Hey world, I can't really say A LOT has happened since the last post, but we are in a little bit of a better mood at the moment. I guess I can talk a bit about work since we understand a little more of what we're doing. Sean is doing a lot of marketing and sales with DC United. He packaged up a bunch of Freddie Adu jerseys and balls, posters (signed) and has been doing quite a few different jobs. A big part of his internship for the next little while is researching ways to get more college students to the games. My work at the moment is with two college campuses, University of San Diego and San Jose State University. San Jose State is just some research involving how must they use the rec center they have now so that's not too exciting but the USD project is pretty fun. I need to do a lot of background research because they're going to build a new housing facility and they need to know if the price is feasible, where to build it, etc. So we're both doing a little bit of work... learning something.
As for class, we're done... Yup, Sean Coon and Brett Van Andel are the only two of 31 students, mostly political studies majors, that have all of their work done (it's due next friday). So now we get to relax and enjoy a weekend and a few days week days off, hence our heightened mood! The classes are really interesting too. We had a really good lecture on Monday (first guest speaker) , which is hopefully a promising sign for the future.
As far as weekend plans, Sean is coming to see my work on tomorrow night - we have a sort of dinner social thing since they now have a new intern... Saturday we're planning on checking out the Washington Capitols (NHL) since the first 700 college students get in free plus free pizza! Our last good news, which really made our week, is that we picked up another job as the two snow removers for ASP. So hopefully we get some snow hear at the tail end of the winter to make a little extra spending money. Finally (I know I said "last" already), President Zylstra is taking us out to lunch on monday the 5th since he's going to be here for a few meetings. That night there is a president's dinner with college presidents from around the country and guess who the servers and dishwashers are? You guessed it! Well its time for a bit of sleep, we're representing you well and trying to pass some laws here in DC. Goodnight.
Thursday, January 25
Sunday, January 21
Last Few Days
Well I'll begin quickly by our adventures thursday... We both visited our interships, were dually impressed, and excited that our two internships are the only two in the group of 31 that allow a "business casual" dress code. We will feel a bit underdressed walking/riding the metro to work since EVERYONE here wears a suit and tie. Our short meetings basically consisted of a quick introduction of too many names and a tour of our future day-time homes. We still have a limited perspective of our entire job specs, but those will iron out tomorrow morning I'm sure.
Thursday night, we noticed there were a lot of dishes after our barbecue, so we decided we should take it upon ourselves to clean the cafeteria and kitchen again. Two hours later, the group decided to head out for a "guided" tour of the city just as we were finishing our cleaning. We stayed back and read, being the studious college kids we are. We actually spent nearly all of thursday night, friday, saturday and today reading. I think most of you would be proud to know that we are done with all of the reading for the next two weeks (no others of the other 29 are) and just have to conduct an interview and write a paper. We're hoping to completely get these out of the way by thursday so we can take off after class friday and head up to New York for the weekend. It's a nice option to have I'd say.
Friday night we toured Georgetown with the wrong people, resulting in a lot of walking with a lot of people, the wrong person in front and no particular destination. We made up for it on saturday with a quite productive day. Apart from reading we got our Library of Congress cards and proceeded to get lost in the Jefferson, Madison and Adams buildings, then joined a group touring the inside of the capitol and were kicked out.. apparently there is a limit to the number of people...
We checked out the Botanical Gardens, the museum of the American Indian, and a sculpture museum - where we met Bryan Burgers and went on to the Verizon Center (Washington Wizards), ESPN Zone, and McDonalds. Sean got some insoles because his feet hurt, then we caught the metro back to our apartment, played pool, and went to sleep, dreaming of another glorious day filled with magical readings.
Thursday night, we noticed there were a lot of dishes after our barbecue, so we decided we should take it upon ourselves to clean the cafeteria and kitchen again. Two hours later, the group decided to head out for a "guided" tour of the city just as we were finishing our cleaning. We stayed back and read, being the studious college kids we are. We actually spent nearly all of thursday night, friday, saturday and today reading. I think most of you would be proud to know that we are done with all of the reading for the next two weeks (no others of the other 29 are) and just have to conduct an interview and write a paper. We're hoping to completely get these out of the way by thursday so we can take off after class friday and head up to New York for the weekend. It's a nice option to have I'd say.
Friday night we toured Georgetown with the wrong people, resulting in a lot of walking with a lot of people, the wrong person in front and no particular destination. We made up for it on saturday with a quite productive day. Apart from reading we got our Library of Congress cards and proceeded to get lost in the Jefferson, Madison and Adams buildings, then joined a group touring the inside of the capitol and were kicked out.. apparently there is a limit to the number of people...
We checked out the Botanical Gardens, the museum of the American Indian, and a sculpture museum - where we met Bryan Burgers and went on to the Verizon Center (Washington Wizards), ESPN Zone, and McDonalds. Sean got some insoles because his feet hurt, then we caught the metro back to our apartment, played pool, and went to sleep, dreaming of another glorious day filled with magical readings.
Thursday, January 18
New Jobs
This post has to be kept short because it's getting a bit late and my sleep time is valuable. Good news and bad news. The bad news is that we went over the syllabus for the next 2 1/2 weeks and we'll be reading 4 books and 4 smaller packets, then writing a paper on all of it. I guess it's a disguised blessing that we don't have a tv here - so whoever prayed against distractions... thank you? Honestly, our time away from our internships, eating, sleeping, class and working out will ENTIRELY be spent reading - sad.
The good news... well we scored the sweetest jobs in likely all of DC! We worked 5 hours tonight in the kitchen. The first 1/2 hour was spent setting up the tables, followed by an hour of eating (for which we continued to get paid), and then completed with dishwashing, setting up tables and general cleaning of the kitchen/dining area. To top this once-per-week job opportunity off, we get two-plus meals to take back with us each wednesday. Today we were told to bring some tuppaware down to our "supervisor", which she filled with chili, then added to other containers: cheese, garlic, cheesecake, mandarine oranges, and apples. And finally she gave us each a gallon of milk. That's right, paid to eat - with free food at the end. Keep praying, you're doing well!
The good news... well we scored the sweetest jobs in likely all of DC! We worked 5 hours tonight in the kitchen. The first 1/2 hour was spent setting up the tables, followed by an hour of eating (for which we continued to get paid), and then completed with dishwashing, setting up tables and general cleaning of the kitchen/dining area. To top this once-per-week job opportunity off, we get two-plus meals to take back with us each wednesday. Today we were told to bring some tuppaware down to our "supervisor", which she filled with chili, then added to other containers: cheese, garlic, cheesecake, mandarine oranges, and apples. And finally she gave us each a gallon of milk. That's right, paid to eat - with free food at the end. Keep praying, you're doing well!
Tuesday, January 16
Long walks in the City
Well we arrived safely... sort of. We got off of the plane and jumped onto a bus which took us downtown DC to the metro station. From there we road the metro to Eastern Market, where we met our first native, Russel. After the 20m convo with the 35 yr. old janitor, Sean got his phone number in case we ever wanted to "hang out" in town. Then we stepped off the metro with all of our luggage, and struggled the 9 blocks to the ASP building, where we had our sweaty pictures taken (it was 66 degress). The first night was productive - we found a 7-11 that should be able to provide all of our meals for the rest of the semester. That night we walked the 8 blocks to the capitol, supreme court, and a bunch of other LARGE buildings that we should probably be able to identify...
Today we got up bright and early for orientation, and played some "fun and exciting" games to learn more about everyone's backgrounds. Then we split into four groups and went out for lunch, followed by 4-hour service projects. They're attempting to get us acquainted with our fellow ASP members and introduce us a bit to the district this week, as we'll be consumed with our classes and internships next week.
Well after pizza for the second night in a row, we took off on another little tour of the city. I think our plan is to discover all there is of DC these first few days so that the rest of the semester can be spent visiting individual places like the smithsonian, spy museum, botanical gardens, museum of art, etc. At the moment we're just ready to sit down for the rest of the week, eat and sleep. And Sean says "Hi."
Today we got up bright and early for orientation, and played some "fun and exciting" games to learn more about everyone's backgrounds. Then we split into four groups and went out for lunch, followed by 4-hour service projects. They're attempting to get us acquainted with our fellow ASP members and introduce us a bit to the district this week, as we'll be consumed with our classes and internships next week.
Well after pizza for the second night in a row, we took off on another little tour of the city. I think our plan is to discover all there is of DC these first few days so that the rest of the semester can be spent visiting individual places like the smithsonian, spy museum, botanical gardens, museum of art, etc. At the moment we're just ready to sit down for the rest of the week, eat and sleep. And Sean says "Hi."
Saturday, January 13
Welcome?
Good day friends, family, relatives, and people whom we felt obligated to invite to these postings...
I really can't share too much relating to Washington and our plans for the coming 3 1/2 months - apart from that we are excited and a little nervous for these first couple weeks, getting accustomed to the metro and living in the middle of our nation's capitol. We will be arriving in DC on monday, where our first goal of finding 327 8th St NE will start. We are both meeting with our internship companies (which are described at the upper-right corner of this page) on thursday, but are a little unsure of what the American Studies Program (ASP) has in store for us this first week. We'll try to keep you all updated as the weeks go by, hopefully finding time apart from working, studying and traveling. Posts are welcome, but neither of us thoroughly enjoy reading essays - so be short or call - take care and keep your jealousy to a minimum!
I really can't share too much relating to Washington and our plans for the coming 3 1/2 months - apart from that we are excited and a little nervous for these first couple weeks, getting accustomed to the metro and living in the middle of our nation's capitol. We will be arriving in DC on monday, where our first goal of finding 327 8th St NE will start. We are both meeting with our internship companies (which are described at the upper-right corner of this page) on thursday, but are a little unsure of what the American Studies Program (ASP) has in store for us this first week. We'll try to keep you all updated as the weeks go by, hopefully finding time apart from working, studying and traveling. Posts are welcome, but neither of us thoroughly enjoy reading essays - so be short or call - take care and keep your jealousy to a minimum!
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