearby park by the river and savor the silence of the morning and drizzle. By the time I'd settled myself and gathered my nerve, it was about the right time to wander my way back to the base.
I walked past the first gate that I had originally planned to enter into, mostly because it seemed to be cars-only and the guard appeared busy with checking ID. I think I got a look from him because I was the only person in business attire, on foot, wandering across his area. I passed a USPS office on base, which is nice to know, if I ever need to send packages, I don't need to run all the way to ... somewhere... to get something shipped. I also passed a lot of "Army Property. No Trespassing." signs, which was expected.
What I did not expect was how friendly everyone was through the whole security process. I suppose that since NDU is not on an "active" military base (if a military base can ever be considered inactive), people aren't paranoid. Let me make a correction, there was a strict security process, but I did not feel as on edge this morning as I did at the State Department last week. There is also the possibility that coffee played a factor as I did not have coffee this morning, but did last Thursday (and it was a Starbucks grande).
I have to tip my metaphorical hat to the security guards in the buildings. They were the ones who pointed me in the right directions, and the man on duty this morning in the main NDU lobby was extremely gracious and helpful. When he couldn't reach my contact in the College, he went the extra step of trying to find someone else in the university to help me before he sent me up to the CISA's offices. I thought he was sending me to the main office, with the secretaries and perhaps a few interns working there.
He literally sent me to the Director's office.
So yes, the very first person I met today from CISA was my ultimate superior. I...I fumbled, slightly, but the world did not end when I reverted back to my quieter self. So much for the "be confident and assertive" prep talk last night, but I am who I am, and that is a quiet, modest individual who tends to think she is imposing on people when she is not. (The good news, though, is when we met again today, as my supervisor introduced me, the Director remembered me from the morning, and again when we bumped into each other in the hallway.) There was a bit of "pass the intern around" from VIP to VIP until I was finally given to the custody of a very nice and patient woman who did not have the title "intern escort" anywhere in her job description, but did a wonderful job of it. She took me through the paperwork and all the other processes that I needed to get through for the better part of the morning, and then I was passed back to my contact. There was some discussion about where they were going to be put me, but it basically came down to this: the Interns' Room where everyone else had been put thus far was full, and there wasn't space in there for me. As the CISA is apparently also undergoing office reorganization, with professors moving around, there were empty rooms in the College's allotted space. So, my supervisor took me to one of the empty offices and told me that it was now assigned to me.
I blinked in surprise and I still haven't processed the thought about how that happened.
I have an entire office to myself, and when I wandered back at the end of the day to put something away... Someone had printed out a nice, professional paper placard with my name and title/position on it and put it next to the door. I believe the word "flustered" is the best adjective to describe my reaction. No, the world does not stop when a new intern walks in the door, but I never expected that small, but incredibly welcoming gesture and I deeply appreciate it.
My supervisor and everyone else I met today were apologetic about the "chaos" they were currently in. Between the first day of classes, a new wave of interns, and apparently three conferences going on at the same time, I can see why they felt they were being stretched a little thin. On the other hand, I felt that there was a degree of structure to the chaos and it was nice to have the chance to trail someone around to run a little errand and end up meeting various professors and staff. The department does seem like a little family, even though there are formalities observed (and I need to start wrapping my head around people's last names!).
For the past few days, people have told me over and over again that "this internship is what you make of it," and I believe that I'm going to have a wonderful time at NDU. Although I spent my afternoon sorting out a reading list and hunting down articles for professors (and tomorrow, burning CDs for a class), which is mostly administrative stuff, I was content. After all, I know everyone is busy, and someone has to do this stuff eventually. Since I'm not assigned to anything urgent, why not help out with the little stuff? It's a learning curve, like when I went to find the copy/fax room.... First, I got lost (then went back and got directions from my partner intern). Second, I nearly walked in on a conference/tour of some sort, so I had to pretend I wasn't there. Third... I met this kind English gentleman in the copy room as I'm trying to figure out how to use the copier, and I ask him, "Excuse me, do you know how to use the copier?"
He takes the stack of papers I have, puts it in the tray, asks, "Who are you doing this for?" and "How many copies?" before he hits START. I feel like a bit of an idiot, but the copy tray was not where I thought it was, so I did the smart thing in asking for help.
About three hours later, my supervisor takes me to a professor's office, where there are two men involved in a deep conversation. Guess who do I see talking to the professor I'm supposed to help out? Yes, the kind English man is not only a gentleman, but a professor. I love my life, as I am constantly amused by the situations I find myself in. I asked a professor, probably someone with a Ph.D. degree, how to use a copier. I shouldn't be so surprised that he knew how to run copies, but I am grateful that he showed me how without a fuss. Then again, horror stories are just that, horror stories that probably aren't true 99.9% of the time.
The basic sum of this entry is that I'm happy with what happened today, even if I am a little shell-shocked and stunned by my internship, and I look forward to going back tomorrow.
Onwards!
I got up at around 6:30 am to rush out the door at 7:00 am. While the walk was a bit panicked, I managed to get myself on the proper Metro line by 7:30 and on my way to NDU. That is, if the Metro was actually moving, which it periodically was not as we lurched our way out of Virginia and into D.C. proper.
Even with the confused Metro train, I managed to arrive at one of the gates by 8:10 am. Thus, I was faced with a dilemma. I was planning on arriving 15 minutes early, but not 50 minutes, but what was I going to do? Dwaddle outside the gate? Go in and then wander around "lost" on the base? Instead of choosing either one of those options, I decided to go out to a nearby park by the river and savor the silence of the morning and drizzle. By the time I'd settled myself and gathered my nerve, it was about the right time to wander my way back to the base.
I walked past the first gate that I had originally planned to enter into, mostly because it seemed to be cars-only and the guard appeared busy with checking ID. I think I got a look from him because I was the only person in business attire, on foot, wandering across his area. I passed a USPS office on base, which is nice to know, if I ever need to send packages, I don't need to run all the way to ... somewhere... to get something shipped. I also passed a lot of "Army Property. No Trespassing." signs, which was expected.
What I did not expect was how friendly everyone was through the whole security process. I suppose that since NDU is not on an "active" military base (if a military base can ever be considered inactive), people aren't paranoid. Let me make a correction, there was a strict security process, but I did not feel as on edge this morning as I did at the State Department last week. There is also the possibility that coffee played a factor as I did not have coffee this morning, but did last Thursday (and it was a Starbucks grande).
I have to tip my metaphorical hat to the security guards in the buildings. They were the ones who pointed me in the right directions, and the man on duty this morning in the main NDU lobby was extremely gracious and helpful. When he couldn't reach my contact in the College, he went the extra step of trying to find someone else in the university to help me before he sent me up to the CISA's offices. I thought he was sending me to the main office, with the secretaries and perhaps a few interns working there.
He literally sent me to the Director's office.
So yes, the very first person I met today from CISA was my ultimate superior. I...I fumbled, slightly, but the world did not end when I reverted back to my quieter self. So much for the "be confident and assertive" prep talk last night, but I am who I am, and that is a quiet, modest individual who tends to think she is imposing on people when she is not. (The good news, though, is when we met again today, as my supervisor introduced me, the Director remembered me from the morning, and again when we bumped into each other in the hallway.) There was a bit of "pass the intern around" from VIP to VIP until I was finally given to the custody of a very nice and patient woman who did not have the title "intern escort" anywhere in her job description, but did a wonderful job of it. She took me through the paperwork and all the other processes that I needed to get through for the better part of the morning, and then I was passed back to my contact. There was some discussion about where they were going to be put me, but it basically came down to this: the Interns' Room where everyone else had been put thus far was full, and there wasn't space in there for me. As the CISA is apparently also undergoing office reorganization, with professors moving around, there were empty rooms in the College's allotted space. So, my supervisor took me to one of the empty offices and told me that it was now assigned to me.
I blinked in surprise and I still haven't processed the thought about how that happened.
I have an entire office to myself, and when I wandered back at the end of the day to put something away... Someone had printed out a nice, professional paper placard with my name and title/position on it and put it next to the door. I believe the word "flustered" is the best adjective to describe my reaction. No, the world does not stop when a new intern walks in the door, but I never expected that small, but incredibly welcoming gesture and I deeply appreciate it.
My supervisor and everyone else I met today were apologetic about the "chaos" they were currently in. Between the first day of classes, a new wave of interns, and apparently three conferences going on at the same time, I can see why they felt they were being stretched a little thin. On the other hand, I felt that there was a degree of structure to the chaos and it was nice to have the chance to trail someone around to run a little errand and end up meeting various professors and staff. The department does seem like a little family, even though there are formalities observed (and I need to start wrapping my head around people's last names!).
For the past few days, people have told me over and over again that "this internship is what you make of it," and I believe that I'm going to have a wonderful time at NDU. Although I spent my afternoon sorting out a reading list and hunting down articles for professors (and tomorrow, burning CDs for a class), which is mostly administrative stuff, I was content. After all, I know everyone is busy, and someone has to do this stuff eventually. Since I'm not assigned to anything urgent, why not help out with the little stuff? It's a learning curve, like when I went to find the copy/fax room.... First, I got lost (then went back and got directions from my partner intern). Second, I nearly walked in on a conference/tour of some sort, so I had to pretend I wasn't there. Third... I met this kind English gentleman in the copy room as I'm trying to figure out how to use the copier, and I ask him, "Excuse me, do you know how to use the copier?"
He takes the stack of papers I have, puts it in the tray, asks, "Who are you doing this for?" and "How many copies?" before he hits START. I feel like a bit of an idiot, but the copy tray was not where I thought it was, so I did the smart thing in asking for help.
About three hours later, my supervisor takes me to a professor's office, where there are two men involved in a deep conversation. Guess who do I see talking to the professor I'm supposed to help out? Yes, the kind English man is not only a gentleman, but a professor. I love my life, as I am constantly amused by the situations I find myself in. I asked a professor, probably someone with a Ph.D. degree, how to use a copier. I shouldn't be so surprised that he knew how to run copies, but I am grateful that he showed me how without a fuss. Then again, horror stories are just that, horror stories that probably aren't true 99.9% of the time.
The basic sum of this entry is that I'm happy with what happened today, even if I am a little shell-shocked and stunned by my internship, and I look forward to going back tomorrow.
Onwards!
Monday, September 7, 2009
"Yes, Granny will call the cops..."
I apologize for my disappearance for the past couple of days. Between settling down, jet lag, grocery shopping, a temperamental Internet connection, and a near encounter with heat exhaustion, I've been busy.
So I'll try to keep this entry short and direct as I sum up the past week or so.
I spent most of Wednesday traveling to the East Coast, which took far longer than I thought it would. I was lucky enough on the plane that I was seated next to a pair of sisters who were heading back home for the fall, so we kept each other distracted for around 5 hours. After I disembarked, I was in a bit of a woozy state of exhaustion as I made my way down to the baggage claim, to the Shuttle area and onto the van. Let's simplify the 75 minute trip to say that D.C. traffic is scary and I may have inadvertently made quiet squeaky noises of fright. However, I made it safely to my apartment complex and room.
I am living with three other young women, and for once, I am one of the youngest in the group. (I believe that I am also on the younger end of the spectrum in the program. Most of the people in the International Affairs program appear to be in their senior year and/or are graduating soon.) As one of my roommates is from Mexico and another from Puerto Rico, there is a lot of Spanish being spoken. I don't mind it very much, but sometimes I do feel a little isolated. On the other hand, I don't mind a little isolation now and then, and my roommates make a constant effort to keep me in the loop about things, so it's not an issue.
What is an issue is the fact that the A/C is constantly on, and that it's freezing cold at night. I didn't bring a heavy or large blanket because I thought it wouldn't be a problem, given that it's still summer-like weather in D.C., but it is. So for now, I've been sleeping with my blanket, two nightgowns, my night robe, a folded sheet, and my heavy autumn/winter coat. It's been hit and miss so far on staying warm and comfortable throughout the night, but it's raining outside right now and the A/C is still on. I don't understand this. I really don't. Then again, where I come from, we don't have A/Cs because we don't need them.
I spent Thursday and Friday at Orientation and met Heather, my program advisor, for the first time face-to-face. It was odd how I saw her in the auditorium (which is very beautiful, especially the ceiling with the phases of the lunar cycle painted on it) and automatically thought, "That's Heather" without introductions. Then we went through the whole portfolio project that I will be doing throughout the semester and I had to fight not to burst into hysterical panicked giggles in the middle of the presentation. In the end, I managed to stay silent, though I did end up having to hide my facial expressions of hysterical dismay by taking lots of notes on my orientation booklet.
So, what sent me into a tizzy? Besides the whole "set goals for yourself this semester and how to achieve them" thing, (which I have a semi-decent idea of), I have to do some kind of community service project and conduct an informational interview. The community service project trips me up because while I don't mind volunteering, I'm not sure what I can do that is both an important issue and one that resonates with me. For example, I adore working with children and find a deep fulfillment in mentoring young minds, but childhood education is not an issue that I'm fired up over. I do what I do because I ought to, not because I'm out to change the world, if that makes any sense. The informational interview has me a bit queasy because I'm not comfortable with interacting with "important people," particularly in those first few moments when I have to snag their attention and settle my nerves so I can talk to them like the normal people they are.
On Thursday afternoon, we went to visit the State Department. As people who were in the room can attest to on Sunday night, there was a bit of CAPS LOCK JOY from me when I got the email from Heather. However, reality was slightly different and a bit of a downer. I had hoped that we'd get to see the State Department, but instead, we were escorted (literally) into a conference room for a presentation on careers at the State Department. I listened, but given that my post-graduation plans for the past two years have involved the Foreign Service, there wasn't much new information that I could get. However, it was nice to listen to a young man who joined up as an FSO eight years ago and his experiences and duties at various postings. Then, a senior FSO came in (he joined the same year that I was born, so can anyone say "experienced"?) to talk with us, and that's when I perked up. I've talked with a diplomat-in-residence and a recently retired diplomat over the past two years; both of them have had stellar careers. The former is one of the first female FSOs hired in the 1970s, I think, and the latter has had a similarly long career in the State Department. So I hope that this Foreign Service Officer will be my third person, and that he will also be my informational interview. He's a busy man, judging by his biography, but we've got three and a half months to stuff me into his schedule somewhere, so we'll see... :) On Friday, I think Heather was pleased to hear that I was ready to start on my portfolio so soon when I asked if she could read the email draft that I had written up on Thursday night. I'll probably send it out sometime late this week, or after I get a handle on what's going on at NDU, whichever comes first.
On Friday, we had a mass Orientation program, with all 350 of us interns gathered in one place. The presentations were interesting, though I was most amused by the Student Life director with his lovely sense of humor. I wish I had recorded that particular part of the Orientation. In case you were wondering, yes, he did warn us that if we make too much noise, "Granny will call the cops" on us. :D I don't know why I'm so amused by that line, but I am. The Safety and Security presentation was a little bit unnerving, but that's par on course. I'm in D.C., where the first thing I heard when I got off the plane after "Welcome to Baltimore International Airport" was "The current threat level, as determined by the Secretary of Defense, is Orange." ... Precisely.
I shouldn't be so amused/terrified by this thought, but I figure that NDU's emergency procedures will keep me very safe and very alive if anything happens. Naturally, I fervently hope that I will have no cause to test that hypothesis.
As interns, the Center wants us to reflect on our journey, to be "introspective." At this point, I still don't know what I'm going to do to show "growth" and "contemplation." There's this line in the sand between personal and professional, and I know I trip over that line from time to time. A lot of my growth will simply come from proving myself wrong, over and over again. It will be about changing the way I think about things, of putting aside weaknesses and tearing down mental barriers, but...there are issues that I don't want to talk about in a public forum. When people talk about not settling for "the Best" but to be "Great," I find myself squirming inside because I don't have the ego to be "Great." I'm content with serving and protecting, of moving behind the scenes and staying far away from the spotlight. That's why I enjoy the idea of the Foreign Service so much, because I can serve my country and do good while not having to jump through hoops as a politician. Maybe that's a bit of a rosy view of what I can do as an FSO, but so far, I don't think I'd have regrets becoming a U.S. diplomat.
Who knows, maybe this internship will send me onto a career path as an academic or a member of the U.N.'s inspection team or something else entirely. Nothing is set in stone, and I will have to take each day as it comes.
On Saturday, I went on the Georgetown walking tour, just for fun, and because I promised (my parents, namely, Mother) myself that I would go out and socialize and see D.C. while I'm here. I have plans to visit the memorials again, particularly Arlington. I'm thinking about visiting there on Memorial Day, but it might be too crowded and I'm not the type who likes to cry in front of people. Plus, there might be memorials that I need to attend at NDU that day as well, so I don't know.
Back to Georgetown... It was probably a mistake to go on Saturday, given the weather. It was extremely hot and sunny, with little breeze, and while I drank a lot of water and tried to stay in the shade when I could, I believe that I was probably only minutes away from collapsing from heat exhaustion when I got back to the apartment. On the shuttle ride back, I had such a bad headache that I was crying from the pain. I think I scared my roommates when I came in, because later that night, after I had a nap and dinner, one of them remarked that I was looking a lot less pale than earlier.
So on Sunday, yesterday, I took it easy and simply stayed at "home" after sleeping in. I didn't want to push myself into an actual collapse and I haven't actually started feeling like myself again until today. I basically napped on and off all of yesterday, sleeping whenever I felt like it.
This morning, I went shopping with my roommates for food, including breakfast for tomorrow, which I believe will be a fruit bar and then if I find a Starbucks or similar coffee place, mocha and a cake or something. The rest of the day has been spent on the computer, writing up a running journal, and finally getting wireless internet for our apartment. However, the wireless connection has nothing to do with the temperamental landline connection we have. C'est la vie.
Tomorrow, my internship starts bright and early, so I'll be going to bed early tonight in order to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed come 6:00 AM. If the Metro is going to break down, I'm not going to let it make me late! (I am also expecting to get lost, miss a direction here or there, get turned around, and have to work up my nerve to walk up to the sentry at the front gate with a confident smile that doesn't scream, "I'm nervous about making a good impression, can you tell?" that it is necessary that I add in some extra time for my sanity and peace of mind.)
I'll hopefully be able (aka coherent/awake enough) to check-in with you all tomorrow.
So I'll try to keep this entry short and direct as I sum up the past week or so.
I spent most of Wednesday traveling to the East Coast, which took far longer than I thought it would. I was lucky enough on the plane that I was seated next to a pair of sisters who were heading back home for the fall, so we kept each other distracted for around 5 hours. After I disembarked, I was in a bit of a woozy state of exhaustion as I made my way down to the baggage claim, to the Shuttle area and onto the van. Let's simplify the 75 minute trip to say that D.C. traffic is scary and I may have inadvertently made quiet squeaky noises of fright. However, I made it safely to my apartment complex and room.
I am living with three other young women, and for once, I am one of the youngest in the group. (I believe that I am also on the younger end of the spectrum in the program. Most of the people in the International Affairs program appear to be in their senior year and/or are graduating soon.) As one of my roommates is from Mexico and another from Puerto Rico, there is a lot of Spanish being spoken. I don't mind it very much, but sometimes I do feel a little isolated. On the other hand, I don't mind a little isolation now and then, and my roommates make a constant effort to keep me in the loop about things, so it's not an issue.
What is an issue is the fact that the A/C is constantly on, and that it's freezing cold at night. I didn't bring a heavy or large blanket because I thought it wouldn't be a problem, given that it's still summer-like weather in D.C., but it is. So for now, I've been sleeping with my blanket, two nightgowns, my night robe, a folded sheet, and my heavy autumn/winter coat. It's been hit and miss so far on staying warm and comfortable throughout the night, but it's raining outside right now and the A/C is still on. I don't understand this. I really don't. Then again, where I come from, we don't have A/Cs because we don't need them.
I spent Thursday and Friday at Orientation and met Heather, my program advisor, for the first time face-to-face. It was odd how I saw her in the auditorium (which is very beautiful, especially the ceiling with the phases of the lunar cycle painted on it) and automatically thought, "That's Heather" without introductions. Then we went through the whole portfolio project that I will be doing throughout the semester and I had to fight not to burst into hysterical panicked giggles in the middle of the presentation. In the end, I managed to stay silent, though I did end up having to hide my facial expressions of hysterical dismay by taking lots of notes on my orientation booklet.
So, what sent me into a tizzy? Besides the whole "set goals for yourself this semester and how to achieve them" thing, (which I have a semi-decent idea of), I have to do some kind of community service project and conduct an informational interview. The community service project trips me up because while I don't mind volunteering, I'm not sure what I can do that is both an important issue and one that resonates with me. For example, I adore working with children and find a deep fulfillment in mentoring young minds, but childhood education is not an issue that I'm fired up over. I do what I do because I ought to, not because I'm out to change the world, if that makes any sense. The informational interview has me a bit queasy because I'm not comfortable with interacting with "important people," particularly in those first few moments when I have to snag their attention and settle my nerves so I can talk to them like the normal people they are.
On Thursday afternoon, we went to visit the State Department. As people who were in the room can attest to on Sunday night, there was a bit of CAPS LOCK JOY from me when I got the email from Heather. However, reality was slightly different and a bit of a downer. I had hoped that we'd get to see the State Department, but instead, we were escorted (literally) into a conference room for a presentation on careers at the State Department. I listened, but given that my post-graduation plans for the past two years have involved the Foreign Service, there wasn't much new information that I could get. However, it was nice to listen to a young man who joined up as an FSO eight years ago and his experiences and duties at various postings. Then, a senior FSO came in (he joined the same year that I was born, so can anyone say "experienced"?) to talk with us, and that's when I perked up. I've talked with a diplomat-in-residence and a recently retired diplomat over the past two years; both of them have had stellar careers. The former is one of the first female FSOs hired in the 1970s, I think, and the latter has had a similarly long career in the State Department. So I hope that this Foreign Service Officer will be my third person, and that he will also be my informational interview. He's a busy man, judging by his biography, but we've got three and a half months to stuff me into his schedule somewhere, so we'll see... :) On Friday, I think Heather was pleased to hear that I was ready to start on my portfolio so soon when I asked if she could read the email draft that I had written up on Thursday night. I'll probably send it out sometime late this week, or after I get a handle on what's going on at NDU, whichever comes first.
On Friday, we had a mass Orientation program, with all 350 of us interns gathered in one place. The presentations were interesting, though I was most amused by the Student Life director with his lovely sense of humor. I wish I had recorded that particular part of the Orientation. In case you were wondering, yes, he did warn us that if we make too much noise, "Granny will call the cops" on us. :D I don't know why I'm so amused by that line, but I am. The Safety and Security presentation was a little bit unnerving, but that's par on course. I'm in D.C., where the first thing I heard when I got off the plane after "Welcome to Baltimore International Airport" was "The current threat level, as determined by the Secretary of Defense, is Orange." ... Precisely.
I shouldn't be so amused/terrified by this thought, but I figure that NDU's emergency procedures will keep me very safe and very alive if anything happens. Naturally, I fervently hope that I will have no cause to test that hypothesis.
As interns, the Center wants us to reflect on our journey, to be "introspective." At this point, I still don't know what I'm going to do to show "growth" and "contemplation." There's this line in the sand between personal and professional, and I know I trip over that line from time to time. A lot of my growth will simply come from proving myself wrong, over and over again. It will be about changing the way I think about things, of putting aside weaknesses and tearing down mental barriers, but...there are issues that I don't want to talk about in a public forum. When people talk about not settling for "the Best" but to be "Great," I find myself squirming inside because I don't have the ego to be "Great." I'm content with serving and protecting, of moving behind the scenes and staying far away from the spotlight. That's why I enjoy the idea of the Foreign Service so much, because I can serve my country and do good while not having to jump through hoops as a politician. Maybe that's a bit of a rosy view of what I can do as an FSO, but so far, I don't think I'd have regrets becoming a U.S. diplomat.
Who knows, maybe this internship will send me onto a career path as an academic or a member of the U.N.'s inspection team or something else entirely. Nothing is set in stone, and I will have to take each day as it comes.
On Saturday, I went on the Georgetown walking tour, just for fun, and because I promised (my parents, namely, Mother) myself that I would go out and socialize and see D.C. while I'm here. I have plans to visit the memorials again, particularly Arlington. I'm thinking about visiting there on Memorial Day, but it might be too crowded and I'm not the type who likes to cry in front of people. Plus, there might be memorials that I need to attend at NDU that day as well, so I don't know.
Back to Georgetown... It was probably a mistake to go on Saturday, given the weather. It was extremely hot and sunny, with little breeze, and while I drank a lot of water and tried to stay in the shade when I could, I believe that I was probably only minutes away from collapsing from heat exhaustion when I got back to the apartment. On the shuttle ride back, I had such a bad headache that I was crying from the pain. I think I scared my roommates when I came in, because later that night, after I had a nap and dinner, one of them remarked that I was looking a lot less pale than earlier.
So on Sunday, yesterday, I took it easy and simply stayed at "home" after sleeping in. I didn't want to push myself into an actual collapse and I haven't actually started feeling like myself again until today. I basically napped on and off all of yesterday, sleeping whenever I felt like it.
This morning, I went shopping with my roommates for food, including breakfast for tomorrow, which I believe will be a fruit bar and then if I find a Starbucks or similar coffee place, mocha and a cake or something. The rest of the day has been spent on the computer, writing up a running journal, and finally getting wireless internet for our apartment. However, the wireless connection has nothing to do with the temperamental landline connection we have. C'est la vie.
Tomorrow, my internship starts bright and early, so I'll be going to bed early tonight in order to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed come 6:00 AM. If the Metro is going to break down, I'm not going to let it make me late! (I am also expecting to get lost, miss a direction here or there, get turned around, and have to work up my nerve to walk up to the sentry at the front gate with a confident smile that doesn't scream, "I'm nervous about making a good impression, can you tell?" that it is necessary that I add in some extra time for my sanity and peace of mind.)
I'll hopefully be able (aka coherent/awake enough) to check-in with you all tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
24 Hours and counting...
Today I finished up my departmental honors program application and went to campus to drop it off. Out of all days this summer, I decided to wear a summer dress and a semi-heavy jacket when I went out. Three minutes out the door, it started to rain. Granted, I should have known I was going to get wet, given where I live and all, with the clouds looking as omniously gray as they did, but I figured, it's summer still!...Right?
Anyway, so after a semi-soggy run between three buildings, up (and down) four flights of stairs, I am proud to say that I made all of my deliveries (three gifts, eight returned books and one application packet) in the twenty minutes between the time my bus arrived on campus and the next bus (different route) left campus. Wheee! I had to improvise an umbrella though... eep.
I've spent most of the night finishing up my packing (after pulling an all-nighter to pack in the first place), and I'm very happy to say that I managed to get my single suitcase from 62 to 41 pounds. YES! I might freeze to death in the coming months, but hopefully my parents' care package with my Chinese workbook will prevent that. For some reason, I find it easier to pack in the darkened hours of the night than during the day. When I moved out of the dorms this year, I must have been the only person who was not cramming for a final who was awake at 4 in the morning when the fire alarm went off. (Some idiot torched a trash can in the main hall.)
On the bus ride back this afternoon, I found myself staring out the windows, just absorbing the landscape and remembering stuff. I think I'll miss all the evergreens and plant life in general, which is kind of a weird thing, I suppose, to miss. On the other hand, I keep telling myself that this is going to be a grand adventure, which it is. So when my heart is pounding fast and I'm scared about what I'm going to do, I do three things. The first is to start singing "Breakaway" to myself. The second is to remember that this is one of my dreams, and it's coming true right now. The last, of course, is to tell myself that everyone I know is confident in my abilities to handle whatever happens in the coming days and weeks. Why should I let everyone have more faith in me than I have faith in myself? I shouldn't, of course. I know I'm not ready for this, but I also know that there's no way to be ready for this except by throwing myself fully into it.
So here we go.
Anyway, so after a semi-soggy run between three buildings, up (and down) four flights of stairs, I am proud to say that I made all of my deliveries (three gifts, eight returned books and one application packet) in the twenty minutes between the time my bus arrived on campus and the next bus (different route) left campus. Wheee! I had to improvise an umbrella though... eep.
I've spent most of the night finishing up my packing (after pulling an all-nighter to pack in the first place), and I'm very happy to say that I managed to get my single suitcase from 62 to 41 pounds. YES! I might freeze to death in the coming months, but hopefully my parents' care package with my Chinese workbook will prevent that. For some reason, I find it easier to pack in the darkened hours of the night than during the day. When I moved out of the dorms this year, I must have been the only person who was not cramming for a final who was awake at 4 in the morning when the fire alarm went off. (Some idiot torched a trash can in the main hall.)
On the bus ride back this afternoon, I found myself staring out the windows, just absorbing the landscape and remembering stuff. I think I'll miss all the evergreens and plant life in general, which is kind of a weird thing, I suppose, to miss. On the other hand, I keep telling myself that this is going to be a grand adventure, which it is. So when my heart is pounding fast and I'm scared about what I'm going to do, I do three things. The first is to start singing "Breakaway" to myself. The second is to remember that this is one of my dreams, and it's coming true right now. The last, of course, is to tell myself that everyone I know is confident in my abilities to handle whatever happens in the coming days and weeks. Why should I let everyone have more faith in me than I have faith in myself? I shouldn't, of course. I know I'm not ready for this, but I also know that there's no way to be ready for this except by throwing myself fully into it.
So here we go.
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