Time to Make Change

Back again... to say a few things. I started this post last night but it got a little late for my blogging taste. This week I've been feeling a little frazzled, a little "overwhelmed" as some of you who "love me most" like to tease... I found myself in a grumpy mood yesterday when I really had no reason for it. The sun was out and cherry blossoms have started blooming all over. The city seems to have transformed over night! Yet, even with finding my walk to the Hill enhanced with beautiful trees in bloom, I still found myself with a frown on my face and a the eye squint of a true grump! I tried to blame it on the blinding sun, but something was just off! I could see people passing looking at me with caution of my bad aura. What the heck was I so grumpy about? Lack of sleep? (I haven't been tired?), being dressed up and being on the Hill? I wasn't feeling the political scene yesterday. I had to run around to different Congressional offices basically all day getting our Impact Aid House Coalition letter signed (Congressmen/women sign on to our Impact Aid Coalition to show their support). Tony, my co-worker, and I had originally split up the list of a little over 40 offices to visit; but I wound up going back to the Hill in the afternoon to get his assigned list because he had a lot of work to do. I didn't mind at all except that I was kindof on a time constraint in the afternoon so I was running around trying to get all of these signatures in less than 2 hours. It was rough trying to find all of the offices! However, I did meet a potential future husband in one of the Arizona offices. Unfortunately for me, I looked like a wreck and managed to ask for the wrong staff contact... presenting myself as extremely put together and professional, I'm sure. And I spotted him on the metro this morning again? A sign? (I'm crazy and I know it...)

Anyway, I felt like every Hill office I went into was just uptight, and unfriendly, and fake, and too dressed up! and so not my style! I think what frustrates me about this is that I really see the value in making change from a government position, but it just doesn't seem genuine to me at times. Or very productive. I also can't seem to find my place here, either. Starting with pace: This city is so much slower than my NY mentality. In DC, you can stop right in front of the metro dispenser in the morning and no one tramples you, no one yells at you to move... But yesterday on the Hill, everything just seemed crazy and understaffed and boring and anxious. I can't quite explain it. It's like being unproductive and productive at the same time, mixed in with procastination. I guess I'm trying to put some emotion to that fact that DC is extremely reactive. Apparently no one has time to anticipate problems before they are right in your face. Part of me loves having a busy schedule, having to do important things all the time and feeling like I am getting things done, but I also can't deny that the slower pace of life in my own office and general lifestyle here has opened my eyes to the fact that life doesn't always have to be moving at 100 miles a minute, and maybe I'm happier that way? I could maybe see myself enjoying a political position... what I do know is that whatever I do, I want to be where the action is. I want to be part of something that makes a difference on a large scale. I would definitely be afraid though that I would lose myself in the political scene. Let's be honest, you have to have a certain look, a certain way of presenting yourself. I think often about how it would be really hard to not get caught up in it. There is a reason my program teaches us professional development, because there is a specific way to do it. I'm not saying there can't be variation, but what if you just aren't the type of person who has that strong handshake and happy face ready to go every day? Maybe I'm analyzing this too much, maybe being professional is as easy as being polite and kind. But I can't help but ask, where are all of the humans on Capitol Hill?

The discrepancies between the two "types" of Washington, D.C. that I see couldn't be more apparent on Tuesdays. Yesterday especially, I spent the whole day on the Hill (predominantly WHITE, and in my opinion, still very patriarchal), and then after work rushed over to one of the more disadvantaged parts of town to volunteer with a program called Girls on the Run. We work with inner-city pre-teen girls (8-13 years old) on emotional and physical empowerment. The first half an hour we talk about different values, for example yesterday we talked about gratitude and being thankful for things in our lives. We talked about the importance of reflection and meeting our goals. The second half we go on a run, in preparation for a race we have in early May (there will be pictures of that, guaranteed). It was adorable, I got to stand at the midway point of their laps and give them encouragement and high-fives as they ran past. I fell in love on the spot with a girl named Angel who told me she was reflecting on doing good things with her life and getting an education. She also held my hand and gave me hugs (!!), making up for the serious lack of hugs I receive here. I loved working with the younger girls because I can see how it is better to try to get to them earlier. Hence, why my summer in Philadelphia was such a struggle. By the time they are in high school it can be hard to get past that wall they have built up for so long... younger children are still so accepting of everyone. They don't only see everything as "white" and "black" just to make a blunt reference to my own comfort realizations.

But these Tuesday's always point out to me that the difference between black and white America and the segregation that still exists is A REAL THING. As we get closer to my metro stop on the ourskirts of the orange line, I'm almost always left as the only white person on the train. This is also the case as I get on the bus to take me over to the Riverside Community Center. It is not a safe area. I can't help but notice as the girls are running their laps that cop cars are wailing on the street behind us. I can't help but notice someone being arrested as I wait for the bus. I can't help but notice the bums selling drugs to eachother outside the liquor store next to the community center. And these girls, these little girls, they see this everyday. This is their reality. I find myself getting overwhelmed at how powerful this program is. How powerful the existence of the community center in itself is. I found out about this opportunity through my roommate, Andrea, who is interning with a non-profit called Washington, Parks, and People. Part of their mentality is that beautifying parks in bad areas and establishing community centers and programs can help to make a positive change in these communities. I think that is so beautiful. Riverside is right next to Marvin Gaye Park, and volunteers have been going to help with upkeep. There is still a ways to go, but already I just see so much potential for positive change.

Alright, I got a little ahead of myself there. But we all need to find our passions, we all need to get revved up about an issue and do something about it. What are you doing to make a difference in your community?

On a lighter note, I am apparently becoming a vegetarian. On Monday in peace studies we looked at "non-violent eating" and animal rights. After three of those movies about how your meat is prepared (you all know what I'm talking about) in a row, I was convinced. I all of a sudden see the value in not eating meat because it causes harm to animals (though wouldn't you think that is obvious?). That stuff never sticks, I figured I'd go home and eat a hamburger. But I have been trying to eat a turkey sandwich for the past two days now and I just can't bring myself to do it. And I'm going to Whole Foods after work today to stock up on tofu. How did this happen? Reading back it seems like I am changing so much, but I still feel like plain-old Ariel. Or maybe un-plain-old Ariel. Well, I'd rather be crazy and changing than the same and boring! I want to hear from everyone soon!! XOX.

Stuck in an Elevator and Bathroom Gossip

Hello all! I realized there are some exciting things that have been happening, and I have been leaving you all un-updated! Not too many ridiculously tragic things have been happening to me lately, which is actually good for me, but unfortunate for you only because I don't have too many amusing stories to tell. But today there is one, of course. My Monday has to begin with actually getting an early start out the door, only to get STUCK in the elevator leaving my apartment. I actually didn't freak out as much as I thought I would, I was mostly just pissed off that I tried to be on time to work and now I was going to be late! But I wound up having to press that emergency button in the elevator, apparently resulting in the fire department showing up. My SAINT of a roommate also came to my rescue by getting maintenance after I called her... But we had a moment of banging on the wall back and forth to eachother trying to figure out what floor I was on. Anyway, I missed all the hoopla because they found a way to re-start the elevator and it went right down to the basement floor, and I was kindof afraid to risk taking it back up, so I pretty much just peaced out... but I'm going to try to write a thank you letter to the maintnence (I think I'm butchering this spelling -- sorry) staff or something. But that was a serious FML moment.

Gah I can't believe I haven't updated in this long -- a lot of things happened last week! Ok this post is going to be purely informational! Two main highlights of last week: I think it was Tuesday I went to the House Budget Committee hearing and two very exciting things happened to me... besides that I was at the hearing from 9:30am - 4pm... (and it was still going when I left) During the lunch break I went to fill up my water bottle and saw one of the NY reps in the hallway. We made eye contact and you all know my tendancy to be chatty... so I told him I was from NY and thanked him for all he does, and I'm going to break down this priceless conversation for you: he goes, "where in NY are you from?" (So he is probably just being friendly, right?)
"Long Island..."
"Where on Long Island?" (He's from NY, obviously familiar with the area, no biggie)
"Port Washington..."
"So you went to Schreiber high school?"
"Yup!"
"Do you know Maggie Spreitzer?"
"YES!"
"I'm her God father"
::me freaking out::
For those of you who don't know Maggie, she is one of my very close friends from high school, and considering my excitement I think I managed to control myself in front of the Congressman, but it can be such a small world, right?! His assistant gave me his card, and I'm in the process of getting in touch with him, but he offered to take me out to dinner and everything! How cool! I'll keep you posted.

So after this I'm on my networking high and I'm in the bathroom and I see another rep from the hearing fixing her make-up, etc... so I just say hi and ask her how shes liking the hearing so far... small talk somehow leads to a gossip session about Nancy Pelosi and her plastic surgery... wow. I won't say her name for "protection" purposes, but the Long Island girl in me got a kick out of that conversation... how many can say they gossiped with a representative in the bathroom? Hah!

Well I have other stories from last week, but they will have to wait because I've got to run to my internship programming that we have every Monday afternoon... it's usually a lecture of sorts. And then I've got class tonight! I hope everyone is doing well in their corner of the world, know that I am thinking of you and missing you... <3

I'm changing, but I'm still not Irish...

Wow.. so I haven't updated this in a while, which is a big deal for me, I seem quite attached to this blogger thing. I'm writing to you from the office (finally a lul in the work load), reading my "Education Week" newspaper, eating my bagel with cream cheese, and downing my coffee.. "professionally" dressed in my pencil skirt and pointy shoes that go "click click" when I walk on hard surfaces. Usually I eat oatmeal at the apartment before I get to work, but we have this problem with running out of plates and bowls because we only have so many and then the next challenge is to see who will step up and actually turn on the dish washer. Having that machine in the kitchen in the first place spoils us in general, I can't imagine what it would be like without it, the kitchen would be a much bigger disaster. Speaking of cleanliness, I think some of you will be happy to know I seem to have dropped some of my germaphobe qualities. For example, I am the last person to remember to wash my hands after going on the metro, and even if someone brings it up it doesn't even bother me. Weird? Definitely. Gross? Probably.

Also speaking of my "click click" shoes (as I will now call them).. there really seems to be a time and a place for them. I like wearing them to work because it makes me feel like I am actually dressed up and able to fit in with these working adults, but pretty much everywhere else I feel very silly wearing them.. giving me an excuse to debate whether or not this "professional office lifestyle" is something that suits me. For example, yesterday after work I tagged along with my roommate, Andrea, to a service she has been doing lately. We read letters from prisoners with book requests, sort through donated books to find a few they might like, and then write them a letter back and make a package for them. I know your first response is, "writing letters to PRISONERS?" but my hero, Coleman McCarthy, would be proud I believe because as I'm learning, our justice system is pretty flawed, and often prisoners are left in total isolation constantly. I don't really care who you are, that is rough. I can't imagine being alone for that long! And that isolation doesn't help you resolve whatever caused you to commit the crime, I feel like isolation in that sense makes you feel worthless to the point of dispair. I agree that some people definitely need to be in jail for committing crimes, but at the same time I think forgiveness and giving people a second chance is also something that is valuable to keep in mind. Or at least trying to understand the motives behind whatever happened and helping those imprisoned to help themselves. Disregard people with mental illness in this argument though, that is a whole different story. Anyway, the point of this prior to my rant, is that I felt so silly with my "click click" shoes when we were writing the letters. I just felt out of place and not myself because of how dressed up I was. I know it definitely was not a big deal, but it made me think that maybe something more down to earth is more my style... but either way it was really nice to FINALLY do some service and be able to take a step outside of what has become my regular office day grind.

To leave you, a life lesson learned on St. Patrick's Day. As some of you know, I was very close to going to Ireland this semester after India didn't work out. But I am here, in America, and therefore observing our own mysterious country from my little corner in Washington, DC. So for some reason, in America, we love any excuse to drink ourselves silly. Maybe I am being closed minded about this, but I just didn't see the need to go out and "celebrate". If you are in Europe, fine. If you are Irish, fine. Maybe it was because the night before I had a mini-break down because I can't figure out for the life of me what I want to do this summer... BUT I just had no interest in this holiday. Overrated. I told myself I wasn't going to plan anything, if someone called me then maybe I could be swayed. So no one calls, until 5:01 pm, as I am about to leave work, of course. It's my friend Nick and he won't take no for an answer. Long story short, after seeking out a few over-priced and over-crowded bars, and seeing a drunk man fall down the escalator, I was out. I felt bad leaving my friends, but at the same time I was proud of myself for figuring out what I wanted to do, and not just doing what I was apparently "supposed to be doing on St. Patrick's Day." I realized something that I love about living in a big city is that there are constantly people around living their own different (and sometimes similar) lives. Feeling liberated, I headed to Whole Foods for an emergency grocery store run. And guess what... there were other people there, just food shopping, going about their daily lives.. no crazy Irish party in the grocery store (but I did get to sample GREEN mashed potatoes.. kinda cool? hah). I left the grocery store feeling good about making my own decision and even if small, a victory towards being on my "own path." Apparently, going to Whole Foods was what I needed to do, and I quite frankly didn't care what anyone else was doing. I've just been debating the whole drinking scene in DC in general. Before I got here everyone raved about the "night life" and how it was something that would make my experience here. But I'm finding that the people I enjoy hanging out with, aren't the people who want or are able to go out to the bars on the weekends. I feel like the people I meet when I am out are probably not coherent enough to remember me, and aren't interested in getting to know me back. I am dumbfounded when I ask someone 5 questions about themselves and why they are in DC and if they are liking it and where they work, trying to get a sense of who they are, only for them to ask NO questions back. I think we all know I don't have a problem just talking about myself when I want to, but sometimes it is nice to have people be actually interested in asking. So as for this whole "DC night life/happy hour scene" I guess I am still figuring it out.

Interestingly enough, my hero "challenged" us on the first day of class to try not drinking for the semester. I considered it, but blew it off thinking it would be detrimental to my social life, and not to mention I thought had already "learned that lesson." But clearly there is a lot of value to seeing the role drinking plays in our lives. It is interesting to think about whether your drinking buddies your "real friends" or your "fun friends," and maybe it doesn't matter to you, but I realized that the strong drink and the hoppin' bar doesn't matter to me if I'm not with people I truly like. Truth and truth. Happy Thursday everyone!

Internet Addiction.

Hello friends! I'm blogging to you from the NAFIS conference here in downtown Washington, DC. Nothing too exciting, it is a block from where I work everyday. I'm actually sitting in my office now because after over 24 hours of no internet access, I was starting to bug out. Sometimes I think about how unconnected to the internet I would be if I had actually gone to India, but what can't be denied about life here is Washington is the ridiculous "blackberry culture." I kid you not it is acceptable to be on your blackberry in a meeting (I don't have one -- and taking out my silly pink phone is definitely not an option, so I just observe everyone else). In meetings I go to people will make some heartfelt speech about education and then five mintues later be checking their email on their blackberry. I personally think it is pretty rude, but you have to be accesible here in DC. Another take on it that of my roommates relayed, "everyone in this city thinks they are so damn important..." Haha, I like that response. I think I'm a little too accessible these days with blogger, twitter, facebook, skype... but after one whole day of being cooped up in the hotel I was feeling pretty isolated from the outside world! I'm dissappointed I didn't really get to enjoy the warm weather this weekend, but the conference has been a good experience. I had to cut my weekend pretty short, and definitely missed out on some penthouse festivities, but it has been a good reflection period for trying out that whole "find my own path, do my own thing" ordeal. I'm growing up! Being at this conference really has me feeling like a working girl for sure.

If you haven't caught on at this point, NAFIS, where I have my internship at is hosting a conference this weekend. I've been doing general help-out and sitting in on some of the workshops/lectures, and trying to make some good contacts. In a weird way I do feel like my co-workers are starting to become like a family to me. My work family. hehe. They are all so nice, and I really admire how they all stay so calm and kind even when it seems hectic.

I'll talk more about the conference once it's over and I have more time to write... but basically the food has been GREAT, I have my own room, access to room service, VIP guest status... I can't complain! I'm being spoiled! I'm just a little lonely at times, and no one here is my age really... but, a funny story before I depart: So for VIP guests apparently housekeeping comes in during early evening and "pulls back the bed cover" and turns on the TV to some strang nature/soothing music channel for when you come back to you room. Well I did not know this was normal and called the front desk asking if someone broke into my room. The guy could NOT stop laughing. I'm sorry but if anything it was CREEPY that nature music was playing, not soothing... I thought you would all be amused by that though.

Alright back off to the real/grown-up world and being unaccessible... although now that I am back on the internet, I think a few more days without it will be just fine. Have a great week everyone!

The Time the Metro Tried to Eat Me

Today, the metro tried to eat me. AKA the train was way overcrowded (DC does not know how to deal with snow at all -- the city and metro slow down like CRAZY.. it is actually pretty amusing) and I really had to make the train to get to work so I made a run for it into the train car-- and OOF the doors closed on me, but with my very own "eeeeee" I pushed my way in. Some angry woman was not very happy about it... but I thought it was a great metro experience. And extremely funny.

Today was a great day at work. I worked on my research project on Best Practices and then attended an awesome conference at the Capital in the afternoon, and got up the courage to exchange some cards and network a little. We had a speaker (a Dickinson alum actually) come speak to the TWC interns yesterday and he really put in perspective how important confidence is and how it is so important not to act like a lowly intern, even if you are feeling like one. It has only been a month since I've started my internship and I think I have learned a lot more than I'm giving myself credit for. If anything I am more confused about what I want to do with my life, and I'm still struggling to figure out my purpose in this political arena, but the struggle is always part of the experience... isn't it? And it is always the part you take for granted because generally, it is never fun. With only a month behind me I see the next few weeks as extremely unpredictable, but packed with potential. I'm realizing that it is up to me, I need to make this the experience I want. The speaker also spoke of how your 20's are not an easy time and recommended some books as guides to the "quarter life crisis." I'll try to post the titles another time. But that crisis is inevitable for most of us, and I always love when people empathize with the fact that sometimes we just need to embrace our different and crazy emotional journies. Because as most of you know, I relate to that crazy emotional thing pretty damn well. The speaker was also hating on Twitter a little bit, I did not approve. Twitter is my current guilty pleasure. I can't shake it!

I can always tell when it is my stop on the way home because the train goes out of the tunnel, the streets and cars looked very peaceful covered in snow :) Some of you are in Europe and who knows where else enjoying the warmer weather, but the snow here made me quite content today.

Intern tip of the week (I just made that up): Put business cards in your pocket before any event you can network at, it makes for an easy/un-awkward exchange.
Also, expect for your feet to suffer when you enter the real world. Or at least never expect to break in Payless shoes. Ever. You may think that you finally broke them in, but then you have round 2, 3, and sometimes 4 of blisters. So much for my $9 bargain? Aka trying to be cheap? Who knows, but my feet hurt.

Shoutout to Kaitlin -- I tried Zorba's greek restaurant in Dupont Circle-- YUM. And a serious bar recommendation for anyone ever in DC: My Brothers Place -- $1 beers at 5pm every Friday and they go up .25 cents every half hour or something like that. Convenient for college budget... and RIGHT on the Hill. Fun :)