Washington DC: Under Construction

Washington DC: Under Construction

The internship is underway! Everything went well with my Saturday experiment of public transport (little could I imagine the nightmare that was to come). Later Saturday, my roommates and I finally got to discover the District! We walked past the White House, proceeding to explore the National Mall. To our great disappointment, a large part of DC, including the Capitol and Supreme Court, is under construction for the foreseeable future (like the entire time I’m here). Nevertheless, many of the monuments were in good shape and as cool as expected! We mainly explored the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial, intending to discover the rest as the semester progresses. Sunday, we had an International Potluck for those on our floor. It was certainly interesting to taste such a wide array of foods together, consisting of things from Jewish noodles to Pav Bhaji (we brought the ultimate combination of Belgian and Texan cultures- pizza from Walmart).

The Reflection Pond is a little busy,
I think I'll duck out

            The internship started well! After touring the gorgeous seven-story building on Massachusetts Avenue (containing everything from the Hayek Auditorium to a statue of Ludwig von Mises), it was straight to work. The first day mostly consisted of reading Michael Tanner’s (my scholar) report on the 50^th anniversary of the war on poverty and our progress on it. However as the week progressed, I had my hands on seemingly everything: from researching and writing reports to working with Cato’s newly released Human Freedom Index. It was certainly amazing to be exposed to such a wide range of subjects in my first week, allowing me to get my feet wet and gather a proper understanding of the Cato Institute’s mission. Everyone at Cato seems very cool- laid back in a very professional manner, very focused on what they’re trying to accomplish. The bus, though, (shakes head, audibly sighing) is terrible almost all of the time. Every time I have taken it to my internship, it has been late and completely packed. Moreover, later in the week I learned that it is actually faster to walk the 2 miles to my internship than to wait on the bus. By Wednesday, I decided to simply take my tennis shoes in my backpack, providing all those passing me with the interesting visual of a man with a coat and tie on, sporting florescent orange and blue tennis shoes. Nevertheless, it has been a very exciting week and looks to be a very exciting internship!

Story of the Week: Tuesday, I went to Subway for lunch. After receiving my sandwich, an awful reality greeted me. Next to the soda fountain, there were two tea containers. However, NEITHER OF THESE HAD SWEET TEA. The Subway employees recommended simply putting sugar in unsweet tea, which, you know, is fine if one enjoys a concoction of sadness and depression attempting to masquerade as happiness and dreams. While many have theories about the issues of Washington DC, the issue, to me, is clear: when one is deprived of sweet tea, no happiness can there be. More sweet tea, a better DC.