It's really funny to be here right now, on the other side... sort of.
See, last year I was a DC Intern like the millions of them rolling through the Starbucks I've been parked in since 7:15 am. Many of them are walking through here with the I-am-a-professional game face on as they order their morning coffee. Yup, that was me on the walks from Georgetown to Dupont all summer last year. It was weird to be back in it yesterday -- I stayed in the GW dorms with a friend of mine from high school. We stayed up late talking in the park across the street from her dorm and watching all of the student interns come in and out of their dorms talking about how tough work was that day or the projects they were working on. Funny, it was a been there, done that kind of moment.
Dont get me wrong, I like DC. I liked it so much more than I thought I would when I first arrived here a year or so ago. By the end I was sad to leave my office and the people I worked with in the Inter-American Dialogue. We had a great time and I learned A LOT.
But I also have the travel bug. I figure, while I'm still young and crazy I should make use of all of my energy. I do better working in a very hands on setting at the moment. I liked working as an analyst, but I missed working with people. Talking to them, being there, doing projects myself instead of running support and outsourcing... I found after being an exchange student that I learn best from making myself uncomfortable and being forced to adapt. It's helped me through so many things...
Maybe that was part of what made DC fun. I was so out of my element -- I went from sitting on dirt floors in Huixcazdha and Pachuca, Mexico running development projects myself to sitting at a computer working excel sheets and serving as an analyst for remittance data. I frequently referred to my cubicle as "soulless" and added old photographs from the weekend market to make it feel... less soulless. But I found a space there too. And had a few conversations that were a long time coming and made me feel so much better in my self designed path for this summer.
Here's to a life time of exploring!
See, last year I was a DC Intern like the millions of them rolling through the Starbucks I've been parked in since 7:15 am. Many of them are walking through here with the I-am-a-professional game face on as they order their morning coffee. Yup, that was me on the walks from Georgetown to Dupont all summer last year. It was weird to be back in it yesterday -- I stayed in the GW dorms with a friend of mine from high school. We stayed up late talking in the park across the street from her dorm and watching all of the student interns come in and out of their dorms talking about how tough work was that day or the projects they were working on. Funny, it was a been there, done that kind of moment.
Dont get me wrong, I like DC. I liked it so much more than I thought I would when I first arrived here a year or so ago. By the end I was sad to leave my office and the people I worked with in the Inter-American Dialogue. We had a great time and I learned A LOT.
But I also have the travel bug. I figure, while I'm still young and crazy I should make use of all of my energy. I do better working in a very hands on setting at the moment. I liked working as an analyst, but I missed working with people. Talking to them, being there, doing projects myself instead of running support and outsourcing... I found after being an exchange student that I learn best from making myself uncomfortable and being forced to adapt. It's helped me through so many things...
Maybe that was part of what made DC fun. I was so out of my element -- I went from sitting on dirt floors in Huixcazdha and Pachuca, Mexico running development projects myself to sitting at a computer working excel sheets and serving as an analyst for remittance data. I frequently referred to my cubicle as "soulless" and added old photographs from the weekend market to make it feel... less soulless. But I found a space there too. And had a few conversations that were a long time coming and made me feel so much better in my self designed path for this summer.
Here's to a life time of exploring!
No comments:
Post a Comment