I have made it through my first week in Washington, D.C.! It was an amazing and hectic week. I believe I have settled in and know the gist of how life works. I am sure I will continue to pick up on the norms and workings as my time proceeds. For the first four weeks of my internship, I am living with my Aunt Mary Beth. She used to live in D.C., but has lived in Lincoln working for the United States Immigration Service for years now. She was assigned to work for a couple months in the capital for her job, so I was very fortunate to have our time overlap. Her employer put her in a beautiful apartment, two blocks from the National Mall. I am still in awe daily; it is by far the nicest place I have ever lived.
My first day of work was Tuesday, as Monday was Labor Day. Prior to starting, I received an email with information on where to go (what building and entrance), what time, “appropriate” dress, lunch instructions, and details of what type of identification to bring. That was super helpful and brought some ease to my first day nerves. My mom also flew out with me, which was incredibly helpful. We arrived on Sunday, so we had a couple days to move in, grocery shop, and of course, sightsee.
I arrived at the Harry S. Truman building, at 7:20, Tuesday morning. Uber is a great way to get around D.C., especially when one is worried about getting somewhere on time. I was fully dressed in my professional attire and ready for the day. I immediately felt like an intern, as they made me and the approximately 25 other interns stand outside till about 7:50. It was already 80 degrees and nearly 100 percent humidity. It was a relief to finally go through security and get into the air conditioning.
The morning consisted of many meetings. Each had a different State Department worker briefing us on the inner workings of the building. The longest, and most reinforced, was about security. It was basically everything we can’t do, can’t say, can’t share, and can’t post about. It was intimidating but also made me feel pretty special, because I’m going to be exposed to a lot of confidential information. Most of the people during the briefings were welcoming, particularly the woman who continued to reference the fact that each year they get 9,000 intern applicants, and we were a portion of the 1,000 that they chose. It was still a little unclear what exactly we would each do in our offices, but we were also reassured that we were not to be going on coffee runs every day for our higher-ups.
After the meetings, we were finally released for lunch. The State Department has a wonderful cafeteria, which includes a Starbucks. I ate with some fellow interns and enjoyed getting to know them and about how they ended up here. Many of the other interns have just recently graduated from college, but there are plenty who are still working on their undergraduate degrees. I am also not the only one from the Western United States.
Most of the afternoon consisted of waiting in a line to initiate the badging process; this allows us to get into the building as well as access the computers. I couldn’t pick up my badge until later in the week, so the work I could do during my first couple days was pretty limited.
The rest of the week I was in the Korean Office. The State Department building is huge and horribly designed, so I have spent time lost for sure. The “K desk” shares a corner of the building with the Japanese office, and the other East Asian Pacific offices are nearby. All my colleagues are so friendly. All have reached out to help me and seem happy to have me there. Many are young and like to mess around and have a good time. I have been taken to coffee on several occasions. I love getting to know everyone, and these times are so important. I may learn the most from the casual conversations I have with the people in my office. Soaking in their knowledge and experience is not only fascinating, but beneficial. They share with me past mistakes they’ve made, things they’re grateful for, and advice for in the office but also for life. They are interested in getting to know and help me. It truly is amazing and humbling. My supervisors are Clara (she works with economics concerning the Republic of Korea) and Tristan (he handles Humanitarian aid in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea). I really have a lot of choice in my work. There will always be projects or tasks handed to me that I won’t really be excited about, but will have to do. However, if I have any particular interests, my colleagues will give me tasks related to that. I’m also lucky, because if there are meetings or events that interest me, they will do their best to make sure I can attend. Of all the happenings in my office, I have really been interested in the humanitarian aid in North Korea. I am brainstorming topics for my research paper and I am leaning towards writing something on that.
It has been fascinating to see how all the different aspects within the State Department run. I have never received so many emails in my life. I am honestly scared to check my account Monday morning. I have learned so much, but I also still feel a bit lost in it. I need to be bold and ask questions often, which may be annoying, but the more I ask, the more I’ll learn. That is my biggest goal for the next week. The more I put in, the more I will get out!
There is a culture in D.C. that I have noticed. People’s lives seem to be so centered around their work. Most that I have met spend very long hours at the office, typically from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. They then proceed to spend their evenings either on email at home, or getting dinner or drinks with their colleagues. Most eat lunch from their desks as well. This is the first job I’ve ever had where I’ve been expected to sit and stay in one spot for so long. It is a difficult adjustment. I am bad at sitting still. I will figure out ways to make it work, but I think I know for certain that I cannot spend the rest of my life sitting in an office at a desk job. I am not expected to work the same, long hours. I can arrive at 8:00 a.m. and leave between 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. I want to try and spend my evenings experiencing and learning about the city. This will be easy to do when I am so close to it all. This weekend I traveled with my aunt to New York. It was relaxing and fun to see the beautiful landscape and enormous city
I would say that the first week was incredibly successful. I enjoyed myself and had many moments of mistakes and nervousness that helped me grow. I am feeling so grateful for this opportunity and really want to make the most of my time and see how much I can accomplish in ten weeks.
