I suppose I ought to introduce myself... *ahem* Howdy rowdies! The name is Bradley Kelly. Come fall, I will be a junior at the University of Iowa (go Hawks!), where I am a finance major. I am with the Law and Criminal Justice Program of the Washington Center. Also, I am interning at the Office for Civil Rights, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice—it’s kind of a mouthful. I guess I will be your point of contact on the DCene this summer. I think we can have a grand ol’ time together, if you’re willing to wade through the sea of bad puns.
I have really enjoyed my time in DC so far. I am glad I have the opportunity to come out. I’ve really put the lash to my back over the last two and a half years to fund this little foray into my future. Now it is time to burn some cash—try to purchase the best experience possible.
A word of caution to prospective interns: make sure you guard your purses strings carefully, because money can slip way fast. If you are from a small town in the Midwest, like I am, you have to build into your budgeting expectations for the summer things that can only come with the big city. Need some examples? Higher prices for food, higher sales taxes, and a higher cost of transportation.
A word of commendation: the Metro (subway system) is one of the most clean and efficient systems I have ever been on. It will be hard to avoid the Metro. It is often times a necessity—unless you get lucky and you are housed in close proximity to your internship site. The Metro might take you off guard at first. It charges by the stop—and more during weekdays and peak hours of travel. It is easy to spend upwards of $4.00 just to get home from work.
Luckily, there are great websites with which you can efficiently plan your travel, search out your stops, etc. Interested? See http://www.wmata.com/. If you are techno-savvy enough, you can combine these websites with sites like yellowpages.com and googlemaps.com, and just load up your trip itinerary, metro schedules, and maps on your cell phone. Thus enabled, you have the whole run of the city and the whole summer ahead of you. You should be able to see everything.
My room mates and I actually put this into practice just this weekend. After we suffered through the “bonding experience” of the Washington Center orientation, we decided we should try the bonding thing one more time. We thought it was high time to catch an Orioles-Red Sox game in Baltimore. So we jumped online, ordered tickets, then found train and bus schedule to get there and back for cheap. Use our generation’s resources 2C the DCene in ways that can only BCene by our generation (that is all I am say’n).
1 comment:
Hey, I am also interning through TWC this summer and happen to live in Baltimore. If you are interested in going to another Orioles game sometime during the summer, there's actually a MARC train that goes directly to the Orioles Stadium. It's called the Camden Line and you can check on www.mtamaryland.com for the times. You would have to take the metro (Red line) to Union Station. It takes approximately an hour. Good luck!
Post a Comment