The beginning

The first day I arrived in D.C. I noticed two main things, the way people dressed and of course the humidity. Everything was new to me and I felt completely lost, since this was the first time that I had been in our nation’s capital. I remember watching the capital building and the pentagon from my Uber’s window and it finally hit me that I had arrived. All of the buildings looked so big and important and I remember thinking that I wanted to visit everything I possibly could. The people of D.C. dress very professional and always look rushed. The speed of this city sometimes overwhelms me. The first few days I spent unpacking and trying to get comfortable in my new apartment. I arrived a few days before everyone else, so I explored Woodley park on my own. It was not hard to notice that everything I needed was within short walking distance and even the metro is very easily accessible. I was very impressed with the beauty of D.C. and all of the green surroundings. Being a native Arizonan, I am not used to seeing a great deal of plant life besides cactus, therefore this was a positive change. 

On the first couple of days as a group, we toured the state capitol, the supreme court, and the library of congress. It was my first time visiting all of these sites and it was very extraordinary to say the least. After having worked in the senate for a few days now, I learned that the tours we took last week are not easy to organize, specifically the supreme court one. I’m thankful that Ms. Grant and Dr. Herrera were able to organize these great tours for us. During the state capitol tour, I learn a lot of useful facts that I can now use when I conduct my own tours. Many of the facts our tour guide stated gave me flashbacks to my high school US history class. It was very interesting to see all of the facts I had hidden in my head come out in the state capitol. In high school we learned about Susan B. Anthony and her fight for women’s suffrage and in the state capitol I was happy to see a statue of her and two others. It was especially important to me that the statue had an unfinished piece to symbolize the ongoing fight for women’s rights. It was also amazing to see the statues of Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. One of the first places on the tour is emancipation hall, which is where everyone begins their tour. The symbolism of this hall is to commemorate the slaves who built the capital and I believe it was a very necessary gesture. Our group was also allowed to visit the speaker’s balcony which has an amazing view of the pentagon. Again, I recently learned that being able to see the speaker’s balcony is a privilege and not many people get to experience that. 

After visiting the offices of Congressmen Greg Stanton, David Schweikert, and Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, I learn many very valuable lessons from their staff. Essentially, they explained what each of them did to get to where they are. I learned that making connections in D.C. is a very easy process, everyone knows each other, and it is a small city. Ben Owens told us that patience is key if you want to make it on capitol hill. I have been attempting to practice this during my first week in Senator Sinema’s office. I have made relationships with my co-workers and tried to be involved in a little bit of everything going on in the office. Over the first week we spent as a group in D.C., we had many opportunities to practice networking. I put those skills to use once I started my internship and it seems to be working. I am excited to see how all of these relationships help me out in the long run.