Who can say if I've been changed for the better? I do believe I have been changed for the better.

I suppose it is appropriate to finish this blog the way I started, counting down the time till I catch a plane, only this time where I am going is not new and scary, it's home. That saying, home is where the heart is, now comes to mind. While my parents and quite a few relatives keep me somewhat rooted in New Hampshire, I am definitely leaving some heart in DC. I came here 10 weeks ago simply with the expectation to learn and experience, and now I can leave knowing I did both to the fullest. While not all my experiences have been positive, the good definitely out weigh the bad.

I was sincerely sad to leave work today. Despite the occasional mind numbing day, I loved my job and I loved walking in the big metal doors every morning under the sign United State Environmental Protection Agency. Have I made a difference and saved the planet? I wouldn't say that, but I learned a lot about policy, politics, and moreover what I want the next step in my life to be. I was saddened to hug goodbye the people I have learned so much from and spent many hours just chatting with about our lives and aspirations, who knew people in their 40's still had goals to fulfill!! I feel like I really landed an amazing internship with some of the smartest and nicest people I intend to return to EPA in January unless I land something on the hill, but I can definitely see myself at EPA again.

I have fallen in love with the city itself. As I walked from Jimmy's place to work this morning (about 30 min walk) I found myself captivated and saddened by the tree lined streets with the endless array of row houses that I will soon leave. While the monuments and the enormous federal buildings complete the city on their own, the little streets and sea of brick homes are what made me fall in love. So despite my NH roots, I can definitely see myself down here permanently.

The thing I am most sad to leave is the people. I came to DC knowing not a single person and now I leave with a handful of amazing friends. It's funny how in a city so big with so many people and personalities, I wound up making amazing friends who are a lot like me...or perhaps I am a lot like them! I have laughed so much this summer....luckily not enough to spit out my soda onto the floor of logan tavern....I left that up to Jimmy. While my liver is either going to be stronger or burnt out after this summer, I wouldn't trade the late nights at the bar or watching real housewives for anything.

SO in 14hrs I will board my flight back to New Hampshire to spend some time with the family, catch up with friends, do some woodworking, rehab the sailboat, get back to the gym, and make some memories finishing my last semester. I have had an amazing time in DC, and the thanks goes to my friends for making it so. So as they say it's not goodbye, just see ya later.

-Ross-

It's the Climb

Ok so I have been slacking with updating this, and for those of you who take the time to read this i severely apologize. My time in D.C. is really flying by. I was home last weekend and that was nice. It was great to see all my family especially my sister Sam and her hubby Jeff who were in from California. It's funny, I have always lived so close to home I have never really experienced that whole come home for winter break or anything like most college kids. I see my parents at minimum once a week when I am home so it was weird to sort of feel like a guest just there for a short period of time. None the less I will be home in three weeks and will make sure to see them a lot in the months to follow before I make a more permanent move down here. It was also nice to spend so much time with Sam and Jeff. It's kinda funny how Sam and I were really not super close growing up, mostly due to our age difference, and the fact that I lived with my dad much more then she did. Now, even though the age difference is the same, we are both in a relatively similar life place, and I feel we have become much closer. I often feel guilty for getting caught up in my life and not calling enough or even getting back to messages or whatnot on facebook. I think my goal is to really make sure I call her more often even to just chat. I really want to maintain a great relationship despite being on opposite ends of the country. Seeing Harrison, Cait, Sam, and Lemon was also great, I am excited to have a fun and memorable last semester at UNH with all of them. The only negative thing to really come of the trip home was the true death of any relationship with my brother, someday perhaps he will change, but for now there isn't a compelling argument for me to have any level of attachment. So for now I am thankful for having great parents...all four of them, and two great sisters!

Work has been busy and exciting this week. I went to two senate hearings this week on two different aspects of the climate bill now making its way through the Senate. Basically my job is to just take good notes on whats being said that could be important to my office. I then take those notes type them all up and then send them out to a bunch of people in the office. Also this week I have been working on a response to a petition for rule making, and a briefing for our assistant administrator on some new stuff, cant go into details. This coming week I am supposed to do lunch with my bosses and hopefully have a meeting with someone from the office of general council to just get some ideas of what I want to do after law school. I really love what I do and I am looking forward to returning in January to keep doing it. I also had a good chat with my boss Nancy about exploring some options for a summer internship up in the capital or even trying to get onto a committee staff...who knows I guess she has some contacts.

Social life is going great! PJ Jenny and I went out last night and that was a lot of fun, Jenny is definitely great and funny, she can take my crap...which we all know is not easy. PJ and I also get along great and again can take my crap...and give it back haha, we also went and saw Bruno this week, funny but not as funny as i thought. Umm what else I went out with Jimmy, Eric, Ryan and a group of a few other guys on Friday night that was fun! Still very thankful to Jimmy for introducing me to people and inviting me to go out, but he is just an overall great guy, and Eric is possibly one of the funniest people I've ever met!! Definitely going to miss them when I head home.

Overall life in D.C. is great, and I am sure my last three weeks here will be just as great, if not better!!

Cat fish are jumpin that paddle wheel thumping black water keep rolling on down just the same

So time for another update. Work has been crazy busy this week. To get my full paycheck I still had to put in 36 hours just in four day week while being forced to take a half day on Friday, so on Monday I went back to work after our lecture and worked till 8pm and then Tuesday I worked 12 hours till 8pm again. Luckily the head of my office, Rob Brenner, also works late hours and we wound up being the only two in the office, so when I left at night I would pop in and we would chat for a bit. Hopefully my diligence to get everything done in a short week did not go un noticed. My main projects this week were to write a cabinet level briefing for a Chinese delegation about Waxman-Markey and what its importance is in the international sphere. My second project was to create a list of priority technologies that are created within waxman-markey and the energy bill which is still being marked up, and then justify how I prioritized those based on their importance to permitting. My final project was to read this new study about the impacts of global climate change in the United States and write a summary of the major points. Other then that I did some normal intern work, printing and binding reports, getting stuff mailed out to our contractor, and went to all my meetings about new regulations that I have been following. It was a busy week but I got everything done, put in my 36 hours, and still left at four yesterday, though the administrator released us at 3. It was actually like being in middle school the Friday before April vacation, everyone was so excited to leave and everyone was talking about where they were going. My boss, Anna, is on vacation for the next two weeks and is going to some remote island in the Bahamas....I'm jealous. So that has been work.

I basically have given up on the Washington Center. The program is a great concept, but as someone who got my own internship without their help I feel they are pretty pointless, granted the credits I am getting is what makes it worth it. Everyone that works for the Washington Center is either rude, unhelpful, or doesn’t know the answer to any of your questions. My program advisor is nice but just doesn’t know anything about my internship. She was supposed to do an interview this week but that never happened and now my boss is gone...o well. We has an interesting lecture this week, it was a panel of retired congressmen talking about different issues from health care, education, and Sotomayor's confirmation hearings. I enjoyed it but I could not believe how rude some of the other interns were, by some I mean the 25 sitting behind me that did not stop talking during the entire presentation, and by talking I mean loud and full conversations. The cherry on top of it all was at the end when the moderator said that they were out of time for anymore questions, they all started clapping. I was completely embarrassed for them. I always wonder how people like that succeed. I mean I will discreetly pull out my cell phone and text now and then but these people were just absurd, I really could not even fathom ever being so rude and disrespectful.

Social life is good. Making more friends, some interns, and some people who are working down here. I’m becoming pretty good friends with a girl in my class, Jenny, we’ve gone out a few times and usually have a lot of laughs. I guess I am a relatively social person...who knew, I find that I go out quite a bit whether for dinner or drinks quite a bit...which burning cash is like whoa, o well it makes for a fun summer. For the 4th I got invited to a roof top party by my friend Jimmy so I will probably go to that...hopefully will be fun.

So I think that is about it. I will be home next weekend for a few days since my sister is coming home. Hopeful the rain will disappear so I can get out on the motorcycle for a bit. I hope everyone has a great 4th of July, I do wish I was hanging at the lake instead but o well. By the way I titled this blog entry with the lyrics of one of my favorite not too sharp songs off our new album, mostly because I miss the NTS guys Harrison in particular but everyone else as well....except Scott!

That weird middle place

In tug-of-war there are two teams pulling on one rope in opposite directions. In that center of that rope is a knot. The first team to get that knot over the line on their side wins. I feel like I am that knot, caught between the past and the future. My time in D.C. has been interesting. I have had my ups, meeting some new people, a great job, and embracing a city that represents everything I've spent the last four years studying, but I have also had my downs. Getting my credit cards, cellphone, and security badge stolen, and a few other things I won't go into detail here. I find that every time I have one of those bad experiences I want to run, run back home to New Hampshire where my life is safe, simple, and happy. In the end the reality is I can't run, I just have to pick up the pieces, learn from the experience and move on. During the ups I can see myself coming back here and potentially living here. So here I am, the knot, stuck in the middle as each side takes turns pulling me in one direction or the other. While I know I don't have to decide this today, or tomorrow, the fact remains I need to make some decisions about my future and the path I will choose to walk. If I choose New Hampshire I will never have a place to run but also no reason to run, as I am always surrounded by good people and have people to lean on. The ups here are great though and the city is exciting and so different then everything I've ever known. I just don't know if I am cut out for city life, I don't think I am naive, rather just trusting, an attribute I've always thought was good, but here trust is something given sparingly. So I don't know! I apologize for the rambling just contemplative I guess.

Work is going great. I love working for the EPA! There is so much environmental policy coming out I have been getting tasks left and right. Lately I have been working on some questions for our Deputy Administrators confirmation hearing, creating some cheat sheets for the Waxmen-Markey bill that's being marked up in the House, and about to tackle the new energy bill. So basically I have been doing lots of reading haha the Waxmen-Markey bill is about 1100 pages and I have read it front to back. The roommates are still going great. PJ and I have been getting along great and have had some really good conversations. The day-to-day here is going very well. The overarching questions of my future will take some more time to figure out. I have always been driven and focused and for once I am at a loss for what I want to do and which avenue I will pursue. Coming home in a few weeks will be a well needed break. Hope everyone back home is enjoying the rain :-P It has been very nice weather here. Hope all is well!

-Ross-

The first week is over!!

So I survived my first week at the EPA!! It has actually been great. I work under two women, both lawyers, and both super nice. Anna has been my boss for most of the week, because Nancy has been out, and she has been great. I have been doing a lot of reading to get up to speed on the current Energy and Security bill still being amended in Congress, as well as some impending regulations EPA has proposed. So roughly about 2000+ pages of reading...I emailed Professor Vandeveer to tell him his class's reading was light compared to what I've been doing. None the less I can say the reading has not been too daunting and I am actually enjoying some of it. I have a cubicle to myself. Most of this past week has been reading and dealing with setting up my phone, computer access, and Lotus Notes.....the governments version of outlook. It took till Friday to get it all going, it's the government what do you expect, but luckily it's all good to go. I am still waiting on my security badge which is The Washington Center's deal. It has been a real pain because every morning I have to go through security and then they have to call someone to escort me to my office. It was supposed to be taken care of already, but as with a lot of things with the Washington Center there is some delay, but they are saying maybe Monday. I have been sitting in on some cool meetings on some classified upcoming regulations and learning more about what is coming down the pike from the EPA. It's cool to see how things play out in the EPA, my office is very much the voice of reason. A lot of the time we take the proposed policies from other agencies in OAR and say well thats great but the odds of this not getting challenged in court are slim, or politically this won't go over. It is interesting to see how though the people I work under are environmentalists, they understand the importance of getting regulations through, even if it means lengthining time lines or cutting back on how stringent a rule is. So this week I will be assigned some congressional hearings to go to, as well some projects for me to do for Nancy, as well as attending my meetings on the upcoming projects I am already working on. As Anna put it, this is the best office to work in, and it is going to be a fun, exciting, and busy summer!! I am up to the challenge and I am looking forward to really showing my office what I can do! I am definitely getting into a routine, and enjoy commuting, but i am one of those commuters who in the morning is half awake reading, and in the afternoon just look angry and want to get home haha. The class I am taking " The Congressional Arena" looks like it is going to be great. Our professor is extremely smart and knows the ins and outs of Congress, and is also pretty funny. So yeah tonight I took my roomies out to dinner and a movie....we saw " The Hangover", it was pretty hilarious. Tomorrow I think I will hang by the pool and do some work reading. It has been pretty crappy weather here the past 4 or 5 days, so some sun will be nice :-) yeah so I think thats it. Leave comments if you wish, but I hope all is well up in NH!!

-R0ss-

P.S. the fourth person never moved in so I have a bedroom and bathroom to myself!!

Surviving...psha that's easy

Day three in D.C. and things are going swell! I got some exciting news today... I found out that the EPA is giving me a stipend and covering the balance of my housing!!!! I don't find out how much my stipend is till Tuesday but either way I am super siked! I went through two days of orientation which was pretty blah and now I have the weekend to hangout. Two of my three roommates have moved in, Tony and PJ. The third hasn't moved in yet and may not...so as of now I have a bedroom and bathroom to myself... WOOT! Both guys are pretty cool, I am trying to be more social then my usual shy self. I think we may go out to dinner tonight and try to sample some of the night life. The last two nights we've just hung out but I am dieing to go out for a good dinner and some good drinks. I did some exploring the other night just to a few of the monuments which was cool. We have had thunderstorms the past two afternoons but it always rains while I am on the metro, and when I get out it's over....perfect. So yeah this weekend I am planning to visit some more monuments and enjoy the night life, and on Monday morning I report to the EPA for my first day!! That's it I think hope life in NH is going well for all.

-Ross-

The Last Few Hours

It's just about 5:30 am right now and my flight leaves at 9am this morning. My nerves about going have subsided a bit and life here in NH is basically wrapped up for the time being. I've spent the last 72 hours hanging out with friends and family...and for some reason doing yard work for my dad. So I should be in my apartment around noon today, and then tomorrow and Friday I have orientation for the Washington Center. I will try and post this weekend about orientation and apartment life...Wish me luck!

Inside the Beltway and Far From Home

So here we are, my first blog. Currently I am 8 days away from my departure for Washington D.C., and procrastinating my last paper of my junior year at UNH. I hope this blog will be as enjoyable for anyone to read as it will be for me to write. I look forward to sharing all of my experiences with my readers. Whether I am writing about work, social, school, or just plain fun stuff, I want this blog to be a reflection of my time in Washington. Let me just outline a few things for those of you who may not know too much about me: I have never been outside of New Hampshire for for longer then two weeks, I have lived within 15 minutes of my home all of my life except for a 2 month stint living with a boyfriend and commuting, and lastly I have never lived with anyone before let alone shared a room with someone. I admit I am scared to leave New Hampshire and the friends and family I am so close to, but I am excited to get out into the "real world" and put everything I have been taught into place.

So for those of you would like to periodically check in and see how im fairing in D.C. and what I am doing, I welcome your comments. I will be interning at the EPA in the Office of Policy Review in the Air and Radiation office. I will be living at Jefferson at Inigo's Crossing in North Bethesda, Maryland. I will be taking one coarse in D.C. titled the Congressional Arena....how barbaric! The final detail is I will be flying out of Manchester at 9:00am on May 27th for what will be the scariest and most exciting expierence of my life so far, and I just found out the EPA is paying for the flight!!! I hope to learn a lot from my time in D.C., not only about environmental policy, a passion Prof. Vandeveer has created within me, but also to learn about myself without the barriers of life as I have always known it.

I will try and update again before I leave and once I am in Washington I will be updating, at minimum, once a week for Prof. Siggelakis and the credit I am recieving. I hope to keep this interesting for all of you but also reflective for me. I can't promise fantastic grammer or that a few expletives wont find their way into my writing, but I will say this blog will be honest, hopefully interesting, and funny (Not like Wait Wait Don't Tell Me funny but I will do my best).