Hey TWC,

Most of us have now been in DC for two weeks now and hopefully we are all properly settled in and have a functional knowledge of getting around Washington. The Metro system is a frightening labyrinth, and like all things in life, there is an iPod Touch/iPhone app that solves that problem. If you’re still getting lost and you want to fit in, download the app from the App Store and avoid looking entirely oblivious.

The Placements

Like most interns, I have started at my work placement. I’ve come to an agreement with my boss regarding how much I will actually be posting about what I’m doing, and we came to the conclusion that posting as little as possible was best. As part of the political leadership program for TWC, I am working in a government relations (read: lobbyist) firm. Having prior experience working in a legislature, being involved in the private sector of the legislative process has been eye opening. Interns at our firm don’t open mail and file documents; TWC guarantees that less than 20% of your internship work will be clerical, and none of it has for us. While doing research is part of the job, it is always on an interesting topic and I understand that we play an integral part of the lobbying process. Interns also engage in lobbying themselves, both electronically and in person. Lobbying through interpretive dance is lesser known, but often frowned upon for being “weird”. This all seems pretty vague, but I promise you: this job, while difficult, is exciting and an excellent learning experience. Although we may all be inclined to work for Congressmen and bask in the prestige associated with it, you will learn more about the legislative process and how Congress “works” by working for a government relations firm.

With trillions of dollars in each federal budget to be divided up, lobbying for big business is big business in Washington. The Defense Department’s purchase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the biggest defense appropriation in history ($323 billion for 2,443 planes) and the engine contract was considered to be worth around $100 billion. General Electric’s attempt to sell the F-136 engine to supply the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over Pratt and Whitney (who won the contract) has been a public and ugly fight, with full-page ads in the Washington Post and ads on the Metro (pictured below).

Other interns that I’ve spoken with have had varying experiences. Some placements are disorganized and don’t know how to integrate their interns properly into the office. One of my roommates still doesn’t have a work computer. This is another problem of working for Congress, international organizations, government agencies, or other large institutions: you’re a small fish in a big pond. There isn’t anything wrong with that necessarily, and it would be unfair to suggest that by working at a large firm you’ll be “swallowed up” and forgotten about.

The Residences

As I wrote last week, our apartment needed some work upon our arrival, but we now have brand-new beds and the whole place, at this point, seems to be free of insects. Rather suspiciously, my housing requests have all gone through really quickly. Is it because of this blog? Probably not, but just in case, you future interns may want to compete for a TWC blogging position and use your blog as leverage to make housing requests go faster.

The roof of the Braddock Road apartment facility deserves special mention. The roof, as my roommate put it, is “the spot.” The roof (known as the penthouse level) has tables and chairs for sitting around, talking, writing, socializing, etc. and lounging chairs for…lounging…by the pool. There’s totally a pool on the roof, no big deal. The best aspect of the roof is whatever time of day it may be, if you are bored, head up and there will be somebody to talk to. This past Saturday, I went up to the roof to look out over Alexandria as I frequently do at night. I intended on going up for fifteen minutes, and ended up having a three-hour long conversation about international relations with some interns from the Cato Institute.

The roof with Alexandria in the background

Yeah, that’s a pool. What? Yeah, it’s on the roof. No biggie.

The District

The downside of working during the week is I have to satisfy my touristic (?) impulses on weekends. As a result, my weekends have thus far been quite packed. Since posting last time, I visited the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum, which I can safely say is one of the few times I’ve been truly moved in my life. It is too many things: terrifying, sad, moving, powerful, humbling, and even uplifting at times. The Holocaust Museum is a must-see for everyone visiting DC, even if it means standing in line just for tickets and coming back the next day for the actual visit.

Other than the Holocaust Museum, I’ve been to some other Washington icons, such as the Supreme Court, the Capitol, and the Jefferson Memorial. There isn’t much to say about them. I mean, it’s the United States Capitol, what is there to say that isn’t obvious? It’s beautiful, intimidating, and unbelievably massive. Some pictures are below.

The United States Supreme Court. While best known as the highest court in the land and a symbol of the American justice system, it is the lesser known location of the famous 1998 purple nurpling of Antonin Scalia by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which caused Scalia to dissent against Ginsburg’s majority opinion in Olmstead v. L.C.

The statue of Thomas Jefferson inside the Jefferson Memorial. The statue is 19 ft. high, which was Jefferson’s true height. Like John Hancock, Jefferson was a giant, but this fact has been forgotten by history because Jefferson signed his name on the Declaration of Independence smaller than usual, unlike Hancock.

Rules of the Jefferson Memorial: -no cussin’ –no spittin’

One of the disappointing experiences for me has been the DC Zoo. At the moment, it is under some construction and thus one of the major attractions, the elephants, aren’t in their enclosure and thus it is very difficult to see them. Another major sight, the pandas, are unfortunately rather lazy creatures and thus make for a rather boring exhibit. The lions, tigers, and bears, as Dorothy famously predicted, were exciting. Regardless, I’m not allowed back at the zoo, but I wouldn’t go twice anyways.

That’s it for now, TWC. I’m going to try to post twice a week from now on, time permitting, so check out the blog on Monday for a weekend update.

-Hashem