Week 8

Week 8 has been a very interesting and tiring week. At this point we are going into the endgame with regards to our projects. For me this translates to the work being streamlined to what I can present in 2 weeks. So rather than continue cataloging all the data like I have been we changed to me only recording the data I would need for my presentations.

Unfortunately there were a lot of events this week outside of the NSF so I was unable to do as much work as I would have liked. This started with a very interesting trip to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on Monday. Their office is in Gaithersburg so it required quite a long trip to get there. From there we went on a tour of their facilities which amazingly involved seeing a reactor. It was a little scary seeing the signs warning about radiation but they assured us that it was safe. We still needed to go through a special scanner on the way out to make sure we weren’t taking any radiated items out with us. The whole trip lasted until about 1 pm. Most of the other interns left at that point but I stayed to have lunch with Teresa Davies who was the NSF employee that set up this whole trip. We had a very good conversation that led to her telling me about a presentation she was organizing the next day at the NSF that involved some researchers from Antarctica that had dug up a dinosaur.

On Tuesday after doing a bit of work and attending a meeting with my mentor I rushed over to the dinosaur presentation which was very interesting. It was basically the two researchers who went there telling us about the trip there, what it took to get there and the kind of work they did. The whole time there was this awesome looking dinosaur skull sitting on the table in from of them. They also passed around a couple of fossils that they had found. At the end of the hour long talk we were able to come up and touch the skull and take pictures as well. Later in the day when I wanted to leave the fire alarm decided to go off. This meant no elevators to take me down from the 14th floor. At least moving down would be easy I thought. And then over half way through my journey to the lobby I realized that I had left my laptop in my cubicle. So back up I went. By the time I arrived in the lobby later my knees were shaking with every step I took. I’m still not sure if that’s just the effect of moving on so many stairs or if it’s only my horrible fitness.

The rest of that day was spent busily trying to get work done. Wednesday was also a very interesting day. Though this was mainly because of the trip we were taking that morning to the White House. I find it funny that this was the first time I could even remember being at the fence of the White House let alone going on a tour especially considering how long I’ve lived in the area. The tour itself was interesting mainly because a number of the rooms we saw were places I had seen in press conferences and other events. Or that I had heard about in passing like the Blue room. I also found it weird walking through areas that seemed like they would be used regularly if I was living there.

After the tour ended there was a major discussion between the interns about where to eat. With no consensus in the group some went to a restaurant while I and a few others went to Union Station for fast food. I ate Chick Fil A for the first time all summer that day. It was missed. That night there was a meeting at QEM. The meeting was interesting because we talked about the networking we had done so far that week. I realized that while I had done a bit compared to others in the group I needed to step it up.

Thursday was a very straightforward day for me. I went to work and was too busy to do anything outside my cubicle all day. I even stayed in until 7 pm that night, mainly because I lost track of time a little but I was happy with the work I got done.

Friday seemed like it would be more of the same as Thursday for me, but I was surprised to find police at the NSF when I arrived that morning. Apparently there must have been a bomb scare or something because we didn’t get into the building until about 11 am. After that it was exactly like Thursday except that I kept a closer eye on the clock and was out at a more reasonable time.    

Saturday started with a professional development meeting at QEM. My roommates and I made sure to arrive very early for that since we didn’t want to miss the free breakfast that usually came with these morning meetings. The meeting itself was very interesting, it was a workshop done by Crystal Williams called the YOU brand. The biggest takeaway from this was how little people tend to think about themselves. She gave us a bunch of questions based around how we saw ourselves, our ambitions, values and other such things and it took quite a bit of thought to answer them. Even with all that I couldn’t answer all the questions.

After the workshop ended I headed home to Bowie. There I ate some pancakes or crepes as Americans call them. Then got my some work done before a bunch of messing around with the family and a trip back to Arlington much later than I had planned. Overall it was a great day.