The Washington Center was a great LIFE experience, being in the US capital, having the opportunity to intern at the US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, attending different events, doing all the assignments for school, and meeting WONDERFUL people from all around the world, made this semester a moment in life I will NEVER forget.

As a TWC student, I learned a lot, but the most important thing is I GREW a lot in every single aspect of my life.

Professionally, I met people from all around the world, successful professionals that live and work in DC and other places that had the opportunity to be at the same time as us here, but also future successful professionals that are interning with TWC. We worked in a totally new environment and with new people who taught us new ways of doing things.

Academically, I learned things from my class, Monday programming, and activities held through TWC and outside. As a foreign language student I got to practice my English skills by writing and speaking the language.

Personally, I had the opportunity to live alone, share my apartment with totally different roommates, experience a new culture and try to get along with all the new things we had. I had to learn how to prioritize in order to take advantage of all the great things DC had for me and for all my friends.

But the most important way I grew is that I began giving a new path to my life and decisions. Even though all my expectations changed, I know I have a new perspective of life and I'm working and walking towards a new and better future.

I’m sure that when I go back to Mexico nothing is going to be the same, I now have a NEW perspective, vision and goals that I've discovered in my experience here at DC. I know how many things I’m able to do with what I learned and what I lived.

I’m certainly going to miss everyone that I met; I made really true friends but the most important thing is that they will be REALLY SUCCESSFUL individuals.

more than 400 students in TWC

40 different countries

so many different cultures

15 weeks, 105 days, 2,520 hours, 151,200 minutes in DC

Tons of business cards

Tons of books and papers

Some shopping

New friends

New places

AN EXTRAORDINARY TIME, ENDLESS ADVENTURES, THE BEST PEOPLE I WILL NEVER FORGET

THANK YOU TO EACH ONE OF YOU WHO CROSSED PATHS WITH ME THIS SEMESTER, WHO MADE ME LAUGH, CRY, ANGRY, NERVOUS, BUT VERY, VERY HAPPY! My program advisor, supervisor, boss, friends, RA, Leadership cohort, TWC staff.

THANKS TO MY PARENTS AND HOME SCHOOL WHO GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE HERE.

* I hope you enjoyed this great journey as much as I did by reading this blog. If you were a TWC student this semester hope you had same or better experiences I did, if you're thinking to apply for the TWC please DON'T HESITATE just DO IT!, if you're anyone else my friend, part of my family, or a person that just passed by thank you for reading this and sharing with me this great adventure.*

See you soon!!

DiNa...

Everything went so fast and last Monday we had our COMMENCEMENT. Each one of us received his or her certificate, and we had the opportunity to hear some of our fellow interns at TWC talk about their own experiences in DC. Student Life prepared a very special video with pictures from all of us and two very talented Mexicans (Martha and Beto) with Tristine (an RA at the RAF) sang a very beautiful song along with the video.

All the Mexicans after commencement :D

On this, my 14th blog, I wanted to share with you some special people who took the time to share with you these little quotes about their experience here in D.C.

This has been the best year ever, and the TWC the best experience. Met the best people in the world. Came to know and love them. Got to know what happiness means and what can you do with it. In a week I will be missing and maybe a little bit sad but I will never forget Sunday brunches, walks in the city, museums, adventures and most of all the company. -Glorivette Aguayo, Puerto Rico

It was an amazing expereince to be in Washington, D.C. and to be part of The Washington Center. It was a great feeling to be interning at American Councils for International Education. It is a great newtworking opportunity and these contacts will definitely help me realize my dreams. I can certainly say that this program in this semster has made me a thorough professional - Prakash Jerome, India

Being part of the TWC experience has been a great journey full of professional, academic and civic development. I have maximized all my potential in areas such as public policy and the lawmaking process by interning at the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators. President Truman once said: “In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better” and that is what we are expected to do as future alumni. -Javier Torres, Puerto Rico

Being in this program helped me grow personally and as a professional;I loved every moment that I spent interning for Pyramid Atlantic and I learned about different types of art. I met a lot of interesting people that I wouldn't have met if it wasn't for this program - Sofia Contreras, Mexico

It was a great experience, both professionally and personally. I learned things I did not know and met people who made me grow in many aspects of my life. I can say that here I made very good friends.- Fanny Angeles, Mexico

For me, TWC has given me an exceptional experience that has allowed me to develop my thoughts and skills to levels that bring me closer to obtaining a position as a policy maker. I truly feel that this experience has not only complemented my learning and progress from my home institution, but it has also provided me with opportunities that do not exist outside of Washington D.C. - Evan J. Ross Morrison, USA

PD. thanks to all this persons who shared with me their TWC impressions :D

The end is approaching, and I’m very excited to begin the journey that is about to come, for both the holidays and getting back home. I’m also a bit sad because I’m going to miss everyone and everything here.  All the new things we experienced, what we do day by day, living near friends, shopping, museums, networking, etc. etc.

These days have been driving us CRAZY! Everyone has been working on final projects for classes, the portfolio, last days at internship sites, last events, and as if it wasn’t enough, wanting to visit EVERYTHING that we’ve missed, buy all things we haven’t bought, and spend time with people that we’re not seeing soon after our program ends.

One of the most important advice I can give you is DON’T LEAVE EVERYTHING TO THE LAST DAYS!, homework, visit places, buy things everything can be done during the time you’re here not until the end!

Christmas is here and the city looks beautiful! If you have time I will say that it is worth it to go around (with tons of clothes to beat the cold obviously), but walk around the National Mall, Alexandria, the National Tree, Georgetown, National Harbor, it looks beautiful with all this magic lights and Christimas’ decorations.

Beautiful view of the National Christmas Tree

We even had a picture with Santa! :D

Outside the W Hotel

Christmas Tree at the Library of Congress

Everyone says they have the best internship site, but I’m sure that's because each one has its own things to appreciate even when sometimes we don’t have that much fun.

What many people look for from their internship is either to have a job offer (which is a bit difficult) or fun and flexible schedules, but some people even get to TRAVEL with their organization.

And guess what!!

Each year the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce (where I do my internship, as you’ve might noticed before) has a Binational Meeting in Mexico City. The meeting is all organized by the central office where I work.

The fun began 2 months ago when we began planning everything and making speaker’s invitations, confirmation phone calls, sponsorship invitations and invitations for everyone to attend. And finally the 30th of November got here and we flew to MEXICO CITY!!!

My fellow intern, Victor and I had the opportunity to go to Mexico City and help in the organization of the conference. We had a great experience we got to meet people from Mexico and the US, the Chamber's members, government people, businessmen, etc.

We ate Mexican food and heard the speakers, but the most important part was that we learned a lot about organizing events, different perspectives from US and Mexican people, teamwork, etc.

It was truly a very cool experience!!!

We took some pictures at the event, and here they are:

Thanksgiving is a very American tradition. The tradition started with the harvest celebration of the pilgrims and the Native Americans that took place in 1621 and President Lincoln was the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day as a federal holiday.

Now-a-days the celebration is done to offer thanks for what we experienced during the year and to share with family and friends.

In Mexico, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, even though this year as we’re trying to have our whole US experience, we did.

For Thanksgiving celebrations we had several days off, and many people from the RAF decided to take advantage of these days off and travel, people  that live nearby went back home, others went around to New York, Boston, Niagara Falls, etc.

To have the whole Thanksgiving celebration, we decided we needed to make a dinner, so we did.

Since some of my friends were traveling to New York I had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with them. We had turkey, vegetables, sweet potatoes and also PUMPKIN PIE! Everything was really DELICIOUS!!!

Our Thanksgiving dinner, (Paola, Gerardo, me, Beto, Sofia, Glori, Mariana and Rodrigo)

Delicious food!!

On Thursday 24th (Thanksgiving Day) everything was closed, even Harris Teeter (our supermarket) closed at noon!

While some of my friends were traveling, we just tried to avoid the crowded places all around and stayed in DC.

So guess what!! We organized ANOTHER Thanksgiving dinner! This was a little bit different. We joined and asked for dishes each one of us could prepare. We had food from China, Brazil, Mexico, and the US. It was delicious and we had a very fun time.

Some of the dinner organizers (Juan Pablo, Raquel, me, Liz and Maria José)

Spaghetti, Enchiladas, Lasagna, Chicken, mmm!!!

Turkey couldn't be missing! MMM!!!

Some people at the dinner... (our blogger friend Gamal was also there!!)

Thanksgiving made me think about all the opportunities I have, and the ones I don’t, good and not that good things I’ve experienced that made me grow and be where I’m today.

We need to thank all the people, God (if you believe or not), life and all things that make it possible.

Well, so here we are, with just one month left in DC!

Too many adventures have been going on, too many places visited, and events attended, plus work at our placements, shopping, meeting people and much more.

Now the countdown begins, and even though I don’t want to think about it, planning is important because we need to complete all things that are missing, including work and assignments.

Networking events

Great things have been occurring so far, and the networking events are great! You get to meet many people that in the future could help you. I went to the Global Entrepreneurship Week kick off at Georgetown University. What an amazing school, and obviously it was a great event, too, where I met people with their own business ideas and learned how they were working with them. Also, my coworker Vanessa invited me to a happy hour in the British embassy that the Young Trade Professionals hosted it, and it was very interesting because we met young people who are working in the commerce and trade areas all around: for example the Inter American Development Bank, different embassies, foreign policy organizations, etc.

Georgetown field

The White House

Have you ever thought about what’s the most important thing you would like to do if you got to live in DC?

Well one of the things I truly wanted to do while my time here was visit the White House, and we did it!!

Alma and Ginna, our Puerto Rican friends helped us get an appointment to visit THE WHITE HOUSE! Clearly a great opportunity!

Outside the White House (unfortunately, they don’t let you take pictures inside)

Great Falls Park

Last weekend, the RA Michael Shell organized a trip to the Great Falls in Virginia. What an amazing view and place! You get to see the Great Falls of the Potomac River combined with the mountains and the fall beauty. You can go around in a bike, walk, rent a boat or hike. Here are some pictures of a new place you MUST visit if you come to DC.

Great Falls Park

Rodrigo and Beto

Up in the mountain of rocks, amazing view!!

Potomac River

Work place?

Do you imagine having this view from your office?

Well, this is the view from the National Gallery of Art CEO's office. Isn't it amazing?

Guess why do I have this picture!

Have no clue?

Well my class professor took us to the National Gallery, and she made an appointment with the person in charge of the Development Office. The professor explained a lot about the Gallery, including how they fund it, and also she took us to the CEO's office, where I got this picture :D

We are getting so used to DC and we now know well how to do things here, that we easily find TONS of things to do and so little time.

Have you ever gone ice skating?

Last weekend we went ice skating. Here in DC there are several places where you can go, but the one I liked the most is Silver Spring, MD. This place is in Maryland, but you can go by Metro in the Red Line towards Glenmont. Here they have many shops, places to eat, movie theatres including the AFI one, and the ice rink. We went last weekend and it was so much fun. We paid 12 dollars for around 2 hours of ice skating and they gave us a coupon for free Hot Chocolate--a great deal, no?

Gerardo, Javier, Carlos, Fanny and me ice skating

I love diversity!

Here at TWC you find people from all around the world, we’ve been hanging out with Glory and Javier, they are from Puerto Rico and they teach and made for us some delicious Puerto Rican plates.

Also, we gathered with Prakash and Githin (they are from India) made some Indian food for us.

Prakash and Githin preparing the pork curry

Mexican, Indian, American, all together :D

P

Paola, Sofia and I eating Indian food in the Indian style :D

Obviously we did some Mexican food also!

Guess what!!

The interview

Well, do you remember the interview we need to make for our program, as I told you before I was wishing to speak with the Mexican ambassador at the Organization of the American States (OAS), Mr. Joel Hernández. After all my insistence, finally I got it!!! And well, I went to his office and I interviewed him.

It was really interesting to know about their work in the OAS, and how we can be part of this “Mexican Mission” as they call it. I even recorded a video with a message for the Mexican youth.

Mr. Joel Hernández, during the interview

And places never end here,

This weekend we visited the so famous Library of Congress. Did you knew this is connected with the Capitol by different tunnels?

We also went to the so mysterious Smithsonian Castle

And here is a picture of the capitol, and look at the beautiful fall view:

On Saturday, we went to see the exhibition of the "Photo DC week" and a Graffiti exhibition.

Sofia at the Graffiti exhibition

If you're wondering how we found all of this places and events, well is just a matter of getting in Google and asking "events in DC" haha there are many different web pages you can see depending on what you're looking for, but they are SO USEFUL!!

Well, for me and for many people here at the TWC getting to November is not so good news :(. We have just 1 month and a half left to enjoy DC, finish visiting all places around and near the city, finish our projects, attend to all the happy hours, hearings, briefings, and events we can, as well as getting along with the hard work at our placements, because so far the people I’ve talked to we’re getting busier than before since supervisors and bosses are now more confident with our work.

Last weekend we had our first “snowfall” in DC, I’m sure people from Russia, Canada, and the north states are thinking that what we had was NOTHING! But for me, even though I had already seen the snow back home, it was too much cold and great being outside and seeing the little snow falling.

Snow on the cars outside the RAF!!

Halloween

And for now, maybe you’re thinking: “Well Dina, you’re in the US, WHAT ABOUT HALLOWEEN?” haha

As we all know, Halloween is a holiday where everyone wants to go out! Well this year wasn’t the exception, so we did! Some people bought costumes, and other ones just made their own, but at the end everyone had the same goal HAVE FUN!

Despite the rules at the RAF, many people made parties at their apartments (a bad idea because many of them got scolded), but the fun part was that you could saw all sorts of costumes around.

Alma, Ginna, Carolina, Sofia and I with our costumes :D

Gerardo had an AWESOME makeup on his face!

On Monday, we went to Georgetown, a very popular place to go on Halloween. It was very crowded, and we saw many people around in their costumes. We ate at Serendipity (you should try it), even though it is a little bit expensive. It is delicious, and what I recommend the most is to try any sundae (the one I liked the most was the Strawberry Cheesecake yummy!!).

Halloween day!!! Everyone in costumes :D heading to Georgetown

Sofia and Fanny with their "Frozen Hot Chocolate" yummy!

Paola and I with a big skull in the street at Georgetown

Dia de Muertos

Mexico has this really important tradition named: “Dia de Muertos”, which is celebrated on Nov. 2nd. Many people think that is our “Halloween”, but is a day when we celebrate all our people that passed away. To celebrate and remember them, we put up what is called “altares de muerto” where we put our beloved ones’ favorite food and drinks, pictures, clothes, things, etc. We eat also “Pan de Muerto” which is sugar bread with a very special and delicious taste.

The Mexican Cultural Institute has a really good exposition about this, so if you’re in DC, I recommend you to go and learn more about this Mexican tradition!

Here are some pictures of my visit:

"Pan de Muerto"

Raquel and I in the "altares de muertos" they have in the exposition

So much fun this weekend, no? Hope you had a great Halloween too!

This weekend I went to 2 places you (SHOULD!) go when you come to DC…

Old Town Alexandria

Alexandria is a town near D.C. in Virginia. If has a very vintage feel--it's old, but modern-fashioned. I don’t know how to describe it, but you feel very good when you’re there. We got to experience the colors and climate of autumn, with its own flavors (PUMPKIN! Haha). They have very good stores to

shop at, but also they have different restaurants, bars, coffee, ice cream, and candies. Yummy!!

To get there, you need to take the Metro to the station named "King Street," and then you can walk all along that street and to find many exciting things

Walking around Old town Alexandria

At night...

My favorite chocolate.. in HUGE size :D yummy!!!

Raquel with her delicious Thai food

Baltimore

The next day, we went to Baltimore. It is also an awesome place to visit, and it's very different because it has many modern places. The best part of it is that it has a harbor where they have all sizes and types of ships, many shops and fancy restaurants. They have an amazing aquarium (it's a bit expensive, but worth it).

Baltimore is a little bit far, and you may need to take either the train (from Union Station) or a bus (we have Greyhound buses a block from the RAF) to get there. We went by bus because is cheaper, and it took us around 45 mins to get there.

Inner Harbor @Baltimore

More Inner Harbor

Good restaurants and bars

Beautiful view at night

And more night :D

The advice is... Enjoy EVERY moment, discover new places and do an exciting thing each weekend... we just have 15 in DC!!

(All pictures by Sofia Contreras)

When you have about a month and a half in the same place, working and studying during the week, you may get in the “routine”; but obviously when you’re in a different country, a different city and with TOO much to get advantage of you don’t have time to be in the routine.

Last week I had one of the most exciting tasks in the intern’s world haha. As I told you I’m interning at the US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, and as part of our work we have to write white papers about different bilateral issues. These white papers are for members of the chamber, people that might require them, congressmen and senators, etc.

The chamber is responsible for delivering the white papers to everyone. In order to accomplish this we went to the House of Representatives, and guess what!! We went to each one of the offices to hand in the papers. It was an incredible experience, we saw all sorts of things in the offices. All of them are decorated as the staff and the members want, and they have many things depending on their preferences. I saw football jerseys on the walls, a big crocodile head(!), candies and food. They have 3 big cafeterias and everything is connected inside by tunnels: the Capitol, the 3 office buildings and the Library of Congress!

It was awesome having the opportunity to walk around the Hill, meeting all these important people, and seeing how they work there.

House of Representatives, there are 3 office buildings that are connected in the inside!!

Last Friday, we also had the International Fair. It was a great experience; every country represented here had the opportunity to show the best things of their country: music, videos, pictures, FOOD(!), things, costumes, etc. Mexico had a great table for it. We made many things to share and eat, and we had a video and 3 different acts for the talent show! As well as Mexico, all the other countries did great!! We had the opportunity to go around the world in 3 hours with all the food we tasted, each country’s table, talent and fashion show.

Here I share some pictures with you!!

Puerto Rico - 1st place in Food Contest

India

Ethiopia

Belgium

Puerto Rico, Mexico, Russia, South Korea

MEXICO!!! :) best team ever!

Here is a video of the song Mexico performed for the talent show :)

ENJOY!! :D