by Shannon McSkimming

Opportunities

We are coming up to the end of our first month in US, some of us are half way and the others are just getting started! Yet the opportunities and experiences we have had are extraordinary! Washington for me has definitely taken a bit of adjustment for a few reasons. Firstly, I am blown away everyday by the quantity and sheer variety of history, memorials, opportunities and people that we’ve met so far on the Washington Internship Program. So far between us we’ve attended a basketball game, a briefing at the Australian embassy, a long list of the Smithsonian Museums, met Tony Abbott, gone to Charlottesville, Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s estate), Mount Pelier (James Maddison’s estate), Philadelphia, New York, a President Trump rally, hearings on wide variety of topics, met Chris Evans and Joaquin Phoenix. Our time here has certainly been busy so far, and only getting busier. The second big learning curve for me has been putting myself forward and asking the people that I have met to catch up for coffee. How connected everyone is on The Hill and how willing they are to fit me in for coffee is still a fact I’m trying to get used, and a true testament to how most staff here have gotten their start from being interns too. It is definitely making me excited for the future.