Amaaaazing.

Brilliant. The wireless in our house went out yesterday, so this was a joyous find upon arriving at work. Or, I guess I should say "work." For those of you who don't know, I am interning at the Environmental Protection Agency in DC this summer and sharing a townhouse in Georgetown with two Stanford students and three guys (2 from Georgetown). Yesterday was Day 1, and before I even entered the EPA building (which is approximately 4 blocks from the White House in the Federal Triangle !!!) my intern coordinator informed me that Tuesday we would be seeing Barack Obama and today (Monday) we'd be going to hear Thomas Friedman speak. What?! I don't even have my badge yet. Jesus. Though, the badge is pretty awesome, not gonna lie. And the EPA building is impressive. I hope the novelty of DC does not wear off, because looking down Pennsylvania Ave at the Capitol is awe-inspiring.

Anyhoo, so my day Monday involved getting off at the wrong bus stop (Connecticut is NOT Constitution in case you were wondering) and having to ask a bicycle cop where I was, figuring out my email, taking a tour (there are 6 other interns in our division), and going to see Thomas Friedman. Today included figuring out my voicemail, going to a Take Back America rally and seeing Barack Obama AND Jonathan Edwards speak (HOLY SHIT) and then meeting with my supervisor for 10 minutes so she could give me the huge binder my preceding intern had begun so I could read through it for tomorrow. My individual project involves finishing her "Innovation Newsletter," which is (as far as I can tell thus far) a list of suggestions for upper-level EPA management as to how they can improve their environmental management and policy techniques and basically update how they choose to run their departments. I'm explaining it terribly, but I think it's going to be really interesting. Worst case scenario, it's boring and I saw Obama speak today.

It's all ridiculously exciting for me, as I have never: A) lived in a city before; B) lived on my own before (a one-room triple does not count); C) had a "real" job; D) spent more than a week on the east coast. I am loving DC and loving living on my own (though it's fucking expensive). Our house is hilarious- the boys from Georgetown are adorable. Until we (three girls who go to school in California) went grocery shopping and put, you know, vegetables in the fridge, it was full of beer. And pretty nice beer, too. Haha. The most prominent thing in the living room is the TV and the hookah, but the house is in great condition and the guys are clearly proud of it. I am in one of the two rooms in the basement, and since the other guy hasn't arrived yet, I basically have my own floor. My room isn't tremendously big, and there are quite a few bugs and I refuse to walk barefoot on the carpet, but I have my own space. It's beautiful.

I also discovered the gym in the bottom of the Ronald Reagan building, so today I became that DC intern who goes to the gym after work in the basement of the building next door, watching CNN and reading the Smithsonian (either that or Aviation something or other). I'm officially, for better or for worse, an intern.