France, Club "Adventures", and God.

So a lot has happened since my last blog update, I'll try to remember as much as I can!

My internship has been going pretty good and I'm getting a lot of stuff done.  I finally have a couple of projects that I can work on when I have nothing to do too.  One really cool thing I got to do is have a conference call with three of the media directors for the NFIB to see if I could help them out on anything.  I was wicked nervous, but they all ended up being really nice and extremely funny, they were swearing and making fun of each other a ton lol.  The media director for the Northeast ended up having something for me to do.  He was the funniest of all of them and it helped that I know more about issues in the Northeast, such as how Gov. Dan Malloy is not the greatest lol.  I was able to write three different letters to the editor about the minimum wage increase in New Jersey.  I was nervous since they're eventually going to be published in a paper, but he said they were all good! That was really cool that I got to do that and a good resume builder! Woot! haha

Also at my work they had a random chili cook-off day! So I got to try a bunch of amazing different chilis with lots of yummy desserts.  The President of the NFIB answered some questions about the company and they gave out some awards to people.  It was really fun because I got free food and I felt like a real employee worker person! haha

Other fun things I did were go to a Valentine's Day ball at the French Embassy! It was sooo much fun!! It was super cute and valentiney lol. There was a dance floor and they started out with an orchestra for ballroom dancing, which was cute to watch.  Then they switched to a DJ and played salsa music for a while, then fun songs like the electric slide and dancing queen, and then finally mainstream music.  It felt like a wedding! But even better they had tons of french desserts with chocolate covered strawberries and with a chocolate fountain and the works.  And the best part was the open bar with French beer and wine! I stuck to the Cote du Rhone, since I remember drinking that in France a lot! It made me miss France because they had the same cheap beer that they sold at our school in France's cafe and that we drank at beach parties all the time haha.  And then I missed all the amazing friends I made in France! But besides that it was an amazing night!! Even better, my night ended with a lovely call from my roomie back at Stonehill :)

French beer and Wine!!

So since my last blog post I was able to go home for the long weekend, since for once I had President's day off!! I headed out on the metro on Friday and went straight to Reagan and I took the smallest plane from DC to Bradley! It was so small we could fit any carry-on suit cases and we left them on by the door of the plane to go underneath before we got on.  But I had a blast when I was home! I got to see my cousin Becky who I hadn't seen in years! Along with her new fiance, Sean.  Plus I got to see my grandparents who had came down from Maine for the week.  I also got to see my mom's side of the family and my cousins Rocky and Mica! And to top it all off I got to see my lovely friends from home, Kara, Christie, and Alyssa!! I was really happy that we could all get together and see what's new with everyone. And how could I forget that I got to skype with my best friend Cait, who is studying abroad in Vienna right now and having a blast! I hope she wants to come back, she's having so much fun! haha :) Overall it was a great weekend and I came back on Presidents' Day, so I only had one day of my internship, making it a pretty easy week!

But here are some random pictures/things I did:

This is the metro at rush hour!! So many people, so little personal space... lol

Albino Squirrel!? Just like the one at Stonehill!

I don't think you can see it very well, but I was able to snap a pic of NYC on my flight to CT.

One day for lunch we decided to go to this place called Z-Burger right near the Tenley campus, since the Tenley Cafe's food is extremely questionable.  It's kind of like a five guys and it was sooo good! I got a cheeseburger and a chocolate shake!

On my way back from an event for class we walked by this theater that had all these famous singers' hand prints. (P.S. notice my sensible work shoes! haha)

Frank Sinatra

Jay-Z

Tony Bennet

To end off this week we decided to go to the club Ultra since it was 18+ and most of my friends are 21, so it sounded like a win-win situation...

Lindsey and Hanna were having a blast with the open bar they had in the beginning, they may or may not be double-fisting here... lol

 

Unfortunately, me and my friend Justin were under 21 so we got these enormous x's on our hands, which sucked and eventually led to a not so great end to the night... if you would like more details, feel free to contact me personally and in private haha but I will say I learned some people aren't the greatest... 

Here's the horrible X! We were marked!! haha 

But besides that really sucky night I've had a great few weeks! Some other updates on my life are that I'm on the peer mentor team for this year again!! I'm sooo excited for orientation and to meet all the new peer mentors!! Let the cult commence! haha just kidding... maybe.

Also, I decided to run for Executive Board Secretary! Ahh!! I'm wicked nervous, but I've always wanted to do something like this because I absolutely love SGA and I've been in it since freshman year and it just seems like the perfect way to end my time at Stonehill.  I think it will definitely put me out of my comfort zone and be a really big challenge, but I know it will be a great experience if I am elected.  So yeah vote for me I guess? lol It would be most appreciated! :)

Also I've loved hearing from people at Stonehill! I got to skype a bit with Dave and Caitlin, which was awesome! I love getting updates on your lives! I also finally figured out my suite for New Hall next year!! I'm so excited!!

And I guess I'll end my blog post with a picture of god... the god of baseball that is haha. Bryce Harper.  I give credit to Pat McKeon for giving me knowledge of god. And some to Derek for the "POW!"  haha I miss you crazy people! 

Taxes and Healthcare! Wooo!!!

So I've been pretty busy these past weeks since I had a paper due Monday for my seminar and then an 8 page, 1.5 spaced paper due today for my elective class.  But besides my papers, I had a fun week at my internship!

These week I've been helping out with random things, but one thing I always do at my internship is to pass out newspapers in the morning.  I know it's a boring job, but it's good to meet everyone and good for trying to remember everyone's names.  It's kind of cool though that everyone wants newspapers, because it's part of their jobs, especially the lobbyists, to keep up to date on everything that's going on in government and politics.  I get about a thousand emails every day with different new sources that are meant to keep you up to date on what's going on in Congress.

Besides the awesome job of newspaper girl, I was able to pick out some articles that the lobbyists put on facebook and twitter! I found an article that talked about how the cost of healthcare and how it would go up once the new law goes into effect.  The main subjects that I'll be dealing with at my internship is the new healthcare law and with taxes! Woo!! So exciting!! haha But really those are the biggest problems that small businesses are worried about so that's what everyone's working on.

My favorite thing I got to do this week was to go to my first hearing to take notes to bring back to the lobbyists.  I went to a hearing at the Senate Finance Committee, which is one of the more important committees and it was all about tax extenders and tax reform.  It's not super exciting stuff, but it is important for small business so it was important for me to go.

It was really cool going into the Senate building and I learned that we had to wait in a line to go into the hearing and that there's something called a line holding service.  You can actually hire someone through this service to hold your place in line for you so you don't have to wait and I guess it's usually homeless people who have the job.  It would be really funny to see a fancy-dressed lobbyist next to a homeless person, but when I was there no one was using the service.

But while I was waiting in line there was a Senate Intelligence hearing just about to happen right near us and we saw General Pertraeus walk by and ask us all what we were doing wasting our time there! He had about a million security people around him, but he wasn't in his military uniform and I asked my internship coordinator who was with me who that was and she must have thought I was so stupid!

But being in the hearing was interesting,  I saw Senators Baucus and Hatch, who were the chairman and ranking member respectively and then Senator Olympia Snowe from Maine, who I think is awesome because she's moderate, but my mother may not agree. haha But overall it made me see why people are hating Congress right now because they basically decided nothing and the Senators just kept talking about the random tax credit they liked even though the point of the meeting was to talk about how the whole thing needs to be reformed! One guy literally started by saying "There's a wind blowing of the Atlantic......" and then talked about wind farms randomly.

Well that was kinda long and boring, but afterwards I had a lot of free time, so I went by the Capitol and the Supreme Court and took pictures:

Then I went back downtown and got lunch at Roti, which was a really yummy but expensive Mediterranean food place.  Then I took it to go and ate at a park right in front of the white house!

It was a pretty sweet day!

So yeah hopefully I keep remembering to update my blog, but right now I'm getting ready to go to a club called "Fur" (weird name!) where Jenna Marbles is gonna be!! If you don't know who she is go youtube her videos right this second!!

But this is what we're not going to do tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIk25NlP3o8