Wednesday night it was raining here in D.C. as always, but the game still went on. Members of Congress suited up in jerseys to play a friendly game of baseball at Nationals Stadium. The Republicans faced the Democrats in a game that ended the long Republican win streak. My friends and I left between the 4th and 5th innings after the Democrats scored WAY too many runs.
Thursday afternoon included more ice cream than I have ever wanted. The International Dairy Foods Association hosted an Ice Cream Social by one of the Senate Office Buildings. My fellow interns and I fetched ice cream for all of the staffers during our shift. Then on my way home, I went for another round. Who knew that ice cream and a root beer float could serve as dinner?
Friday I gave my first tour to a family from Anderson. While it could have gone better, it went better than expected. After work, my friends and I went to a Nationals baseball game. It was really close the whole game. After the score was still 1-1 at the end of the 10th inning, we left. They ended up winning with a single from former Red's player Adam Dunn.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
June 16, 2009-1st Exploration Day
My cloudy Tuesday began with work from 8:30-1. I then made the quick trip home to change into my exploration clothes. A quick Metro ride took me to the other side of town to see the World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and Vietnam War Veterans Memorial.
"FREEDOM IS NOT FREE" is inscribed on a wall of the Korean War Memorial. Inscribed by this wall are four statistics: Dead USA 54,246 UN 628,833. Missing USA 8,177 UN 470,267. Captured USA 7,140 UN 92,970. Wounded USA 103,284 UN 1,054,453.
4,048 gold stars adorn a navy blue wall at the World War II Memorial to pay tribute to the 405,399 American lives that were lost in WWII.
58,256 names are etched into the Vietnam Wall that stretchs 247 feet.
A 19 foot tall statue stands in the Lincoln Memorial to honor a national hero whose life was cut short six days after the end of the Civil War.
The cost of freedom from slavery and freedom from communism were the lives of President Lincoln and millions of soldiers. These numbers are not just numbers anymore since I have friends in ROTC. Each of those names is a friend from college, a guy someone dated once or twice, a best guy friend, or a football buddy. Each name is someone who should be treated with the utmost respect. It is those names that all Americans should be grateful for.
"FREEDOM IS NOT FREE" is inscribed on a wall of the Korean War Memorial. Inscribed by this wall are four statistics: Dead USA 54,246 UN 628,833. Missing USA 8,177 UN 470,267. Captured USA 7,140 UN 92,970. Wounded USA 103,284 UN 1,054,453.
4,048 gold stars adorn a navy blue wall at the World War II Memorial to pay tribute to the 405,399 American lives that were lost in WWII.
58,256 names are etched into the Vietnam Wall that stretchs 247 feet.
A 19 foot tall statue stands in the Lincoln Memorial to honor a national hero whose life was cut short six days after the end of the Civil War.
The cost of freedom from slavery and freedom from communism were the lives of President Lincoln and millions of soldiers. These numbers are not just numbers anymore since I have friends in ROTC. Each of those names is a friend from college, a guy someone dated once or twice, a best guy friend, or a football buddy. Each name is someone who should be treated with the utmost respect. It is those names that all Americans should be grateful for.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
June 15, 2009
Monday morning began with an informational session on International Benchmarking in Mathematics. Since my undergraduate honors thesis focuses on education, I thought this session would be beneficial to me. It ended up having nothing to do with my project, but it educated me on how important International Benchmarking is.
Researchers compared the performance of American students to international students in mathematics. To put it simply, American students fell short. Hong Kong, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, England, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Lithuania all averaged better than the United States. Additionally, our average was lower than the mean for OECD countries. Another saddening finding was that American students' scores fell from Grade 4 to Grade 8 while other countries scores improved. I can confidently say after this briefing that International Benchmarking should be used to push us to better educate our children.
This educational briefing was followed by a briefing by CATO Institute on Restoring the Pro-Trade Consensus. I went into this briefing being pro-trade and left being more pro-trade. Some myths that I held about trade were busted and I am now more hopeful about the United States' trade position. First, manufacturing is only in decline because of the global economic slowdown, not from import competition or outsourcing. Performance records were reached in both 2006 and 2007 by the manufacturing industry. Second, imports are not bad and trade imbalances reflect savings patterns, monetary policy, and fiscal policy. In other words, the trade deficit resulted from more than less exports than imports. Lastly, even though some of our trade partners do cheat, the total effect unfair trade on our trade account is a tiny fraction.
More from this week will come later today.
Researchers compared the performance of American students to international students in mathematics. To put it simply, American students fell short. Hong Kong, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, England, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Lithuania all averaged better than the United States. Additionally, our average was lower than the mean for OECD countries. Another saddening finding was that American students' scores fell from Grade 4 to Grade 8 while other countries scores improved. I can confidently say after this briefing that International Benchmarking should be used to push us to better educate our children.
This educational briefing was followed by a briefing by CATO Institute on Restoring the Pro-Trade Consensus. I went into this briefing being pro-trade and left being more pro-trade. Some myths that I held about trade were busted and I am now more hopeful about the United States' trade position. First, manufacturing is only in decline because of the global economic slowdown, not from import competition or outsourcing. Performance records were reached in both 2006 and 2007 by the manufacturing industry. Second, imports are not bad and trade imbalances reflect savings patterns, monetary policy, and fiscal policy. In other words, the trade deficit resulted from more than less exports than imports. Lastly, even though some of our trade partners do cheat, the total effect unfair trade on our trade account is a tiny fraction.
More from this week will come later today.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Day Three: Realization Day
Day Three in the Pence office was quite a day. In the morning, I was trained on a few of the office processes and learned a lot. After lunch though, my activities on the Hill finally took a turn toward more action.
An intern in the House Republican Conference office went on a "Scavenger Hunt" around Capitol Hill with me. For 1.5 hours we were to find rooms that we could potentially be visiting during the summer. We got lost a couple of times and frequently asked regular employees which direction to turn. Exploring the hallways of the Capitol, while at times frustrating, was a great experience. Many people will never get to see the Capitol from the point of view that I had today. Many wrong turns later, we returned to the 4th floor of Longworth, glad that our journey was finally over. I know my sore feet were especially glad for the end.
A few more hours passed before the end of the workday was reached. I recently learned that I could walk through the Capitol on my way home from the office. Never being the one to turn down air-conditioned walking when the muggy outdoors is the other option, I embarked on this walk.
Still not knowing the correct way to the Capitol, I went the wrong way and ended up getting to the elevator when many Members of Congress were rushing to the floor for a vote. The policy during votes is to ALWAYS let Members have the elevator before you. Following this policy, I prepared to wait for the next round of elevators. One of the Congresswomen called for another person to come in. Soon Congressman Ralph Hall of Texas was motioning for me to squeeze in the packed elevator. (I recognized him from the many hearings I've watched while working at C-SPAN Archives.) Following his instructions, I happily jumped into the crowded quarters.
Congressman Hall told me when I entered that I was the only one that he would let in because he thought I was a granddaughter of someone. He said that grandfathers love you more than anything in the world. Grandmothers make you cook and clean, and they really run the show. He encouraged me to go see my grandpa. I noted that my grandpa was in Indiana and that I wouldn't see him for a while. Still, Congressman Hall persisted that I make contact with my grandpa because he knew that he loved me.
Inspired by this short elevator ride up, I soon called my grandpa to talk. The conversations with Congressman Hall and my grandpa are both memories that I will probably keep forever.
It was on this walk home, through the Capitol, after my conversation with Congressman Hall, that I truly realized that I am working in Washington, D.C. this summer.
An intern in the House Republican Conference office went on a "Scavenger Hunt" around Capitol Hill with me. For 1.5 hours we were to find rooms that we could potentially be visiting during the summer. We got lost a couple of times and frequently asked regular employees which direction to turn. Exploring the hallways of the Capitol, while at times frustrating, was a great experience. Many people will never get to see the Capitol from the point of view that I had today. Many wrong turns later, we returned to the 4th floor of Longworth, glad that our journey was finally over. I know my sore feet were especially glad for the end.
A few more hours passed before the end of the workday was reached. I recently learned that I could walk through the Capitol on my way home from the office. Never being the one to turn down air-conditioned walking when the muggy outdoors is the other option, I embarked on this walk.
Still not knowing the correct way to the Capitol, I went the wrong way and ended up getting to the elevator when many Members of Congress were rushing to the floor for a vote. The policy during votes is to ALWAYS let Members have the elevator before you. Following this policy, I prepared to wait for the next round of elevators. One of the Congresswomen called for another person to come in. Soon Congressman Ralph Hall of Texas was motioning for me to squeeze in the packed elevator. (I recognized him from the many hearings I've watched while working at C-SPAN Archives.) Following his instructions, I happily jumped into the crowded quarters.
Congressman Hall told me when I entered that I was the only one that he would let in because he thought I was a granddaughter of someone. He said that grandfathers love you more than anything in the world. Grandmothers make you cook and clean, and they really run the show. He encouraged me to go see my grandpa. I noted that my grandpa was in Indiana and that I wouldn't see him for a while. Still, Congressman Hall persisted that I make contact with my grandpa because he knew that he loved me.
Inspired by this short elevator ride up, I soon called my grandpa to talk. The conversations with Congressman Hall and my grandpa are both memories that I will probably keep forever.
It was on this walk home, through the Capitol, after my conversation with Congressman Hall, that I truly realized that I am working in Washington, D.C. this summer.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Welcome to Blog
As many of you know, I will be spending this summer in Washington, D.C. while interning for Congressman Mike Pence. I cannot wait to get to D.C.! Below is just a partial list of things that I know I will love about D.C.
- 4th of July in D.C.
- Weekend trips to NYC, Boston, or Philadelphia
- Playing softball on the National Mall
- Being surrounded by tons of monuments
- Walking distance to many museums
Please check back after June 6th to see how my summer adventure is developing.
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