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).