It begins.
Today, 6/4, was the day
the Interns took over. Fifty-three twenty-plus year old's swarmed on the
Charles Koch Institute to overthrow the current staff and declare a regime
change...
Wait, that's not right.
Wrong story. Today was the first day of the Koch Internship Program
(KIP), and there were 53 interns-making this the largest KIP class in history;
however, we did not come to over throw the current staff, but to learn from
them!
Let's back track.
I woke up, quite bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to be honest, this morning
at 7:55. After a quick shower I assembled my "business casual
attire." I deemed that my grey suit with a solid black shirt, open
collar, would be business causal. Not too casual, not too business.
Again, must like at Mass, I fell right in the middle of the spectrum.
Some guys were in full suits, some were in khakis and and open collar.
Perfect.
The only downside to my
morning was my walk to the metro took longer than I expected. For some reason,
I had it in my mind it would only take 5 minutes, but it took more like 10.
Not that it was a huge problem, since I was able to make it to the CKI
with time to spare, but I'll make note of that for the future! After just
missing (literally, I tried to step onto the train as the door closed) the
first metro, I jumped on one that was still in the station. The
Vienna/Fairfax/GMU stop is the beginning (or end, depending on which direction
you are headed) of the Orange line, so I was able to not only have a seat, but
pick where I wanted it to be. It was quite splendid.
The walk from Court
House Metro to the CKI is only like 3-5 minutes, so that is another perk of the
metro. I thoroughly enjoy not having to pay any attention to where I'm
going, except to know when they call my stop. It is much more relaxing
than driving (and much quicker in my case!).
Our first day began with
breakfast and paperwork. Of course, not at the same time, that would get
messy! Part of us went through and worked on our paperwork (I9's, all
that legal stuff) while another group munched on fresh fruit trays (they had
pineapple, YUM) and a variety of bagels and other breakfast breads-I didn't pay
them any attention, I just ate a bunch of pineapple and grapes!
We kicked off our morning
at 10am after all our paperwork was finished. From here on out the day
would be filled with Seminars with nifty names like HR Intro, Koch
101, and Careful Communications. Basically, we were
going over all the basic procedures and such that were required by law.
Maybe not the most fascinating topics, but the staff was extremely
friendly and positive, and my fellow Interns made it much more entertaining.
Around 12:15 (I think we
were ahead of schedule) it was lunch time. We broke our group into half,
since neither of the two classrooms could hold all of us, and divided by last
names. It felt a lot like elementary school, but hey, it's efficient!
At lunch, much like at
breakfast, we were able to mingle and get to know our fellow interns. The
KIP places people at a variety of think tanks in the DC area, but on Tuesdays
we all congregate at the CKI and will do KIP programming. However, M-W
and M and Tuesday of next week we are just going through training and team
building. Side note aside, I'm excited.
But back to lunch.
At lunch it was amazing to be able to discuss politics, sports (yes, I
discussed sports, more along the lines of how I don't follow them, etc, but
still!), DisneyLand vs. DisneyWorld, various state and local government issues,
and a medley of other issues. While we are all similar in our mindset, we
are not all the same. Each individual is exactly that, an individual.
We believe in a similar "big idea," but it's our route and
other ideas that add the flavor and excitement to the group. If I can base my
summer on the breakfast and lunch small talk, then I am in for a very exciting
and splendiferous summer!
After lunch it was more
programming until we hear from our guest speaker. I don't remember how to
spell his last name, but he works for Institute for Justice and was
a phenomenal speaker. The topic was on economic freedom in the
court system (the entire CKI is for advancing economic freedom) and through the
legal process. He (I have his card, I'm just too lazy to get it. I'll post
his name or edit this post at a later date) was humorous, full of energy (to
the point I wish he would have stood still once in awhile, I was starting to
experience motion sickness from watching him walk around) and had such a
vibrant personality and presentation style.
Upon the completion of
the guest lecture, we received our summer reading: 8 books and a binder.
I had a small flash back to the start of the semester, but I feel like
I'm going to really enjoy these readings. These are various economists
and other economic authors. It should be very interesting--and a little
outside of what I normally read. Each Tuesday, I presume, we will be
discussing a different book/author/idea. I love learning, but when I'm
learning in seminar style, I enjoy it ever-so-much more!
Receiving our reading
for the summer concluded our day at the Institute. It was time to jump
back on the metro and head back to Fairfax. Unlike this morning, I was
unable to even find a seat--I barely had standing room--but I was able to get
on the train. I did not have service, for some odd reason, in the
building, and once underground I really didn't have any. However, about 3
stops into the ride, all 9 emails, 2 voicemails, and a handful of facebook
notifications and texts all hit my phone. I just had it on vibrate, but I
thought it was going to explode!
It was a nice day-around
75 degrees-but after caring the 8 books and a binder, plus my portfolio and
empty coffee mug, I was ready to get out of my suit and put some shorts on!
I ran down to Best Buy,
since one of the voicemails was from them, to pick up my laptop with all my
data backed up on it (yeah!). I made myself some dinner of Campbell's
Chunky Vegetable soup, a Pb&J, grapes, about 10 Pringles, and a handful of
Cashews. It was yummy. I'm not entirely sure why, but I've actually had
the urge to eat a little healthier (hence the fruit I've been eating at every
meal) and I think I'm doing quite well. I mean, I'm no star eater, but
I'm at least on the correct path!
The rest of my evening
has been spent blogging. I'm about ready to post this final blog,
complete some online forms due for tomorrow and the rest of the week, put on an
episode of HIMYM and head to dream land. We are headed
to the park tomorrow for team building. Exciting!
So, maybe the interns
didn't take over the Institute on the first day, but I definitely had a
wonderful first day! I'm pretty sure everyone else did too, but I can't say for
sure...I'm just an Intern.
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