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).