Fun and Games outside of Work!

Throughout the first two weeks of the internship there were many fun times had in and outside of the office, but in this blog I want to highlight some of the fun times outside of the office. Family dinners are one thing that I mentioned before, but one of my favorite meals of the summer was when we were getting ready to send off our friend Clint. The night before he left us to go to the Peace Corps we all went out to a Peruvian Restaurant. Since most of us had never experienced this cuisine, Clint and his friend Mason handled ordering for the group. My favorite part of the whole meal was COW HEART!!! While some people are all about animal rights and not hurting animals, I have to say I was very appreciative of the cow's heart that I ate! It was the best cut of steak I had ever had!

Well moving on past the delicious Peruvian dinner, there was good food to be had at our dorms too! One of my favorite meals that we cooked in our dorm was pork chops with naan bread, macaroni, and salad on the side. Marc Fishman (aka Head Chef) was very gracious and cooked a number of meals for me and others who were just so lucky to get in on his cooking. The picture above shows part of the splendor that we made within our dorms.

Outside of food one of the more fun events that took place was going Kayaking! One delightful day a group of us interns decided to hit the Patomac River to go kayaking. Since we had all been to DC there had not been much physical activity taking place, so a day on the water was nice for us all! I had the delight of pairing up with Danielle and we had a grand old time paddling about the river. Since we all wanted to get tan (minus Joan) we decided sunscreen wasn't necessary. Needless to say....we pretty much all got sufficiently burned on the trip. To finish out a great time kayaking I was stoked by a few lovely ladies in bikinis who decided my backside was a good photo opportunity....!

In general life with the interns was something that always presented a laugh when needed, but also provided some sanity to our busy schedule at work!

First few weeks in DC!

During the first week or two in DC there was a lot of fun to be had meeting new people, reestablishing friendships, and getting into our element for life in DC. When I first got to DC I was greeted by none other than Clint Armistead. Clint is a fun-loving and down to earth guy who can't help but smile and bring a smile to the faces of people around him. So for me, getting off the plane and seeing Clint was a treat within itself! While we were at the airport we waited for Jenny Zhong to arrive too and then we headed to the George Washington (GW) dorms. Upon arriving at GW we got our keys and things and quickly got all our junk into our building.

When I first stepped into my dorm room all I can recall very vividly that I heard a banjo being played. Since the banjo isn't a common instrument I figured it was music playing, but the Clint exclaimed, "Mark, Daniel is here!!!" At that moment the banjo stopped and curly-haired redhead came our of another room in our dorm. Needless to say, Mark was another one of those guys who you can't help but smile when you see. With a banjo strapped to his back, Mark came out and greeted me.

After meeting my roommate I was introduced to all the pretty ladies across the hall: Laura, Jenny, and Joan. That first night we all went out to Charlie Cheng's to get Chinese food and we all ended up ordering family style so we could all share our meal as one big FAMILY!

Continuing on with the positive atmosphere we set forth on the first day, we decided to have a homemade dinner at the dorms which was a mexican style meal. We made beef burritos and had lettuce and chips and salsa on the side. If this delicious meal wasn't good enough....we had a cake to complement it for dinner! Mark, my roommate, had just turned 21 the week we all arrived so we had dinner and a cake in his honor. When we started eating the cake, Clint, decided that we should finish the WHOLE thing. After eating half the cake as a group everyone but Clint and I were full, so we each took our respective 1/4 of the cake and started to go to town. All I can say after that is that Clint had a bit of trouble trying to manhandle such a massive amount of dessert.

That first week in DC was full of fun and games as we got settled into our dorms and settled in at work. Above are two photos that are from our family dinner and the cake eating contest that Clint and I went through.

Washington DC Internship

(These two photos are taken via Jerry Holy's camera by some hot rando.)

The past two months I have been in Washington DC as an intern for Special Olympics Project UNIFY. What you may ask is Special Olympics Project UNIFY...well this Special Olympics program is based off of the ideals of Educating, Motivating, and Activating young people through Special Olympics. Whether it be changing perspectives about people with intellectual disabilities or providing leadership positions for young adults, Project UNIFY gets youth and adults working together with the goal of creating an accepting relationship between "all" people.

This summer I was blessed to be a part of a 9 person internship team that was based out of Washington DC. This group of 9 became my family away from home and they all helped me to further establish who I am as a young man. I wanted to give a shout out to the whole Special Olympics Project UNIFY family of interns: Danielle, Laura, Brianna, Jerry, Brad, Jenny, Samantha, and Joan. The last two months have been full of learning experiences that have helped me to better define what I want to do in my future in work and in play.

Besides the great group of interns, there was an amazing staff that helped to provide a professional but fun working atmosphere at the office. Whether it was Madam Jo Jo, Oscar, or Andrea, the three main support staff, or the numerous others that helped make our stay in DC a good experience, everyday was full of positive learning experiences!

I look forward to working with and hearing about all the work that this group of individuals will continue to do in the future. In the meantime...I wanted to spend the next few days recounting the fun that I have had, so for the next week or so I am going to do my best to blog about the hustle and bustle that went on this summer during my internship.

As a closure for this blog I am including two pictures of the interns that will help illustrate what a beautiful group of people I have been working with!