![\"P1070300\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/files\/2013\/07\/P10703001.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhen I was choosing between internships, one comment from my interview here kept resurfacing in my head; \u201cI already know what a high-energy campaign office is like,\u201d I explained, \u201cbut how is your office different?\u201d Camaraderie, he said, isn\u2019t a common trait on Capitol Hill, but the Franken office has a communal understanding that each person is here for the same reason: to help people and to make a difference. Every day we understand the gravity of what we do, he said. That answer stuck with me until the moment I accepted the internship.<\/p>\n
<\/a>See that blue-shirted guy behind the “live” sign? THAT’S ME<\/p><\/div>\n
And I\u2019ve found that to be absolutely true since I got here. People are warm, nice (we are all from Minnesota, after all), and there\u2019s a certain weight that people carry here, which I haven\u2019t experienced before. But instead of that weight translating that into stress or awkward insularity, it manifests in a noticeable focus. The people I work with are incredibly smart, very sharp, and also clearly focused.<\/p>\n
My office, like all Congressional offices, has a certain structure. The Senator or Representative is obviously at the top. Within my office different staff have different policy areas of specialty: health, energy, national security, education, agriculture, labor, etc. Each specialist aids the Congressperson in his or her area of expertise, which allows the policy maker to be the ultimate decision maker. Then, of course, there\u2019s the Communications staff who do exactly what you\u2019d imagine: talk with reporters, manage social media, etc.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what I expected coming into the office, but it\u2019s definitely exceeded that. I\u2019m learning a ton about how Congress functions, I\u2019m learning a lot about the issues Minnesotans care about, I\u2019m learning a lot about my policy areas (energy and agriculture), and I\u2019m also simply enjoying being in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n The city is young and vibrant, yet it\u2019s also noticeably homey. You won\u2019t find skyscrapers in DC, you won\u2019t find a stench wherever you go, and people aren\u2019t cold to you\u2014in fact quite the opposite. Sun pours between the buildings, the streets are clean, and strangers lounging on their stoops warmly greet you as you pass. There are always things to do and there are tons of museums to visit. (The National Portrait Gallery is my current favorite.)<\/p>\n Fourth of July fireworks at the Washington Memorial.<\/p><\/div>\n I\u2019ve even been fortunate enough to have friends already here. (i.e. I don\u2019t have to do the meeting-new-people thing) Many are friends from Puget Sound or fellow students out here for the summer.. But some are friends from the many programs I\u2019ve been a part of: Friends from Coming Together, the interfaith conference I attended in 2011, Youth In Government, the YMCA program-that-keeps-on-giving, and even from high school all seem to have congregated here. In fact, last Friday I met up with ten Logger alumni who welcomed me, even though I\u2019d never met most of them. (Definitely the benefit of an engaged college campus, people actually go into the world and make a difference.)<\/p>\n My time in the District is at its halfway point. I still have some monuments I want to see, museums I want to visit, people I want to meet, and networking I want to do (if you know anyone in public radio, holler<\/a>). This is my last summer before the real world, and it\u2019s my first summer on my own. But soon enough I\u2019m heading back to Tacoma for Orientation (Passages!!!). Right now it\u2019s tough picturing going back to school, but the future will come whether I like it or not. In the meantime, I\u2019ll just enjoy the District.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever learned about something, only to go into the field and find out that it\u2019s much more complicated, yet simultaneously much simpler than you expected? It\u2019s a phenomenon that I\u2019ve become accustomed to in the world of liberal … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>