Sorry for the delay!

Wow, I haven't written in my blog in a while. Sorry about that. It's been quite hectic here (to say the least). Let's see...where to begin...?

Well, I've stayed in Congressman Conyers' personal office ever since I was moved up there. They love me and have actually asked me to come back and intern this summer. I don't know if that will happen, but it's nice to feel so welcome and appreciated. I've had quite a bit of face time with the Congressman as well. He's great. I've become somewhat of a cult follower of his. I don't agree with everything that he believes in, but I've come to love working for him and being able to present a professional face to all those who choose to visit his DC office. It has been a pleasure working for him. He's pretty much awesome.

The week before the inauguration was complete chaos in the office. Phones ringing off the hook, people trying to get last-minute tickets that didn't exist, people trying to claim tickets that weren't theirs, etc. It was a madhouse, to say the very least. We managed to survive, and I did get a four-day weekend out of it! Woot.

On the Sunday before the inauguration, I went to the We Are Once concert held at the Lincoln memorial. The following people either sang, performed, or gave speeches: Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renée Fleming, Mstr. Sgt. Caleb Green, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, Bettye Lavette, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Pete Peeger, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, U2, Usher, will.i.am, Stevie Wonder, Jack Black, Steve Carell, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx, Tom Hanks, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah, Laura Linney, and Denzel Washington. The Obama family and Joe and Jill Biden were also in attendance. It was pretty awesome. I went with my friend who's interning in Speaker Pelosi's office. We had to wait in the cold (20 degree weather) for 6 and a half hours before the concert, but it was totally worth it. The concert itself was a little over two hours, I believe. Getting out after was a nightmare, but I survived. I ended up walking to Dupont Circle to hop on the metro, which, at the time, didn't seem to far, but apparently it's over a 2 mile walk. Oh well. It was faster than trying to get on at a closer metro station. I made it home fine. It was totally worth it too. The concert was amazing. :)

So, on Tuesday (inauguration day), I was not one of the millions of people you saw braving the cold on TV. Rather, I was in the Rayburn House Office Building at an inauguration-watching reception held by Congressman Conyers. I got to be inside and warm and watch the inauguration and get to see everything (unlike people outside who practically froze and couldn't really see that much). So worth it. It was an incredible experience and I can't even describe the atmosphere in DC that day.

So I finished up the last three work days of this past week in my normal phone-answering, desk-manning duties, but the volume of phone calls has decreased drastically. Despite this, it seems that the percentage of calls by crazy people have increased. The Congressman is a sponser of many controversial bills (not all of which I support, but while on the phone I uphold the Congressman's position as I'm supposed to), and thus we receive a lot of angry phone calls. I was told I could hang up on these people or put them on hold, but I've found it's just better to let them yell for a few minutes. I've actually had people apologize to me after yelling at me for a while. It's pretty funny when that happens.

This weekend has been filled with an inordinate amount of sleep. I've been fighting off a bad cold (most likely due to the 10ish hours I spent outside last Sunday) and I've mostly recovered. I made it out to Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday. It was pretty intense. I did try to look up if Holloway Halstead Frost was buried there, but I accidentally switched his first and middle names, so they couldn't find the record. I just realized that I made that error, so it's possible that he is buried there. I doubt I'll get a chance to go back, but if for some reason I do, then I'll be sure to ask again. While I was there, I spend a decent amount of time walking around. I made sure to stop at the JFK burial site and the Tomb of the Unknowns, but other than that I didn't really have any goals of places to go in mind. Like I said, I just walked around. I was there for about an hour and a half, and then the 15-20 degree weather got the better of me and I left. I met my friend for dinner and then we saw the abismal mall cop movie that just came out. It was funny, but only because it was poorly made. Not surprising, but still somewhat of a waste of my time. I spent most of the day sleeping today (again, mainly to fight off my cold), but because I've gotten over 24 hours of sleep in the past two days, I am having difficulty falling asleep tonight. I'm sure I'll fall asleep soon enough. This week will by my last in DC, and I'm looking forward to ending it well.

The Fetter-Degges contine to be an amazing host family, and I have thanked them numerous times. I'm planning on getting them a gift, but I haven't figured out what, yet. I may order something and have it arrive shortly after I leave. I fear that any gift I try to give them in person may be rejected.

I fly back to Oberlin Saturday morning. I have a super shuttle reservation to pick me up and take me to Cleveland, where my friend Kelsey has kindly agreed to pick me up and drive me back to school. Classes start a week from Monday, so I'll have to get back into the swing of things quickly. I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends and getting back to Oberlin. I am not excited for the weather there, though. It's been horribly cold. I can only hope that it will warm up.

Hope everyone is doing well! :) I'll try to update at least once more before I leave DC. Thanks for reading!