Week Three!

My second and third weeks went extremely well, and I must say once again that it has been very educational. My responsibilities during this week ranged from assisting with the news crews who come pretty often to the Center to interview the Scholars, to attending a hearing on Capital Hill. I attended a hearing at the House of Representatives about the U.S-Japan relationship. The event was really informative, and there were many guests in the room. I went to the Hill three times consecutively during the week. Whenever I went there, I enjoyed the experience because it presented me with a great opportunity to see the daily routine of the work force there, including seeing where the offices of each congress-person is located. This opportunity is one of the many chances that CSIS provides interns like me with, and this is done through the director of congressional relations at the Center. Moreover, my job also entails monitoring the media. In this role I log data into a spreadsheet. I am glad to enhance my skill of working with spreadsheets, which I never had a real reason to utilize as much as I do now. Furthermore, I have also been doing research for a project that the director of communications and marketing has assigned to me, so now I am learning something about marketing and communication.
As I am headed into my fourth week, I am getting more and more projects to work on, so I am definitely getting the hands-on experience that I was looking for. I have also been attending more events both at the center and outside the center. A few days ago, I went to the Woodrow Wilson Center to see an event on Iran’s election, which was broadcast on C-Span. The speakers were great, with in-depth knowledge about Washington, DC and the world. I also attended leadership events that all the interns have to attend once a week. The speakers are very talented. I am trying to absorb and cram in as much knowledge as possible, and so far I think I'm succeeding!