Blog 3: Practice makes Presentation

We're about a week into our Washington DC seminar and I've been doing a pretty good job of doing a balancing act between getting my work done for the seminar and watching the Olympics late into the night. Today I made an excellent presentation on the health care system in the England AND watched the U.S. women's beach volleyball team win the gold medal. While my achievement is obviously more monumental, I still would like to acknowledge that winning a gold medal is probably just as difficult of a task as a twenty-minute presentation. Well, ok, perhaps being an Olympic athlete is slightly even more demanding than this seminar. However, I think there's something to be said about how all these world-class athletes got to where they are today.

Everyone knows becoming a successful athlete takes an incredible amount of hard work and practice. Sure, there's the factor of individual talent, but if Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo, or Kobe Bryant never practiced, they'd be playing on the weekends and following hopeful career paths during the week like the rest of us.

The same is true of almost all truly successful people. I think there is a misconception that if you simply go to college and get good grades you'll eventually get your dream job and live happily ever after. I know that two years ago, my thinking was similar to this.

Some people realize that they need to practice their careers early on, and they are the people who have killer resumes and get the jobs they want out of college. It takes some people a little longer to realize how much hard work and experience is needed to become truly successful in your preferred field. Clearly, everyone who is here in DC realizes the importance of gaining experience in your field and that already puts us ahead of much of the competitition.

We received our internship assignments this week and I've been assigned a position at UK Trade and Investment in the sports division. Awesome. For me, it doesn't get much better than this. It's an international business position and that's what I'm most interested in. I'm also obsessed with football (soccer) and will be going to quite a few matches in London and hoping my position will have something to do with the sport. Anyway, now it's up to me to absorb and learn as much as I can from the people around me while I'm there and I'm excited to do it. This is an opportunity to work with and learn from international business professionals. It's just like a once in a lifetime chance to train with the U.S. woman's beach volleyball team, well, at least it would be if I played volleyball, lived on a beach… and if I was a girl, but anyway, you get the point.

Blog 2: Getting into DC

I haven't really experienced Washington DC before this seminar but I've had a chance to see the city in the past few days. We had a scavenger hunt in which we took pictures in front of various landmarks around the city. We took a picture in front of the Chinese gate in Chinatown, the mural near Adams Morgan, South Hall in the Eastern Market and a few other notable places in DC. It was a great assignment because first of all, it got me out of bed on a Saturday, and also helped me see many parts of a city that I otherwise wouldn't have known about, much less visited.

Going to a new city or location is always exciting but the fact is, often times you don't know where the truly interesting and fun places to go are. I never would have thought to visit the Eastern Market but it was a great cultural experience. There were artists of all sorts, a flea market with goods from around the world and fresh produce from local farmers (many of which had free samples!).

We also visited the National Mall and Capitol Hill, which are full of monuments and notable landmarks that we've all seen on TV and in photos. While I know what the White House, Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building look like, I've never seen them up close. They hold so much meaning that it's really an experience to visit them.

Morning tour of the Capitol Building

Tightening up the tie for the super senator

Linda's contemplation of the Washington Monument

This program has shown me the things that I've expected and hoped to see, but I've also gotten a chance to visit some areas that I didn't even know existed. I'm hoping to follow the same pattern once we get to London. I would like to see the places that everyone wants to see, the places that hold meaning and a powerful image. However, I also want to see some of the places that tourists don't frequent, the places that are hiding and only known about by locals. These less known places tend to give you a more genuine taste of the people and the culture.

Introducing Dylan: Switching cities then abroad again

So, I have found myself in the beginning stages of what is my third study abroad experience as a college undergraduate. I've landed in Washington DC, a city I last visited briefly when I was in 5th grade and it's not exactly what I remember. However, I only really remember my friend's backyard pool and a few boring museums. Now that I think of it, it's been 12 years and I'm probably not the same as last time I visited, so DC likely doesn't remember me either. This is probably good because now I can give the museums a second chance without the city looking down on me.

I've moved abroad a couple times and there are always some essential things to take care of before anything else. The first step is probably figuring out where you live and how to get there. Soon after, you realize a more important step is figuring out where you live and how to get to everywhere else. DC's metro has been the primary transportation option for us, but that has only been a positive thing so far. In comparison to my past experiences with subways, the Metro should take the title of king, or at least be accepted as a member of the nobility. I was surprised by the aesthetically pleasing underground stations, well-kept trains, and the signs on every platform telling you how much longer you have to wait before you pile in with other well-dressed washingtonians.

Obviously, another big part of studying or interning abroad is getting to know the people you'll be seeing everyday. Sometimes there are people you know you will be friends with immediately and sometimes it's quite the opposite. I think we all know what can happen when strangers become roommates. However, for our group of 16 London interns, things seem to be going pretty well and we can probably consider ourselves lucky that we're getting along so well. We've all spent a few days together, made some new friends, and somehow managed to live in four person apartments without wireless internet and peacefully share a single Ethernet cable.

I'm getting accustomed to DC and really enjoying the city and the many things it has to offer, but, we're moving on to London in a week and I'll have to learn to take those first couple steps again. Luckily, I'll have the same recent friends to help me brave taking those steps in an even bigger playground.