Week One

Saturday: Before the day came to leave home and go to Washington, D.C., I had been anticipating my classes coming to an end and summer break starting, because I would finally get to set foot in our nation's capital. The day started off with heading to the airport at 4 AM, something my wonderful fellow cohort member Yaisy and I had agreed on, though we would soon learn it would cut it close. We hurried to the TSA line and, to our dismay, saw a line spanning the whole room! Thankfully, Yaisy was adamant about making it on the plane. She asked some of the people in front of us if we could cut in line, and they graciously let us through. We made it on time! I was, of course, nervous, having never flown before, but after the first flight, I thought flying was fun! It felt like a rollercoaster, honestly. We changed planes at the Las Vegas airport and continued to our destination. After four hours and some boring in-flight movies, we finally arrived! Once on the ground, we met Patrick and his amazing wife Betsy, who led us to the shuttle where we met the rest of our cohort, the people we would spend the rest of the summer with!

We went to the hotel, settled in, and soon afterward, Patrick took our cohort to dinner at a place called Froggy Bottom. I ordered a Sunnyside burger that was delicious. Having satisfied our hunger, we made our way back to the hotel and concluded one very long first day.

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Sunday: We woke up and left the hotel to move into our dorms. After quickly unpacking, we headed down for our first trip on the metro and began our ride toward Columbia Heights. Once we arrived, we began to search for items we needed and coordinated who would buy what, so we didn’t spend a crazy amount. We bought things like toilet paper, a broom/mop, and detergent, to name a few. Once done, we returned to our dorms and continued unpacking, starting to get a feel for what dorm life would be like. I had never stayed anywhere that wasn’t home, so this was a new experience for me. I found the idea of living alone appealing, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the summer turns out. After unpacking, we decided to attend a classical concert at the Capitol. After a twenty-minute metro ride, we arrived, only to find it was too late to enter. Looking for an alternative, we decided to rent e-bikes and ride around the National Mall. At night, the Washington Monument is truly beautiful, and zooming past it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. After that, we called it a day and returned to our dorms, eager for the day to come.

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Monday: We walked to many different places and saw many monuments, getting a real feel for what Washington, D.C., is like. (And walked 45,000 steps along the way!)

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Tuesday–Thursday: During this time, we joined our other cohort, our CHCI one, who were all wonderful individuals. We participated in many programming sessions that covered topics such as Networking 101, Professionalism, and “Latinos by the Numbers.” It was an eventful week. We met so many people from different walks of life, but ultimately, they all shared one characteristic in common: we were all Latino or Hispanic, and for me, that is something special. We were able to network and meet people like us who had gone through the program and now work on the Hill. For me, the CHCI alumni panel was the most meaningful session. It was in this session where I met Benjamin Guerrero, who was from my area and knew what Caruthers was! That was amazing to experience. A few eventful days, indeed.

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Friday: Patrick planned for our cohort to meet our supervisors before our first day of work next Tuesday. The purpose of the day was to learn how to get to our offices and what to expect. As luck would have it, we visited my office first. I scrambled to think of questions. As we walked down the halls, I saw the flag of the great state of California and thought I had found it, but it turned out to be the office a little further down.

I entered and met my supervisor, Julianna, who was a wonderful person. I’m looking forward to working with her. After she answered my questions, as well as those of my cohort members, we moved on to meeting my cohorts' supervisors and hearing what they could expect during their time on the Hill. I’m glad to know all three of our supervisors were amazing, and hopefully, we’ll all have an amazing and meaningful experience in Washington, D.C.

Afterward, we visited the NVG office, where we met Irene Bueno and her team. They were all so kind and even had lunch for us: pupusas, quesadillas, yuca, and more. After our lunch chat, we walked to the LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) office, where we received a presentation about their work. We also learned where Andres and Angel would be working, and I think they have an awesome supervisor.

As this was the final day that Patrick and Virginia would be with us, they invited us to dinner at a restaurant called North Italia. Before meeting with them, our cohort decided to buy them a cake and write letters to express our gratitude. After leaving Whole Foods with a cake and congratulatory letters, we were picked up by Patrick, Virginia, and Betsy and made our way to the restaurant. After a delicious meal and heartfelt goodbye, we returned to the dorms and concluded our day.

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Saturday: This was the first day we were officially on our own and free to spend the day as we saw fit. I thought I used it productively: I woke up, went to the gym, returned to my dorm to finish some work, and, after watching Inter Milan’s disastrous defeat, fell asleep.

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Sunday: Probably my most productive day. I started with a run that took me past the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the White House, all beautiful. I wandered the city until I found my first McDonald’s in a while! After enjoying a McMuffin, I returned to my dorm. Later, I got ready and started my walk to church, which was a twenty-minute walk and was a little longer than I would like, but it was nice to find a church that offered Spanish Mass. After returning, I finished some last-minute laundry and met up with Nico, a fellow CHCI cohort member. We studied and prepared for a simulation of the legislative process scheduled for the next day. With that, I concluded my day and my week!