NJ, VA, DC, NY, NJ, DC, VA (in <2 weeks)

Hi all,

The past two weeks have been crazy but I’ve loved them. Two weekends ago saw a roadtrip with a fellow fraternity brother up to one of this year’s ’09 grad’s graduation party. While there we met up with some other friends and had a great time in Jersey. I then proceeded back to Williamsburg to intern for three days before heading to DC for a night and then training up to Manhattan for my roommate’s birthday in the city. I met an incredible host of characters before heading off to the Jersey Shore on the fourth of July to spend a day of old fashioned Americana fun on the beach with cookouts, family and friends, fireworks, the sand, beautiful weather, and great conversation. I was in DC again on Monday and for the past two days have been back in Williamsburg interning again. This weekend, for the first time in well over a month, I will actually be here. Williamsburg has it’s charms, too, and actually hanging out again with the people down here for the summer will be a lot of fun. There’s just been so much going on!

In recent news I’ve finally finished a book that is going to be published for all incoming freshmen this summer that I’ve been working hard on for over a month now, so the relief is beginning to sweep over me. We’re outsourcing the design process to a very gifted ’06 grad based out of Baltimore and the book will be done and ready well in time for move-in day come August! I’m thrilled at the product and won’t give away too much information about what can be found inside, you’ll just have to wait and see! Beyond that there are a lot of projects in the works regarding culture and traditions here on campus that I’m not only passionate about but also incredibly fortunate to be involved with. I got an offer today to extend and diversify my internship work into the fall when I have free moments so that will be a great help when I’m trying to coordinate and bring our new Richmond Externs program up to speed for the spring semester! One of the great things about academic departments here at William and Mary is that very frequently if you can find an internship and it meets certain criteria then you can apply to have it count for academic credit. I’m going to see if my political internship for the fall can translate into government department credit and if I can’t make some kind of research paper out of it come the end of the semester! I encourage you to never be discouraged just because the path you chose to take isn’t ‘orthodox’ – come this spring semester, I will have had an internship for 3 semesters in a row (excluding summer) all while taking classes, and I will have gotten credit for all of them (if I can find some kind of research paper to do this fall for mine)!

The weather here is beautiful so I think this weekend definitely calls for a group trip to College Creek, a local haunt right off campus referred to by non-W&Mers as Jamestown Beach. Yorktown Beach is also a possibility and equally close, but with a cute little town to boot. I grabbed dinner with some friends tonight and while strolling down ancient campus towards Duke of Gloucester Street and Merchant Square to get ice cream afterwards found a band on a stage in the middle of the square, with people dancing in the streets. That’s Williamsburg for you – it’s beauty is frequently stunning.

That’s about all in terms of updates for the past 2 weeks – I’ll continue to keep you posted as things unravel here in summertime Colonial Williamsburg. Go Tribe and Hark Upon the Summer.

Your faithful correspondent,

Brian