With everything wrapping up, I wanted to blog about what a great opportunity it has been to have this internship in Washington, D.C. I'd like to frame it in lessons I've learned:
1. Always bring your sense of adventure. I'm usually somebody who likes plans, but I've realized this trip that life is more fun if you leave yourself open to new and unexpected surprises. This trip was full of spontaneous decisions--a trip to Georgetown Cupcake, site of TLC's DC Cupcakes T.V. show; a late-night dinner at a pizza place in Chinatown that we never wanted to leave; watching the Seahawks game in a random sports bar which just happened to be full of a ton of "12s"; a front-row ticket to The National Shakespeare Theater's The Tempest in the show's last weekend. Each adventure was so exciting, and it showed me how possible it is to have fun wherever you are, as long as you are open to the possibility of it.
2. Office culture makes a huge difference. When I first entered the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, I was actually really nervous. I've heard all my life that office jobs are boring and repetitive, and I figured that one with a big name like the Smithsonian would be overrun with rules and red tape. But the moment Hannah and I walked into the office, we realized that this wouldn't be the case. Everyone was happy to see us, made a point of introducing themselves to us, and welcomed us as members of their community, even though we were only there for three weeks. Going to the office was really fun every day, because there was so much energy and everyone was really positive about being there. I know that, if possible in the future, I will want to look for jobs with a similar friendly office culture.
3. Whitworth has a lot of great alumni connections. We were so lucky to have the opportunity to meet (collectively) seven amazing members of the Whitworth community while in D.C.! Each one of these Whitworthians was friendly, enthusiastic, and successful. It was so wonderful to feel like a part of a community beyond the Pinecone Curtain, and it was inspiring to see how well Whitworth grads are doing in the real world.
4. Passion is everything. For my project for the Smithsonian, I was asked to focus on a narrow topic of my choosing. I picked mixed race identity, something that has always been really important to me. Because I was so into the topic, each task was exhilarating and fascinating--even writing emails and typing transcripts. There are a lot of ways to find what makes you passionate, but once you find it, even work can be exciting. I know that I will be thinking about this when I start searching for real jobs in just two short semesters.
My time in D.C. taught me a lot, and I know that I will use these lessons as I continue on in the workforce and in life. I am so grateful for this opportunity, and I am excited to see where it will lead me in the future.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Almost Done :(
Only two days more of our internships... this has absolutely flown by! The word that I think best describes this experience is fun. This has been incredibly fun. Not including Whitworth-related homework, I haven't had any work to do for my internship outside of being at my internship. The weekends have been free for exploring and hanging out with the other interns and our hosts, the Stones. Last night, we had a donut making party at our house, complete with T-Swift and deep-fried Oreos! Our hosts are seriously awesome. And so is Stacey, for teaching us how to make donuts!
The online exhibition I have been working on is in the process of being edited and published online by our web person! That project has been finishing nicely. The education team (my supervisor and we three interns) got to meet with the Peru team (the ones planning the 2014 Folklife Festival) to learn what cultural themes and festival participants they are planning on for the festival. We now have a better idea of what to include in the children's magazine to which we are contributing.
OH, I now have a readers' card for the Library of Congress! That means I can go into the reading rooms for research or errands that my supervisor sends me on. On Tuesday, we got a tour of the LOC by a guy from our office who was kind enough to take half of his day to show it off to a few of us curious interns. Besides getting a very informative tour, we even got to go into the beautiful main reading room. In my opinion, the Library of Congress is the coolest place to be in D.C.
Tuesday is our last internship day. My supervisor is having two other interns and I over for dinner that night. My supervisor is AWESOME. She knows a lot about how things work around the Center and in the Smithsonian in general since she has been there for so long. She is very approachable and helpful, and we often discuss things as a team over tea and cookies.
She makes sure we are contributing to the Center in valuable ways but doesn't ever make us feel overwhelmed with work. I am so happy to have had this placement where I get to use different skills, discover what I am good and not so good at, and learn from seasoned and eager professionals.
I have a lot of people to thank for this experience, both in Spokane and D.C. There have been a few parts of my experience at Whitworth that have made it worth every dime, and this is one of them. How cool is it that I applied within Whitworth to be an intern at the Smithsonian and that they set me up with awesome hosts to live with while I am here? Too cool. I really hope that another group gets to do this!
The online exhibition I have been working on is in the process of being edited and published online by our web person! That project has been finishing nicely. The education team (my supervisor and we three interns) got to meet with the Peru team (the ones planning the 2014 Folklife Festival) to learn what cultural themes and festival participants they are planning on for the festival. We now have a better idea of what to include in the children's magazine to which we are contributing.
OH, I now have a readers' card for the Library of Congress! That means I can go into the reading rooms for research or errands that my supervisor sends me on. On Tuesday, we got a tour of the LOC by a guy from our office who was kind enough to take half of his day to show it off to a few of us curious interns. Besides getting a very informative tour, we even got to go into the beautiful main reading room. In my opinion, the Library of Congress is the coolest place to be in D.C.
Tuesday is our last internship day. My supervisor is having two other interns and I over for dinner that night. My supervisor is AWESOME. She knows a lot about how things work around the Center and in the Smithsonian in general since she has been there for so long. She is very approachable and helpful, and we often discuss things as a team over tea and cookies.
I have a lot of people to thank for this experience, both in Spokane and D.C. There have been a few parts of my experience at Whitworth that have made it worth every dime, and this is one of them. How cool is it that I applied within Whitworth to be an intern at the Smithsonian and that they set me up with awesome hosts to live with while I am here? Too cool. I really hope that another group gets to do this!
We found a park!
What a wonderful world
I saw trees of green, red roses too
I saw them bloom for me and you
and I thought to myself
what a wonderful world
I saw skies of blue and clouds of white
the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
and I thought to myself
what a wonderful world...
As a former band kid, sometimes I find the best way to express an experience is through a song lyric. And Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" pretty much sums up my time in DC (originally I was going to use the "I've had the time of my life" song from Dirty Dancing but after the first few lines the song doesn't really apply).
This past month has been concentrated with adventure after adventure, and making memories I will cherish for the rest of my life. I learned so much about my career. I lived my dream before the dream (life goal is to be a freelance travel writer. I got to travel write without worrying about making money and paying rent. The dream before the dream). I crossed items off my bucket list (sit in a limo, watch the Supreme Court). I did things outside my comfort zone (hold a three inch Madagascar cockroach). I learned about American history and identity, which I really value as I'm leaving in a few weeks to go to Sydney for a semester. I met amazing people, from a woman who writes poems for the NYP to a public relations role model who worked for Clinton and major sports teams (I want to BE her in a few years, she's incredibly awesome!) I got up early and stayed out late, I ate new and weird food, I pushed myself to avoid routine as much as possible and take advantage of being in one of the best cities in the world. I grew and matured and learned and experienced.
And of course, since it's Jan Term, I binge watched Netflix too. But hey, you got to do something when all the museums close :)
If you're reading this and you had anything to do with creating this internship program, thank you thank you thank you. This trip has really left an impact on me and is one I'm so grateful I got to experience. I wouldn't trade the memories and adventures for anything in the world. It's been so amazing that it will be hard to leave. If you're interested in hearing about some of the non-intern related adventures, check out my travel blog https://rhapsodyoftravel.wordpress.com/
I saw them bloom for me and you
and I thought to myself
what a wonderful world
I saw skies of blue and clouds of white
the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
and I thought to myself
what a wonderful world...
As a former band kid, sometimes I find the best way to express an experience is through a song lyric. And Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" pretty much sums up my time in DC (originally I was going to use the "I've had the time of my life" song from Dirty Dancing but after the first few lines the song doesn't really apply).
This past month has been concentrated with adventure after adventure, and making memories I will cherish for the rest of my life. I learned so much about my career. I lived my dream before the dream (life goal is to be a freelance travel writer. I got to travel write without worrying about making money and paying rent. The dream before the dream). I crossed items off my bucket list (sit in a limo, watch the Supreme Court). I did things outside my comfort zone (hold a three inch Madagascar cockroach). I learned about American history and identity, which I really value as I'm leaving in a few weeks to go to Sydney for a semester. I met amazing people, from a woman who writes poems for the NYP to a public relations role model who worked for Clinton and major sports teams (I want to BE her in a few years, she's incredibly awesome!) I got up early and stayed out late, I ate new and weird food, I pushed myself to avoid routine as much as possible and take advantage of being in one of the best cities in the world. I grew and matured and learned and experienced.
And of course, since it's Jan Term, I binge watched Netflix too. But hey, you got to do something when all the museums close :)
If you're reading this and you had anything to do with creating this internship program, thank you thank you thank you. This trip has really left an impact on me and is one I'm so grateful I got to experience. I wouldn't trade the memories and adventures for anything in the world. It's been so amazing that it will be hard to leave. If you're interested in hearing about some of the non-intern related adventures, check out my travel blog https://rhapsodyoftravel.wordpress.com/
Sunday, January 18, 2015
It's Flying By!
Week 2 was even better than Week 1! I have become more familiar with my
work at my internship, and D.C. still offers a lot to explore and learn.
Now that I'm a week farther into my work at the office, I've made a few
significant steps on my online exhibition project and our educational
outreach team has started collaborating about Peru things. It has been
cool to work closely with my supervisor, who does both curating and
educational outreach, because she participates in a wide scope of the
work done by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
I could talk about how cool my supervisor is for a long time, but I'll save that for later, after I will have been around her for another week. She is very knowledgeable and funny and caring to say the least. On Tuesday we had a unit-wide staff meeting. It was nice to see how a progressive and fruitful unit like CFCH runs a bi-weekly staff meeting. They get an update from each department, become informed about outside issues, and even make the interns introduce themselves (my 5 seconds of fame)!
I love hearing other majors talk about what they study, because it is like learning what they learn without paying tuition! On Saturday, Stacey (who knows a lot about Art History) walked me through an entire building of the National Art Gallery, and it made it so very interesting! The night before, Madison (Communications major) got to sit in a limousine during our monument walk, and afterwards she explained the theories of communication that she used to talk her way into the limo without making it seem like persuasion.
Everyday life here is super fun. When I'm not at my internship, I am usually hanging at the house with the other interns or doing a museum. I really enjoy the family-style dinners our wonderful hosts provide a few times a week. Spending time with Katie on our commutes to and from CFCH and sitting next to her in the office has been really great. She says funny things and is so nice. We are both INFJs, which basically means we spend a lot of time thinking and often walk in the wrong direction.
Today was especially awesome because besides the Hawks' OT win, my aunt's sister who lives here gave us a tour of Georgetown (a classy and cute neighborhood of DC) and drove us out to a couple farther away monuments (Iwo Jima, MLK, and Jefferson). We also got to go down Embassy Row, all the while hearing bits about D.C. from someone who has lived there since 1990. Loving this Jan term!
Madison, myself, and Katie at Georgetown Cupcake :)
It's Flying By!
Week 2 was even better than Week 1! I have become more familiar with my
work at my internship, and D.C. still offers a lot to explore and learn.
Now that I'm a week farther into my work at the office, I've made a few
significant steps on my online exhibition project and our educational
outreach team has started collaborating about Peru things. It has been
cool to work closely with my supervisor, who does both curating and
educational outreach, because she participates in a wide scope of the
work done by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
I could talk about how cool my supervisor is for a long time, but I'll save that for later, after I will have been around her for another week. She is very knowledgeable and funny and caring to say the least. On Tuesday we had a unit-wide staff meeting. It was nice to see how a progressive and fruitful unit like CFCH runs a bi-weekly staff meeting. They get an update from each department, become informed about outside issues, and even make the interns introduce themselves (my 5 seconds of fame)!
I love hearing other majors talk about what they study, because it is like learning what they learn without paying tuition! On Saturday, Stacey (who knows a lot about Art History) walked me through an entire building of the National Art Gallery, and it made it so very interesting! The night before, Madison (Communications major) got to sit in a limousine during our monument walk, and afterwards she explained the theories of communication that she used to talk her way into the limo without making it seem like persuasion.
Everyday life here is super fun. When I'm not at my internship, I am usually hanging at the house with the other interns or doing a museum. I really enjoy the family-style dinners our wonderful hosts provide a few times a week. Spending time with Katie on our commutes to and from CFCH and sitting next to her in the office has been really great. She says funny things and is so nice. We are both INFJs, which basically means we spend a lot of time thinking and often walk in the wrong direction.
Today was especially awesome because besides the Hawks' OT win, my aunt's sister who gave us a tour of Georgetown (a classy and cute neighborhood of DC) and drove us out to a couple farther away monuments (Iwo Jima, MLK, and Jefferson). We also got to go down Embassy Row, all the while hearing bits about D.C. from someone who has lived there since 1990. Loving this Jan term!
Madison, myself, and Katie at Georgetown Cupcake :)
Monday, January 12, 2015
Making Friends and Influencing People--Week Two!
Today, on the Metro, I remember thinking one thing: I can't believe that we are already 1/3 done with our internships! Though there are some hours in our days that feel incredibly long (Hannah and I agreed that the hour between 2:00 and 3:00 is the hardest; all we want to do is take an afternoon nap), the days and weeks themselves seem to be going by very quickly. A new intern was introduced into our office today and asked us how long we had been there, and we exchanged looks of shock when we realized that it had been a week already! Without realizing it, we became experienced pros. Right?
Maybe not so much. One thing that I really love about this internship is that I keep having new chances to try different things. My project is largely self-planned and self-executed, which means that I am constantly developing new skills: brainstorming, researching, email writing, interview conducting, sound editing, transcript typing, editing, and storytelling are a few of the new tasks I've taken on in the last seven days. All in all, I feel like I'm learning how to think like a curator, which is something that I never thought I'd have the chance to do. It's been interesting especially for me to think about creating an effective story for an audience as that pertains to a museum curator. As an English major, of course I am always thinking about audience and purpose. However, this internship is also giving me a chance to think more carefully about how pictures, visuals, and audio fit into this relationship. I never thought I'd admit it, but sometimes words are not the best ways to communicate abstract or complicated ideas.
Another thing that I am enjoying about this internship? The great people that we are meeting around the office. The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has more interns than many of the other sites, and frequent introductory tours mean that we often get the opportunity to meet these interns and invite them to eat lunch with us. Today there were six of us from all over the office sitting around the round table situated behind Hannah's desk, telling jokes and sampling Canadian chocolates that someone had brought into the office. I've also had the chance to meet other wonderfully friendly Smithsonian employees from other offices who are just hanging around, or who eat lunch with Folklife employees. Ultimately, I've been pleasantly surprised with how welcoming and enriching this experience has been.
It's been a lot of fun, too; but that's another blog post. :)
Maybe not so much. One thing that I really love about this internship is that I keep having new chances to try different things. My project is largely self-planned and self-executed, which means that I am constantly developing new skills: brainstorming, researching, email writing, interview conducting, sound editing, transcript typing, editing, and storytelling are a few of the new tasks I've taken on in the last seven days. All in all, I feel like I'm learning how to think like a curator, which is something that I never thought I'd have the chance to do. It's been interesting especially for me to think about creating an effective story for an audience as that pertains to a museum curator. As an English major, of course I am always thinking about audience and purpose. However, this internship is also giving me a chance to think more carefully about how pictures, visuals, and audio fit into this relationship. I never thought I'd admit it, but sometimes words are not the best ways to communicate abstract or complicated ideas.
Another thing that I am enjoying about this internship? The great people that we are meeting around the office. The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has more interns than many of the other sites, and frequent introductory tours mean that we often get the opportunity to meet these interns and invite them to eat lunch with us. Today there were six of us from all over the office sitting around the round table situated behind Hannah's desk, telling jokes and sampling Canadian chocolates that someone had brought into the office. I've also had the chance to meet other wonderfully friendly Smithsonian employees from other offices who are just hanging around, or who eat lunch with Folklife employees. Ultimately, I've been pleasantly surprised with how welcoming and enriching this experience has been.
It's been a lot of fun, too; but that's another blog post. :)
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Playing tug of war with an orangutan and other adventures
I must confess that before I came here I didn't know much about DC. Sure, I knew about some monuments and museums but that's about it. I came fully unaware about how many treasures and adventures sit around every corner, just waiting to be discovered. One of the beauties of DC is how condensed the adventures are. Just walk down the block to the next one.
One week in of interning and I've been able to experience many adventures: reading the constitution, touching a moon rock, holding a Madagascar cockroach, eating buffalo, and so on. Every day I've gone into a new museum (and returned to my favorite: the National History museum), discovering new wonders. My internship site is right next to the castle, a great location that allows me to pop into museums over my lunch break. Walking across the street to go adventure and discover is definitely a lifestyle I can get used to.
The internship itself has already taught me so much about public relations. I have been able to practice and build upon the skills I already have, as well as develop new skills. It's only been a week, but it's been jam packed with learning about pr. But in addition to learning about the industry, I've learned about careers in general. I've learned what it's like to be at an organization where people love their jobs so much, people leave their job by retiring or dying. Very few people leave to go somewhere else because they can't imagine working somewhere else. And I see why. The atmosphere and office culture is amazing, plus the perk of being situated in the national mall. I've seen what it's like to be in an office where people are valued as individuals and praised for their work, not seen as an object to make the company money. I really enjoy going to intern each day and hope I can find a job with a similar office culture.
Plus being so close to all the museums and excitement of DC is a great perk! Yesterday I went to the zoo and played tug of war with an orangutan! It only took him three seconds to almost pull me off my chair (and that's with the thing being adjusted so you don't feel his full weight). I hope to live somewhere with a great office culture, and to live in a great city where I can spend time on my off days.
One week in of interning and I've been able to experience many adventures: reading the constitution, touching a moon rock, holding a Madagascar cockroach, eating buffalo, and so on. Every day I've gone into a new museum (and returned to my favorite: the National History museum), discovering new wonders. My internship site is right next to the castle, a great location that allows me to pop into museums over my lunch break. Walking across the street to go adventure and discover is definitely a lifestyle I can get used to.
The internship itself has already taught me so much about public relations. I have been able to practice and build upon the skills I already have, as well as develop new skills. It's only been a week, but it's been jam packed with learning about pr. But in addition to learning about the industry, I've learned about careers in general. I've learned what it's like to be at an organization where people love their jobs so much, people leave their job by retiring or dying. Very few people leave to go somewhere else because they can't imagine working somewhere else. And I see why. The atmosphere and office culture is amazing, plus the perk of being situated in the national mall. I've seen what it's like to be in an office where people are valued as individuals and praised for their work, not seen as an object to make the company money. I really enjoy going to intern each day and hope I can find a job with a similar office culture.
Plus being so close to all the museums and excitement of DC is a great perk! Yesterday I went to the zoo and played tug of war with an orangutan! It only took him three seconds to almost pull me off my chair (and that's with the thing being adjusted so you don't feel his full weight). I hope to live somewhere with a great office culture, and to live in a great city where I can spend time on my off days.
My tug of war buddy
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