Busting out of DC

I still haven’t made it back to Canada, so I guess I have yet to completely reflect back on my whole Washington experience, but I can say that leaving the city was pretty sad. The last days at the Embassy were really interesting, and I am still pretty choked that I couldn’t see my final project through to the end. It was also tough to say good-bye to the other interns at the Embassy who I have been sharing an office with for the past months; it’s already very weird to not see them every day. I gave a mini Canadian flag to my supervisor on my last day as well, and, of course we all took some group photos.

Final day at the Embassy, with the other NAFTA interns and our supervisor

Just hangin’ out in front of the Embassy of Mexico

My last day in DC was spent packing like a crazy woman and hanging out with my roommate, who I’m also really gonna miss. I left on an overnight Greyhound bus to Wilmington, North Carolina to visit a friend for a few days. Thankfully, my beautiful roommate gave me a ride to the Greyhound station…just a heads up if anyone plans to travel while in DC, be careful around the Greyhound station. It’s not the safest area, and is metro accessible but only via a pretty long walk from Union Station. Basically, I wouldn’t recommend getting a late bus unless you can get a ride there or take a cab.

I made it safe and sound to Wilmington and we ended up spending the day on the beach, eating a TON of seafood, and camping for a night. It was an awesome time, and the seafood was so intense. Mussels, crab, oysters, crawfish….all of which I’ve never had before (or never had fresh before, which is completely different).

I’ve moved on from Wilmington now and am spending some time near Charleston in South Carolina with some friends. The south is beautiful! I would recommend a trip this way for anyone. I have one final stop in Savannah, Georgia, and then I head home on Tuesday. I think things will finally hit me when I get home, mostly regarding how much I’ve learned and being able to look at things a little differently. I haven’t had much time to think about it all while travelling, but I’m sure after about a week back home I will be missing much about DC.

Overall, I have had a great experience. I’ve learned a lot, met some great people, and seen more than I thought I would ever have the time for.

This will be my final blog for TWC, and If I could personally wipe that tear from your eye I would. Thanks for reading (whoever you are), and I really hope that I have been able to give all you potential TWC’ers a glimpse into the program and the DC lifestyle. Good luck in Washington!
Be prepared for an amazing semester!

PAZ!!

The End of an Era (and by era I mean internship)

I will be finishing up at the Embassy of Mexico tomorrow and will be leaving behind a big project I’ve been working on. I really wish I could see it through, but I guess its time to pass the torch to the next set of interns…touching I know.

I definitely took advantage of my last weekend in DC and was able to hit up all the final attractions I had yet to visit. I spent Saturday at the National Archives and the National Museum of the American Indian, both of which are very cool. At the American Indian museum the cafeteria is divided by different Indian groups, and each one serves the typical food of the group…..it was pretty awesome. At the archives I was able to see the actual constitution, and bill of rights. It’s crazy to be able to see signatures like George Washington’s.

The Declaration of Independence…but mostly, it’s John Hancock’s John Hancock. Hahahaha. I’m sure that’s the first time that joke has been made.

Unfortunately, my Saturday ended on not such a good note when I returned home to hear that my roommate had been robbed at gunpoint the previous night in Columbia Heights. I felt quite upset for her, and think I realized how much you are distanced from when you live in such a nice area like Bethesda. My view of DC has been one where I have not once felt in danger, even walking home from the Metro alone at night. I guess I’ve been pretty isolated from some of the other areas of DC which aren’t so safe. Luckily, she's ok. We both stayed in Saturday night, ordered pizza, and I think she was feeling a lot better after talking to her family and getting over the initial shock.

Sunday I took the Capital Crescent Trail from Bethesda into Georgetown in order to prep for my half marathon when I get home. I survived!

Unfortunately, I didn’t want to run with a camera, so I have yet to get any photos of the pathway which is seriously the most beautiful thing I’ve seen since living here. Hopefully I will have some time to take a quick walk on Saturday before I leave and document the area.

Monday was our final TWC speaker and commencement ceremony. It was a good day, but was definitely sad to say goodbye to the people in my program.

It’s very cool to now have some friends all throughout the Americas so hopefully soon I will meet them again on my travels. The commencement ceremony was great as well. We were able to hear quite a few stories of what other interns had accomplished this semester, and there were some pretty amazing stories!

The Global Trade and Regional Integration Program crew. Oh the good times we’ve had...

Now it’s just down to my last internship days, combined with a little packing, and I’m outta here. I’ve finally figured out my travel plans, and will be heading to Wilmington, NC on Saturday for a few days, and then SC for a few more visiting friends along the way. It should be a fun time, but I am definitely getting excited to get home on May 26th. It will be great to see my friends and family, and arrive just in time for some nice Canadian summer weather.

Paz.

Comida Mexicana!

I’ve just got one more week of interning here in DC, and this past one has been focused on trying to get my projects done at work. I’m not gonna lie, I have been working on some research (still regarding the trucking dispute, which I am pretty much obsessed with by this point) and am “supposed” to have it completed by the end of my internship next week, but I’m feeling a little stressed out because I really don’t think it’s possible….but of course, I will try.

Also this week I’ve experienced the rainy season of DC. I’m not really sure if there is such a thing, but I’m gonna take it and roll with it because it’s seriously been 8 days of straight rain. Honestly, it’s actually a nice change considering in Calgary it’s normally snow or nothing; but really, 8 days? Come on. It let up today which was nice so a couple of other interns from the Embassy and I were able to return to our local lunch spot (Quizno’s of course, 4 dollar sub…can you blame us?) and sit outside.

On Thursday I took a break from work and went to a Naturalization Ceremony that was held on the Mall. A Naturalization Ceremony is the ceremony done where immigrants actually become American citizens. I thought it was a pretty crazy concept….to be able to witness the moment when somebody, who possibly has spent years and gone through unimaginable circumstances to become an American. I did happen to show up late, and missed the actual oaths that are taken by the people, BUT I still got to see them all afterwards hugging their families and taking pictures, which I thought was pretty touching. I was probably the creepy random at the back of the crowd watching them, but whatever, it was a cool moment to “creep” on.

New American citizens at the Naturalization Ceremony

Another stellar thing that happened this week was a lunchtime getaway. One of the employees at the Embassy took me and the two other NAFTA interns outside of DC to Maryland for comida Mexicana (Mexican food!!!) It was quite a ways away, but sooooo worth it. I haven’t had authentic Mexican food since my student exchange in Mexico a few years ago, and I can honestly say that it is amazing. The place where we went was located in an area with a large Latino population, and was even in a strip mall with a Panaderia (selling pan dulce – Mexican sweet bread), which I was also pretty excited about. Basically the whole trip was spent with the Mexicans laughing at me because I was so ridiculously excited to eat the food that they get every day back home. Oh how lucky they are.

So pumped for Pan Dulce!

With another NAFTA intern, Hector from Mexico, outside the Mexican restaurant.

One more cool DC experience I had this week – Passport DC. It’s an event that happens every year where about 30 Embassies all around the city open their doors for a day, and have things like food, drinks, music and dance.

I was able to hit up a few Embassies during the event last weekend, including Colombia, Haiti, and the Bahamas. At the Colombia Embassy we got FREE Juan Valdez coffee, which is amazing! At the Haitian Embassy we then chased the coffee with rum punch which was also delicious. My favorite stop was the Bahamas, where they had people playing bongos and singing and dancing, as well as coconut milk. It was a great time, and I couldn’t believe how many people were out and about for it.

Music and dance at the Embassy of the Bahamas for Passport DC

This weekend is my last one in DC. I’m gonna try to hit up the last few sights I still have on my list, and RELAX because my portfolio is done!

PAZ!

Portfolio. Check.

This past week I got an email from my home university telling me that they needed all of my TWC stuff as soon as possible in order for me to be eligible for graduation in June….this was a COMPLETE surprise for me seeing as my semester here will be extra credit so I didn’t think the timing of my grades from TWC was all that important. Basically I thought I had two weeks to complete the massive TWC portfolio, but that was condensed into about 4 days. Good times!

I was pretty stressed out, but had thankfully already started on it so it wasn’t completely crazy. I ended up finishing it and getting it all fancy bound at FedEx and am super happy with it. It is pretty much a complete overview of my entire semester in DC and includes work samples from my internship, a research paper, civic engagement report, and a whole lot more. I made myself a copy as well (even though I definitely could have saved the money) because I know it will be great to have when I get home.

Now I am feeling completely relieved to have my portfolio done, and will be able to fully enjoy my last two weeks in DC without stressing out. Also, it rained all weekend so as I was working on it I wasn’t feeling like I was missing all that much.

Last week (before the stress of the portfolio) my sister came to visit which was a ton of fun. She’s not all that into history and museums and I was happy about this because I think I’m getting to point of being “museum-ed out,” if you catch my drift. Anyways, we spent most of our time in all the different neighborhoods just exploring and walking around.

We even took the Capital Crescent Trail into Georgetown from Bethesda which is amazing! It’s as if you are in the middle of the forest even though it’s so close to the city. We spent some time in Alexandria as well wandering around the waterfront, and also through Dupont. It was a really good visit, but now I’m feeling very nostalgic and missing my family quite a bit…yep, I’m a Debbie Downer. But seriously, I think that when I get back home it will be great to see everyone again.

My sister hangin’ out on the beautiful streets on Alexandria, VA

Just a glimpse of the Smithsonian gardens located around the National Mall

I just have two more weeks of interning left and received some big projects to complete so I’m sure the time will fly by. I’m also in the process of planning a short trip south after my internship and before I head home. I have a few friends dispersed throughout the Carolinas and a cousin in Florida so hopefully I will be able to see them all before I head back to reality of job searching back in Calgary.

Paz for now amigos!

Sarah

Life After DC?

Last week one of the other interns at the NAFTA Desk of the Embassy finished her internship. She wasn’t a student with TWC but rather got her internship directly through her university so her schedule was a little different than the rest of ours…but really that’s beside the point. Basically after seeing her pack up her things and finish her last assignment, I realized how little time I have left. BUT it’s not the time thing that’s depressing me because I am excited to continue on from my DC experience (not that is hasn’t been amazing, but everyone seems to reach that stage with everything they do in life), what’s depressing me is worrying about how different things may be when I get back home to Calgary. I’m pretty worried that a lot of the stuff I’ve learned and want to talk/debate about will be completely uninteresting to my friends, and honestly they probably won’t know anything about it – which isn’t a bad thing because if I hadn’t come here I wouldn’t have known any more either…

Seriously though, the Mexican-US trucking dispute is probably not receiving much coverage in Canada (nor is it really in the US), and I’m pretty sure most of my friends from Latin America living in Calgary didn’t even notice the Summit of the Americas happened a few weeks ago. Again, it’s not anybody’s fault, but I guess I am just finding myself worrying that all the knowledge I’ve gained and insight from DC may end up fading away when I get back to Calgary due to a lack of continuous events and other interns who are always up for discussions. I guess the main thing for me will be making sure that I stay involved…the think tanks here in DC do post all of their events online via live newsfeed, and there are a few organizations in Calgary that I may be knocking on the doors of seeing how I can help. I’m also hoping to continue my civic engagement at the HI Hostel in Calgary so I’ll see how that goes.

I have a feeling that the TWC/internship/DC experience is overall a great one for every student, but that the real challenge tends to come afterwards. I think that probably half of the students go home and fall right back into their old routines and conversations….whereas the other half take what they’ve learned and keep trying to build on it. At this point I’m feeling quite motivated, so hopefully I can be in the second half.

The Home Stretch…..Already?

So I’ve checked my calendar, and BOOM, all of a sudden I am down to my last month in Washington. Say what?

I’m not gonna lie, I have been going through a little bit of a semi-homesick stage this past little while, mostly just missing my family and friends – BUT I have pushed those feelings aside because I am 100% sure that after about 3 days back home I will be wishing I was back in DC. Happens every time.

Anyways, I’ve concluded that the time has flown by because, continuing with the theme of the semester, I’ve been keeping myself very busy. My internship has been full of projects including a huge report I completed on the honey market in the United States….sounds kind of weird, I know, but it was surprisingly interesting. Plus, now I am an expert on honey which is probably something I will only ever be able to use once in about 5 years when I’m playing Trivial Pursuit and get a super random question about honey….but hey, someone playing will be impressed. I’ve just started working on a summary of Obama’s visit to Mexico and researching the speeches that were made which is pretty cool as well.

Class and TWC programming have also kept me busy. We’ve visited some really awesome organizations and even did a simulation last week at the World Bank. All the class members were assigned a different position, such as the president of the country (which was a make believe eastern European country), or the IMF. I played a lobby group, “EU For All,” and pretty much tried to convince everyone that integration policies were the best. It’s hard to explain, but it was very cool, and helped to show how all the “players” of the world interact and what their positions are.

My programming group met yesterday to discuss the final portfolios which are due in a few weeks. There will be a lot of work involved, but at the same time I’m really happy I will be able to leave DC with a tangible representation of all I’ve been doing. With that being said, I really need to get started on it because I have no doubt the deadline will approach faster than I imagine.

I’m feeling rather depressed that my actual class, which I have every Monday night, is winding down to an end. I can honestly say it is the best class I have ever had and I have learned so much. Every week I am impressed with my professor and his knowledge. He seems to have the history of the Americas down to a tee, and is able to relate it to every topic. Basically, and this is cheesy I know, but he has inspired to become a history machine and that is my new life goal.

Speaking of life goals, I’ve also been spending this past week looking into Masters programs on Latin American Studies. I met with a professor from Georgetown today, and have a meeting with the Director of the Latin American Studies and Western Hemisphere Affairs program at George Washington University tomorrow. I really think that DC would be the perfect place to do a Masters, in anything really, simply because of the crazy amount of resources available here. Anyways, hopefully I can make a good impression tomorrow because so far the George Washington program is my top choice.

Sniper on top of The White House...oooooo

So close to the Casa Blanca with some amazing girls from my program; Yohanna from Brazil and Dalia from Mexico

Oh, and how could I forget? The sightseeing has still been continuing and this weekend I did a garden tour at The White House! It was very cool. I’m assuming I will never be so close to the White House again, and I definitely wanted to rush the secret service (who were EVERYWHERE) and try to get inside…but, alas, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. They only give the tours twice a year so there were a ton of people and we were up WAY too early on a Sunday to get tickets; but it was worth it. I also ended the weekend with a pretty stellar sunburn, which means the weather is now beautiful here in DC, so I am not complaining about it.

Paz a fuera!

Holy Sightseeing!

I know I’ve been in DC now for a while, but I still have yet to see everything. I have definitely been trying though, and these past few weeks I’ve got in a lot of the major sites.

I felt like I was neglecting my hood of Bethesda because I tended to spend every weekend going into DC….sooo I’ve done a lot of wandering and realized that Bethesda is awesome! I know I’ve said it before, but this time I’m 100% sure. The downtown area is great, and this past weekend my dad was in town so (like all unpaid interns) I took advantage of the parent visiting and ate at a ton of the amazing restaurants in Bethesda.

I also stumbled on an outdoor market, and have been spending a lot of time at Bethesda Lane, which reminds me of Europe and is just a few blocks from where I'm living.

Europe? NOPE It’s Bethesda Lane, folks.

As for DC, I’ve also been trying my best to take advantage of all the sites. One of my favorites in the National Portrait Gallery…I’ve been there a few times and still want to return. I really love the President’s Hall where they have portraits of all the presidents and explanations about what each of them is remembered for. My American history isn’t all that great so this has really helped me with that!

I also have visited Eastern Market several times, which is an outdoor market near the Capitol. Its one of the more expensive outdoor markets I’ve been to (considering most of the rest have been in Mexico), but there is some really cool stuff and a TON of free samples. Who doesn’t love that?

The Newseum has been my favorite museum so far. Its all about the news and has front pages of newspapers for every year so you can read the original stories of huge events like JFK’s assassination and the Watergate scandal. They also have a 4-D movie which was very cool. Unfortunately, its one of the only museums in DC that isn’t free, but I assure you its worth it…which I honestly would not say if it wasn’t super stellar.

Cation: Canada is taking over! The view from the top of the Newseum (the Canadian Embassy is just next door)

This past weekend that my dad was here was the National Cherry Blossom Festival. INSANE! There were so many people and the tourists were not following the escalator rules of stand right, walk left, which drove me crazy. I think that might mean I’m almost a real DC’er. Anyways, the streets were packed, restaurants were crowded, and I honestly could not believe all the people. My dad was pretty stunned as well considering we come from a town of just 100 people, it was a little bit of a shock. We avoided the parade and went early to visit all the memorials, which was one of the best ideas we’ve ever had. We also did a boat cruise one night on the Potomac, which left from Washington Harbour. It was very cool and we happened to be the only ones on the boat….besides the bartender. How convenient! We also spent a night in the Navy Yard having dinner at my friends’ parents. I’ve been there a few times since getting here, but this time they gave us an awesome tour because my dad is super into all the navy history. It was really cool and I hope to go there again during the day to visit the ship they have docked there.

Just a small part of the Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin

My dad and I also visited Arlington National Cemetery, which was amazing. The amount of grave sites is incredible and definitely very humbling. We saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as JFK’s gravesite. The views from the cemetery of DC were amazing and I think it was the perfect last stop on the crazy weekend of touring with my dad.

Just a small part of the beautiful view from Arlington Cemetery

I’ve just got a few more weekends here in DC and still have several sites to check off my to do list…hopefully I can fit them all in before the end of my internship!

Paz amigos

Hangin’ With Ambassadors

Wahoo!!! I have a night with some time for a blog. It’s about time. This past little while has been pretty busy, and pretty stressful too. I’ve had some big projects to finish at my internship, and my class had our midterm this past week as well. But, alas, I have survived, and my dad is flying in tomorrow for the weekend so I can’t wait to see a familiar face and show him the ropes of DC.

My sightseeing adventures have been lacking lately, but I’ve definitely been taking advantage of all the conferences happening in the city. A tip for future TWCer’s, be sure to google “think tanks” before you head to DC and bookmark them….then check all of their events sections as much as you can and hit up all the conferences possible. I haven’t been to a bad one yet, and I swear there is something for absolutely every interest. With the Summit of the Americas happening, and all the press being given to Mexico, I’ve been able to find so many that I’ve had to pick and choose. It’s a sad life I live, I know.

One of my favorite ones that I’ve attended was with the Council of the Americas, and was regarding US/Mexico relations. The Ambassador of Mexico, Arturo Sarukhan, was one of the speakers and I swear his level of charisma is right up there with Obama’s. He is an extremely good speaker, and is one of those people you just want to listen to.

This past week I also went to a daylong event about NAFTA. There were about 5 sessions throughout the day and it was great. It got a little painful to sit there all day, but the speakers were all of such high quality, and included people who had been involved in the negotiations of NAFTA. AND, I also met the Canadian Ambassador, who was attending one of the sessions. I’m not gonna lie, it was kind of an awkward meeting because I introduced myself and then didn’t really have anything else to say……I’m so used to the whole “where are you from/how long have you been in DC/what organization are you with,” that I panicked with the Ambassador and pretty much gave a “nice to meet you” and got out of there. Good times.

I also was able to attend a committee meeting of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee. It was in the Rayburn building, which is super classy. Now I would recommend everyone to go to at least one of these meetings just to see how they work…..but to be honest, it was boring. It was about the Merida Initiative, which I generally find to be rather interesting, but the whole process of each Member stating their position, and then each witness presenting their stuff (all timed and “Mr. Chairman” formal) just isn’t my style I guess.; they also stopped halfway through to break for an hour and a half so I ended up leaving anyways and really not getting much out of it. The moral of the story is, at least I now know how it works and have went….even if that means I never wish to go again.

The next one I’m hoping to go to is this Friday at the CATO Institute. Its about drug decriminalization in Portugal, and how drugs have been legal there since 2003. Who knew? I sure didn’t. I think it should be interesting because a lot of the talk about the Mexico drug war touches on legalization, but no one seems to be ready to REALLY talk about it yet…plus I’m planning on taking my dad, so I’m excited to see what he thinks.

That’s all I got for now….I’m expecting my next post to be full of sightseeing adventures after this weekend so brace yourselves.

Paz.

The NAFTA Desk

I’ve decided that the time is right to dedicate an ENTIRE blog just my internship. Brace yourself people, here it comes.

Things have gotten pretty intense in my office this past week because there’s been some important stuff going down. I’m gonna explain the wholestory (which may or may not be boring to those reading – I apologize inadvance), because otherwise it’s hard to understand. Plus I think it’sinteresting, and I honestly never thought I would be so interested in such things until now.

Now keep in mind that obviously my views on the whole thing are slightly swayed due to working at the Mexican Embassy (vs., for example, the US Embassy in Mexico where I’m sure the interns have very different opinions)… oh and also a side note, nothing in this blog is representative of the Embassy of Mexico, or it’s positions, it’s is all just based on what I’ve read, learned and personal opinion (I figure I should throw that in there seeing as the last thing I wanna do at my internship is find myself speaking for the Embassy).

Anyways, I’ll keep it relatively short and sweet…

Ok, so first of all, over the past few years there has been a program through NAFTA called the Demonstration Program. It allowed for Mexican trucks to cross over the US border, without being subject to having to unload, reload, switch companies, etc. (which previously had to be done by the trucks). This program, over the 2 years it was in function, saved Mexican trucking companies A LOT of time, and therefore money, and therefore also saved money for US consumers that were buying the products being brought across the border.

Anyways, the recently passed Omnibus Bill ended this Demonstration Program, forcing Mexican truckers back to the “old ways”…for obvious reasons this was not a very popular decision, especially amongst Mexican truckers. Also, one of the sections of NAFTA called for open borders for truckers by 2000; seeing as it is 2009, and things are now going in reverse, this is not really in accordance to what was put forth in NAFTA.

Bottom line, this week Mexico introduced import tariffs on 90 US goods as a means of trade retribution for the cancellation of the Demonstration Program. This is kind of a big deal. I don’t really know how else to put it. Once this list was put out and I was able to see the goods, my supervisor let me know that a bunch of the stats that we were doing at the very start of my internship (when I was still on the fence about whether I made the right internship placement choice or not), were actually used byMexican officials when they were deciding which goods to place tariffs on. This is also kind of a big deal, and I’m feeling pretty good about myself and my internship, if I may say so.

I’m not sure what’s gonna happen next, but I do know that Obama has told Congress to draft up a new program that will work for both countries. I personally don’t understand the problem with the old one…especially seeing the main argument brought up by Congress in a hearing I watched online yesterday was the safety issues involved. I understand that safety is extremely important, but no serious issues occurred during the program, AND the inspections on Mexican trucks were completed in Mexico by US inspectors…soooooo, I’m not really understanding the whole argument. Plus,if you look at the standards required by Canadian trucks vs. those required by Mexican trucks, the Mexican trucks have to comply with so much more, its crazy.

Anyways, I really hope this whole trade retribution tariff thing leads to some action by the US government…if not, then over the long run I don’t think it will be good for Mexico either because obviously the price of the goods tariffed will rise. It seems to be a lose-lose situation over the long run so I hope something will happen, and I really hope that something will happen while I’m still here in DC because it’s definitely cool to be here, and interning at the Embassy of Mexico with this type of stuff happening.

Moral of the blog posting, for those of you thinking of coming to DC, and have actually read this far, you never know what might happen at your internship. At the beginning, I was definitely not feeling overly thrilled about my placement, but over time I have come to love it…especially this week after realizing that my work is important, really important. If Iwas still in Canada right now I probably would have heard a quick blurb about tariffs on the news, and nothing more. By being in DC I have become extremely interested in the whole issue, and have the chance to learn and experience more than I ever thought would be possible. Hopefully that doesn’t sound too cheesy; I hate cheesy.

As always, paz!

Time for a Recap

Now that I’ve recovered from my Obama experience, I guess its time for an update on everything else that’s been going down here in DC. I’m currently just enjoying the end of my very first ridiculously lazy weekend while being here. I’m not gonna lie, it feels good. I think I’ve finally reached the point of not feeling guilty by taking a day completely off…there is just so much to see and do here that any day I don’t take advantage of seems to be almost a disgrace. But not anymore folks, I am announcing my complete waste of a Sunday with pride! WOOOO!! Plus, I’ve been sick these last two days so the large amount of ingested Nyquil has also made it a little difficult to conduct any public appearances.

Anyways, there have been quite a few interesting things happening this last little while, for example the TWC International Festival. It included a table from pretty much every country that has students participating in TWC (Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, China, South Korea, etc). Of course, Andrew (one of the other Canadians interning here) and I represented Canada quite well, if I may say so. We even had those delicious maple flavored cookies, and made passerbys play quarter hockey. Good times. We also had to make a presentation about our country, so we kept it short and sweet by showcasing our bilingual packaging. Sounds pretty lame I know, but trust me, it was funny…we thought it was anyways. Also, there was FREE FOOD from all over the world, and it was on a Friday night so a bunch of us were able to continue our international-ness afterwards at a Chilean friends’ apartment – and by international-ness I’m pretty much referring to Chilean wine and salsa dancing.

Andrew and I just chillin' with our maple cookies at the Canada table

Also last weekend was my brother and friend’s last night visiting. Conveniently it happened to be the day that two other friends came into town from South Carolina for their spring break. We were all able to have a really awesome dinner at their parents’ house on the Navy Base….followed by some Trivial Pursuit and pub-hopping. It was a great night, and I was able to send off my brother and Jason the next day knowing they had a good time.

One of the most random things I’ve done in the last little while was join my friends and their parents on a day trip out to West Virginia. We ended up at the Charlestown Horse Races…not exactly an event I had pictured while planning my trip to DC, but so awesome. Driving through West Virginia was pretty weird, I’m not gonna lie. Some of the conditions the people were living in were not cool. The landscape was amazing, though, with the mountains and forest…I would love to drive through the area in the fall when the leaves are changing.

I didn’t win much at the races, not that I expected to; but I did think I was pretty clever by buying my bets in quarters, and then when I won I would get it back in dollar bills (plus the extra average 40 cents that I won). Pretty much I used the betting as kind of a reverse change machine, which completely bit me in the ass the next day when I went to do laundry, and had to make an hour trek around Bethesda trying to work up enough quarters for the machine. Charlestown Races definitely got the last laugh.

With my South Carolina peeps, Frank & Eric, at the CharlestownRaces (with our winning bets, of course)

Last Monday we had several different speakers with TWC. One of them was from the Woodrow Wilson Centre and discussed globalization. I really enjoyed his talk and he left a lot of time for questions, so I was able to get some in, which is always a plus. We also had another Presidential Lecture Series in the afternoon at the Department of the Interior. This one was about the Iraq war and US strategies. Compared to the first lecture we had a few weeks ago about China-US Relations, I preferred this one. I’m not gonna lie though, depending on your interests, it seems like you can get a whole lot out of these lectures, or very little. I’m feeling on the very little end at this point seeing as pretty much all of my interest and knowledge lies in Latin American/Western Hemisphere issues, which have yet to be addressed. I honestly don’t even feel like I have enough base knowledge about China or Iraq to deserve such a lecture from super important people who are masters on the issues. I’m hoping the third and final Presidential Lecture will be a bit more towards my interests.

My class and internship this past week both went really well. We are starting to prepare for our midterm, which will be next Monday; it will bean oral exam, which I’ve never had before so I’m hoping it will be alright. All week at my internship I worked on an article for the NAFTAWorks newsletter that is put out monthly by my department. The article is on air cargo/logistics in Mexico and how currently there are many improvements being done. Sounds a little boring upon first hearing about it (which is also what I thought), but after researching and learning more about it, it is actually very interesting. This seems to be the theme with my assignments at the NAFTA desk…not all of them, but many of them sound very daunting at the start, and by the end very interesting. I find myself still keeping up to date on my own time on issues that I was working on at the beginning of the semester. I emailed my article to my supervisor on Friday before leaving work, so I’m hoping that on Tuesday I can get some good reviews back from him.

I was able to spend a lot of time with my friends visiting from South Carolina all week, and we had some pretty good adventures. We went to RiRa (my favorite pub in Bethesda) on Tuesday night for quiz night, which was pretty intense. There were about 8 rounds of pretty tough questions…and we didn’t come out as winners. My roommate and I have decided to make it a regular outing so we’re gonna brush up on the Jeopardy and random facts to reach our goal of winning before I leave.

We also went to a Washington Wizards game on Friday night. The tickets were only $11 (on sale as an “Economic Stimulus Package” which I thought was kind of funny), and the stadium was definitely not as full as it is, for example, at a Calgary Flames game, so we were able to move down closer (to at least the $20 seats). The Wizards didn’t win, but they were only down by two at one point which I guess is kind of a big deal when playing the Magic…so it got a little rowdy for a while. My favorite part was the mascot “G-Whiz”. I thought it was clever. I also enjoyed the three of us doing the robot in an attempt to make it on the jumbotron, but alas, it just wasn’t our time to shine.

Now I’m back to the regular “no visitors” mode for a while, so I’m gonna try to hit up a few more conferences and catch up on some reading. There is one on Tuesday I’m planning on attending about Guantanamo Bay detainees. Should be interesting. I don’t have much else planned for the week, so I have no promises that my next blog will be compelling…but that also means it won’t be so long.

For those of you who powered through and read this entire thing…I salute you.

Paz amigos!

Guess Who Saw Obama?

I don’t like to drag things out, so no more beating around the bush…..it was me who saw Obama. WOOO! AND, I shook his hand. AND I believe my exact words to him were “Obama you’re the man!” I’m not even joking. I have photos for proof…

WAHOO!

So happy I'm taller than 5 feet or this would not have been possible

We touched his hand!!! Never washing it again!!! But don't worry, I have.

Oh ya one more thing, there is NO zoom on those. It was definitely the highlight of my DC trip so far, and I have a feeling it might be the highlight of the WHOLE trip. It was amazing. I called my parents, sister, friends from home, and even my Gramma. Good times with Obama.

I guess I could explain how this all happened. One of the other interns at TWC is working at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which puts on a Legislative Conference every year. Bush attended for the past three years (I think three anyways), and we found out just a few days before this year’s that Obama was coming! The intern was able to convince her bosses to let students in for free, and she pretty much was the sweet connection that the rest of us had. She had the inside scoop of Obama’s speech time…but it all ended up being really intense. At first we were told we could attend his speech, and then we were told no because it would be too full, and then at 930 am (as I was literally turning on my computer at the embassy), the other intern calls me and says “he’s speaking at 945 and you can come! HURRY!!” So, basically, Joe (another intern at the embassy) and I were running down Pennsylvania Avenue to get there and….here’s the best part….literally one block over we could see Obama’s convoy driving. It was pretty much like we were racing them and it was really funny; but we were so focused on getting there we couldn’t even laugh at ourselves. We ran into the hotel and they were already taking down the metal detectors because everyone was already seated, but thankfully they checked us really quickly and we snuck in the last door right before the guy came on to introduce him. SO intense I can’t even believe it happened. I really didn’t even catch the first part of his speech because I was so starstruck, but what I did catch was great. He was talking about education and his plan for the US. He even threw in a few jokes (that were actually funny) and spent so much time shaking everyone’s hands. It was a once in a lifetime experience I have no doubt, and a DC moment I definitely will NOT be forgetting.

We also got to attend the rest of the conference, which included sessions on the environment, immigration, education, and health care. Because it was put on by the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, all of the sessions were geared toward Hispanic business leaders, but were relevant for everyone. There were a lot of things discussed, the most interesting I found to be was the immigration session focused on the Employment Verification program. It’s basically this system, kind of like a debit card, where employees have a card that is used by employers to see if they are eligible to work. It sounds like a good system, in theory, but there are so many mistakes in the databases used that the problems are endless.One of the speakers was a US citizen who got a job with the House of Representatives, and couldn’t get cleared because of her card due to a mistake in the database. She had such a terrible time getting papers completed and going through the process, even with all the resources she had literally right at her fingertips at the House. Basically, if you compare this to what a legal immigrant worker would have to go through due to a mistake, it would be amazingly difficult and such a process. Anyways, bottom line, even though I know the speakers were obviously leaning to one side of the argument, I agree and think its not a good idea. I’m gonna keep looking into it though because it’s a really interesting topic….could be just me though, not sure.

Also for the conference another intern and I were able to sit in on a lobbying meeting in a Senator’s office. It was with two Hispanic businessmen from Michigan and a legislative aide to their senator, Senator Levin. We just kind of sat there and observed how the lobbying process works as the businessmen discussed with the aide the things they are worried about in Michigan, and what they think should be done. Lots of it was focused on the failing auto industry and its effects on the smaller suppliers, and all smaller businesses in the area (Hispanic and not). It was really interesting, and they had some great ideas. Also, it was in the Russell Senate building which was beautiful!

There’s been a lot of other stuff going on lately, but I really just wanted to get my OBAMA story out there. It was just THAT amazing! I’ll update on the rest of the happenings soon…..so until then,

Paz!

Chillaxin' in DC

I really don’t even know where to start. It’s been a while so I’ve got some backtracking to do….hmmm….let’s see. Last week was pretty interesting, and really busy. I had something going on every night, including a visit to the “World MBA Tour,” a bunch of super good business schools soliciting themselves. I’m not gonna lie, I really don’t even know if I want to get an MBA in the future, but going definitely didn’t hurt. I felt a little out of my league considering most people there were a bit older with about 5 years of experience under their belts and some clear(er) goals than little ol’ me, but it was still pretty cool. By the time I got around to the last school’s booth I was exaggerating a little and telling them I had 2 years of work experience. Sad I know, but seriously, being honest was awkward seeing as I don’t even have my undergraduate yet. Hopefully none of them read this blog…if they do, my bad. Anyways, I got some really good info, and met some admissions directors for some pretty cool schools. Lots of them were awesome and gave me their business cards and told me to email them when I was ready to apply. Who knows what may happen…

I also helped out the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at a mixer they had for their members. I sat at the registration with another girl and signed people in, which meant I pretty much got to meet everyone. There were some really great people, all from completely different backgrounds and fields. Oh, and it was catered by the best food I’ve had since I’ve been here, El Tamarindo. Make a note of it, because honestly, it’s a jem. They even had Pupusas…and for those of you that haven’t them, you’re missing out. Anyways, it was held in the upstairs of the PNC bank, which is literally right across from the Treasury building. The view was amazing, and it was a beautiful building. It’s the one where Pelican Brief was filmed (good ol’ Julia Roberts).

Last week I started up my civic engagement at the HI hostel. My first orientation was tagging along on a Georgetown tour which was great. We saw an apartment building where JFK used to live (very cool), Georgetown University (beautiful), and the stairs from The Exorcist (creepy). I finished my training up this week by helping out a pizza night. It was super easy, and a lot of fun. I’ve already met a ton of cool people by helping out, so I have no doubt it will continue to be a good time. I think the first event that I actually run myself will be sometime this coming week or the following.

My internship is still going really good. A few days ago I had a VERY long day, and spent the entire time in the office translating Mexican customs law for an American business man wanting to open a Maquiladora in Mexico. It was really hard work, and very time/mind consuming, but I definitely learned a lot. I also had some authentic Mexican food at the embassy yesterday…every week a Mexican lady comes in with a different menu just for the embassy staff. It was amazing!

We had programming with TWC again this past Monday, but our morning was cancelled due to a “MEGAstorm.” Seriously, on the news they called it a megastorm. Being from Calgary I found this really funny considering it was only an inch or two of snow, and about -15 celcius (at the coldest). If that was a snow day in Calgary, the whole city would be shut down for 4 months of the year. Of course, it only lasted one day (if that) and then it was all melted, but it was definitely an entertaining day. The afternoon wasn’t cancelled, and TWC held a career bootcamp for the students. It was a good afternoon, and I took in a session about applying for law school, and another about resumes. My class also continued as usual, and as always, was really interesting. We talked specifically about free trade agreements and how they work/what they aim for. Everything seems to tie in perfectly to my internship so I really feel like all the different aspects of the program are helping me understand all the rest (if that makes sense).

Also last week a bunch of the international students at TWC met with some interns/associates of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of Foreign Affairs. They pretty much kept it simple and introduced everything very quickly, opening the floor for questions. Everyone asked some really good questions, and we basically got the heads up on the committee’s ranking member’s views on a whole bunch of subjects. Some of the most talked about were the Merida Initiative, and the drug war in Mexico. One of the other Canadian students asked them specifically about their discussions on Canada….the answer was very honest with the guy telling us that Canada has pretty much been on the backburner for the last few years, but they are making an effort to give us a little more attention. I’m not gonna lie, it stings that they seem to forget about us, but at the same time, I definitely understand that there are some pretty important issues that need immediate attention happening elsewhere in the hemisphere. Also, I really appreciate the blunt answer, which is pretty hard (if not impossible) to find here in DC. People tend to beat around the bush and keep everything politically correct. Come on people, this is why things are so difficult to accomplish.

Enjoying the White House with my brother Cliff and amigo Jason

Surprisingly we got this in just one shot...impressive I know

My brother and friend came in for a visit last Saturday and have been staying with me all week. There’s been a few (actually many) happy hours involved, and its been a great time. Tomorrow some friends from South Carolina arrive for their spring break so that should be entertaining as well. It seems as though a lot of people are taking up an interest in coming to visit, and I don’t blame them because DC continues to amaze me with its awesomeness.

Paz

“Let Me Check My Schedule…”

I seem to have gotten extremely busy over the last little while and I’m not even really sure how it happened. Suddenly today I found myself saying “let me check my schedule…” and actually meaning it. I’m definitely not complaining because there is just so much cool stuff going on here I just can’t seem to find enough time to catch it all.

As for my internship, things are going great. Another intern started last week – Joe from Alaska – and having an extra “in the process of learning Spanish” homie in the office is definitely a plus. I’ve really been enjoying the work too. The past couple of days I haven’t had any assignments except answering email and phone questions. They’ve been pretty random, and I’ve definitely been learning a lot from researching answers…and running up to my supervisor’s office every hour to ask advice.

In addition to my internship, I’m in the process of starting up the Civic Engagement section of my program. TWC requires you to get involved through volunteering somehow in DC, and I’ve decided to do mine with the HI Hostel. Basically a few more volunteers and I will be planning some events for the guests at the hostel, running them, and making sure everyone is digging DC. I’m pretty pumped to get started, and am joining the hostel’s free tour of Georgetown this Thursday night as my orientation – convenient considering I haven’t been to Georgetown yet and will probably enjoy it more than the hostel guests. I also got in touch with the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to see if I can help them out at all. The guy I have been in contact with is extremely nice, and is now sending me a weekly schedule of his meetings. He told me I can sit in on any if I ever want to meet anyone, or hear about an organization in particular, which I think is a pretty sweet deal. They also have regular mixers for their members, so I’m headed to one tomorrow night to help out and do some mingling.

Last week I went to one more forum about American policy towards to drug war and violence in Mexico. It has been my favorite talk so far and was a panel of really awesome speakers. Again, it was at CATO, which is definitely a very liberal institute as the first guy got up and right away went into how the only solution was complete legalization of drugs. All the speakers were great, but this guy in particular was so intense and passionate and knew so much about Mexico I couldn’t even take it. I even went up to him afterwards and got his card so hopefully I can follow up with him. We can even discuss the day that Canada legalized Marijuana (yes, it actually happened, kind of).

As for the weekend, I made it to the travel show in an effort to solicit myself for a job, but alas, I chickened out. It was a really cool setup with booths from pretty much all the major destinations in the world, and then everything in between. In my defense, there was a TON of people, most of them very stereotypical, obnoxious, very loud almost yelling-ish, socks with sandals type tourists, and I pretty much found myself just wanting to get out of there after a while. I grabbed a lot of propaganda and got a list of exhibitors so my plan B is now in motion, and that is to blanket their email addresses with resumes. We’ll see what happens.

A few of us met up on Sunday in an effort to make the hike to Georgetown, but it ended up being ridiculously cold, so instead we hit up the Natural History Museum. Of course, this included another 3D Imax movie, which I still swear are the coolest thing to hit the planet. I’m not saying the rest of the museum isn’t awesome, but nothing really beats wearing sweet red glasses and having dinosaurs pop out of the screen.

Last night a group of us went to a Sam Roberts show at the Rock n’ Roll hotel. If you haven’t heard of Sam Roberts, don’t be ashamed….he’s big in Canada (and by big I mean “big”), but not so much here. I actually saw him the week before I left Calgary for $50 in a big auditorium. Last night it was $12 in a pretty small venue and we were pretty much arm’s length away from him. I thought it was quite stellar. There’s another Canadian act coming to town on Friday. K’Naan is playing at the Millennium Stage in the Kennedy Centre Friday night at 6pm, and its, guess what, FREE!!! A theme I do love. I guess the Millennium stage has free shows every single day at 6pm; this will be my first time there but I’m sure more will come.

Also on Friday all the TWC students from the Western Hemisphere (except the USA) are meeting with the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee. I’m really excited to hear their take on all the current Latin American issues like Chavez, the Merida Initiative and Cuba. All of the US students are having meetings with their congressmen scheduled, but obviously we internationals don’t have any here, so this is basically our version and I’m expecting it to be really good.

On a side note, my brother and one of my good friends are arriving on Saturday for a week long visit. I’m soooooo excited to see them and am sure there will be some crazy antics going down while they are around.

Paz amigos.

Otra Semana

As you can tell by my title, my level of Spanish has pretty much reached fluency by this point. I never thought it would happen this fast either; I must have underestimated myself. But actually, the title is just my most recent attempt at convincing myself, and the rest of you, that my Spanish is amazing. I'm thinking it probably isn't working at this point, but interning at the Mexican Embassy is seriously helping me improve so hopefully in a few weeks I won't just be pretending as much.

The internship has gotten much better since my first few days, and this past week I was working on some articles for the monthly NAFTA newsletter my department sends out. There has been some pretty interesting topics and I appear to be retaining random facts of Mexican imports/exports from some of my work: for example, South Carolina is the top exporting state of film cameras to Mexico. Who knew? And who remembers that? Apparently I do.

I've also been going out for lunch a lot with some other interns at the embassy. They have been really great at helping me with my Spanish, and want to practice their English too, so it works out well. It is getting pretty expensive going out for lunch so much, but being at the embassy in particular I feel like its necessary. The Mexican people (from my point of view anyways) are very interested in mingling with coworkers and getting to know them, and lunch is a very important part of the work day because of it. We get two hours for lunch, which is AWESOME, and means that I may actually go home knowing some people on a deeper level in comparison to the usual 1 hour max, eat at your desk and become bitter towards your job/life approach.

In addition to my internship hours, I've been going to a few conferences. One that I attended today was about the development gap between the US and Latin America. It was based on a book by Francis Fukuyama called "The Fallen," and he was one of the speakers. I swear he is probably one of the smartest people I've ever heard talk and was pretty amazing. The auditorium was packed full, but YAY there was still enough free lunch for all of us. But aside from the lunch it was a really good conference. I've enjoyed all the events I've been to so far at the CATO Institute, and am actually heading to another tomorrow on the drug problems of Mexico and the relations with the US.

Besides the internship and conferences and such, everything else is also going really well in DC. The long weekend was great, and I spent all day Saturday sightseeing with American Sarah who's in my program (she's known as American Sarah and I'm Canadian Sarah--for obvious reasons. Represent). We went up the Washington Monument and then to the Holocaust Museum on Saturday, and then wandered around Alexandria, VA on Monday. I figured the Holocaust Museum would be pretty empty on Valentine's Day considering the mood, but the line was still pretty long. It is such a great museum I couldn't believe it.

Just happy to be here...

View from the top of the Washington Monument. The WWII Memorialand the Lincoln Memorial

With some fellow Mexican Embassy Interns (Humberto and Hector) infront of The White House

As for Sunday, I ended up going to visit some friends' parents who live here in DC. They live on the naval base so it was a really cool experience to get a tour from them of the area. We're not too big on the whole military, navy thing up in Canada, if you haven't noticed, so it was definitely all new to me. And a home cooked meal was also much appreciated as I seem to be living off of a lot of cereal and ham sandwiches at this point.

This weekend I've got a few plans, including crashing a Travel Expo that's being held in DC. It's basically a fair with a bunch of travel/tourism companies sitting at booths, and people come and plan their trips. Instead, I'm going to go with a handful of resumes and see if I can maybe get a lead on a possible job. I may get kicked out, as the tickets specifically say SOLICITING OF EXHIBITORS IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED...but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. As long as it doesn't lead to arrest followed by deportation, I'm up for a healthy kick out.

Until next time, paz.

Getting Settled...

First off, I just want to throw it out there - if you like it you can take it, if not you can throw it right back - DC is amazing! I’ve been feeling rather overwhelmed since my arrival, but definitely in a good sense. There are so many opportunities here, whether it be potential jobs, attending conferences, or simply just having a debate (which I’m realizing seems to happen quite often).

I arrived about 2 weeks ago now, and everything went as planned. I’m not living in The Washington Center housing, but rather found an apartment online through craigslist.org. It was a little daunting coming here on my own and not really knowing if my roommate actually existed, or if she was planning on robbing me upon arrival. Instead, she helped me get settled, took me for a tour, and then bought me dinner. I was like WHOA I definitely scored with this setup--the place is great, the roommate is super nice, and the area where I’m living is amazing. I’m just a few blocks away from downtown Bethesda in Maryland, which is packed full of nice restaurants and shopping. I really don’t think I could have asked for a better spot to be.

The Washington Center orientation was last week as well, and was pretty interesting. It was great to meet all the people from my program (Global Trade and Regional Integration) and start having some peeps here to hang out with. Everyone seems really nice, and we have a huge mix of people from all over North and South America. We also started our Monday programming which has been pretty good so far. We were able to visit the Organization of American States, which is in one of the most amazing buildings I’ve ever seen, as well as hear from a few speakers who are kind of a big deal.

I’ve only had two classes so far, but both were full of US vs. the rest of America debates regarding political / trade issues. I felt kind of bad last night as there are only two people from the states in my class, with about 10 others from Canada / Latin America, and it basically ended up being a 10 vs. 2 type debate on the Buy America provision. I have a feeling this division may keep going throughout the semester so it could be interesting.

I also started my internship last week at the Embassy of Mexico. I’m not gonna lie, I was definitely on the fence about it after the first few days, but I’m feeling good about it now. The main difficulty for me has been the English/Spanish barrier, as pretty much everyone else is Mexican. The work is mostly in English, and everyone is extremely nice, but I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed at lunch hour especially with 4-5 Mexicans all speaking super fast. By the time I think of something to add to the conversation in Spanish, they’ve already moved on to something else, so I guess I’m just gonna play off the “strong and silent type” persona. We did go out for juevecitas last Thursday, which pretty much means Thursday Date. I guess it’s a tradition at the Embassy for the interns, which I’m definitely not complaining about. There were several Coronas involved, which seemed to improve my Spanish quite a bit…go figure.

I’ve done quite a bit of sightseeing already on my own including a LOT of exploring by foot, as well as the Museum of National History, tour of the Capitol, Eastern Market, the Mexican Cultural Institute, Embassy Row and the Museum of Natural History. For most cities a list like that seems to be the extent of the sightseeing, but I seriously feel like if I was to go see something different everyday while I am here, I still wouldn’t see it all. The best part is that pretty much all of it is FREE!!! Hey oooo!!!

The awesomeness that is the Capitol

The amazing murals inside the Cultural Institute of Mexico

A couple of us from the Global Trade Program at the top of the Old Post Office Tower: (L to R) Andrew from Canada, Kyle from Florida, Sarah from Wisconsin, Me, and John from Pennslyvania

I also went to my first conference/forum today at the CATO Institute. It was basically a panel of speakers discussing the importance of services in free trade…sounds boring I’m sure, but I can honestly say it was pretty stellar. There are two other ones planned by CATO next week, one on the Latin American economy, and the other on drug trade issues in Mexico. I’m hoping to be able to go to both, and it seems my supervisor is pretty laid back so hopefully it works out. They are all free, and you get a sweet nametag for registering in advance, as well as free lunch afterwards. I kind of want to go to one everyday so I never have to buy lunch, I wonder if they would catch on.

Oh, and one more thing to mention….I saw my very first presidential motorcade today. It was intense. I was walking to the Embassy (which conveniently is just a few blocks from the Whitehouse), and boom, all of a sudden this cop car came out of nowhere and blocked traffic. No one really seemed as excited as I did so apparently it must happen down our street all the time…or maybe it wasn’t even Obama, who knows, but I don’t really know how many people get such sweet convoys. Anyways, right after he blocked the traffic all these motorcycles started coming and then about 10-15 black SUV’s and cars with tinted windows, followed by more police. Then suddenly it was over; he flipped off his siren, drove away, and traffic continued as normal. I basically stood there stunned wishing I would have had my camera and thinking about how well organized it was. Seriously, it was perfectly timed and pretty much awesome.

That’s all I got for now, but with the upcoming long weekend I’m hoping to have some pretty compelling stories for my next post.

Paz.