Three Veteran Tips (among other things)

My mom and I during Parents Weekend, DC edition.

It feels very ironic to be sitting on the train headed towards Williamsburg writing about my day-to-day life in DC. Then again, this is the longest time I’ve had to myself for the past month, so I’m going to enjoy it.

So a quick run down on the past few weeks:

All 12 of us DC semester students are now comfortably settled in our internships. Well, that’s not quite true, Abby only just got cleared to begin working at State next week and Andie is still waiting to hear back, but she’s interning temporarily at a law firm, so she’s got plenty to keep her busy. (Veteran tip: waiting to receive a government clearance can be as infuriating as when someone is singing loudly simply because they enjoy watching your face turn a deep purple.) We’ve had our first exam, and our parents followed us around the city last weekend as we sung the praises of the DC semester program.

Featuring: my dad

I keep saying to anyone who will listen that I don’t feel like I’m in school right now. That is not to say I don’t have work to do. Believe me, I am BUSY with enough school-work and work-work to drive me a little bit crazy, it’s so different then the stress I feel when taking classes back on campus. In the city, I am a young professional the majority of the time, only a college student on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons. I can’t claim to be completely independent because I don’t have to pay rent every month or buy my own coffee during the work day. (Veteran tip #2: Your coworkers pay for your stuff when you’re an intern! The one perk of being unpaid. Literally the only one.) But I do get up for work everyday and walk out of my apartment and onto the street around with the rest of the world.

The streets of DC have their differences from the cobbled brick of the William & Mary campus, but the experience is invaluable, even if I learned nothing besides how convenient Uber is. I’m just kidding guys, I never stop learning new things even if I’m just walking down the sidewalk. (#3: The city is FULL of free stuff that you can get in on so easily. This past week, I’ve attended a talk about the Rohingyas in Myanmar, the challenges facing Ukraine and Mongolia’s new parliaments, and a lecture by NATO’s former Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.)

So now that you have these helpful veteran tips, I’ll let you go on your way.

Until next time.

-Brenna Cowardin ’19