Love it.

I know it has been so long since I've made a blog post! Let's just say I am very busy and at TWC, time management is very important.  With classes, programming and my internship, I feel like every week is full and time goes by so fast! These past couple of weeks my internship have had Kristina (the other intern) and me working on many different projects, which include putting together articles for a newsletter that will be released at the end of March. We've been working hard to create quality work and have interviewed many people for our articles. We are also working on a major event taking place at the end of March! I will provide more news and pictures after the event has happened!! I am truly enjoying the opportunities Tricom has provided me and I learning alot here than I have ever learned at my other internships. Scott and Molly have a lot of advice for recent grads entering the field of public relations and getting a lot of experience is the way to landing a job. They helped in my decision to apply for different internships and defer grad school for a year! I want to have many different experiences and understand my direction before I stay committed to the field.

Other than my internship and life decisions....Midterms were this week for my Media, Ethics, and Movies class, which has caused a lot of stress for everyone in my class. The class is very interesting. We are learning alot about the importance of anonymous sources and had an Associated Press reporter speak to us about his involvement with the use of anonymous sources. I am also in the process of getting my portfolio and final project together! This has been taking up most of my time and I will be happy with the final result!

Now to my adventures! I am having more great experiences! When in DC its important to take advantage of visiting historical sites and museums. I have been to so many places around DC that my camera is already full :) My programming composes of attending many museums and I have taken adventures myself especially when getting lost when looking for programming sites and also to the largest FOREVER 21 I have ever seen! I only made it to 2 floors. I will be back to explore the last 3. I have so many pictures to share but I will share the ones that I like!

The White House!!

On my way to the Holocaust Museum...and got completely lost, but during my lost adventure I saw some historical sites and took more pictures!

The Washington Monument!!!

Capitol Hill!! It was raining so this is the best picture I could get indoor :)

Finally made it to the Holocaust Museum where we met a wonderful Holocaust survivor named Margit! She was amazing and I enjoyed learning about propaganda and the impact it had during the Holocaust. If you are ever in DC the Holocaust Museum is a must go! By the way, can you find me? lol

I can't wait to share pictures from the major event taking place for my internship. See all of you soon!!!

I’M HERE!!

Busy Metro stations, wonderful historical sites, and amazing street life are descriptions many people have given me when summarizing their experiences in D.C. After being in D.C. for almost 2 weeks I can truly say that I am having a great experience is this city so far. I’ve been very busy these past 2 weeks after orientation because of the many programming events, my internship, and getting use to handling many things on my own.

But before I get into the gist of everything that’s been going on so far at TWC….let me introduce myself. My name is Diana; I am from Chicago, Illinois. I attend Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa and I am a senior majoring in Communication Arts with concentrations in Public Relations and Print Media and a minor in Business. I heard about The Washington Center through my college’s internship coordinator, Jo Dorrance, and we have been planning my entry into the program since the beginning of my junior year. I am truly grateful for this experience and I hope more students at my college take advantage of this opportunity.

Now back to my TWC experience…

WASHINGTON!! MY NEW HOME!!

The Washington Center Residential Academic Facility (RAF) is such a beautiful place and I was completely shocked when I saw that I would stay in an actual apartment. I have 3 roommates and we share a living room and kitchen. We share everything within the kitchen even food because we are all trying to save money because buying groceries in D.C. is expensive. Some people choose to shop at Harris Teeter, but if you are like me and you are on a budget I would suggest you go to Safeway. If you’re nice to the night time shuttle driver he might actually take you there. :) The Metro is not really complicated at all, but unless you want to get pushed or yelled at I would recommend staying on the right side of the escalator if you are not in a hurry.

Now on to my adventures in DC!!

My roommate and I have made it our mission to make sure we visit every shopping area in DC as well as find the best cupcakes shops. So far we have been to Baked and Wired and I think they may be the winners but we will see. The nightlife here is really fun but can also be expensive, if you do not know how to find good deals. The best part of being a TWC student is how people will always providing you with different deals and you can sometimes get into certain places for FREE!

PROGRAMMING EVENTS

I am part of the Media and Communication Program at TWC. We are required to attend Programming Events every Monday. I missed the programming event to the National Portrait Gallery but that was only because I had to meet with my supervisor for my internship (which I will talk about soon). But I did get to attend the Newseum, which is a must see if you are in the DC area. The Newseum was very informative and it was amazing see how much journalism impacts our lives and our history. The FBI Exhibit, 9/11 Gallery, and Photo Finish Exhibit were my favorite exhibits to see and I think everyone that attends the Newseum should take the time to see these exhibits.

INTERNSHIP!

Now finally I can tell you about my most favorite part about being involved in the Washington Center program, which is my internship at TRICOM ASSOCIATES! My internship at Tricom Associates is going well so far. I love that they are a public relations agency and they have a passion for working with non-profit organizations. They primarily focus on working with labor unions and educational organizations. Their office is located in Arlington, VA, which is a very beautiful city. Scott and Molly are very good people and are passionate about the work they do. When I met Scott, he drilled me with questions about my skills, current events, and politics. I am not really knowledgeable in politics and Scott explained that knowing current events and politics is important in order to be able to do specific tasks for their clients. Since their clients are mainly unions, I have to understand their views and where they stand when it comes to certain political issues in order to be able to shape the message that they want to send to the public. This internship involves a lot of writing and I was expecting more events planning, but I know that I can gain a lot of experience with Tricom and also become a better writer. I have already started working on projects for the American Federation for School Administrators, where I am updating their social media pages and gathering ideas for their newsletter. I have also worked on media lists and have started my blog post for the Tricom website.

It has only been two weeks and I feel that I have done so much and I am ready for more to come! Sorry that I do not have pictures I am in need of my camera cord at the moment, but I promise my next blog post will have the pictures for this post as well as my next. See you all on my next post!