First day.

The good

• It’s incredible how much you can learn in 12 hours. We got to the Loudoun bus track at 7:35a.m., took it for 45 minutes to the West Falls orange line metro stop, and took that in to Capitol South. Leslie and I stepped into the Cannon House Office Building knowing little to nothing, and left at 5:50 p.m. feeling like we had much more ownership of our “authorized personnel only” status.
• The Capitol is AWESOME! Amazing architecture and highly organized (though it’s very easy to get lost and staff say even they still do), it was a lot of fun to explore.
•  We sat in both the Senate and House Chambers, which was super cool. There are TONS of visitors to the Capitol right now, and lots of tours going on (which we will be trained to do!).
•  Andy Harris (1^st district of Maryland), the Congressman we are working with, has very friendly staff in the office. Our supervisor, Charlotte, is super nice. We got to go to an intern lecture series (the Republican majority whip!), lunch in the Longworth House Office Building basement cafeteria, and a scavenger hunt to get acquainted with the intricacies of the buildings and how they’re connected (see “the bad” for why not to wear heels). There are 3 other interns in our office. We also met some interns while standing in line to get our staff badges. In fact, there are HUNDREDS of interns on Capitol Hill during the summers, so the line took us 1.5 hours. Charlotte says she heard the intern total might be 10,000, but we’re guessing that’s a rumor. Probably somewhere close though. It’s crazy! Very telling of the prizing of democracy, though, that interns and the public are so welcomed. We got a 133-page "Congressional Intern Handbook". 
• Apparently we might be able to find some free lunches (that go with lectures) for student interns! Yay free food!

The bad

• My contacts wouldn't go/stay in this morning. You all know this bothers me greatly. 
• Our commute TO D.C. went very smoothly, but on the way back we had a few problems. We accidentally hopped on the blue line instead of orange, so we had to get off and get back on the orange. And when getting back on the orange Leslie didn’t make it on before the doors shut. We cordially waved goodbye to each other as I flew by to West Falls without her. Luckily the rails were 4 minutes apart so she caught up quickly.
• We also had trouble catching the bus back to Loudoun… long story, but basically it just added to confusion and time to our already late start getting back. 
• Probably the "worst" thing that happened today was to my feet. Leslie and I thought it would be a good idea to look extra professional on the first day on the Hill, so of course we would wear our heels. Even though the height of my heels is very reasonable and I thought they were pretty darn comfortable, this was definitely a bad choice… We probably walked miles today in that Capitol building and felt like we were limping by the end! Flats tomorrow sound like heaven.

The hilarious

• We had many hilarious moments today, most pertaining to public transit. Like the time the doors slammed on Leslie’s face and we parted ways at the Pentagon stop. And the time I jumped up on the bus and said “we’re getting off here!” thinking it was our stop when really a man had just pulled the line to request a stop. And also the time Leslie and I decided that we need to practice our metro public transit faces, i.e. we need to look tougher and less like Midwesterners. However, the image of falling over while trying to maintain balance on the metro was probably the funniest. Because I’m pretty sure no one would say or do anything… and you’d just have to hop back up and look cool.
• After all our mishaps it was about 8pm when we got picked up by our host “grandpa” as I’ve decided to call him (not yet to his face), who took us to Not Your Average Joe’s restaurant and we enjoyed backyard burgers, fries, a nice tall glass of water and an Arnold Palmer (which when it first came out I asked Dan if it was a margarita and he laughed. Well it had sugar on the rim and he knows we’re 21! Haha. It was orange juice and iced tea, bottomless!). Dan and Maureen are absolutely great. They are very hospitable and have been very helpful. Their dog, Nola, continues to greet us cheerfully at the door, wagging her entire body and yelping.

Can’t wait for tomorrow!