Monday was pretty relaxed at work. My supervisor sent me some more details and instructions about my project, so I got started on that. Global Centurion is developing a strategic plan for a non-profit group to travel to Haiti, and implement small, grass-roots social awareness programs about human trafficking. It's been an interesting project, and I've been doing a lot of research, trying to figure out what Haitians need, and how to make people aware of human trafficking. The State Department prints a TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Report every year evaluating statistics and information about most of the countries in the world. It's quite comprehensive. This internship has really opened up me eyes to the realities of human trafficking. I mean, I've read about it in developing countries, but actually Houston has a huge problem. My supervisor told all the interns how exactly the organization started, and she told us a story of a Mexican girl who was trafficked. She was serving tables as a young teenager, when someone told her she could do the same thing in America and be paid way more. Her parents told her not to go, but she didn't listen and went with this group of women and children that were smuggled over the border, on the promise of a better life. They walked for 4 days, and got picked up in a van, and ended up in a city in Florida (Miami maybe?). Once they got out of the van, a big burly guy told her that he had just bought her for $10 000, and she was to start paying off the debt immediately. Her story is sadly not an exception. So I've really been exposed to what a good cause this organization is committed to.
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| The Caucus Room in the Canon House Office Building. June 8, 2011. Notice the panel at the front consists only of middle-aged, white males. |
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| Even the trash cans are legit. |
There was a panel discussion on Natural Gas, Water and the Environment, and another on The Impact of Natural Gas-Jobs, the Economy and North American Competitiveness. There were a few people there from the Canadian Embassy, and I met a lady from the Quebec office here in DC. Of course, it's a separate office from the Embassy here. It was a great experience to be there, and the breakfast and lunch served was delicious, but I found the panel discussion to be a bit dull. I was looking for a little bit more controversy. All the speakers talked about their corporation, or their constituents, and what they were doing to develop energy technologies. There wasn't a whole lot of competing ideas bouncing around. This event lasted until lunch, then I walked to the metro in the afternoon heat, in my suit to meet some other International Affairs students at the Egyptian Embassy. The press secretary spoke to us for over an hour, and it was fascinating! The actual Embassy is beautiful. On one wall, they had lined up photos of all the past Presidents and Ambassadors. It was a very cool display. They even had quite a few pictures of Mubarak together with Obama. I don't want to get into too much detail, because his whole talk was incredible, but he talked about the transition that Egypt is in, and that the country is moving into another era (hopefully a democratic one). He talked about their Foreign Policy, including relations with Israel, Iran, Yemen and Libya. It's a lot different reading about those issues in newspapers, blogs and websites than actually hearing it from a government official.
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| Me and Shadia in the Egyptian Embassy. Her family's from the Middle East, and she said it even spelled like it. I thought so too. |
The heat was wearing us all out by that point, so we stopped downtown at a restaurant called Asia Nine for happy hour. They were actually having a little intern networking event. So we bought a few drinks and they provided us some appys. I went with Shadia, and my roommate Janelle met us there. I met some other TWC interns, and some other people from all over the country really. Interns really do flock here from all over. So anyways, that was my first Washington happy hour experience, and I understand now why it's such a DC thing. It's great to unwind, meet new people in this great city where everyone is doing something great.
Today was a little bit more low key. I worked on my project at Global Centurion, and laid low and did some homework for my class, and tried to finish up a few other assignments. Janelle and I ventured out for a run after dinner, and it was still a blazing 30 degrees. The wind was blowing, and it felt like I was sitting in a car parked in a parking lot, with the windows rolled up and the heat blazing. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggerate, because we went for a run anyways. It's only a mile from our apartment to Captiol Hill, then we turned west and headed down the National Mall. There were a lot of people walking around, and surprisingly a lot of runners. I love running in that area, because I can just look at all the people, and gaze in amazement at all the beautiful Smithsonians and government buildings.
The feeling of this city is great. Students from all over are interning all across the city. There are so many offices, and headquarters and government buildings here. I feel like I'm right in the middle of things. There are so many DC websites, and congressional websites and blogs I've started searching that there doesn't seem to be a world outside of this political bubble I'm in.
Have I told you that I love this city?
