Holden, Hitchcock, and Harry Potter

I know some of you have had troubles posting, but I honestly don't know why!! Thanks for reading though, and keep trying - who knows, maybe it'll fix itself.

I've finally finished the booklet I've been working on for a month now!! It's really very exciting to have it over with - a complete guide to Washington, DC, for Chilean officials moving here! If you are Chilean and are coming to DC to work for the Embassy, talk to me. The final touches were all about entertainment in the area, including beaches, amusement parks, and outlet malls. My boss wanted me to include places they could go on vacation, mainly beaches in the Carolinas, so naturally I put a ton of information on Holden Beach in it. I made Holden sound really good, so if there is an increase of Chileans renting houses there in the summertime you know why!! haha

On Sunday I was able to meet up with my favorite old high school government teacher, Mr. Hitchcock. He comes every summer with several groups of students to DC so they can intern for a few days with Congressman Dan Burton. Jamie, Katie, and I all participated in this trip at least once (Jamie has gone 3 times - once as a student and twice as a chaperone). It was nice to catch up and meet some Noblesville students...I only knew one of them and others I knew their older siblings. Hitch had cool stories (as usual) and I told the students about my internship here at the Embassy. It was an all around good time annnnd I got a free meal out of it. Thanks Hitch!

On Friday I went with Cristina, her cousin, and her friend Carlita to see Harry Potter. So good!!! We were all really excited to see it and I thought it was the best on by far. Her cousin thought differently just because of little things like "the potion was a different color in the book" (I kid you not, this was one of his complaints). Granted, it was very different than the book but I feel like it worked in a good way! Saturday was fun because I hung out with Val (my friend who got me my internship) and lots of other people I know from Bucknell. Val and her boyfriend grilled a ton of food and we hung out by her house for most of the night. It was fun! Then on Sunday Caitlin, Sally, Rosie and I grilled again in our little neighborhood. McLean Gardens (where I live) is pretty much fantastic - playgrounds, a pool, and grills all over the place! It was a beautiful weekend and I'm glad I got to spend a good portion of it outside.

Hope you all are well!! It's hard to believe this, but in less than two weeks I will be home! See you soon!

Happy Fourth of July!

What better place than DC to celebrate the 4th of July?? The day started with a run to Dunkin Donuts to get some iced coffee and then some KFC. Then we pretty much spent the day eating chicken, listening to country, and doing all around American stuff like relaxing. That was the goal of the day (to be all around American) and I don't have any pictures of the fireworks, but it was really cool! I went to Georgetown with Blair and Steph, two of my friends from Bucknell, where we watched the fireworks from one of their friend's rooftops. It was so nice to see fireworks by the Washington Memorial.

Well regular life apart from work here in DC is pretty awesome!! I love the girls I'm living with - Caitlin, Tara, Sarah, and Rosie - and it's great to be close enough to my friends from school to be able to hang out with them! The other weekend I spent with Cristina and it was so much fun. Her mom made us AMAZING food (She is a chef at a Lebanese restaraunt and is Ethiopian so makes good food anyways). On Friday we went to see Transformers with a few of our friends from Bucknell which was pretty amazing! We spent most of Saturday by the pool before going to Cristina's boyfriend's church's open house. On Sunday, after leaving th Sacco's, I met up with Henna at the National Gallery of Art. No one better to go to an Art museum with than an Art History major who is interning at Sotheby's in New York City! After the museum we went to tapas place in Chinatown before going to see the Hangover (another good movie). The tapas were fantastic and we've already decided to have a tapas night in our gateway next year.

Sorry it's not as long as last time but there was a lot to catch up on then! Work is pretty much the same thing everyday. I'm working on a booklet about all the information a Chilean diplomat moving to DC could possibly require. Not quite as exciting as meeting important Chilean officials, but I'm still having a good time!

Hope you all had wonderful 4th of Julys!

Embajada de Chile

Hey all!

So if you don't know already, I have been in DC for the past three weeks interning with the Embassy of Chile...and because of the wonderful jobs my friends are doing with their blogs abroad (hey Jaime and Emily!!) my mother has once again requested several times for me to start a blog of my own. Mainly because I have no real reason not to, am having such a great time, and so all my family can learn about my experience...this is my summer in DC blog!

So far everything is going fantastically!! The internship is starting to quiet down after a visit from Her Excellency the President of the Republic of Chile Michelle Bachelet. It's a loooong title and I spent most of my earlier weeks at la Embajada translating programs, schedules, visa information, and hotel information all of which had that title at least five times. That's OK though, all the hard work was completely worth it!! The president was only here in DC for about a day and a half, but those days were so incredibly long. I had to be at the hotel at 6 a.m. on Tuesday in order to make sure everything was ready for the delegates who were to arrive around 7:30. Two Embassy people (Sandra and Carlos) and I put envelopes in their rooms containing invitations to meetins, luncheons, and receptions. Its amazing how much these people did in less than 48 hours. I got tired typing the itinerary. I spent most of the morning at the hotel for the delegates, though I often had to leave to the hotel where the press was staying to sort some stuff out. Later on in the day I went to an unveiling of a bust of the founding father of Chile, Bernardo O'Higgins. I never imagines that the founding father of Chile would be named O'Higgins but hey whatevs! After that began the real excitement...I got to shake hands with the President of Chile!! It was a whole room full of people and I never got to really talk with her. Then I went back to the hotel and helped the Protocol guy from Chile with the presents for the Obamas!! It was really really cool. I got to write the note for the girls too!! They each got two beautiful dresses/outfits, the President got wine and crystal, and they had lost Michelle Obama's gift (it was going to Mexico...oops.). I was more excited about all this than meeting the President of Chile, I'm not gonna lie...I mean, the Obama's saw my handwriting!! That's a big deal. After a bit more time at the hotel, I went to the Blair House (the guest house of the United States) and got a private tour. I got to eat there! It was buffet and people were just coming in and out...I had steak, avocado salad, this salad stuff, and an amazing mango pie desert. It was all so amazing!!

The second day wasn't so exciting or so long. It began at 8:00 a.m. when the delegates were supposed to check out. Well most of them just walked out. I mean they didn't even bother checking out and there were a TON of them and none of us knew what they all looked like. It was sorta hilarious. Anyways, after the fiasco of getting everyone out of the hotel, I went back to the Embassy where my boss's assistant (Paola) was frantically trying to find out information about one of the senators. Apparently this guy went into a Radioshack and bought a whole bunch of stuff but picked up an extra bag full of DVDs and CDs. All the cashier knew was that the guy had a Chilean ID so he called the embassy...turns out when this senator realized he grabbed the wrong bag, he didn't go back to the store or ask someone for help. No, this guy decided to just throw it in his bathrooms trashcan and leave it there. hahahaha it was a really funny situation.

Anyways, all of DC is still mourning Michael Jackson. On Friday the entirety of the Chilean news channel was on "El Rey de Pop" and you still can't walk down the street without hearing part of his songs. I spent the weekend with my good friend and former roommate Cristina and all her mom would watch was stuff on good ole MJ...ask me anything, I know all about him. Sorry to mention it, I'm sure you've all heard enough about it! haha well this blog is getting real long so I'll save the rest for a later one!! As they say at the Embassy...Ciao!!