Getting Down to Business

First, I must share the extremely important news that it is now snowing in DC.  Forecasts are predicting about an inch of snow, which will be enough to give the city a nice coating, but from what I've heard is unlikely to shut down the government tomorrow.

Onto the main news, the internship started yesterday.  I would have done a blog post last night, but between class and the national championship game, I was busy.  The job is going well so far.  Obviously, I am not free to discuss the actual activity from the office, but I have been doing well.  The House has not been in session yet this week due to the shootings in Arizona, so things have been rather quiet.  I've also been told that being in the minority party is inherently more quiet than being in the majority.  This is due to the fact that if there's a bill going through Congress that people don't like, they'll only make angry phone calls to the ones pushing the bill through.  Also, minority input is not nearly as great in the writing of legislation, meaning less activity in that sense as well.  I am one of two interns in the office, and we have a total of 10 full-time employees plus the Congressman.  I will recount an embarrassing story of talking with who I thought was a constituent on the phone, only to then have the Congressman identify himself.  He was very friendly in that conversation, however, as are all of my coworkers.  In that sense, I could not have asked for a better place to work.

As I briefly mentioned earlier, we have one class in DC, which we take in our apartment building with a UGA professor.  This semester the class covers american foreign policy and the professor is Dr. Wiarda.  I am thinking that I will enjoy this class, as the professor managed to "roast" me within the first few minutes of class starting (although let the record show that I did provide a self-deprecating assist).

For social activities, some of the other UGA interns have convinced me to join a skeeball league that competes on Sunday nights.  We'll see how well I do at that.  Hopefully, I won't cost UGA a skeeball championship.  Also, I went to my first reception tonight.  It was hosted by WISH, an organization which provides housing for DC Interns.  The dinner was decent, but it was the desserts that were exquisite!  Too many more receptions like that one, and I'll need to do a little extra exercise around Washington.

Anyway, that's about all my news from inside the Beltway.  I feel this is an appropriate time to say that although I'm having a wonderful time in Washington, I really do miss my family and friends back in Georgia.  You never quite realize how special certain people are until you're whisked away from them.  So, in a word, thanks for simply being the wonderful people you are, because you really don't know how much that matters!