A Painful Policy

6/7/12

Today was the day.  The culmination of all my hard work and sacrifice.  Years of...Ok, so maybe it isn't quite that dramatic, but it was still very exciting.  Today I began the actual interning experience of the Koch Internship Program.  And, let me tell you, it was a very exciting day!

I began the day bright and early (7:05 was a tad early, so I crawled out of bed at 7:15 instead).  There was a slight downside to my morning:  I had left my coffee cup in a friend's string-bag.  So, sadly, I did not start my day with coffee. But no worries, my office has coffee.  And not just coffee, a full kitchen. Equipped with a Starbuck's coffee machine, that freshly grinds your beans before brewing them.  So, every cup of coffee is literally a fresh cup.  AMAZING!

My day was extremely fascinating, at least to me.  I started off by logging on and going through my computer and setting up all the sites and such that I would be using (ie, my electronic time-keeping site. Cha-ching!).  After going through my email (which took quite awhile), I was able to begin reading, which would take up my entire day.

I started reading on cronyism.  I started out with articles but moved onto reading a book that details how the American society has become a society of moochers.  I'm not going to lie, the readings were a little (or a lot) depressing.  I'm fearful for the American society.  The growing debt, the crazy amount of subsidies and the ever growing regulation leading to continually increasing debt is daunting, at minimum.

However, depressing statistics aside, the day was interesting.  We had a couple short meetings, one to go over, one final time, proper office procedures and the other to take a tour of the building.  There are roughly 15 interns from the program at the Institute/Foundation.  Just based off of the looks we received from the other office staff, I think this is the largest number of Interns that have been placed CKI.  I'm not going to say that for sure, but just a guess.

Along with the short meetings we had, for lunch the entire policy team met for a lunch meeting to go over the basics of the team.  They are a fascinating group.  I am really looking forward working with the group for the summer.

After I got off, I took the metro back, which was jam-packed.  I guess I had better get used to being in a can of sardines!  Oh well.  On the upside, I was able to talk with a fellow intern about our first day and just some various other topics.

The biggest downside of my day--my dress shoes have not fully been broke in.  Needless to say, I now have blisters on both of my pinky-toes and one on each of the back of my ankle/heel --whatever you call the place where the back of your shoe rubs (the right one has burst).

While this may not sound like the most exciting day, it was incredibly interesting for me.  Tomorrow will be another day in the office reading and researching, but on Saturday, a group of us are going out to explore DC.  All I can say is:  Watch out DC.  Here come the Interns!