Friday, June 10, 2016
By:
Wowza! What a whirlwind of a first week. Already I've had lunch and swapped stories with a Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Mather, who is working on the James-Webb telescope, met the FYI team, got a sick head shot, attended events and hearings at house and senate builings, saw a feisty debate between McCain and Durbin from the gallery over Department of Defense appropriations, watch the private showing of Sonic Sea, a Discovery Channel documentary highlighting the issue of underwater noise from commercial shipping and oil drilling that is drastically affecting whales and dolphins on Capitol Hill, ate some free government food, learned about citizen science, heard the CEO of accuweather talk about public-private weather forecasting relations, and bumped into two of my physics professors from school out and about.
I arrived in DC on Sunday and met my fellow interns and we went out to dinner at a delicious spot just minutes away from our apartment. It's really exciting to be surrounded by people who are so passionate about physics. We all have a lot in common.
Since I attend Georgetown University, I am no stranger to DC. However living in Woodley Park has been a completely different experience thus far. I now see how trapped I am during the school year in what we call the "Georgetown bubble" and it's nice to be in familiar, yet completely new surroundings - both people and places.
As the first FYI intern ever, Mitch and Mike, who make up the small yet fabulous FYI team, want to make my experience as memorable as possible. Essentially, they send me to all of these awesome science events around DC and I take notes and report back to them. I'm learning so many new things about both science and the government and myself. I can't wait to see how the summer progresses!
Marissa Murray