Hayden's Adventures in Washington: Internship

Today was my first day interning for my Congressman from Illinois, Rep. Adam Kinzinger! I was nervous about being able to find his office, so I left about 30 minutes early. Oh well... better to be early the first day than late! I am very much looking forward to learning more about the office and my job as a Congressional Intern. Everyone at the office is very helpful and polite, so I'm happy for that. Since one of my duties as an intern entails guiding constituents on tours, I have to learn the layout and facts/history about the Capitol building. Because of that, I tagged along on a tour one of the other interns gave. This was my first time going through the Capitol as well, so the other intern was giving me a few pointers along the way.

While I know DC and the Capitol has a lot of history, it still amazes me that I am working and living where so many important historical events took place. It's one thing to read about it in a book, but it's another thing to be standing in the room where those things happened. For me, it helps to put things into perspective and I feel an enormous sense of pride in our country.

As I was leaving work, I realized I didn't have my keys to my apartment! I started freaking out a little.... Then, I remembered I helped the Deputy Chief of Staff for Congressman Kinzinger bring in water. Since we had to walk back into the office building once we got the water, we had to go through a security checkpoint and that's where I left them. I rushed to the back entrance where we had entered, and I asked the Capitol policeman standing guard if they had seen the keys. After giving me a bit of a hard time (some of them actually do have a sense of humor), he said he had them. Whew!

After arriving back to the apartment, I got changed and went on my first run! It was great. I am definitely going to be making a habit out of it. It wasn't the fastest of runs, but I did go 2.5 miles after not running for a week and a half. During my run, I did realize why Capitol Hill is called Capitol Hill.

Check out these pictures from the past few days' adventures!