1st day out on the town

WHOO. All I want to do after this super long day is just lie down and SLEEP. But I better get used to it...unfortunately I've gotten conditioned to a low-activity, relaxed lifestyle- in other words, not having a job. Now I'm not saying that I wasn't doing anything important or meaningful (those of you who know me well know what I'm talking about), but it is really stressful moving to a new place, particularly a big city with which you're unfamiliar.

This afternoon I met with Allison's mom colleague who pretty much taught me some of the secrets to the trade of finding a good entry-level job in Washington. He and Allison's mom (let's just call her D) said that I will be in the top tier of college graduates entering the work force up here, and have been telling that I can definitely do better than a mere administrative assistant position, which was what I originally was certain that I would get. He recommended various NGO's, think tanks, consulting firms, etc. to apply to, but he seems to think that one of the very best jobs I could get at my level of education and experience would be at Capitol Hill. So that basically means I need to contact chiefs of staff for North Carolina House Representatives who work in D.C. Apparently they get back to you really quick, which is good. What's not good and what is seriously worrying me is that whole security clearance thing. Obviously I've never committed a crime and never experimented with any drugs whatsoever, but there are certain dark spots on my past, of course, given my crappy family situation and genes. But what I'm hoping is they'll see that I'm resilient since I've kept up my grades through all of it, and haven't dropped out of school or anything like that. I just don't want all my hard work to go to pot because of stupid problems that I wouldn't even HAVE if my mother were halfway normal.

But anyways, I did get to see the State Department building today. I have to say that besides the lobby, the facility really isn't that interesting, and I've seen college classroom hallways that are nicer. Of course D's office has an AMAZING view of all of Washington, so that pretty much makes up for the rest of it. Interestingly enough, we saw Karen Hughes on the way out of D's office- Hughes' old office is right down the hall. The other really cool thing was how I ran into a guy I studied abroad with in Spain- Andrew- who now works for a bigtime council at State - granted he did graduate a year before me, but I am SOOOOOOOOO jealous. Fortunately, it will be one more connection in Washington, and I must admit that I am really piling up that list of names. Let's just hope they do help, cuz I am freaking desperate to get some money to pay for that apartment of mine, cuz while it is cheap, I can't depend on my dad forever.

Oh before I forget, also worked my way around some of the maze that is the Washington Metro. Now I know that compared to other public transit systems, it's really not that confusing, but remember that this is my 2nd time since Madrid really doing this on my own. And half the time in Madrid I had other people with me who weren't so spacially-retarded. While I got a little lost meeting my dad and Linda on the other side of town, I can say that I 100% successfully found the State Dept from my metro stop (about a 15 min difference) on my own: DEFINITELY an accomplishment!

Otherwise I'm just trying to adjust to the freezing cold, super windy weather without freezing into an icicle on the middle of 23rd Street. I'm acclimating, but there is a tremendous difference between here and the late springtime weather of Salisbury (and they call that wintertime...) All right, well tomorrow's another day- one I will mostly be spending in the Great Falls library with my nose in a Congressional Record book..jooooy. Later!