Well here we go, folks; it looks like we're coming to the end of the line. I'm finally back in New Hampshire enjoying the 75 degree weather, cool breeze, and the lush greenery that surounds me, but at the same time I'm missing DC terribly. I apologize to some of my more diligent readers for how late this blog is, but with all the craziness of moving out it took me a while to get back to blogging and I have only now just had some time to sit down and complete this final farewell. Hopefully this recess has given me enough time to properly reflect on my experience at The Washington Center enough to write a thoughtful post about it. 

 

Like I've mentioned in earlier posts, I think The Washington Center's biggest accomplishment is its ability to identify the specific characteristics within their students that are conducive to leadership and to bring these people all together under one roof. Granted, if one is able to withstand some of the absurd regulations the RAF staff enforces such as a maximum occupancy limit of 8 people to an apartment (which happens to be a smaller limit than my freshman year dorm room), you will find that the caliber of people in this program is remarkably high. And this does not mean that these people are "nerds" or "geeks" by any means, because you don't simply become a Washington Center student by having good grades. The Washington Center places great emphasis on leadership, so to have a successful experience at The Washington Center you must have the qualities of a leader, which often include the ability to converse and connect with people in an environment that may be out of your comfort zone. This gave way to a fantastic environment in my experience, as everyone was not only motivated, intelligent, and ambitious, but they were also amicable, funny, outgoing, and witty, and this combination has made for one of the best experiences of my life. Put simply, if you choose to be a Washington Center intern (which I strongly encourage doing), you will quickly learn that is not only the TWC portfolio, Monday programming, or the Leadership Forum that are of any worth, but the connections that you make with the future leaders of industry, business, and politics that will ultimately be beneficial to your future. These people with whom you'll establish incredible friendships comprise The Washington Center, and it is ultimately the interns that make The Washington Center a fantastic experience.

 

Obviously the internship is also a huge factor in deciding whether or not to attend The Washington Center, but unfortunately I cannot speak generally about the internship aspect of TWC because it varies greatly depending on the internship. I had some friends at The Washington Center who sat at their desk all day doing nothing, some who dropped boxes on the Chairwoman of the DNC, some who did research on how to renew a privileged trade status agreement with Africa, and some who, like me, while not intellectually stimulated, were able to meet the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Robert Kagan, or General Karimi of the Afghan National Army. Each internship is going to be different and unfortunately there's really no way of being sure how it's going to turn out, but luckily TWC can help you change internships if that step becomes necessary. In any case, you are bound to learn something from the experience regardless of whether you decide to pursue a career in the field of your internship or not. As for me, while I cannot say that I was intellectually challenged at my internship, the experience was absolutely instrumental in my professional development, as I was in constant contact with high ranking officials from the NESA region and thus had to always maintain a professional disposition. I was also fortunate to hear things that I literally cannot repeat, and that in itself is really cool! From what I've heard from fellow interns, each internship is bound to have its ups and downs; the important thing is how you deal with them. Even if you dislike certain aspects of your internship, you would never have known that unless you were exposed to it. The internship experience isn't just to see how the job works and what you like about it, but it helps in finding out what you dislike in a job, which can be very helpful in a job search. Anyway, enough of my babbling; here are some of the pictures from my final weeks in DC.

 

 

Chillin' in front of the Indian Embassy

 

The Cosmos Club

 

All the NESA interns in front of the Ghandi statue

 

Basielle (Belgium) and Loris (Mexico) in front of the infamous Ben's Chili Bowl

 

Diggin' into some chili dog. It's just too good.

 

The gang all assembled in front of the Capitol for some good ol' American kickball

 

 

Team Awesome, preparing to be defeated by Team Suck. Hey, I didn't choose the names.

 

Team Awesome, being tough.

 

 

The gang after a tiring day of Capitol picnicking, kickballin' and fun-havin'

 

 

Court and me, in front of the Nationals stadium. Because the Nats are somewhat new and haven't really established a solid fan base (any possibly because they're not very good), they do tons of ticket promotions throughout the month. On this day we got our tickets for like 10 bucks, but I just got an e-mail last week about a "Two Dollar Tuesday" deal, so if you ever go to DC be sure to check them out. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but it's a sweet experience nonetheless.

 

 

 

Presidential Race...

 

Clo, being silly

 

 

 

Intern farewell dinner with Terese, our NESA supervisor!

 

And the journey finally ends... the gang after commencement

 

Well, it looks like that's all she wrote... I want to thank everyone who kept up with the blog throughout the semester; I'm sure it was a chore, but I try to keep it as informative and lighthearted as possible so I hope it was bearable. As for me, I still have another year of school left, but I have no doubt that my experience at The Washington Center will only help me when I make my way back to the nation's capital once I graduate. Suffice it to say, I think it already has, as my internship this summer, Pax World Management, seemed pleased with the fact that I had already spent time in a professional environment. Although I will be doing wildly different work (ESG research in particular) and actually getting paid for it, I am absolutely thrilled to start and I have no doubts that the skills I honed while at The Washington Center will only assist me at my internship this summer.

 

In closing, let me just reemphasize that everything about my time at The Washington Center was maturing and unimaginably beneficial to my being in every possible way. My internship helped me develop professionally, while actually using what I have learned in school; my class opened my eyes to brand new concepts; and every experience I had in DC I can attribute to my personal development. While at TWC I grew in all these ways, but most importantly, I grew tremendously as a person, which is something that you cannot put a price tag on. That being said, I can honestly say that choosing to attend The Washington Center was the best decision of my life, and a memory that I will hold dearly for the rest of my life. I am deeply saddened to leave The Washington Center, my friends, and my internship, but I am also extremely excited to see what the world has in store for us. Lastly, I hope this blog was at least enjoyable and has given some insight into what a TWC intern does, even though at times I'm not sure there is a single "right" answer to that question.

 

Until we meet again, friends.

 

Farewell.

So there's obviously tons of fun stuff to do in DC and what's great about being in the nation's capital is that about half of that fun stuff is free because it's a part of the Smithsonian Institution. I've actually only been to a handful of museums during my time here, which I'm going to have to make up for during these last few weeks in Washington, but this past weekend a couple of my friends and I decided to drive (yes, drive, which I haven't done in months) out to to the Smithsonian National Zoo way up in the northeast part of town. Since all the Smithsonian Institutions have free entry, you should make sure to go to as many as possible if you ever end up in DC. I'm not a biology major, so I can't remember all the technical names for these animals but it was a cool experience nonetheless, especially since I haven't been to a zoo for at least a decade. Anyway, I'll let the pictures do the talking for this blog.

 

 

Boom. These guys mean business.

 

Hangin' with the bros

 

An anteater.

 

 

 

Mufasa, killin' it

 

Simba

 

 

 

Shere Khan, keeping his eye out for Mowgli

 

 

Speaking of alligators, I actually had some alligator the other night at a restaurant on H street (about two blocks from the RAF) called TruOrleans. Gator has an interesting taste... it kind of tastes like chicken, but because they spend so much time in the water it kind of tastes a bit like seafood. Also, on Thursdays TruOrleans has live music and when we went it happened to be a sweet three piece Stevie Wonder cover band that played all night.

 

Komodo!

 

A little coral. These guys are awesome.

 

 

A very large starfish

 

A "giant" squid

 

Ugh. Madagascan Cockroaches...

 

I think these are horseshoe crabs...

 

The gang (minus Kenny) outside the mini aquarium

 

 

This is the elephant area, which was my favorite part of the zoo, particularly because the whole time we were there I couldn't help thinking I was in Jurassic Park because of all the big cages and the fencing. The area itself, called Elephant Trails, is only in it's first phase, but the zoo is well on it's way to expanding the elephant exhibit to it's second phase, which will make it more than three times the size of the current exhibit. Unfortunately this won't be done until 2013, so maybe some of you future Washington Center students will have a chance to see it!

 

 

 

 

 

This guy must feel like a million bucks compared to the last bird.

 

 

And that's all I have for zoo pictures. Afterwards we decided to cap the day off with a trip to Busboys and Poets, which has got to be my favorite restaurant in DC. There are four locations in DC and the first time we went was actually with my internship. During our first seminar, our course professor (Tyler Rauert, JD) decided to take all our participants there for dinner and was even able to snag the founder of the restaurant, Andy Shallal, as a speaker. Andy is an Iraqi-American who has been heavily involved in the peace movement in America, and his restaurants are way for him to share this vision. They have fantastic food (I recommend the grilled chicken panini) open mic nights for poetry and music, independent political film screenings, and just a great atmosphere in general. It comes highly recommended and I'd say it's a must for an DC visit.

 

 

So that's all I have for now for pictures. On a separate note however, the reality is finally setting in that we are leaving soon, which is a real hard pill to swallow... This experience has been amazing and it's such a shame that it has gone by so fast. In only three short weeks, we will all be heading back to our respective homes, but I have a good feeling that I will see most of these people again. While The Washington Center may have its flaws, it has brought all of these motivated, ambitious individuals together under one roof and helped to foster friendships and connections that I'm sure will last a lifetime. Because of this I am eternally grateful to The Washington Center, because this experience would be remarkably different without this caliber of individuals here. Needless to say, I'm excited to see what the world has in store for us.

 

Until next time, folks.

So I generally like to keep a cohesive theme in my blogs, but during my time in DC I've accumulated a lot of pictures that are cool but just completely unrelated to each other. I figured I couldn't keep them to myself so I hope you all enjoy!

 

 

 

Near the beginning of the semester some RAs in the RAF held a celebration for Black History Month downstairs where many students performed songs, poems and stories. Kenny, Eric, and I covered songs by the late Whitney Houston and the Four Tops, while our friend Jasmine (in the middle) recited "The Highwayman" almost all by memory.

 

 

 

 

 

National Air and Space Museum

 

The roomies having some of Eric's delicious chicken parm. We've tried to make it a ritual.

 

 

 

Photo cred goes to Courtney for these pictures of white cherry blossoms on the Capitol grounds

 

 

 

The Meditation Hut outside the Capitol

 

 

View of the Capitol from the National Mall at dusk

 

Zorba's! This is a great Greek place right near Dupont Circle which has fantastic gryos and an awesome atmosphere. There's a sweet patio that's great for nice, spring days and a really interesting selection of Greek beer.

 

At the Cato Institute for "Obama in the Supreme Court" , an event discussing the constitutionality and economic repercussions of Obamacare. Being a very prominent libertarian think tank, they obviously see Obamacare as an unconstitutional and illegitimate expansion of federal power. While personally I think their argument against its constitutionality is dubious and somewhat subjective considering their ideological leanings, Jagadeesh Gokhale presented a very compelling economic argument against it, citing fourfold increases in health care costs in select states as the new program expands the eligibility base for Medicaid. Obviously it's just one opinion, but it was definitely an interesting viewpoint so feel free to check out the whole event if you please.

 

 

Some more cherry blossoms on our way to the Capitol Hill tour

 

 

Not the best time to be in the middle of the street. In Van Ness.

 

There will probably be another one of these blogs full of random pictures at the end of the semester because I've taken a lot of good pictures that unfortunately don't exactly fit nicely into a themed blog. Until next time!

One of the coolest things about being in D.C. is seeing and being able to visit all the embassies in town. The Washington Center schedules a visit to both the Israeli and Palestinian embassies for students in the International Affairs program, but luckily for me I have the opportunity to do this with NESA, as well as TWC, as NESA puts high importance on maintaining relationships with the nations that participate in our programs. Visiting with NESA is great because it's only the few interns that go to the embassy, which obviously makes the discussion a little more intimate. During our visits we have actually been able to sit down with the deputy chief of mission of each embassy, which is the position right beneath the ambassador. So far, we've been to the Sri Lankan, Jordanian, and Israeli embassies, although we have stumbled across dozens during our adventures around D.C. Enjoy!

 

Embassy of Sri Lanka

The exterior of the Sri Lankan embassy

 

NESA interns outside the embassy

 

 

As one can see, the inside of the Sri Lankan embassy is a quaint, renovated old town house.

 

NESA interns inside the Sri Lankan embassy.

 

After our meeting with the deputy chief of mission, the Sri Lankan ambassador came out to greet us!

 

Embassy of Jordan

 

 

 

The exterior of the Jordanian embassy

In contrast to the Sri Lankan embassy, one can see that the Jordanian embassy is NOT a quaint little townhouse. While this has much to do with the wealth of the country itself, the size of the embassy can also be indicative of the diplomatic relationship our two countries share.

 

 

Conference room

Talking with the deputy chief of mission who went to UNH School of Law!

 

 

NESA interns with Jordanian deputy chief of mission

The embassies of Jordan and Israel are both located on International Drive in Van Ness, which is also home to many other embassies so I snapped a couple of pictures of those as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Embassy of the People's Republic of China

 

Embassy of Ethiopia

 

Embassy of Senegal

As one can see by these pictures, embassies come in all shapes and sizes, which (like I said earlier) is a product of funding, as well as the nature and strategic importance of the relationship between the two countries. While I'm sure our relationship with Senegal is great, I'm sure the State Dept. doesn't lose too much sleep over a hump in our trade relations.

 

Embassy visits are an absolutely invaluable experience so if you ever get the chance to visit one I would highly suggest doing so. We were able to talk one-on-one with the embassy officials and get a real sense of how relations are with the U.S., but also how they view their own economic and national security interests as they pertain to their particular region, which (if you're a nerd like me) is super intriguing. Also, if you plan on attending The Washington Center and are an international student it's almost imperative to visit your embassy, especially when it's time for the International Festival here at the RAF, as they will help you acquire the necessary items for the festival. If you haven't heard about The Washington Center's International Festival, be sure to check out Kaitlyn's blog about it, or the pictures on The Washington Center's Facebook, as it was by far the most (and only) fun event TWC has put on. My roommate, Shaurya, represented India by cooking a feast of delicious Indian cuisine which subsequently earned him the "Best Food" award at the festival that had dozens of countries competing.

 

Shaurya in his native garb for the International Festival before he officially became the best cook in the RAF. And look at that gem of a smile!

 

Some of my more observant readers may have noticed that earlier I had mentioned that we visited the Israeli embassy with TWC, yet have failed to produce the photographic evidence to prove that. Well, I actually tried to take a picture of the embassy of Israel but security was not so keen on that, so I was consequently stopped by a guard and asked to delete my photo. So unless I want Mossad coming after me, I probably shouldn't post the picture, but if you're really curious as to what it looks like you can probably just Google it (I'll give you a heads up now and just say that it looks strikingly similar to every other embassy on International Drive)

 

Anyway, that's all the embassy pictures I have for now. I just want to say thanks to the media interns at NESA for taking and uploading pictures that I had to grab from the NESA Facebook page. Be sure to check it out if you're studying international relations or if you think interning at NESA is something you would be interested in doing if you come to Washington. Also, the other NESA interns and I were invited to a musical evening at the Bangladeshi embassy this Saturday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of U.S.-Bangladesh diplomatic relations, so stay tuned for photos from that!

 

Until next time, folks

So it took me forever to get around to it, but finally (after three months of being in DC) I made my way to the Hill. One great thing about being in DC, and particularly The Washington Center, is that we have a very large Political Leadership Program. A number of the students in said program actually intern on the Hill for a Congressman/woman or Senator, and thus have easy access to the Capitol building at all times. So luckily for my friends and me, a couple of our staffer pals decided to take us on a little guided tour this past Saturday without having to wait in the rain for an hour. Oh, the benefits of connections.

 

The RAF is in area of DC called "NoMa" (North of Massachusetts Ave.) although if you say that to someone who lives in the city, half of them won't have a clue what you're talking about. The area itself is nice and is apparently a lot safer than it used to be, but it's also conveniently situated close to the Hill, so we decided just to walk there from the apartment. Before we got the Hill, though, we stopped by the Supreme Court to wait for some friends.

 

The Supreme Court

 

 

 

 

Please excuse my ridiculous face... it was bright

 

The roomies: Diego, Kenny, and me. Kenny acted as one of our tour guides for the day.

 

I'm not sure if people can go inside the Supreme Court, but if we can I'll try to get some pictures of that up at some point. However, I think the judges may have their hands full at the moment. Anyway, on to the Capitol.

 

On the Hill

The lobby of the visitors center

 

A to-scale replica of the Statue of Freedom, which sits atop the dome of the Capitol.

 

The gang all putting their foot in at the exact center of DC grid system, which "just so happens" to be the same vertical location of both the Statue of Freedom and where George Washington was supposed to be buried.

 

This is where George Washington was supposed to be buried, but he died before the completion of the Capitol building and was thus buried at his home in Mt. Vernon.

 

My boy, Sam Adams. Represent, New England!

 

So every state has to submit a couple of statues of a notable figure to the Capitol and this is one of New Hampshire's contributions. Not even going to lie; I had no idea who John Stark was before visiting the Capitol.

 

 

Old Supreme Court Chamber

 

The first Supreme Court chamber in the basement of the Capitol (read: before they got cocky and wanted their own building)

 

This is where the justices sat. Notice that there are only seven seats. The Constitution leaves it up Congress to determine how many justices should be on the Supreme Court and at this time it was deemed seven. I feel like we might run into some trouble if Congress ever determined that the Supreme Court should have an even number of justices, but hey, I'm no mathematician.

 

 

Our staffer comrades, Haley and Kenny, being fantastic tour guides.

 

The busts of our first four Chief Justices

 

Some more notable justices outside the chamber

 

 

Hopefully these gents look familiar to you

 

The old door to the Capitol. This thing literally ways a ton.

 

Old House of Representatives Chamber

 

Fun fact: The old House chamber was designed to have really good acoustics because obviously there was no other means of amplification at that time. Because of this, in certain spots you can literally hear a whisper coming from a couple hundred feet away that sounds like it's being amplified by modern technology. The best place to hear this is at the infamous "whisper spot", which is where John Quincy Adams sat during his time in the House. As the only president to ever serve in the House after his presidency, Adams was frequently spotted sleeping at his desk due to his old age (he served in the House until his death at 80), but it is rumored that he was simply pretending to be asleep while listening in on his Congressional opponents' conversations across the aisle. 

As a native Texan, I felt obligated to throw up ol' Sam Houston. As the general of the Texan Army (which defeated Mexican forces at the Battle of San Jacinto and subsequently won Texan independence), the Republic of Texas's first president, US Senator, and eventual governor of Texas, Sam Houston was one of America's greatest statesmen. Remember the Alamo!

 

The Capitol Rotunda

 

Jefferson and Washington guarding the entrance to the Rotunda

 

The original painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence which, coincidentally, did not happen like this at all.

 

De Soto..?

 

 

 

The apotheosis of Washington, flanked by the goddesses of Victory and Liberty

 

Another fun fact: The guys that painted this piece (which encircles the whole dome and is literally impossible to fully photograph with my camera) were not allowed to sign their names on their artwork like artists traditionally do. So instead, they decided to just paint their faces into their work. If you look closely at the baby's face, you can make out the beard and the wrinkles of an old man, which is the face of the first painter.

 

The second painter decided to paint himself into the picture as well. The man in the background is the profile of the second artist.

 

Ronald Reagan defeating communism

 

Fun fact: The different colored stone in between the slabs of granite is actually a piece of the Berlin Wall.

 

 

Our fearless leader, Kentrell Palmer, who I am indebted to for all these fun facts about the Capitol

 

And finally: the gang

 

I just want to say thanks to our staffers Haley, Kenny, and Lucas for a wonderful tour! Hopefully these pictures are enjoyable.

 

Until next time, folks!

Ever since our last seminar ended at NESA, the other interns and I have been spending most of our weeks going to the various think-tank events and academic seminars that DC has to offer. This however, would be entirely impossible if it wasn't for dc.linktank.com, a subscription-based website that posts tons of think-tank events and free seminars going on around the city. The topics of the seminars vary, but generally tend to be political or economic in nature and are put on mostly by think-tanks, graduate schools, political clubs, and the occasional restaurant. For anyone who wants to eventually come to DC I highly recommend subscribing to the free service, which sends out an e-mail every Sunday with a list of the coming week's events; all you need to do is RSVP in time. Just this week we've been to an event on minority groups in Syria, the economic outlook for Pakistan, multiple events concerning Iran's accusation of a nuclear weapon, and the Arab Spring, just to name a few. These events are great for networking and meeting new people, and the speakers in my experience have always been very willing to speak with people afterwards and are practically passing out business cards at the end of the events. However, there are a couple things one should watch out for when looking for events to go to, as a few simple pointers could go a long way.

 

Event Tips

While the list of events on DC.linktank is comprehensive and covers a wide range of issues, it’s very important to check out the institution that is actually putting the event on. For think-tanks in D.C., putting on events is their sole job, so when you come across the likes of the Carnegie Endowment, Brookings Institute, Heritage Foundation, the Middle East Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, and other think-tanks, you can be reasonably sure that it’s going to be well organized and well executed. Conversely, many of the graduate schools in the area put on events too ( John Hopkins School of Advanced International Service (SAIS) and Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service most frequently), which, while they may be covering an interesting topic, are simply not as experienced with putting on events as the local thinks tanks. This is not to say that all events put on by the grad schools are bad, but in my experience, events put on by think-tanks are more interesting, better organized, and tend to have better speakers. This is no fault of the grad schools either; the speakers at graduate school events tend to be PhD candidates undergoing a mandatory research session for their dissertation, or a professor lecturing on a favorite topic. The difference is in the presentation, as think-tank events generally unfold in the manner of a robust discussion between a group of expert panelists, whereas a grad school event generally takes the form of a university lecture. The moral of the story here is that you should research the organization putting the event on before you decide to take the couple hours off from work to go to a lackluster event. I write this not to discourage against attending any grad school events as there are some positives, for instance the audience there is usually a younger, college-aged crowd, which makes the environment less intimidating for asking questions, but as with many things, there are trade-offs to both; I simply want people to be cognizant of the differences in quality.

 

It’s also very important to network at these events. As anyone will tell you in DC, networking is extremely important for making contacts and eventually finding a job, because as true as it is in real life that "it's not what you know, it's who you know", this is even truer in DC. The people attending these events are often going for the same reason you are: to hear an stimulating conversation about an important issue and to meet other people who share these similar interests. The Washington Center provides its students with business cards and optional weekday workshops on networking, so be sure to take advantage of these resources and opportunities available to you, go to events, and most importantly, be sociable, as seminars are a great way to meet people and make connections.

 

Finally, while these events and conferences are definitely stimulating, one of the best parts is the food. I'm pretty sure that if you played your cards right you could go weeks without grocery shopping with all the free food at these events. You will find pretty quickly that it is generally the well funded think-tanks that have the best food, with Brookings Institute, the Heritage Center, and the Carnegie Endowment all contending for first place in my opinion. They mostly serve sandwiches and wraps, with the occasional ethnic speciality, but they are often catered (Brookings often has Starbucks products) and everyone knows that nothing is more delicious than free food. Personally, I haven't packed myself a lunch in over a month, which should be a testament to how serious these eats are. Anyway, here are some pictures from the events the gang has gone to thus far.

 

 

Outside the Heritage Foundation after an event with James P. Farwell, author of "The Pakistan Cauldron"

 

 

 

Not sure if you can tell, but that's the back of Hillary Clinton. I apologize for the unimpressive angle, but we barely caught her coming of the stairwell on her way to a House Committee on Foreign Affairs session regarding sanctions on Syria. Needless to say, we were unable to get in.

 

 

 

 

My homeboy, the Majesty of Law

 

 

These past couple pictures are outside the Rayburn Building which is right across the street from the Capitol. It is the largest congressional office building and if you end up interning for a congressman, there is a good chance you could end up seeing a lot of this building. Unfortunately for us, Secretary Clinton's address to the House Committee was advertised on linktanks and consequently the small room reached capacity before we were able to get inside.

 

 

View of the Capitol from the Rayburn Building

 

 

 

Ambassador Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Permanent Observer to the UN, addressed a crowd at the Carnegie Endowment (although the event itself was organized by MEI) about his recent efforts in trying to attain statehood status from the United Nations, an action that the US, as one of the permanent five of the UN Security Council, has indicated it would ultimately veto. He gave a very compelling argument in favor of UN recognition of the Palestinian state, stating that over 130 of the 193 member states of the UN General Assembly have recognized a legitimate Palestinian state, a feat that many countries have not succeeded in when declaring legitimacy. Also, to my delight, the satirical stylings of John Stewart and John Oliver were able to address the Palestinian statehood situation as the Daily Show got a hold of him later on in the week.

 

 

 

National Press Club event on humanitarian issues in Afghanistan

 

 

Paul Ross of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) spoke about the future economic outlook for Pakistan at Carnegie

 

 

The Bipartisan Policy Center held an event regarding the presidential primary system and democracy

 

 

Lobby of the Inter-American Development Bank. I suggest looking into this organization if you are at all interested in Latin America, and international development in the region in particular.

 

 

Many of the think-tanks are around Dupont Circle, so Clint and I often hang there after events. The fountain isn't flowing yet, but it can only a matter of time considering how unseasonably warm it has been here. And if you're lucky, on a good day you can catch this guy killin' it on the sax.

 

 

 

Robert Kagan engaged in a discussion about the importance of the US military in the world

 

 

Robert Kagan clearly not interested in taking a picture with me.

 

For those that don't know, Robert Kagan is a prominent neo-conservative, as well as the foreign policy advisor for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, although his new book, "The World America Made" is influencing both Republicans and Democrats alike, as President Obama has stated recently that he has been influenced by some of Kagan's ideas. I haven't read the book myself, but the panel at the American Enterprise Institute seemed to really enjoy it, so check it out if you get the chance.

 

Anyway, that's all I have for this week's post. Until next time folks.

So I know I said that I was done talking about the SES, but I found a couple more pictures from it that I figured I had to share. What can I say; I guess I’m just a liar. I also said that there were only a few things that were different from the last seminar and, while that’s true, I totally blanked about one of our nighttime events that took place at the St. Regents Hotel. At the end of the first week of seminar, NESA held a dinner in honor of the recipient of the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award, which this year went to General Sher Mohhamed Karimi (Chief of General Staff of the Afghan Army) who originally went through a Executive Seminar program at NESA in 2002. The Distinguished Alumni Award goes to a participant who has completed one of NESA's programs in the past and is an individual who best demonstrates "the qualities of professionalism and service that NESA participants seek to emulate" and has a "record of distinguished service in academia, government or humanitarian organizations that directly contributes to improvements in regional security". The dinner was superb and the St. Regents was a really nice venue, so I figured I'd post a couple pictures of the event. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of the event once it was underway, but just imagine a bunch of well dressed government officials in these seats and you'll get the picture.

 

 

 

 

The girls slacking

At our farewell luncheon talking with the Israeli participant about Israel's policy regarding Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapon, a real hot topic this seminar.

 

 

Two of our Afghani participants. Their English wasn't great, but luckily Sayya speaks Farsi so she was able to communicate with them easily.

 

And that's all I have for the SES seminar... for real this time.

 

Presidents Day:

I also said that since I finally have some time off from NESA I'm going to be able to spend more time exploring the city, and this started in earnest last weekend during Presidents Day. Some of the gang decided to head out to our friend Diego's place in Alexandria, which is about a 35 minute metro ride from the RAF. He wasn't able to get housing at the RAF, but luckily The Washington Center was very fastidious about setting him in an awesome apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. We spent the night out there and the next morning went exploring in Alexandria, and particularly King Street, which is just a fantastic area of town. We ended up running into a Presidents Day parade, which, because George Washington's Mount Vernon is located in Alexandria, was pretty much all in honor of our first president. Of course, after spending a lot of time in our seminar with Dr. Michael Yaffe, an avid George Washington enthusiast, much of the information was old news to me, but the parade itself was still really great, as was the weather that day.

 

 

These guys were awesome. They were part of a community organization responsible for restoring old military vehicles, and this particular piece happened to be a WWII-era Jeep apparently used in Europe judging by the captured Nazi flags on the front of their vehicle. The driver also appeared to be waving around a bottle of whiskey, which I can only hope was full of apple juice or something a little less lethal. Either way, this organization's whole procession was really cool.

Abe also made an appearance, along with his younger, less stylish companion

 

Kenny being.

 

After the parade we decided to just walk around King Street, which ended up taking all day because there was so much cool stuff around. Kenny and I spent some time in a cool little used book store called the Book Bank (not to be confused with Hooray for Books! across the street, which, to our dismay, appeals only to a age 12-and-under demographic), which was on 15th and King and had a decent selection and very reasonable prices. I picked up a barely used copy of Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan for about $8 and started reading it a couple days ago and it's a great read for anyone who, like me, is incapable of understanding anything involving math, graphs, and things not related to words. It's really easy to read so I would recommend it if you're even remotely interested in economic theory but can't seem to handle certain technicalities inherent in the discipline.

 

We also stumbled upon the John Crouch Tobacconist shop, where Kenny and I invested in some delicious smelling tobacco and some pipes for about 20 bucks each. There are also a ton of cool and inexpensive restaurants once you get closer to the waterfront. The kindly gentleman at the tobacconist shop suggested Jake's of Old Town, but we somehow got sidetracked by the allure of Bugsy's Pizza, which turned out to be a really sweet sports (and by sports, I mean hockey) bar, with mediocre service, less than mediocre food, but overall a really cool atmosphere, especially if you like hockey. Personally, I haven't seen a Bruins game since I left New England, so I'll definitely be going back come playoffs; plus you can smoke in there. Oh, and word to the wise: don't order the chicken fingers.

 

After we ate we went down to the pier where Kenny reprimanded certain members of the seagull community (I won't name names) while we sat around and talked to the multitude of affable pets and pet owners who were taking advantage of the unseasonably warm day. All in all, it was a very Dr. Dolittle-esque afternoon, but nevertheless; if you do get the chance to come to D.C., I would definitely recommend spending time on King Street. There's a ton of stuff to do, it's inexpensive, and there's even a free trolley system that travels the length of King Street if you're not in the mood for walking. Granted, any situation is contingent upon having good friends to share in your bliss, and luckily for me we've made a nice little group here in DC. Hopefully those of you future TWC students will be able to share the same experience.

 

 

 

 

Oh, and kudos to Courtney for the pictures of Alexandria. I forgot my camera, yet again, and she was smart enough to pick up a disposable camera along the way. Good call, Courtney.

 

Until next time

So after more than a month of back-to-back seminars at the NESA Center, my fellow interns and I finally have a nice break off. It seems to me that a lot of interns here at the Washington Center have an internship that requires a moderate amount of work on a daily basis but, for those future TWC kids out there reading this, this is not the case at the NESA Center. What's really unique about working at NESA is that when seminar is in session you will be working a minimum of 11-hour days for two weeks straight (unlike, say, my roommates who work 40-hour weeks and no weekends), but the experience is absolutely invaluable if you take advantage of it. When there is no seminar in session however, there isn't a whole lot for us to do except to catch up on the ludicrous amount of TWC work that has amassed over the past couple of weeks that I have been occupied with NESA work. On the plus side though, the other interns and I do get a lot of time to go to think tank events, which can be really interesting (and usually have a free lunch!), but that's a blog for another time. If anyone is interested in international relations and has any questions about the NESA Center or about possibly interning there, feel free to shoot me a message and we can talk about whether you think it would be a good fit or not.

 

The seminar we just completed was the Senior Executive Seminar (SES) and it is one of the NESA Center's most high ranking seminar groups, but, while the participants were obviously higher ranking than our previous seminar, the content of the course was very similar to our first one. The course director changes every seminar however, and this time the honor went to Dr. Michael Yaffe who, as an avid historian and former academic dean of the NESA Center, really made the experience enjoyable for both the interns and the participants. One thing that was noticeably different in this seminar however, was how the tour of Washington, D.C. progressed, as this time we were able to visit the Jefferson Memorial, which I had not previously had the chance to do. While the Washington monument and Lincoln memorial are both fantastic sites (albeit much nicer when the reflecting pool isn't under construction..), the Jefferson Memorial is definitely my favorite memorial in DC. The memorial sits on the south edge of the tidal basin so it has a really nice view of the waterfront and the word on the street is that it's the most beautiful part of D.C. come spring time when the cherry trees around the basin begin to bloom. I guess I'll just have to wait a couple months to post pictures of that though! For now however, Clint was kind enough to let me use a couple of pictures he took while we were visiting the memorial (his camera is way nicer than mine), so kudos to him for many of these photos!

 

Each side of the Jefferson Memorial wall has a famous quote attributed to Jefferson; the first quote is obviously from the Declaration of Independence, of which we was the principal author. Interestingly enough, Jefferson saw his authorship of the Declaration to be more important than his term as a the third president, and even went as far as including his authorship on his epitaph, while omitting from his list of accomplishments his tenure as president. This last quote from Jefferson however, is my favorite, as I think it has relevance especially in light of the coming elections. I find it odd that many of the Republican presidential candidates desire a reversion back to the days of a classical, conservative America that embodies the principles and ideals that we were ostensibly founded on, while Jefferson clearly thought that the Constitution should be considered a living document that mirrored the progress of humanity, not the ethical standards of the time it was written in. As he so eloquently put it, "We might as well require a man to still wear the coat  which fitted him as a boy as civilized society to remain even under the regime of their barbarous ancestors". In this famous quote, he even called into question certain institutions that could be considered inhumane or uncivilized, which society may deem necessary to abolish at some point. Considering his (secret) convictions towards slavery, I can only assume he was referring to that horrendous practice (which just so happens to be another institution the US was founded on), but the point is that Jefferson and many of the other founding fathers clearly expounded an idea of progress and rationality, which is inherently contradictory to classical conservative principles. It's important to note that views of the Founding Fathers were seen as radical by both their British brethren and their Loyalist counterparts in Colonial America, as the move for independence and the eventual establishment of a government based on the voice of the people was an extremely progressive idea for the time. What's important to take away from the actions of the Founding Fathers is not necessarily the ethical standards of the day or even the laws they established, but the actions with regard to the context of the time period... On that note however, I digress.

 

One more thing that was different about this seminar was that the NESA Center took all the participants on a tour and dinner at George Washington's Mount Vernon. Dr. Michael Yaffe is a George Washington expert and thus was able to give us a fantastic fact-filled and awe inspiring speech about our first President in the dining room where Washington himself often entertained his guests. I have to admit though; I was not a fan of the menu that night. Apparently a chicken stuffed with plums and oats was George Washington's idea of a good meal, but while I revere the man, I cannot say the same about his dietary options. Unfortunately it was kind of a crappy rainy day when we visited, so Clint and I decided to spend most of our time in the museum. If you get a chance to take the tour though, you should definitely go for it; I only heard good things from all the participants.

Washington's pistol and pirate thingy

A flattering depiction of our first President on horseback

 

Well, that's pretty much it for the SES seminar. Now maybe I'll have time to do some more adventurous stuff and post more about the city, night life, etc. so stay tuned for a little shift in gears. Until next time folks!

I can't believe the Giants won the Super Bowl. To be honest, I still haven't really accepted that they won. I mean, did they really win? This whole week has been characterized by a depressing daily ritual where I google "Super Bowl 2012", see the score, swear, and then threaten to throw myself into a volcano. And you know what really sucks?

 

Having a roommate who's a Giants fan.

 

In fact, Diego was so sure of his victory that he began singing "We Can Still Be Friends" to every Pats fan in the room at half time. I guess the joke is on him though; I'm almost positive he had no idea he was singing the wrong lyrics. Thankfully I'm not in New England though! I heard Boston was deserted the next day on account of the emotional hangover, but luckily no one cares down here enough to tease me about having the best team in the league whose favorite pastime is choking in the playoffs...

 

Except for Diego, that is.

 

But hey, if the price you pay for having amazing roommates is one Super Bowl loss, I guess I can deal with that. Honestly though, other than the Pats losing (wait... did they lose?), this week has definitely been the most eventful yet in the city. On Saturday the gang and I went out for a night on the town, the boys and I decided to throw a little party for the Super Bowl (which was super fun and equally destructive), and we completed our first seminar at NESA!

 

Combating Transnational Threats

So like I said in my last post, the title of this seminar was "Combating Transnational Threats" and encompasses much more than just terrorism. It's really interesting to see the growing threats that all nations are experiencing these days and how these threats are really undermining both state sovereignty and the Westphalian notion of statehood in general. Many of the sessions in the seminar, of which there are about three a day, focused on international crime networks and how they, using the Zetas in Mexico as a case study, are really causing trouble not only with their illicit trade economy, but also with corruption within state. One of our NESA professors was highlighting the difference in motive between terrorism and international crime, which is really important to identify when trying to adopt preventative policies, because obviously criminals are driven by profit and not political ideology like most terrorist groups. The trouble is that combating these threats really requires a lot of international bilateral and multilateral agreements, which, oddly enough, are kind of difficult to secure.

 

 

Sitting in on one of these seminars is really awesome because our participants are from all over the NESA region and they always ask realllly tough questions about US foreign policy. The best part, however, is probably being able to hear a candid response from one of the session leaders who usually tend to be retired ambassadors, military officials, foreign service officers, etc. Because of Chatham House rules I can't attribute the things people say during seminar to their countries, but it's really refreshing to actually hear members of academia admit that US foreign policy can be, and often is,  antithetical to the values and principles the US purports to support. What's more refreshing is the fact that the whole seminar is basically diplomacy in action, as we have small group sessions that can get pretty heated, but really get to the crux of the issues.

 

It's not all serious discussions though, as a lot of the participants' time there is spent getting to know their fellow seminar participants. The NESA Center puts a lot of stress on forming relationships with officials from other countries, as oftentimes the relationships developed at these seminars can lead to a kind of informal diplomacy in the future all based on personal relationships. One of the best times for this bonding was when we had a potluck dinner where all the participants dressed in their native garb and brought in food from their respective countries. There was a lot of good food there, but since I have a wicked sweet tooth, I'd have to say my favorite were these Turkish delights (to be honest, I don't actually remember what they were called) but they were essentially little balls of dough that were saturated in syrup and were absolutely delectable.

The boys after a few good meals

It's really tough to sum up the whole seminar in a few paragraphs, so I'm not going to even try because I know I won't be able to do it justice, but, while the seminar sessions were great, having real conversations with these people was amazing. One time at lunch, Clint and I sat down with a diplomat from Tunisia who could not have been more hopeful about the ousting of Ben Ali and the success of the revolution in Tunisia. Even though he knows they have a tough road ahead of them, he has faith in the democratic system and regardless of the outcome of the elections (the Islamist party won the plurality of the votes in Tunisia) the country's citizens know that they have to stand together and abide by the results of the election, regardless of their personal sentiments because it's imperative for the vitality and stability of the state. What they are experiencing in places like Tunisa, Egypt, and (hopefully) Libya is the chance for a new beginning devoid of despotism and tyranny. Knowing that they are experiencing  feelings of freedom from oppression similar to the ones felt by a young Colonial America some 225 years ago really gives me hope for the people of the Middle East. It's no secret that they have a tough road ahead, as political life has been suppressed for decades, but they believed in democracy enough to take to the streets and risk their lives. They are hoping, as am I, that their resolve will be strong enough to keep the new government intact, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  Anyway, here are some more pictures from real life and the CTT seminar.

The boys at Vapiano's happy hour on M Street

 

Shout out to the boys back home!

 

The reflecting pool is under construction... what a shame

Eric being a typical crazy guy on the Metro. If there's one thing you have to worry about in DC, it's typical crazy guys on the Metro.

So at the end of the seminar, many of the participants gave out gifts to people, and I was lucky enough to recieve one of these from one of the Turkish gentlemen who were in my breakout group. It's a letter opener with a hand carved sculpture of man with traditional Turkish head garb carved out of wood, which pretty much makes it my most prized possession now. And it also really makes me want to visit Turkey; the people are extremely nice, they have delicious sweets, and, as strange as it sounds, are really sharp dressers!

 

Anway, I hope I didn't bore anyone with how long this post was... I really need to start cutting these things down. Thanks for reading, until next time!

So it probably (and by ‘probably’, I mean ‘definitely’) wasn’t a good idea to hold off on my first blog post until three weeks into my time in D.C., but as fate would have it, for the first week and a half I was here I didn’t feel like I had much to write about it, and obviously as soon as I did have stuff to write about I became far too busy to do so. Currently however, I am sitting on my porch wishing I had a better view than a undeveloped piece of real estate to look at, but I am thankfully at the RAF relaxing on a well deserved day off after completion of an arduous two week long seminar at my internship. But now for some formalities; my blogging supervisors tell me it is customary to offer a brief introduction on your first blog, so for those that don't know me, my name is Austin Perea and I am currently a junior at the University of New Hampshire where I am majoring in Political Science with a focus in international relations. I am also very interested in the politics of the Middle East and am thus also minoring in Middle Eastern Studies and Economics as well. My internship in Washington is at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies in the National Defense University, which is itself located at the Coast Guard Headquarters on Fort McNair base (which will be referred to as "NESA" hereafter). NESA is essentially a US Defense Department think tank that acts as a platform for military officials, foreign dignitaries, ambassadors, etc. from the Near East region to come to the US and have dialogues with US professors, military officials, and foreign service officers to gain an understanding of US foreign policy. These past few weeks we have been hosting the first seminar of the year entitled "Countering Transnational Threats", which seems to be pretty self explanatory, but let me add that this seminar does not simply address just different faucets of terrorism, but also issues of counter-narcotics, human trafficking (for both sexual and labor purposes), piracy, international crime networks, and anything else that could be perceived as a transnational threat. NESA operates under Chatham House rules, which means that nothing anyone says can be attributed to anyone publically, which leads to some very interesting discussions. Thankfully for them (albeit unfortunately for anyone that follows this blog) that means I can't disclose much of the information I hear, but no worries, there will be plenty to talk about. As far as my duties go, the other interns and I are under program planning, which means that we help in setting up these seminars and take care of a lot of administrative work, but we also sit in on the seminar discussion and take notes, which are later used by professors for their After Action Reports (AAR). These guys love acronyms. But enough of that, let's move on to the cast of characters!

 

 

For the first week of my internship it was only me and my French Canadian pal Valerie, but were quickly joined by Clint (who also happens to be Canadian, albeit from a little slice of heaven called Regina in Saskatchewan, which he insists is not pronounced like it looks) and Sayyakhat, who is from Tajikistan but goes to school in Idaho. Clint and I are the only brutes that don't speak another language, as Val's first language was French, and Sayya (being an ex-Soviet and all) speaks Russian, Tajik, Farsi, and English as well. This obviously turned out in the girls' favor, as many of the former Soviet republics all speak Russian (our Uzbeki and Turkmen friends in particular), and of course, much of the MENA region experienced at least some European influence during the 19th and 20th centuries. Particularly in our seminar the Moroccans, Tunisians and Lebanese all spoke fluent French, but many speak English as well so it did not prove too difficult to have good discussions with the participants. Anyway, I used to have a picture of me and the gang in front of the White House but apparently this website doesn't want me to post it, so instead, here's a picture of a crazy lady in front of the White House.

 

A little side note on the crazy lady though. Apparently she's been there for 29 YEARS. How ridiculous is that? What's even more ridiculous is why she's there, which is to stop nuclear proliferation. What a kook, huh? Talk about absurd; she's obviously never heard of pax automica. Everyone knows nukes are awesome, just ask Iran.

 

Getting to know my roommates has been really awesome too. I am lucky enough to be living with people from all over the world who all have very different interests. Eric is Jersey boy and an aspiring doctor who spends his time working at the VA Hospital. Diego is a business major from Monterey, Mexico and is interning at a real estate firm, and last but certainly not least is my direct roommate Shaurya, a grad student from India who actually was just guaranteed a job when he gets back home in May. Unfortunately we haven't had time to all hit the town as a group yet, so I have no pictures of the 314 boys all together, but I'll be sure to record our shenanigans this upcoming weekend. Until then, here's a couple pictures of the trip so far.

 

 

The boys chillin' on the balcony

 

 

A lovely view of some real estate from our deck

 

 

Standard picture of the Lincoln Memorial...

 

 

The view from my Arlington, VA hotel: some strange pentagon shaped building

 

 

The Hope Diamond at the Museum of Natural History...

 

 

Uktam and I in front of the Big Guy himself. Uktam was one our Uzbeki participants from this seminar. As the youngest guy there (he's a 25 year old leading research fellow in Uzbekistan) he was able to relate to us much easier, so Clint and I had the pleasure of enjoying his company very frequently.

 

 

This was the first event Val and I went to. It's at an ambassador's club called the Cosmos Club which is near all the embassies in D.C. on Mass Ave. The topic of the luncheon was on the importance of policy decisions addressing non-nuclear WMD proliferation. I guess that crazy lady has an audience somewhere huh?

 

 

Coast Guard Headquarters; the 4th floor all belongs to NESA. Behind it is the rest of the National Defense University of Fort McNair

 

 

The best for last...

 

Compliments to Valerie and Sayya for a couple of these photos; I didn't have my camera cord until last night. My next blog post will have many more pictures and will go into the details of the CTT seminar, so stay tuned!

 

-Austin