January 14, 2019

Today, many of us had a late start at work because of the beautiful snow covering DC! Jim Cooper interns started late, and were able to take our NASA students into the Capitol. Originally, we were going to give them a tour. But due to the number of workers stranded due to the weather, the Capitol was not open to visitors. Instead, we viewed the House and Senate floors, and were able to hear Mitch McConnell speak. Afterwards, we had the exciting experience of meeting Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who is the youngest member of Congress to date at 29. Meanwhile, Blackburn interns woke up early and waited to hear the oral arguments of a Supreme Court case dealing with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

That night, we had the privilege to network with many Harpeth Hall alumnae, including Mrs. Hill and Ms. Teaff! Every girl thoroughly enjoyed hearing about so many women’s successful careers, and sharing our stories of the honeybear experience. We also saw some other familiar faces, such as Neha and Besty, who are students at GW and Georgetown. Mrs. Hill encouraged us to continue to foster our connections as Harpeth Hall girls, and assured us that these relationships will provide us with mentorship and resources that will take us far.

It was a day packed with excitement to say the least. We are all so privileged to be in a city with so many remarkable opportunities in people! Speaking of, we will visit the Pentagon tomorrow.

1/13/2019
Today, we woke up to see snow everywhere! Everyone was so excited and were happy to sleep in on this Sunday morning. Mrs. Vest and Mrs. Keen had planned a brunch for the group at 11, so everyone had plenty of time in the morning to play in the snow! 
At 11, all of 17 of us walked to Montmatre, a French restaurant that serves brunch. We all were very eager to try this French food (and surprised this small restaurant could fit so many of us!). As we were waiting for our food, we all really bonded. We went around the table and talked about our most controversial opinions. This really made the whole group connect with each other over their differences and similarities. Then, our adorable waiter (who had a French accent) brought our food that included French Toast, Croque Madams, Quiche, etc. 
Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of eating any of this delicious food because I signed out and had the chance to hang out with some of my family friends for the day, but I have heard from everyone that the food was delicious! 

While I had the chance to go to the Botanical Gardens and see all the beautiful plants from the desert, Hawaii, and a couple more places, everyone else had a snowball fight in front of the Capitol. There were lots of funny videos and pictures of this event on our Instagram. 
After the botanical gardens, I went to Adams Morgan and shopped at some cool thrift store and record shops. I bought a cool Coca-Cola t-shirt, a retro jacket, and a couple pins for my jean jacket. Although it was so cold and we had to walk several blocks, I had a lot of fun.
Caroline, Margaret, Lizzie, Amy, Megan, Grace, Jami, and Margaret went to dinner in dinner together at Chipotle and Mika, Evy, Catherine, and Ellie went to Whole Foods to eat dinner, after they all chilled in the hotel all day, cleaned up, and did laundry. 
We all reconnected at our floor meeting at 9 where we went over our schedule for the upcoming week. We all are looking forward to this week and the work we will do! 
Today was a nice day to refresh and set goals for the upcoming week at our internships! 

Blog Post – 1/12/2019

Today was an action packed day, full of meaningful tours, memorials, and ceremonies! Our group began the day by enjoying a short film and tour of the capitol. Our tour guide did a fantastic job teaching us about the Capitol’s infrastructure, symbolism, and character. I left the tour having a stronger grasp on the United State’s history than I had coming in. In specific, I learned about George Washington’s grave, and how it was intended to be placed in the center of the Capitol, but never made its destination because the idea was declined by the family and the will of Washington himself. We also learned about the Father of the Green Revolution and the reason why you can hear the whisper of another across the room in the National Statuary Hall. After our tour, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed off on the next journey of the day. Kirk, our tour guide, not only guided us through Arlington Cemetery, but also took us to see the Changing of The Guard Ceremony. It was fascinating to learn about the logistics and planning of each human buried in the cemetery. Our group saw countless recognizable headstones such as Thurgood Marshall, Joseph Welch, and John F. Kennedy. Following Arlington Cemetery, our group headed toward The Marine Corps Memorial to take a quick picture, and view the beautiful piece of art. We finished our tour with a look at Honest Abe and the Vietnam Memorial. The Vietnam Memorial was extremely emotional for most of the group. Our group learned the reason for the increasing, and then decreasing height of the wall, and also the meaning of the symbols next to the names of each Vietnam soldier. As our group walked along the wall, a Vietnam Veteran stopped us, and told us some of his memories and thoughts on the wall and the war. It was so empowering, and blew my mind. We took a bus home to enjoy a little free time and then a group dinner. I have no trouble in saying that this day will be a standout point of the D.C trip!

Friday 1/11/18

After a late night, we woke up this morning ready to plow through the last day of the work week. The interns of Marsha Blackburn went to the staff gallery of the House and the Senate. They listened to all the congressmen’s remarks on the shutdown, finishing the day with constituent calls. The Jim Cooper interns, or Jimterns, enjoyed a half hour session with the Congressman while learning much about life and politics in the process. During our lunch break, the Senator Alexander interns snuck off to a self-guided tour of the Supreme Court. The highlight of my day, besides peaking into the courtroom of the Supreme Court, was returning to the office to finish my accounting, when I was pleasantly surprised with a large, barking dog in the office.

NASA interns, Margaret Bone and Jami Hamman, spent their afternoon at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Margaret said, “My favorite part had to be the sharks! I loved getting to see them up-close. We also came at ‘feeding time’ so we watched hundreds of fish swarm the divers. Overall, it was a really cool afternoon.”

No matter where we were, we were all singing songs from last night’s musical, Miss Saigon. Our favorite song by far was called “Bui Doi.” We woke up singing it and it definitely won our title of Song-of-the-Day.

A free afternoon was much needed and well spent at a delicious Mexican restaurant before finishing off our night with a group meeting.

January 10th marked the second day of internships, and it was quite an exciting one. Amy, Ellie, and Megan the three interns from Jim Cooper’s office got the opportunity to sit in on a documentary filming session where Congressman Cooper was interviewed. The three later went to a training about how to give tours of the capitol building to constituents, where they ran into the vice president, Mike Pence, as well as Kelly Anne Conway, who voluntarily took several pictures. Be on the lookout for them, these photos could potentially turn up in major publications soon!  Amy and Ellie even shook Pence’s hand! Regardless of whether or not you agree with Pence’s policy, that was a really incredible experience, and made day two very exciting! After tour training, Cooper’s interns went to watch house proceedings. There they spotted their boss, Jim Cooper, casting a vote, as well as many other members of congress, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi, and Ilhan Omar. They witnessed HR 265, which is a bill to support USDA Agriculture programs, be passed.

The interns in the office of Senator Marsha Blackburn, Elizabeth, Grace, Evy, and Eleanor also had an incredible day. They witnessed both Senate and House proceedings, spotting some big names such as Mitch McConell, Mitt Romney, Mike Pence, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren on the senate side! On their explorations of the capitol building, they encountered the Cooper interns on their tour training and said hello. It is always so fun when interns from separate offices get to see each other in action!

Outside of the Hill, interns continued to do big things! Really getting into the swing of things at their workplace, Double R productions, Meg and Caroline went on a scavenger hunt around Dupont circle and the surrounding areas to find key locations for upcoming projects. They are becoming contributing members of the company quickly!

All fifteen girls, as well as Mrs. Vest and Mrs. Keen, finished the night off by travelling to Foggy Bottom and the Kennedy Center to see Miss Saigon.  For the interns on the Hill, this was their first Metro ride of the trip. The Metro adventure was a success, everyone arrived safely and no one got lost .We had a lovely dinner filled with mochi and laughter at the Foggy Bottom Whole Foods. Miss Saigon had humor, tenderness, and historical content all wrapped up into a unique package unlike any stage show any of the girls had seen before. We all got back from a somewhat late, but super fun night, quickly did bed checks, and got a good night’s rest.

We are all so excited to see what day three of internships brings; stay tuned and hear all about it from Lizzie Conner!

Wednesday January 9

Hi all! Today was a pivotal day for the HH Washington D.C. Interns, as we all began our various internships. We all woke up ready to learn the ropes and experience working in D.C. Some of us commuted all the way to Maryland via Metro, while most of us had a short walk over to the Hill. Our internships had varying levels of rigor this first day; the Cooper Interns (Jimterns) received feedback on a Trump Address Analysis, while others learned to answer phone calls from constituents. Our highs and lows during our nightly meeting consisted of “at first I was nervous, but I ended up having fun when ___ happened”. Most of us were intimidated at our bosses, including the RR Interns hearing “Don’t mess with Rosemary!” All in all, we are just learning the ropes of our jobs and we will build confidence and community during these next few weeks. NASA Intern Margaret Bone says that this first day was “not really what I expected, but interesting to say the least!” I myself came home from work to eat some ramen from our Trader Joe’s run and relax. The consensus is that we are having fun, but are ready for sleep right now.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton