First Step, Capital Hill- Second Step, White House

The building of buildings, second to the White House. 

Two weeks ago, a lowly intern was privileged to accompany the Board of Directors of the International Association of Chiefs of Police to the Capital Building to help discuss law enforcement's legislative agenda. 

Yes, even law enforcement has to fight to be included on congressional budgets.  The 2011  presidential budget and congressional budget are yet to be decided- and technically the 2011 year began--- uhhhh 5 months ago!

So we are on the verge of a GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN! Last seen when Bill Clinton was hanging out with interns. 

Essentially, this means no mail from USPS or work considered "non essential".  So I was fortunate enough to help set up for this day, and at the 11th hour I was invited to attend!!! Yes, not all interns are just on the "set up" committee.  In preparation for this day, and within all the excitement and last minute details that were to be accomplished, the only thought worth thinking in the midst of the excitement was:

What in the world will I wear? This isn't my first congressional event, and hopefully not my last, but all you need is one major impression (and I was NOT intending on going naked to make that impression). 

Conservative but cute, Mrs. O as my guide, and a best friend with a limitless wardrobe, I channelled my inner Jackie and this was the result:

This picture does not do the outfit justice.  It was not your average black suit dress, but a warm wool black and white suit with a fashionable coller (which I was instructed that it had to be displayed, and thus my hair was back) designed by the wonderful Ann Taylor.  Mrs. O would have approved.  Thank you to Ms. Sarah for the outfit and Kate Spade bag! 

What would you wear for a day on the hill? More soon!

Guatever!!!!

Did you know that mayans still exist? Seriously.

It brings me back to the days of sitting in history class, studying how the spaniards wiped out all of the Mayans, and at 25, I've only just discovered they still exist! Trust me, it was like Santa Claus all over again.

Guatemala: Though an exciting place to live (riding a bus can be like playing russian roulette), there is so much culture and color there. The architechture, somewhat influenced from Spain, was beautiful! To the left you see a traditional church in the town of Chimaltenengo. It lacks the grandiose butresses you would find on the Notre Dame, but has a lovely charm, no? Out in front is a boy playing soccer (futbol), there is a wonderful court yard that separates the church from an ornamated park, complete with locals selling their merchandise.

Though the architechture was one of the first things I noticed, I was there for a wedding!!! One of my best friends was getting married :) Amber and Wilfredo met and fell and love, and now they have they cutest child!

It all began a little something like this :) So we were there for a wedding, and though this departs from the theme of my previous political discussions, and despite the economic turmoil in Guatemala, I still can't believe mayan's exist!!! We got to visit some of the ruins, markets, and have the most wonderful wedding (boda :) )

Part of the Mayan Family my friend married into:

These cute girls were running around and peaking through the wedding. They wear typical mayan dress, with tons of colors. The back of their hair had braided colors in it. Absolutely lovely. Check out some more pictures of the trip:

The photo with the E's crossed out means one of two things: this particular photo I believe means no parking. However, there are signs with E's crossed out/pictures of a sombrero hat crossed out, which the Guatemalan's put on their building as a sign that they do not stand with the government. Similarly, there are sombrero's that are painted, or E's to show they are for the government. Interesting.... There are tons of lovely photos, when are you guys going to Guatemala?

Emerging from the Grave

Still with me?

Excellent! The world has surely missed me. I have however been gallavanting around, literally, trying to organize my next few steps in life.

Quick Update:
I've achieved a master's degree! I can not express or explain my feelings about this degree within a few short words, let alone a blog. At the end, I've emerged with new friends, a new degree, surely a few gray hairs, and hopefully for the better. I can update on the degree at a later date.

World travels? Since my last update I have gone to:
France
Poland
Hungary
Italy
Northern Ireland
Spain
Belgium
Luxembourg
Germany
and lastly: Guatemala

If you can believe it, Guatemala was one of the best discoveries I have made. I actually did not have the urge or thought to go to Guatemala. One of my best friends was there working when she fell in love and decided to get married. Hours after arriving back in the states I was zipping up bridesmaid's dresses and trying to decide if orange or yellow looked better. . . . . in my case, it was a lose/lose situation, however, I love her enough to wear yellow! My next post will be on Guatemala.

Since Guatemala (Sept 2010), I've been working and interning with the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In the spirit of being brief, more on that later as well :)

Coming up: Trip to Greece, Egypt, and Turkey

Yes, I've booked a trip to Egypt- but in lighter news, I hear they are closer to creating a constitution. It could be worse, could be Somalia. I anticipate Egypt will be closer to having a government in May, than Somalia will be this year. Stay tuned :)

And I'm back!!!

Jet sailing around the world, tis the life no?
If that were what I was doing :D But I did just get back from Poland and Ireland- and I wish I knew more ways to say BEAUTIFUL for Ireland. . . . beautiful beautiful beautiful. . . Cutie is to Japan like beautiful is to Ireland

All I can say is GO
GO GO GO
As for Poland, it was an amazing experience- especially because of how much I learned about the concentration camps. It is hard to believe how far people will go to inflict that much hatred, also how much damage humans are capable of inflicting. Overpopulation seldom feels like a problem when we have cases of genocide that exist today. And this isn't over, there is genocide going on in the Sudan and Darfur every day- and more places than that. Even worse is that they aren't hiding it like the Germans did, it's easy to see but out government is unable to do anything just yet. Bills are being put into place, the UN has called for meetings, only time will tell when that genocide ends before the next one begins.

How humbling, to think how privileged I am to not know what it means to have no freedom. I have never been without food, my family is loving, I have had great experiences thus far in my life because I have taken many risks to achieve them; however, I have been fortunate to be in a place to dream those risks and where I want to go.

The complaints that I and most of the people have are small comparatively. It's good for me to see that stuff; the hard stuff, the not easily explained stuff. . . because how else will I create change and goodwill if I don't understand it.

My next adventure will be a little more light- I believe I am going to Zaragoza, Spain sometime between now and January. . . . I have 2 friends coming to visit in December
February I am going to Milan to go to the Venice Carnival that is held every year

Places I still want to go:
Budapest, Hungary
Turkey
Greece
Moracco
Slovakia

I know I am going to spain next summer too for the running of the bulls- so that will be GREAT

Now if only I can get a job to pay for all this :D . . . . and do some school work (agh it's hard to concentrate because you think about all this stuff here- where to go, what to see)

Cheers!

Will it or will it not rain?

Surely, the day I leave my umbrella at home will be the day it rains. Oh gosh, as I began typing this, it has begun raining! Why I don't stop these thoughts from happening before I jinx myself, I'll never know. . . . .



So, life has mostly been settling in. School is full underway, I am studying/looking for a job/ trying reallllllly hard not to spend money and yet I think I'm making myself spend money more. . . .



Like shopping- it always starts off as a good idea because you have a need, and then you go and you realize there are a lot of things you think you "need". Today's needless item: nail polish remover. Do I need this? No, I don't really need to paint my nails either, but that didn't stop me from buying nail polish . . . .



In world news: Sweden is burning bunnies as a form of renewable energy. . . . .

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8309156.stm

Check it out

To be a Radical or Not to be a Radical

Here is the project my classmates and I have been given:
We are part of 4 different organizations that are either for/against the expansion of Heathrow Airport (this is a current topic in England right now. The UK agreed to stop carbon emissions by 20% and now they are actually trying to expand the airports in London and add more terminals and runways which would increase the amount of carbon emissions the UK emits).

The four groups are:

The Aviation Commission: You are for the expansion. It creates jobs, will allow more planes to fly to your airport, creates more money for you as well (you own planes and now more people will fly them).
The local police: You are against the expansion but for alternative methods of increased transportation (buses) because the expansion takes away the people that fill the jobs in the community and you would have to increase taxes on the residents to pay for this.
GreenPlanet: You are an international Non-Government Organization that is against the expansion because it creates health risks, destroys the earth yada yada yada (green planet). You have tons of money from donations, are completely successful, and you know people in government (so you have a lot of pull).
CleanAir: A super tiny Non-Government Organization that is against any form of increased transportation (expansions, new airports, extra buses or undergrounds). Think of a radical group that chains themselves to airplanes to stop them from creating carbon emissions. . . . .

Guess which group I am in :D I'm a radical :D Now where did I put those chains . . . .

Honestly, would I have chosen this.... this is not an easy one, and I got put in this group because of where I was the last to get the sign up sheet for the group choices. But this is excellent.

Each group has to come up with a strategy to influence public policy that would benefit their group. The Clean Air radicals don't have money for advertising, only have a few people in the organization, and don't have any links to government to get our word across. OH I should mention that the current government in power is FOR the expansion- lucky for those in the Aviation Group. But that means I will learn the most out of this project, we'll have to be extremely creative to develop our strategy, and look at all kinds of small NGO's and how they were effective.

The easy answer is to bribe Green Planet to allow us to be part of the their committee since we support similar things, but is the easy answer the right one? I will go with no on this one.

Which would you choose? And how could you be effective? This is really interesting if you are into governmental affairs because you really have to follow whichever government is in power and change your strategy based on it.

Things I have learned

Things I have learned while being in the UK:

I look old enough to buy liquor (hoooooray)
I do not look old enough to buy scissors. . . . . hmmmm

The trouble with rain isn't the occurence of it, but the fact that when I have to go to classes, everyone else and I all have umbrellas. I am worried about the life of my umbrella because everyone bumps it when I go to class, it's just a sea of umbrellas. Try moving with an umbrella (without harming it) when everyone else has one. I have almost resigned to put mine down and just hope that I am protected my the sea of umbrellas. Still gets me wet. . . .

I will not get anywhere in a conversation if I talk about "Football". As much as I try to say American football, it just doesn't stick, and ultimately, me and everyone else ends up having two entirely different conversations.

I still haven't had English food. I really want to! However, I have learned they have AMAZING chinese food. Also, the luxury of living with so many different types of students (my apartment or flat has 3 guys from saudi arabia, a guy from Turkey, a guy from Nigeria, 2 girls from the UK, one girl from S. Korea, and one guy from Switzerland) is that we all cook a lot and I get to try a lot of their types of food. The roommate from Turkey and his friends made us all pasta with Ketchup, beef with eggs/onions/yogurt for dinner tonight. Twas wonderful :) Yes, ketchup on pasta and beef with yogurt, you read that right.

Classes are going well so far. Democracy prevailed and I was elected the student representative for my masters program as I was the only one to raise my hand. So without opposition, I won :D Keep in mind, this was how Hitler rose to power, and I must have intimidated my classmates early :D Just kidding should this post ever come public.

Enough for tonight, I will have a political prose tomorrow for you to read and share your opinion on. Thank you for the e-mails/facebook messages on my last political post.