Our lives are full of "firsts." First places and rankings, first moments, first days, first experiences. I don't think we ever stop coming across those firsts. This past week has been choc FULL of them for me, and I can tell those firsts are leading to what is going to be the best 4 months of my life yet. So this post is going to be all about some of those experiences, those you'll never forget.

The Dreaded (?) First Day

Every time I hit one of those "first days" I still get the same nervous feeling in my gut -- the kind that makes me shake and get anxious about even the littlest things. The first day of my internship on Wednesday, January 30th was no different. After all, my internship is the reason that I'm here in D.C. at The Washington Center INTERNSHIP program. So naturally I overdressed (normal), packed my bag with notepads and my required forms (normal), left super early to make sure I made it there on time (also normal), and tripped onto the Metro and fell on my face in front of the entire morning rush crowd (not so normal). Go first days!

After the whole falling experience, I was just hoping that the rest of my day would go better. It did. Oh boy it did. When I left my internship at 4 that afternoon, I was smiling and laughing with my fellow interns (3 other girls who also were part of The Washington Center program), knowing that this semester is going to be a positively memorable one.

I intern at Genocide Watch, an NGO that serves as the coordinator of the International Alliance to End Genocide. It's pretty much amazing. Genocide Watch is composed of its founder and director, Dr. Gregory Stanton, and the interns. What this means for us interns is that we're going to be doing a lot of work... all of the work that Dr. Stanton can't do himself. While the average student may be skeptical about this and not so happy, I'm SUPER stoked because it means I'm going to walk away from this internship having learned a lot. Dr. Stanton even told us that he is never going to ask us to make coffee unless we want coffee for ourselves, or to make copies unless the copies are something we need for ourselves. I won't be doing menial tasks; I'll be doing real, hands-on, career-oriented work. I can't say the same for some of the other students I've spoken to who are working at other organizations. That is truly the benefit at working at a small and/or non-profit organization, though. Of the six internships I interviewed for, I chose this one because of the type of work it does and the set-up of the organization. I couldn't be more excited by the semester I know I'm going to have working for Genocide Watch.

Since this is a post of "firsts," I'm not going to talk about my other days there. But keep checking back for more details of my other days at Genocide Watch. I can PROMISE I have so many interesting things to tell already and it's only been 2 days!

First Trip to the Smithsonian

And it will be the first of many, I can tell. Dr. Stanton gave us off on Friday and recommended we spend the day exploring the many sites of D.C. My fellow interns and I decided to make a trip to the Smithsonian. Can I just start by saying... WOW. The Mall is freaking fabulous... the views! When you take the escalator up from the Metro and turn to your left, you see this:

The famous Washington Monument.

When you turn to the right you see this:

View of The Capitol. Those are the 3 girls I intern with - Donga, Fernanda, and Elyse.

Now, if you don't know, there are multiple museums that make up the whole of the Smithsonian. We decided to hit the first one on the right side, closest to the Metro, the Air and Space Museum. Good choice! The exhibits were pretty cool. After 3 hours, we still weren't done walking through. There was so much to see, to read, to watch, to experience. I didn't even make it through the whole museum before I had to leave to meet up with my roommate. I'll definitely make an adventure back there.

My favorite thing to check out was the Amelia Earhart exhibit, which included the bright red Lockheed Vega 5B; the plane she used to set 2 records - fly it solo across the Atlantic Ocean and fly it nonstop across the country. She was the first woman to do both.

First Metro Mess Up

Remember that time I said I conquered the Metro? Well, about that... I definitely hadn't at that point. I learned that when I was headed home from the Smithsonian and got on the subway in the wrong direction. And didn't notice. For four stops. So when I finally noticed, I casually got up and got off at the next stop and casually walked across the platform to the Metro I needed to be on, and I casually stood there looking as if nothing was wrong. What's good about the Metro for those of us who make mistakes is 1) There are so many people that no one really pays attention to us derps who have to pull this "casual" maneuver, 2) the Metro going in the opposite direction is usually right there, and 3) they come so often that I didn't waste too much of my time. Now I think I have it figured out though! I hope...