Monday, July 17, 2017
By:
As far as holidays go our internship has been the perfect time to be in D.C. We got to spend Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery and now Fourth of July on the front steps of the Capitol Building.
Every year, before the fireworks, various artists and the National Symphony Orchestra put on a concert at the National Mall. The concert is right in front of the Capitol and I discovered that with a congressional ID I could get a few guests and myself onto the front steps of the building. I figured that it would be really crowded, especially with all the other Capitol Hill interns, but it couldn’t hurt to check. As it turns out, even though we only arrived about 45 minutes before the start, there was plenty of room. This was an awesome place to watch the show. We had a direct view of the stage and of the fireworks behind the Washington Monument. Some of the highlights included a performance by the Beach Boys and an appearance by C3PO and R2D2.
Watching the fireworks was a good end to the four day weekend in which I got to see some more of the city. During it a few of us took a trip down to Old-Town Alexandria and walked around all the incredibly old buildings and streets. I also made it out to a particularly interesting site in Rock Creek Park. There is a place in the park that essentially acts as a graveyard for broken parts of old Capitol Buildings. This was really neat to walk around in, especially since it isn’t supposed to be a tourist attraction.
While the weekend might have been busy I can’t say the same about the shortened workweek. Not only was it short, but Congress was also in recess, meaning that our hours were shortened. Overall it was pretty quite around the office, though I was able to get some good research done regarding energy storage. Next week starts another three-week congressional session, so I expect things to pick up then.
Riley Troyer