Week Three: Caffeinate Me

I have consumed an insane amount of coffee these past three weeks. It’s not because I’m overworked or tired at all; it’s just when you’re a 22-year-old in working in DC, something about a cup of coffee first thing in the morning makes you feel like a real adult, and then turns into another cup or two throughout the day. This is definitely a habit I’m going to have to break. 

I will say though, the caffeine gave me lots of energy for another productive week. On Monday we put out the FYI weekly newsletter, Tuesday I did some prep work at AIP, Wednesday I went to Capitol Hill for a hearing again, Thursday I went to the National Institutes of Health, and Friday I worked on a bulletin with Adria and three blurbs for the upcoming newsletter. Everyone at AIP is so encouraging, helpful, and positive, and I’m really treasuring my time here. I can’t believe week three is already over! This summer is flying by. 

This week was also very fun-filled! On Tuesday, I traveled to Alexandria, Virginia to meet my friend Maggie who works for the National Science Foundation. Maggie used to be my physics professor at TCNJ before getting the job at NSF. She is also married to the professor I’ve done cloud physics research with at TCNJ. I’ve gotten to know their family really well over the past four years, and both Maggie and her husband Nate are great mentors and friends. She and I walked around Old Town Alexandria, went to the waterfront, ate at a really tasty Italian restaurant, and got some Ben and Jerry’s to end the night. I’ll be seeing her again next week when I travel to NSF for a meeting! 

Thursday was also an exciting evening! All the interns went on a dinner cruise on the Potomac with the SPS executives. Despite feeling somewhat sick all day, I managed to make the most of it, and the group danced a lot which was very fun! I was very tired the next morning, but hey, that’s what coffee is for, right? 

Over the weekend, all the interns were invited by SPS to go to an orchestra concert at the University of Maryland. It was AMAZING! The musicians were very young, between the ages of 18 and 28, and it was the most talented group of musicians I’ve ever listened to. When we arrived at the venue, we all ate some pizza provided by SPS, took some lovely group photos outside, and then got to see the performance. The concert definitely got me thinking that I want to go to more musical performances this summer. 

I ended the weekend by spending time with my friend Heather who is interning at a non-profit in Annapolis. She came to DC Sunday afternoon, and we went to a pop-up exhibit near Metro Center of Donald Trump’s most entertaining tweets. It was, well, interesting to say the least. And now here I am in our apartment, enjoying some Trader Joe’s BBQ chicken pizza, watching the Google Doc of this week's newsletter unfold with lots of edits, and winding down for the night. 

Mitch has challenged me to rename all my blog posts to something more creative rather than “Week One” and “Week Two”, so for those of you who have read my previous posts, you will see that my previous post titles have changed. As he puts it, titling if more of an “art” than anything else, and he is totally right. So please enjoy my *somewhat* more creative titles going forward. I’m really trying!