No doubt about that.  Waking up at 7:15 and working from 9 to 5:30 every day is worlds apart from “real college.”  If I was back at SJU, chances are I would be messing around in the library “doing homework” or out with my friends.  Instead, its not even 11:00 pm at night and I’m the last one up in my apartment.  Coming to DC has been a real wake-up call that a real world of suits and business meetings does exist, and in a little over a year it may very well become a reality for me. 

That being said, I really have learned a lot at my internship so far.  The law firm I work at handles primarily international trade and customs issues and additionally provides advisory and lobbyist services for clients.  Most of my time at the office has been spent gathering background information on various projects my supervisors are working on and organizing facts and data into Excel sheets.  I’ve sat in on a few business meetings so far, but probably my favorite thing that I’ve done has been summarizing Ways and Means hearings.  For those of you who have no idea what on earth that is (and believe me, up until three weeks ago or so I didn’t either), the Ways and Means Committee is a committee in the House of Representatives that has to do with banking, tax and revenue issues.  Since the rules and regulations of international trade change constantly, the consultants and lawyers have to make sure that they’re following any and all legislation that is up for debate because it could potentially have a huge impact on their clients throughout the world.  We have to watch as new regulations are put into place and then convey what implications this will have for clients. 

Apart from work, TWC has weekly programming every Monday that depends on whatever program you’re in for the most part.  Last week the entire program attended “Career Boot Camp,” which consisted of a bunch of different professional workshop lectures – I went to two geared towards law school.  TWC arranged for the Law and Criminal Justice program to tour both the Supreme Court and the Pentagon, which was pretty awesome.  We didn’t really get to see much of the Supreme Court, other than a lecture of how it works and how cases are heard, but we had a pretty thorough tour of the Pentagon.  The Pentagon is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense, so naturally there were men and women in uniform everywhere and the entire building was under top-notch security (which unfortunately is why I don’t have any pictures to post of our trip there, I could have had my camera confiscated).  A lot of the building felt like a museum.  Our tour guide took us to the very spot where the building was struck by the plane on 9/11, which is marked by a chapel and both indoor and outdoor memorials constructed to remember the victims that were killed on board the plane and inside the building that day.

Me, Christy, Shelby and Alison in front of the Supreme Court

Although interning and programming both take up a good amount of time, one of the good things about not being in “real college” is that homework doesn’t necessarily exist – which leaves a good amount of time to have fun on the weekends or at night during the week.  Honestly though, during the week I’m too beat by the time I get back from work and go to the gym to really go out and do much except hit up the occasional happy hour, which is probably the only time you can go out in DC and come home without feeling broke.  That’s one downside to this city – everything is extremely expensive.  My friends and I have done a good amount of exploring on Mondays after programming is over, so far we’ve managed to hit the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery.

Arlington National Cemetery

The Chinatown Gate at night

DC nightlife is similar to that of any city- there are always tons of things to do on the weekend but I honestly haven’t been out that much since I’ve been here because I’ve gone up to Philadelphia to visit my friends at school a few times. It's been kind of tough being away for a whole year, but I'm defintely planning to make the most out of DC while I'm down here nonetheless.  About two weeks ago, I went with my two roommates Christy and Lauren and another one of our friends, Shelby to the DC car show.  Honestly, I couldn’t care less about cars.  Sure, I have my exact Mercedes-Benz black convertible picked out that I want before my 30th birthday, but really, believe it or not – we just went to see Snooki.

The quality of my camera isn't that great, but there she is! I'm from Jersey I had to.

Christy and her future ride

If only....