Week 7

Now at the beginning of Week 7 we were beginning our midterm meetings. These were meetings with Kendrick to go over how the internship so far and what can be improved. Monday was a pretty normal day for me. I was able to get my work done for the most part. However the problem came about because the Tableau work I had done the previous week wasn’t what my mentor Yuen wanted. So I spent the day working on that.

Tuesday started off very interestingly because while I had left work the day before satisfied with what I had done on Tableau for Yuen. I noticed some things on further review that morning that made me want to redo some of the work. So after delaying our update meeting so I could get this done I annoyingly finished the rework within fifteen minutes and had to now wait hours to show off. While waiting I went back to cataloging the IUCRC data before my rescheduled meeting. There she approved of what I had done so far and after a bit of discussion I was then assigned what I believe to be the hardest assignment I’ve gotten so far.

By this point I was getting a little sick of Tableau so I spent most of that day cataloging data. Unfortunately this lead to me losing track of time and leaving the NSF late for my midterm review appointment. So after arriving late enough to catch Kendrick on his way to a networking event with Cameron and Elyse, two other interns, I joined them since I had nothing else to do. The event supposedly had something to do with renewable energy or something. We arrived after the presentation and so never really found out. They had good beer though. While there we also met up with Fabienne who had made it to the event on time. She joined us for some Sushi.

Now this is important because I believe this was only the second time in my life that I’ve eaten this. I basically spent the whole meal trying everything. Except for the one with an obvious shrimp sticking out. I enjoyed some and hated some, but most of it was just ok to me. Unfortunately I couldn’t name anything I ate and would have a hard time remembering what I liked in the future. With all of this the night was a lot of fun. I think we sat there talking for at least ninety minutes if not longer.

Wednesday was important to me for two main reasons. The World Cup Semifinal match between England and Croatia being number one and the midterm meeting second. This time I made sure to leave on time for my meeting and literally walked into the QEM office at the exact appointment time. The meeting itself was interesting, I found myself talking a lot more than I thought I would and was surprised by how fast it ended.

At this point it was after 3pm and I had permission from my mentor to not have to make the hour long trip back to the NSF so I did the thing I most wanted to. Went to Public Bar to watch the second half of the England match. The atmosphere was amazing in there as it always is during important games. I found myself talking to this random guy next to me who unfortunately was supporting Croatia. While I enjoyed myself the match itself wasn’t that great from my perspective as an England supporter. They lost. Not very surprising given their history at tournaments, but this year they had finally gotten my hopes up.

At that point I went home, but when I was about to get there I remembered a networking event going on near Howard University that night. So I turned around and went there. While there I made some connections with a Prince George’s County Community College student. His mentor was starting a company and they were a little over a week away from the launch of their app. I met a few others but this was the only substantial person I met there. After getting his number and connecting on linkedin. I made sure to find out the date of the launch and set it on my calendar. Later that night rather than go home I went to Dupont Circle for a few drinks. Rather than go to Front Page or somewhere else I was familiar with I went to a bar with pool, ping pong and other games. I can’t remember its name but I know where to find it now and will be back when I have longer than an hour to spend there.

Thursday was a very routine work day for me followed by a slow night at home. Friday though was a bit more interesting. After work I went home and packed for a weekend with my family. However not wanting to completely miss a Friday night out I compromised and went out later. So after leaving at 9 pm I went to see what Crystal City had to offer. I had never been out there and thought this was a good night to check it out. We went to a hookah bar first called Flirt Lounge for about an hour or two. They had a great DJ but around when I was finally finishing my first beer I was already tired of the volume level. I guess that’s what happens when you avoid drinking too much. Then after wandering around for a while we went to a beer hall. I can’t remember its name but there was just enough time for one 14 oz beer and a few games of Uno using giant cards before we had to leave. By this time it was past 1 am and we needed to rush to catch the final trains.

I was headed to Union station at this point to meet my eldest brother Ndeh who was coming down from New York City. His bus was arriving at 2 am and I figured I could meet up with him. That way when my other older brother Jua came to pick him up I would have a simple ride to Bowie. This worked well except that Jua came way later that he should have. So we didn’t get home until about 3 am. There we found my Uncle, Aunt and cousins from New York. with all the talking and laughter going on I didn’t sleep till about 4:30 am.

The next morning sucked because of a 7 am wake up call. We were taking a trip to Rehoboth beach which was 2 and a half hours away. I was able to escape driving that morning. The day itself was a lot of fun. We played in the water for a few hours before taking a break for the huge lunch my sisters and cousins had brought. Afterwards most of us took a long nap. After a long day like this we got home around 11 pm that night. Unfortunately I had to drive back though. Though exhausted at this point I still went to a local bar to meet up with some friends for an hour before going home to pass out.

Sunday was an amazing day all throughout. It started by watching the World Cup Final with my family. Afterwards we had a BBQ to welcome an Uncle who had just arrived from Cameroon the day before and as a going away party for my sister Alie who was moving to San Francisco for a new job. The house was packed and we all had a great time. To make things even better for me since I needed to return to the apartment in Arlington I wasn’t there for the clean up which must have sucked for the younger cousins that got stuck with it.