DC!!!!!!!
Oh my word, what a great city! I've arrived, and survived my first day here so I'll try and rewind and re-cap some things that have happened so far.
My flight was late arriving in DC yesterday afternoon, but I got to the Washington Center just in time to check in. The Residence and Academic Facility (RAF) is where I'm living in the NE. Washington is split into 4 quadrants, with Capitol Hill right in the middle. It's a really great building in what was explained to me as an "up and coming neighborhood." I guess it used to be kind of run-down, but there's lots of construction and new condo buildings going up. The neighborhood's being branded as Noma, meaning North of Massachusetts Ave. There's a metro stop just a 5 minute walk away.
So going back, I arrived, unpacked a bit, went to our building orientation, looked around the building, met my roommates, then a bunch of us headed on the Metro to swing by Target. I hadn't really eaten anything since Denver, so I stopped with my roommate Prium at 5 Guys. I guess 5 Guys originated here in DC, but the original place no longer exists. Needless to say, I had the tastiest cheeseburger yesterday after a long day of traveling.
This morning was my first day. All the students in the International Affairs program met in front of the RAF, and we kind of stuck together using the Metro (which was packed during the morning rush). We used the Red Line, and got off at Farragut North and walked 15-20 minutes to the World Bank. There was security right at the entrance, and then all of us interns recieved a labeled badge. Our meeting was in an Executive Board room on the 13th floor. There was a huge long board room table in the middle of the room with microphones and a big screen on the wall. I felt very official in my business professional gear. Anyways, the lady from the World Bank Speakers Bureau had about an hour and a half presentation giving us an overview on the history of the World Bank, and how it works. We had a few discussions about poverty reduction, and how it the World Bank began to help developing countries. She was talking about Millenium Development Goals made for 2015 regarding poverty reduction. So far, a lot of countries are on track, if not ahead of the goals. Then the presenter opened up the floor, and we had a good discussion on why Sub-Sahara Africa is so far behind, especially in terms of child mortality and maternal morality. She showed us this video called The Girl Effect, and I actually had a professor share it with a class I was in last semester, but I thought it's worth sharing here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8xgF0JtVg
There's also a cool World Bank website that is aimed at young people to get them involved with global issues. http://youthink.worldbank.org/
My afternoon was spent in orientation, which I won't bore you with. All I can say is, it's going to be an amazing summer! :) After dinner I was just at my apartment with my roommates, and we decided to go out and walk around. So we jumped on the Metro and walked to the Washington Monument and then past the White House. It is such a beautiful area! The National Mall is this huge park, way bigger than I imagined! We went around 6:30-7, and I'm not sure if there was a tournament going on, but there were softball games being played everywhere on the grass between the White House and the Washington Monument. And so many runners. I guess the National Mall is the it place to run in DC. It's definitely on the to-do list.
I've got an early start tomorrow; I've got to be at the Department of the Interior at 8:45am, and I think it might take us an hour to get there, so I'm off to bed. I think I love this city already :)
