There is a picture of a neat little building I walk by some mornings. :) So my second day on the job was much better. I had gotten a proper night's sleep, and I tackled my assignments much more easily. I'm beginning to learn the lingo, with the constant help of Google and Wikipedia. Anytime I'm not writing, I read up on telecommunications terms and issues. I like my coworkers. They're super nice, but it's been odd adjusting to their constant swearing and coffee drinking. Coffee is such a foreign substance to me; I can't imagination how it is for them. They drink it literally all day. But I guess I drink water all day, so that must be similar to their coffee addiction.
There are mostly men where I work, probably because it's a job where you have to know a lot about business and technology, items which are not interesting to many women. I find the politics side of it very interesting, but the technology jargon not so much. Either way, this is going to be such valuable experience, I'm so so so grateful to be doing it!
Also, today I wrote my first story! I posted a picture of my first byline to Facebook, and it's in my mobile downloads in case you didn't see it. The story was about associations opposing the FCC proposed rule that anyone filing in a case must provide full copies of any cited materials. Anyways, lots of big words, and its probably boring but I liked writing it. So that was good.
The more I take the metro, the more I realize my absolute fear of escalators. The metro escalators are so long.. At one metro, the escalator is so long that you can't see the bottom. It's like riding a painfully slow rollercoaster... but with no safety bar or seatbelt and nothing to stop you from tripping on a step and tumbling to your untimely death. The metro is already scary enough, especially after my dad pointed out that if you stand too close to the edge, someone could bump you onto the tracks as the train approached and you'd be like a bug on a windshield. (My dad sometimes forgets how morbid and vivid my imagination is) Needless to say, the metro has been the cause of quite a bit of anxiety.
But the thing I enjoy about the metro is the people watching. The people are so fastinating. People in D.C. are either very grumpy or very friendly, never really inbetween. And nearly everyone on the metro seems dull-eyed and dejected, having the life sucked out of them by the same gray routine of the subways. I still love all the human contact. As I watch the strangers around me, I'm reminded of what unites us all. Through the forlorn attitudes and exhausted yawns, I see people who all have the same fight I do, that right as Americans. We've all got this sense of entitlement towards the world. Some people say it's a bad thing, but it's so good. We know what we expect from life, and we will fight so hard to get what we want. It's the American Dream. You don't sit around waiting for life, you make it happen.
The one thing I never see in these people's eyes is defeat. I see sadness, tiredness and disappointment, but never defeat. No matter which side of the country we come from, we are all united in this American attitude, this way of life. This sense that life owes us something and we won't stop until we get it. It's why I have this internship. It's why I chase every opportunity that comes my way. I know what life has in store for me and what the world can offer. Even if people haven't figured it out yet or don't see it in themselves, we've all got this fight in us, and it's a beautiful thing that I see no matter where in this country I go.
Katie this was a great post. love the ending!
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