Sunday, June 16, 2019
By:
This week I am feeling very spoiled by this internship. On Thursday evening, we went on an amazing dinner cruise. On the boat, we enjoyed a beautiful view of DC, a three-course meal, drinks, and dancing. On Friday afternoon, we had a very nice catered lunch with the SPS executive committee. Then, on Saturday, we were invited to an SPS pizza dinner and a concert put on by the National Orchestral Institute. The pianist, Kevin Cole, was absolutely phenomenal and looked like he was having a wonderful time; he made me miss playing piano. I had a fantastic experience during these events, especially the cruise and the concert, and I appreciated the opportunity to network with more SPS people. Plus, it’s always fun to have an excuse to dress up!
The rest of the weekend has been very memorable as well. We rented a private karaoke room at the Punch Bowl Social on Friday and had so much fun that we continued our singing back at the apartments. Then, a few of us went on a late-night run to the Lincoln Memorial, where we saw some scenes being shot for an upcoming HBO show, The Plot Against America. I guess now I’ll have to watch that show when it comes out.
On Saturday before the concert, three of us enjoyed a nice stroll around the trails on Theodore Roosevelt Island. Being submerged in nature for an hour or so was very refreshing, and the view of DC from the bridge leading to the island was lovely.
My work week was quite eventful as well. In addition to working on finalizing a list of physicists that I’d like to feature on the playing cards we are making, tracking down contact information, starting to write content for the playing cards, and updating some of the old physicist profiles on the APS Careers website, I conducted my first two phone interviews for the project. I heard a lot of great advice and information about different fields of physics during those two calls, and I’m looking forward to comparing the recordings of my first interview with my last interview to see how my interviewing skills have improved by the end of the summer.
I spent the end of the week writing those two physicists’ profiles and am just waiting on their approval. They should be posted on the APS Careers website sometime this week, so stay tuned!
Jacqueline Blaum