Week Three - 1/3rd of the Way There

1/3rd of the internship is already over – only seven weeks left! I can definitely feel how bittersweet this internship is going to be. It’s already been the experience of a lifetime, and it’s not even halfway over, so I can’t imagine how I’ll feel by the end of it. Three is my lucky number, and the third week of the internship surely reflects that, as it was another amazing week in DC. 

On Monday, another FYI newsletter was published, and it still sounds and feels so surreal that I’m even taking part in helping to write them. If you’re not already, I highly recommend getting subscribed to FYI because it’s an amazing way to stay up to date on what’s happening in the science policy world. I have to say that I’m still on the fence about working partially hybrid – I enjoy being able to be in my own space, but that also comes along with the potential to simply stay in my pajamas all day. Sounds like a dream, but I do think I want to try a little harder to wake up early and start getting ready to go into work without actually going into work, if that makes any sense. It would also be nice to explore some local coffee shops or bakeries for a quiet place to work that isn’t my dorm room.  

Tuesday brought about another congressional hearing, but this time, it was all about fusion. I ended up going into the office and then attending the hearing online. There was a conference going on at ACP this week, so the other interns and I who had commuted in together were offered a free breakfast, which was really nice – I hadn’t been grocery shopping for this week yet. After work, my roommate and I went shopping, and I also got some chores around the dorm done, so I would say it was a pretty productive day. 

Wednesday was a chill day. I worked from home, getting started with a new software I’ll be using called Tableau. It’s used to create visual representations of data that are interactive and super helpful to understand and display data in useful ways. After work, a group of interns and I headed over to The Wharf for a free outdoor concert. The music was awesome, and the sunset was beautiful on the water. Plus, there was also huge Jenga, so it was a lot of fun.  

On Thursday, I went into the office for one of our weekly editorial meetings. It ended up being online, and I got assigned another blurb to write for next week. I worked on another dataset in Tableau for the rest of this afternoon. In the evening, we had a dinner with the SPS Executive Committee and also some former interns. It was a really fun evening, and I enjoyed talking to so many interesting people. 

Friday was another remote working day, so I did some writing and formatting for the newsletter going out next week. Myself and some of the other interns were meant to go to Jazz in the Garden this night, but it got cancelled for bad weather that didn’t actually end up coming through. Instead, a group of us decided to go out to get some boba, which was delicious. After that, some of us went out to end out the week.

Finally, on Saturday, all of the SPS interns were invited to attend a performance by the NOI-F orchestra. We got to eat dinner with some of the musicians in the orchestra, and getting to speak with them about their experiences was amazing. Some of the interns and I also played a pretty good game of ping pong outside of the venue before the performance started. The actual performance was amazing, and I felt so lucky to be able to attend such an incredible event.  

I hope anyone reading this had an amazing week as well. Stay tuned for next week!