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!