Sight-Seeing Around The Capitol

So I can't leave out all of the fun I've had so far!

The first few posts you saw and read that I got to see the Speaker's Balcony, and go onto the House Floor! That was really neat, and felt pretty natural. ;)

I've been to quite a few of the Smithsonian Museums and a lot of little stores, restaurants, markets, etc. There is so much to do!

The most fun things I have been to so far was the Crime and Punishment Museum over near Chinatown. For those of you who knew my granddad, he loved crimes and the people who solved them. His interest in solving cases and law enforcement definitely passed down to me!

Also Ted's Bulletin has homemade pop-tarts! Yes, homemade pop-tarts. If ever have one, your life will be changed!

Here are a few pictures of some of my adventures...I'll put up some more posts soon.




Make-shift old Western jail at the meuseum



Somehow my name came from this guy



Bonnie and Clyde's Ford

Katie (a fellow Tech intern) in the plank of shame






A warm and beautiful Sunday on the balcony!

This squirrel felt like modeling!



Care package from Mimi!



Homemade pop-tarts!

The New "Norm" pt. 2

The Office

Working for Congressman Conaway has been an incredible experience. If more members of congress were like Mr. Conaway, we would be much better off! Everyone in the office works very hard, it is easy to see how much they care for the Congressman and the country. On top of that they have all been very patient with our intern learning curves!

The interns in the office are Tim Lopez (an Australian), Nathan Pierre (from Angelo State University/Haiti), and me (the domestic intern)!

A lot of being an intern is answering phone calls, taking messages, running mail to other offices, scheduling and giving tours, etc. Anyone who knows me, knows I love dealing with people! I love challenging people, especially the constituents who have had their whole day ruined by something they read or heard on the news. Most of the time they misunderstood a story, and I can find the truth and relieve them of their concerns or find someone else who can.

Most constituents do not realize that the interns are occasionally from the district, or close to the area. I love to find where the callers are from, and mention something I like, or have been to, in their town. They love knowing that the person on the other side of the phone can relate to them!

Past constituent work, I've been able to use things I learned in class at Tech to help the office. This week we were asked to make a "heat map" also called a choropleth map of the 11th Congressional District of Texas. I was able to use my knowledge from Marty Middleton's class (Computers in Ag II) to make one!..... for the Agricultural and Applied Economics people reading this that class really is useful! That was a really fun project to work with and it felt rewarding to be able to produce something useful.

Our boss, Chase, has been a great teacher! He has encouraged us to go to committee hearings and research topics that mean a lot to us. We have a project to work on. The assignment is to research a bill over a topic and present the significance of the bill to Mr. Conaway and the rest of the office. I chose the bill to prevent the EPA from finalizing the rule that would redefine the Waters of the United States. It's been a very interesting topic to see the need for clarity in the definition, but also the overreach by the EPA to try to redefine it themselves and not Congress.

This past week Chase took us down to the House floor, that was a cool opportunity to see where the biggest decisions in this nation take place! Unfortunately, no cameras are allowed. Although I don't have pictures of that, here are some pictures of the interns and Chase...

Nathan loves selfies, Chase fell victim to his shenanigans

Tim loves Sour Cream and Onion chips, I guess they don't have them in Australia 

This was Tim, Nathan, and I with the acting Australian Ambassador

The New "Norm" pt.1

Well, the newness has officially worn off. Unlike some expectations, it's actually been relatively easy and fun! I'll admit it's been pretty tough being away from friends, family, and Katherine back at home. Technology makes it much easier to communicate with loved ones, so I'm thankful for that! It's hard to believe how fast this is going! We are almost halfway through February!

Moving on....I promised to tell you about the Tech House and the office, I try to stick to my word so I'll start with that. Sorry for the delay!

The Tech House

Now, for the former interns reading this blog, I'm sure you will look to this as a source of free entertainment resembling something close to "The Real World" in a "Tech House Edition". Well look no further....just kidding we've been a pretty boring group.

The 3rd floor (where I live) is full of 5 guys and 6 girls. The 1st floor has 2 guys, 6 girls, and our House Mom. Unfortunately, unless the 1st floor or 3rd floor communicate through our texting app, we don't really see each other which make it harder to hang out together. We still have a family lunch every Sunday night, so that's been great!

Now we've had a few tough days/nights with adjusting to work and missing home, but we've done a good job of backing up to give each other space and also being there for one another when someone is feeling down. We pretty much hang out together all the time, sometimes we'll branch off and form mini-groups to go sightsee. We really lucked out with a great group! It has been nice, the group has been so willing to go to the store with one another, go out to eat/sightsee/workout/church together. We've really done a great job of struggling through the adjustment phase together!

Lisa Chesher is one of the CASNR (College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources) interns just like myself. On occasion, we have become the "go-to's". When someone has had a bad day, or needs to learn how to iron, or something has broken we've been "called in". Luckily it fits our personalities quite well and we're happy to help, even though most of the time we're equally clueless. Well, I'll speak for myself there, Lisa has a master's degree.

We have had Salsa dancing lessons in our living room, movie nights, iTunes jamming sessions, singing (mostly Nathan and I and Julie (Megan's alternative personality), and family dinner nights in the house. So as you can tell, things stay pretty entertaining! We also got a new TV recently, so netflixing is the new bonding tool. :)

Here are some pictures of our house experiences....

Salsa Lessons from Nate

Salsa Lessons from Nate

Salsa Lessons from Nate

Dinner at Hill country Barbecue after networking

The nice weather out on the balcony of the Tech House

Family outing at Bucca Di Beppo 

Homemade Dinner