"Some pages turned, some bridges burned, but there were lessons learned."

Hey everyone! Time for an update on my life.

You're probably getting the drill by now haha. Thursday morning we had a "professional development series" session from 8am-10am. This one was called: "Networking: tips to get ahead." It was interesting, just early! Then I went into work around 11am. I'm finishing up the story I'm working on so that makes me excited. This upcoming week is what they call a "dark week" meaning that no one really goes into the office. Because of the 4th of July, there is no issue published next Monday. But I'm still going to go in because I got assigned a few projects I need to get done! Thursday night was, of course, Ethics class from 6:30-9:30. After that we all crashed because it was such a long week.

Friday morning I had class from 9am-noon. Joe - director of IPJ - got us all coffee and doughnuts which was a really nice surprise. After that I headed into work, which was really busy! I copy-edited a bunch of articles and also got assigned another project with the business/advertising team that will take a week or two to finish up. Always busy, which is good! I got off work at about 8pm after we sent in the issue and then met my roommates to go see Toy Story 3! It was the most amazing movie EVER, I almost cried several times. Here are a few pictures of us walking to the movie theater on the edge of the Potomac:






Saturday my sister Morgan and best friend Danyelle came to visit for the night! We had a blast. We went to a restaurant/bar called the Epicurean for lunch and wound up staying the entire time and watched the World Cup game. Disappointing loss for the USA, but it was a really well played game. Then we came back to my apartment and played my favorite game BANANAGRAMS! Afterward we met my friend Zach for dinner at a place called Tombs which was really neat. Zach took us out with some of his friends for the night which was great.

Sunday morning Morgan and D left around 11 to head home and beat the traffic, which they did! Then I met my roommates at this awesome pool party near capitol hill. Ever seen From Justin to Kelly (probably not, and I wouldn't blame you) but it was EXACTLY like that! It was so fun and relaxing, which was exactly what I needed after a very stressful week. Here are a few pictures!





We came back from the pool and Brigette made us a full spaghetti and meatball dinner (which if you know me, is my favorite thing ever!) It was delicious yummmm. Then I did two loads of laundry (exciting?) and got to talk to my friend Lorin on the phone which was wonderful! Besides that we just relaxed and did some homework....yuck!

Goodnight everyone :)

"Oh baby, baby, it's a wild world."

Hello my lovely readers! Hope everyone is doing splendidly.

Monday was a very busy day at work. I had three projects to do for three different people, so it definitely kept me very busy. The day flew by because I was "go, go, going" all day long. Then Monday night at 6:30 was our Ethics midterm. I was prepared for the worst, but it actually wasn't too bad. Not easy by any means, but not the hardest test I have ever taken...hopefully it turns out well! Then we had to sit through an hour of class after the exam which was the most draining part of the day.

Tuesday morning was awesome. We got to go to Capitol Hill to sit in on a briefing on the floor of the House of Representatives. A Republican Congressman from Nebraska came and spoke to us about how the House works. It was really, really neat. The worst part? 1) Getting up at 5:30am! 2) The $17.50 cab ride! Taking the metro at 6 am in DC is a death wish, so my roommates and I decided to split cab fare. Well, the driver wound up going the most round about way possible (probably because we were young girls and he knew we wouldn't say anything). But anyways, the briefing and the entire morning was awesome. Here are a few pics:







After that was over, I headed to work for the day. Thinking it would be an easy commute at usual, I moseyed my way off the metro to walk to my office, and what obstacle is put in my way but a "closed sidewalk" sign a few blocks away from my office that read: "detour: this way -->" so, I think to myself, hey, no biggie, I am 45 minutes early, I'll just walk around it. HAHA yeah, well that didn't work out so well. I wound up getting COMPLETELY turned around. Whoever decided it was a good idea to put State names intermixed with letters and then make the numbers go all diagonally STINKS. But anyway, I made it in only a few minutes late so it was no problem. At 11, I had my interview with Mr. Hanna about the story I am writing. It was great and I pretty much just worked on that for the rest of the day. In my seminar class that night, we had Michael Caldrone come and speak to us. He used to be a blogger for POLITICO, but he is now a news analyst for YAHOO. He was neat and I definitely enjoyed hearing what he had to say.

Today, Wednesday, I continued to work on my article for TWS. I handed it in, got some feedback, and now am going to revise it and speak to Mr. Hanna for a follow up tomorrow. So stay posted! One thing I have learned is that you just have to role with the punches. Take what you can get, fix what you have, and produce something even better. That is my goal for this summer! To research, investigate and come up with some truly original and insightful pieces of journalism!

For our Wednesday night speaker series, we had no other than, guess who? Yupp, Fred Barnes! Small world, ehh? He brought along a really neat gal, Mary Katherine Ham, who is a reporter for TWS too. She is amazing and was an awesome speaker along with Mr. Barnes. They talked about the future of journalism and what it holds in store for my generation.

Well, I am off to bed. I'll update again soon.
<3 Huntley

"Life is short, love is sweet, ain't no time like this time baby."

Surprise! I am updating frequently now! Or is it because I have a midterm tomorrow night and I am sick of studying? hmmm...I'll let you decide :)

Today was a lot of fun, but soooo incredibly hot. We went to Mount Vernon for the day and literally walked the entire ground. I think we went through about 7 bottles of water throughout the course of the day! But it was a really neat trip; one that I'll remember for a long time. Of course, I shall supply you with pictures and commentary...let's begin!

This is the mansion where Martha and Mr. Washington lived:



Then of course, we just had to get a picture together :)



The absolutely beautiful view over looking the Potomac from the Washington's back porch:



This was a slave log cabin where families of up to 12 people would live:



This barn had 16 different entrances/doors wrapping around the entire structure!



Me looking out over the Potomac River:



The tomb where George Washington is buried:



GW himself! haha



My favorite part...the upper gardens. They were so beautiful:



Loved this part of the day:



And that concludes the tour! It was a really nice day all-in-all. After M.V. we all came back and made dinner. Three of us have our midterm tomorrow, so of course it is cram time! Then work early in the morning and class.

Hope everyone has a great week! I'll probably post again in a few days :)
<3 Huntley

"Keep your feet on the ground, when your head's in the clouds."

Okay okay, I'm sorry! Everyone has been constantly reminding me to update this, but I always forget (or, I am too lazy after a long day haha)

So I think we are at Wednesday? Ah yes, Wednesday! As usual, I went to my internship and worked on my story. I am hoping to have it completed by the end of this week so I can submit it. After work, we had Ann Peters, director of development and outreach of the Pulitzer Center on crisis reporting come and speak to us. She had some really interesting opinions on outreach and non-profit initiatives. But the most exciting part of my day was that my dad came and took me out to dinner! (here is your shout-out dad!) We went to 1789-I am a regular now!-and my friend Zach came along as well. It was such a wonderful dinner, I miss my family so much! Delicious as well :)

Thursday was another typical day in DC. I went to my internship and actually had three projects to do! It was nice to keep busy and feel like I was contributing to the office environment, I had a lot of fun as usual learning about different aspects and missions of the organization. After work was of course Ethics class. More debate, more of no one agreeing on anything, and more of me wondering how the heck people can be so closed-minded! Nonetheless, it was interesting of course.

Friday morning was class again! How in the world do I already have a midterm on Monday! It's so crazy. We reviewed for a little bit the concepts we need to know, but then we moved on to the next section of the course...no time to kill when you only have 12 3-hour classes I suppose. Instead of going to my internship after, I actually got to meet with Jeff Phillips-a former IPJ grad and current Legislative aid for Senator Michael Bennett. He handles labor, judiciary, immigration and homeland security issues. He was a really neat guy. He told us ALL about the senate and how the views have changed in the two years he has been involved with it. He was actually just awarded a Fulbright Grant to teach English for a year in Kaohsing, Taiwan. How neat! After everyone was done work on Friday, we all went to dinner on Capital Hill to celebrate my roommates 23rd birthday! It was a Mexican bar and it was really neat. We had so much fun; they are all amazing girls and have made my experience here so great thus far. Here are some pictures:








This morning, Saturday, we all set out to do our "Saturday Service" projects. Basically it is a day when everyone in the Internship Seminars for TFAS goes out into the less privileged part of DC to help out and do community service. Some people cleaned parks while others helped out at a local food bank. The place I was assigned to is called "Washington Home and Community Hospice." Now I figured this would not be the happiest experience I have ever had, but I had no idea how heart-wrenching it would be. We woke up at 7am and took a bus to the metro and then walked over a mile to get to this place. We all got there and we went around to clean and sanitize the handrails for the residents throughout the hospital. It was heartbreaking to see some of the patients, especially on the Alzheimer floor, but even more so on the dementia floor. That was definitely the hardest part of the entire experience. Then we all split up to play games and talk with the residents. As it turns out, someone anonymous donated two huge buckets of flowers and vases for the residents. My group made about 50 flower arrangements and then wheeled them around to hand out to the patients. Some of them were absolutely adorable and were so thankful for the arrangements. We got to stop and talk to several of them throughout the hospital and you could see the joy on their faces to have young visitors around. It was quite an emotional afternoon to say the least.
Now the most exciting part of the day! After coming back and relaxing for a few hours, Bridgette and I went to the library from 6pm-9pm! How fun...just kidding. Stupid midterm on Monday...this summer would be SOOOOOO amazing without having to do massive amounts of textbook reading and studying *sigh* oh well

Tomorrow morning we are all going to Mt. Vernon, which should be a lot of fun! Well, hope everyone is having a good Saturday night (the apartment above me sure is, but more on that later)

I'll post again soon :)
Huntley <3

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it."

On Sunday night, my roommates and I all went to visit the monuments. Although I've already seen them all before, it was still a really nice experience. Here are a few a pictures:





Monday morning I went to my internship and continued to do lots of reading and writing. I met with Mr. Barnes, and he explained to me that basically I have free reign to write about anything I want too. Wow, what an opportunity! My goal for the summer you may ask? To get something published. I already have an idea brewing, so we shall see where it goes! If you haven't visited the website, here is a link to the homepage. You can also read the blog which is updated 24/7.
http://weeklystandard.com/

Monday night was Ethics class from 6:30-9:30 which was once again, really interesting. After a long day of work though, it's hard to be alert for another 3 hour class!

This morning, Tuesday, we had a "meet your mentor" breakfast in Chinatown. We got a free breakfast from TFAS out of it which was great and it was a lot of fun besides the red line metro being backed up for 45 minutes!!! answer me this: WHY oh WHY would you choose to do construction on the DC metro during rush hour on a week day?! It makes no sense to me...anyways, my mentor works with the Podesta Group on U street and is involved with PR. Her name is Marta and she is really nice! I get to have a tour of her office next week, and it's just another great way to network here in DC.

After breakfast I went back to work and worked on three different stories. It was really interesting to try and make my ideas come to life, and I can tell right now that I am going to be really challenged this summer to work hard and test my abilities. I am just glad I am getting so much experience early on in the field!

Then tonight we had my seminar class and David Mark, the executive editor for politico, came and spoke to us. He was awesome and I really enjoyed what he had to say. He talked about his book that he published which focused on the idea of "negative campaigning." Then we came back and watched Obama's Oval Office speech. Everyone always tells me that I am so one sided, so I hope everyone takes notice of this event!

Well, that's all for now. Hope you're all having a nice week :)
<3 Huntley

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Well hello there!

This has been a really relaxing/insightful weekend so far! Friday morning I had class from 9am-12pm. Now I must say, getting out of class at 9:30 on Thursday night and then coming back and doing a whole ton of reading for the next day is not the most fun thing in the world. But, I guess that is what you get when you take a semester long class in 3.5 weeks! (and at Georgetown, nonetheless) After class, I went to my internship at 1pm. I got to do lots more reading and proofing for the upcoming issue. On Fridays, everyone stays super long in order to get the articles edited and send them off to the printer. I went to go help pick up dinner for them-since they are there until midnight-and I finished editing around 7pm. My uncle happened to be in town for the day so he took me out for an amazing dinner in Georgetown! We went to a restaurant called 1789. It was absolutely delicious! I got a field green salad and lamb...yummm!! Probably the best dinner I will have all summer haha! We didn't finish dinner until around 10pm, so my roommates and I all hung around the for night and caught up on each others day!

Saturday morning, Brigette, Michelle and I woke up and went to the Holocaust museum. This was my first experience with the metro! I still cannot get over how clean this city is! Although, it might have something to do with the fact that if you get caught eating or drinking on the metro or buses, they can throw you in jail! How crazy is that?! Anyways, we went to the museum and pretty much spent ALL afternoon there. It was amazing. They did an incredible job putting it together. I cannot fathom how one person started and caused such destruction in such a large part of the world. It is absolutely mind-boggling to me. The museum left us all speechless. We went to grab dinner at Five Guys afterward which was delicious of course. Then we came back and played my favorite game: bananagrams!! It is kind of like scrabble, only better haha. You race against each other instead of playing on one big board. It was a fun night!

This morning, Sunday, was also very productive! I cleaned the apartment (because we all know how busy this upcoming week will be!) I found out where to take the trash out too, did laundry, caught up on phone calls/emails, and got my reading done! Wahoooo! At 7, we are all going on an "under the stars" tour of the monuments! It should be a lot of fun. Maybe I'll actually take a picture tonight considering I haven't even broken out my camera yet!

Well, that's about all. Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and good luck with work/school this week :)
<3 Huntley

"Most live as oysters, while some become pearls."

Hello! Sorry I haven't posted in a few days! It has been a CRAZY week, but so amazing.

Tuesday morning we had an all-institute session where the president of TFAS spoke. We had an ice-breaker activity where we took a quiz to find out where we stand in the political spectrum. Well, no surprises here, but it was kind of cool. Then we had a session about traveling safely in DC and how to be "the best intern in DC." They were fun and very helpful. But my favorite session was on "how to throw a party." Apparently at Georgetown all you need to do is a)find two hosts and one has to be over 21 and b)register it with the college. If you do both of these steps, you can have a party on campus? It was so strange to me! I was sitting there the whole time thinking of ResLife back at Etown haha. After that, my roommates and I grabbed lunch and then they all set out to find their internships. I decided it would be a good idea to go and try to find mine on my own without my personal tour guide! I did and my sense of direction is definitely improving, I swear. We did some shopping then came back and hung out for a little bit. Then I had my first Internship Seminar class from 7-8:30. The professor was great and I love the class so much. She brought in an outside speaker who is the journalist who writes the obituaries for the NYT! He was awesome, but I could NEVER do that job. His stories were crazyyy! After that I hung out with Zach and some of his friends for his 21st birthday which was a lot of fun!

Wednesday morning I set out for my first day of my internship! It was a really cool experience. I got there and got set up with my own office and computer and everything, I felt so important haha. I read the newspaper to see if any interesting stories were happening to blog about, I read the last two issues of TWS and caught up on information about the company and such. Two employees even took me out for coffee, it was so nice. So the day encompassed a lot of reading, but it was all very helpful and insightful. After I got back to my apartment, we had the reporter for ABC who covers the White House and the Obama Administration come and speak to us. She is actually a graduate of IPJ and hasn't left DC since she got here in 2000! She was awesome and gave us some great tips and an insiders look to reporting.

Which brings me to today, Thursday. Today was my second day of my internship, and even better than yesterday! I met my supervisor, Fred Barnes, and got to copy edit articles for Monday's issue of the magazine. Wow, good thing I have been on a newspaper staff since 9th grade :) I also got to do a neat project about the congressmen and senators across the country, and I continued to read the blog and get updates about current news. The office is such a great environment to work in and everyone is so nice. I can tell I am going to learn a lot this summer and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to do so. Then tonight we had our second Ethics class, with was awesome again. The three hours flew by and I continue to just learn so much. Also...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my big sis MORGIEEE :)

Phew, that was a lot. I need to start posting more frequently! Til next time...
<3 Huntley

"Slow down, you crazy child."

Wow. What an amazingly hectic day it has been! My dad and I left for D.C. around 9:30am on Sunday to come and move in, and boy was that an adventure. I have moved in and out of school six times, and this was by far the worst move-in! There was no parking anywhere and everything was so far away from my apartment. I felt so bad for my dad when we were all done, he is one of the most amazing people I know. Once I was all settled in, my roommates and I realized that we had no shower curtains in our showers! So, my dad and I decided to venture out and get some. Well, that was a project and a half to say the least. Traffic was terrible (so glad I don't have my car in DC) but we finally made it back and I literally had to sprint to my meeting! We had an orientation session from 4-5:30 and then a pizza party after to get to know one another. The girls I sat with are incredible, everyone in this program knows exactly what they want to do with their lives and they are all so ambitious. After that, my roommates and I all came back to our apartment. We rearranged some furniture, and wound up just sitting and talking for almost two hours. They are all amazing girls. My roommate, Bridgette, just graduated from UPitt and is going to be attending PittLaw in the fall. Her internship is with a law firm on Capital Hill. She, along with another apartment mate, Michelle, are on the political and domestic track program. Michelle also just graduated from a small college in Montana, but she currently lives in Arizona. Her roommate, Nezile, will be a senior at Bennett College for Women in the fall. Nezile is originally from South Africa and she is on the IPJ track with me and our 5th apartment mate, Emmy. Emmy will be a sophomore at Moravian College in the fall.

Once we were all done talking, we finished unpacking. My friend Zach, who I went to high school with, came over and he set up wireless for us! Now our apartment is cord free and has wifi! It is wonderful I must say. Hopefully the computer people won't make us take it down! After, he needed to go shopping so we walked around Georgetown for a while and he showed me some of the gorgeous buildings. We actually wound up hanging out for the night and catching up till the morning hours which was really fun. It's always good to go away from old friends and then come back and realize nothing has changed, you can still laugh and talk for hours!

After my amazing night-sleep (not sarcastic!) we woke up and went to more orientation activities. We played DC trivia. Do you know the only letter of the alphabet that does not have a street name in DC? I do! (It's J, if you were wondering). Then we had some free time for the afternoon which was lovely. Because my sense of direction is terrible to say the least (stop laughing Morgan and Dad) I set out to find my internship ahead of time. My amazing tour guide, Zach, helped me find where I was going. And guess what...no metro for me!! My internship is a 10-15 minute bus ride to Dupont Circle, and then about 5 or 6 blocks down the road is my building! It is huge and beautiful, and I am so intimidated. I am glad I found out where I am going before Wednesday when I actually have to do the real thing! We took two different ways around to see which one was quicker, but I decided to just take the route I know for now. Maybe after a week or two I will feel ambitious and try something new? After the bus ride back, we came back and relaxed for a little bit.

I had my first class, Ethical Perspectives in the Media, from 6:30-9:30. Now I must say, I was completely dreading this class. I took Law and Ethics last semester as Etown, and that was a 3.5 hour class once a week which was the absolute death of me. So, I was not happy when I saw this on my schedule. But, wow. Holy cow. This professor is amazing. I have never in my fifteen years of education had a teacher like this. He is beyond intelligent. I can tell it will, hands down, be the absolute hardest class I have ever taken, but it will also be the most enjoyable. He lectures in a way that makes you answer your own questions and come to the realizations yourself...it's truly amazing. The conversations we had were so well crafted and debated, it was so interesting. And it flew by! Hopefully it will stay this way, and hopefully I'll make it through without wanting to cry from the work load every night haha

Well, that's about all for now. Maybe I'll do a little reading for fun because who knows the next time I'll get to do that!

<3 Huntley

"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road."

Time is just flying by. I am already halfway done my college career...how in the world did this happen? Well, anyway, I decided to start this blog because everyone has been telling me to write down all of my experiences so that I can look back in ten years and remember all of the amazing things I did.

I have a lot happening in the next few years of my life, and for those of you that don't know, I'll be in Washington, D.C. for eight weeks this summer. I leave on Sunday, June 6th, and will be in D.C. until July 31st. I am interning with Fred Barnes and Bill Kristol at The Weekly Standard Magazine. I'll also be taking three classes while doing this internship! I'm beyond nervous, but I think it will be an amazing experience. I guess I started this blog to try and keep up with all of my family and friends who I don't get to see all of the time. I feel like I'm never home because I'm always running around all over the place. I wanted everyone to be able to keep in touch with my life happenings, and I'll try and update this blog pretty frequently.

I hope everyone enjoys reading about my adventures :)
Huntley