Russ Feingold!!!!

On Monday I sat and listened to many meetings and presentations on lobbying. It was interesting but very tiring. But that night, I went to the Embassy of Canada. We were able to go out on the balcony and take pictures and just look at the beautiful sights. The sun was going down and the whole city was lit it up. It was just breathtaking. On Tuesday I had three meetings with three Representatives from Wisconsin. I was able to meet Rep. Kind and Rep. Petri but not Rep. Kagen. It was all pretty interesting being in the meeting and hearing what their assistant had to say on the issues. Only Rep. Petri wasn't too keen on some aspects of saving the Alaskan wilderness. That night, I went to another reception in one of the Representative buildings. There were a bunch of congressman milling around, which is pretty unreal. Yesterday, I spoke to Senator Herb Kohl's assistant in the morning and then in the afternoon with Russ Feingold. Right when we got to his office, he came out. We just had enough time to introduce ourselves and take a couple of pictures. It was so amazing. I admire everything that he's done so far with campaign finance and the environment. It was really cool to meet with him but I wish we would have been able to actually talk to him about the issues. However, he did say that he wants to start on the offensive instead of the defensive and really make a difference with environmental issues, which was pretty cool. And on a side note, he was a lot shorter than I imagined him to be. Later that day I went on a tour with Senator Kohl's intern. I was able to go into senate chambers and actually see some speeches. It was just like CSPAN, Senators talking to no one. At the end, we saw Congressman Ted Stevens from Alaska. It was so funny, because we were hearing all weekend how terrible he is with Alaska wilderness and we were actually just arguing against one of his riders. Overall, it was a pretty starstruck couple of days.

I have to do a paper, so I'm not going to proofread this entry. However, I am told I have many errors in all of my entries, so no big deal.

Alaska Wilderness Week

Last night I went to the the Alaska Wilderness Week reception for my internship, Alaska Wilderness League. I met a bunch of people from all over the country and had a lot of fun. This afternoon I went to listen to speakers and hear different presentations on Alaska so I will be informed when I speak to my representative and senators(probably their staff). It was really interesting and I met some more people. I also saw so many pictures that I want to go to Alaska very badly, especially the Tonfass National Forest. Tomorrow I'm going all day to listen to different speakers and then go to the Canadian Embassy to have dinner. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday I'll actualy do some lobbying. It's a pretty interesting week, and luckily I don't have class Monday or Tuesday because I went to the Global Warming Conference las weekend.

Nothing much

So the last couple days have been pretty uneventful. Just going to class and my internship. On Thursday I listened to 3 speakers for class, they were pretty good but at the end of the day I was just so tired. Last night after my internship, I went to the National Sculpture Garden to listen to some jazz music with some of my friends from class. Unfortunately, I got pretty lost and by the time I got there the music was done. However, we sat around and talked for awhile. After, we tried to find something to do, but it was already pretty late and we couldn't get ahold of anyone. Today, I just worked on my paper and tonight I'm going to a reception for work. This week, is the big Alaska Wilderness Week, which means that I get to lobby and go to a bunch of events for work. Tonight the reception is at The Wilderness Society. I'm pretty excited.

Barack Obama!!!!!

Sunday I went to the Global Warming Conference all day, yesterday I had class in the moring and then worked on my research paper, and today I had class in the morning. But the real excitement was seeing and hearing Barack Obama. They had rally, Countdown to Change, in the middle of D.C. today. It started about 45 minutes late but when he finally came it was amazing. There were a couple of thousand people there and the whole crowd was cheering and clapping the whole time. He of course spoke about the war and health care but I mostly went to hear his views on global warming. They were of course, not as good as I was hoping for but atleast it is one of his priorities. He spoke for about 40 minutes, so I think I got my money's worth. Afterward there were too many people around so I didn't actually get a chance to meet him but I did get a lot of pictures.

War Protest!

Saturday I went to an Iraq War protest. Tens of thousands of people met at the White House and marched to the Capital and I was right in the middle of it, it was amazing. There were so many people there; people of all ages, races, and nationalities all promoting one cause, to bring our troops home. It was so empowering. In the beginning I just went to see it all but then by the end I was chanting and wishing I had a sign to hold up also. There were helicopters all over the place and so many police officers. There were anti-protesters who chanted USA and held up signs to bring our troops home and saying that we were the terrorists. I loved it because they just didn't understand why we were there and thought we were such a disgrace. It was so awesome to be there, to know what it feels like to be actually doing something to try and achieve change. I'm so happy I went instead of going to my conference for class because I'll attend conferences all of my life but I'll probably never get another chance to be in a war protest.

The conference, however, was pretty boring. Speech after speech telling everyone that we have to curb emissions (like we didn't already know that). There were a couple of good ones and I learned a lot of interesting facts but all it did was make me scared of what my life and my children's lives will be like. However, it did make me excited because in order to stop the polar ice from melting which will really mess up our planet we need to cut CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050, which means that really in my life time, I will be at the front of it all and doing it myself with my fellow peers.

Ahh...

So, Wednesday I had my internship. It went really well and now I find that the best days (besides the weekend) are at my internship and not at class. That night I hung out with a couple of friends. I met some of their guy friends and it was going pretty good but then one just turned into a really big jerk (the first one I've met here). So I left, because I figure I'm only here for 4 months and I don't want to spend it with anyone who's a jerk. On Thursday I had lecture from 10:30-12:30. Luckily we watched a film; it was pretty good but I just could not keep my eyes open. In the afternoon we went to the World Bank to see an author you knew Chico Mendes and wrote a book about him. Although it was nice to see the emotion of the author, it had nothing to do with us or what we are learning. It was a huge waste of time. Friday, again I had my internship. After I went to happy hour with a couple of people from class (I sat and ate appetizers since I can't drink) and then we all headed to a big global warming conference at George Washington University that our Professor is making us attend. I was pretty disappointed because what they all said everyone already knew; f we weren't interested in global warming we wouldn't have gone. But later Mike from my class said that it's all going in segments so last night was the first opener to get us scared, while the next parts will be more focused on different areas. Today I'm skipping the first half of the conference to go to a big against the Iraq War rally. I'm so excited. This is the stuff I came to D.C. to experience.

The 11th Hour!

This morning I went to The Library of Congress. The architecture and statues were amazing, and every room was so grand. We went into the main reading room; it was huge and beautiful. Also, they said that National Treasure 2 filmed a scene in there back in May, which will be so cool when I get to see it on screen in December after I've been in there. This afternoon I went with my class to see The 11th Hour. It was pretty good. I liked it how no politics were involved and it was just experts speaking about how we are going to eventually become extinct because we are too ignorant and lazy to do something about global warming (my words, not theirs). It was most about the ideology about how we need to change our culture and our way of thinking. I suggest it to anyone, and this time unlike An Inconvenient Truth, you can't say it's not true because it wasn't made by a former Vice President who lost the 2000 election to the current president...blah blah blah. The film actually made me pretty depressed at the time because I felt like such a hypocrite in my nicely air conditioned movie theatre watching a matinee that cost $7, which I thought was a pretty decent price, eating my 69 cents peanut M&M's in my nice, clean clothes that I really didn't need. But now, it makes me mad because atleast I know I'm a hyopcite, unlike someone I spoke to about the movie that said she doesn't buy into the whole 'global warming thing.' Jeesh, what ignorance!

So much!

So, I can't even remember what I did Thursday besides for having class all day (10 until 7). Friday I had my internship, which again, was great. Very chill. Friday night, I went salsa dancing at a club. It was really cool, I love to dance. I thought I'd be okay at it, but an old guy was trying to show me, and I just failed. He gave up on me right away. I liked the music and the people I went with, but it cost $20 to get in, which was way too expensive for me and thus, it really kind of brought the whole experience down. I also didn't like it how there were a bunch of old (like 30-35) guys there, it was pretty creepy. On Saturday I went to the National Gallery, it was so amazing. I saw Van Gogh's Self Portrait, and I saw a bunch of paintings by Manet. But the best part was that I saw a painting of Monet's flower garden and bridge. I was at Monet's garden 5 years ago in France, so it was just an amazing moment. I felt like I could leave D.C. right then because I had felt I accomplished so much. Then last night I went to a free Ok Go concert at George Washington University. It was pretty cool. Today I went to Arlington National Cemetary. It was amazing and so powerful to see how many men and women that gave up their lives for my freedom. Now, I'm just doing all of the readings that my professor has assigned over the weekend for the beginning of this week. It all totals about 400 pages, so I'm a bit on the pissed side. But oh well, what are you going to do?

My Internship

Today, I started my internship. The office was very laid back; I was wearing a black shirt, heels, and a button down shirt and I was the most dressed up by far. They have a keg and bottles of wine in the kitchen, there's a foos ball table in the middle of the office, I was told to go on Facebook or read online newspapers often, and there was a dog walking around. And I loved it. Although I think that if they buckled down and worked instead of played foos ball, they could be a lot more productive, it's the office I would like to work in someday. Everyone's friends and no one takes anything too seriously, and most importantly they have fun instead of getting too stressed out. Although I just filled in information on one of the websites and learned about the fax, printer, and phone system, I had a great time. I'm so excited to go back on Friday and I can't wait until I can go up on the hill and talk to Senators or sit in on a Congressional hearing.

Incompetence

Well on Saturday night I had a great time hanging out with kids from my class. I can't wait till we all go to Brazil because it's a great group of people from all over the country and a few from around the world.

Sunday I went to Dim Sueng (I don't know how to say it, so how can I spell it correctly?) with a couple of friends. It's like a chinese buffet expect they come around with a small portion of different dishes on plates and you just pick what you want. Luckily, two of the people I went with knew a lot more about the food than I did, so they just picked a bunch of things. Everything they picked was really good and now I know what they've been talking about for the last 2 weeks.

The rest of Sunday and all of Monday I read. After I read everything I could on Monday, I had wanted to go to the library on main campus to start my research paper. Unfortunately, it was closed. I understand it was Labor Day, but that only means that students are given a day off to work on stuff, but how can they work on papers and other homework when the library is closed? I was extremely upset then, and I still am today. Earlier on Monday, I walked with two other girls to the commons on main campus because it was closed here on Tenley. Unfortunately, they were working on holiday hours, so it was closed there too, but how would we know that? There were no emails, signs, or anything. It was a very upsetting day.

Today, I had class all morning and then I had a seminar this afternoon. Both were pretty good; the seminar was great because not only was the organization interesting but the speaker was a former Washington Semester Program alum. The only bad was that during the class part we talked about the research paper and other assignments, which was great but now I just looked at my email and found out that my professor has yet again, pushed things back. I hate that, because unlike many of my fellow students I don't procrastinate and I'm running on that schedule, but now, when he pushes things back, not only do I not get rewarded for my hard work and being on time, but it makes the second part of the semester where he is unable to push things back, stressful. Uhhh, the incompetence of it all.

(Jeez, rereading what I just wrote, I feel like such a whiner....but I'm not.)

Class, National Art Museum, National Zoo

Jeez, I haven't written in a while and now there is just so much to tell, but really not enough time. Let's see, Thursday, I had class for 3 hours, and we finally talked about our research paper topics. He said that there might not be a lot of information on my topic but it's still doable. (My topic is going to be on how global warming will affect the Amazon and the people living there.) After class, I ran some errands and then that night I went with some of my friends from class over to the theology university, which is right by American University to meet some people. It was pretty cool getting to know the people I will be spending 3 weeks with in a foriegn country. Friday, I didn't have my internship so I went to The National Museum of Art. It was pretty cool going by myself, just going on my own rate. But then after 2 hours it got kind of boring so I'm planning to just finish up another time. Last night, I went with some friends who are on the Ultimate Frisbee team to meet the other players. It was nice meeting new people who aren't on the Washington Semester. Today, I went to The Zoo; we saw a bunch of animals, including the Giant Panda which was awesome. I guess there are only 1000 in the wild, and only 200 in zoos, which is terrible. Tonight I'm hanging out with some people from my class so that'll be nice.