Busy Busy Busy

Where did my week go?! I have been so busy with my internship that it seems to have flown by. For example--having to wake up at 4:30 and leaving for work at 6 a.m. Monday, then not getting home until after the lecture/seminar until about 6 p.m. because of a torrential downpour that began almost exactly as we were dismissed. This is not even an exaggeration, but the wind began to blow, and for a second I thought I saw the Heavens open up and dump the entire Atlantic Ocean on D.C. Okay, so that was a slight exaggeration. Anyway, the speaker was Colman McCarthy. He asked the audience, in a Christopher Walken sounding voice, if they had ever taken an alternative to violence or a peace course and very few of the other interns had. He makes a good point though. Peace classes are rarely offered at school although there are always an abundance of choices for classes about wars. Conflict resolution is an important subject to be acquainted with, especially in our ever-shrinking world. It was an interesting lecture despite the fact that I did not completely agree with some of his opinions. It is essential to keep an open mind though. I am glad The Washington Center is a non-partisan organization and that they provide different points of view even if I do not support them all 100%.

Last week I was feeling a little cynical when I sat down to write my blog. Today as I type I am in a positive mood. I am on lunch break at my internship with NESA. That stands for Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies U.S. Department of Defense/National Defense University. Yeah that is a mouthful. They do a lot of incredible things worldwide but they are a non-attribution government organization and I cannot talk about certain details of my internship. Honestly, if I released the name of some of the participants in our executive seminar, they could be killed in their country. I doubt that my blog is on the favorites list of a computer user somewhere in Iraq and that they are constantly checking for my weekly updates--but I think it’s best to be safe. That makes my internship sound so much more covert and dangerous than it really is. Today I sat in on a breakout group and listened to the participants play out a scenario of a smallpox outbreak resulting from bioterrorism. The participants developed an international emergency plan. My job was to help them set up a PowerPoint slide show to present in front of the entire group. I look forward to this type of work at my internship the most. I get to hear firsthand personal views about issues I study in school from colonels and other mid- to high-level military and civilian personnel. It is a pleasure. Afterward I was walking home from the Metro, limping and sweating from the heat, but I could not stop smiling from thinking about how I spent my day. So I promise this entry will be much more optimistic.

Also at my internship we spent a lot of time out of the office last week. We visited The Department of State on Tuesday. On Thursday we took an overnight trip to Philadelphia. On the trip for dinner we went to The Union League of Philadelphia. That place is astounding; it is such a stunning place. The speaker told us about his thoughts on the future of the Middle East. It is always interesting to look around the room at the participants’ faces, from 22 different countries, when speakers are talking about their region. The best part is that afterwards I get to sit down with them in an informal setting [at breakfast or lunch] and ask them their thoughts on the lectures. We also took a short trip to Gettysburg. I just want to add that all of us interns got our own hotel rooms for the night…on the NESA Center’s tab. I am not going to lie; I felt pretty important. Haha Needless to say I now have a new set of travel size shampoos and soaps.

Friday night I checked out Hawk and Dove for the first time. I would definitely go back despite the fact that it was a trek. It has a nice atmosphere. The downstairs had an old bar tavern-esque feel and upstairs was like a dance club. Hawk and Dove is 18 and over so if there is someone in your group who isn't 21 they can still come out. There were a lot of interns there too. Saturday night I went to Clarendon Ballroom and Liberty Tavern. At Ballroom it was 80s night so they played only the best music ever all night long! Ballroom is a good place to hang out on weekends. There are 3 floors including an outside patio on the roof.

Sunday I went to the mall off the Pentagon City stop! There is a lot of good shopping around here. After my little shopping trip I took the Yellow line and meet a few other interns at The National Gallery of Art. Unfortunately it closes at 6 p.m. and there is so much to see there that I felt rushed. I plan on going back if time permits.

I am really interested in being blatantly honest about my experience here. If there is anything you are curious about feel free to leave a comment and I will try to address it in one of my future entries. If you'd like to be slightly more anonymous please e-mail me at mooreh9@ndu.edu

Ah! I have to go work on my presentation for class tomorrow!