How can you summarize a summer in Washington? This summer marked several firsts: my first true dorm experience, first experience as a bachelor (cooking, cleaning, laundering, etc.), and my first experience in a seven years entering an entirely new work environment.

I ate dozens of granola bars, walked nearly 100 miles, mastered eating on the run, and spent over $135 on subway fares. And yes, I am now able to read the morning paper while riding the metro and still make all of the necessary connections. I’m even pretty good at staying upright without holding on. But now I am bordering on bragging, so I’ll move on.

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Having been back from Washington for more than a month now, I have spent quite a bit of time updating my contact book, sorting through my Georgetown class notes, and wrapping up other loose ends. I’ve also been thinking through how I benefited from the summer. Since many friends have asked me what I learned, I will briefly outline some ways I profited for those of you who are wondering the same thing.

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DC REPORT’S EXCLUSIVE AMERICAN COVERAGE

I’ve had a news item that I never had a chance to post, but that still seems worth passing on. On Friday, July 23, I finished my photo assignments by noon. I consulted the Reuters daybook and saw that there was a briefing by survivors of Saddam Hussein’s regime in the National Press Building. It sounded like an interesting event.

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Here are some photos from my life as a student. These are just some fun shots on campus and around the city. No hard journalism here! As you might guess there a stories that go along with many of these pictures.

A lot of these photos were shot as our time was winding down when my friends and I realized we hadn’t taken many pictures the whole summer. Perhaps these photos will give you a better idea of what my life was like aside from work.

I’ve posted a photo gallery of the Georgetown University campus. Most of my daylight hours were committed to class and internship, so unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to shoot as many photos as I hoped of the campus. Not included in the slideshow are photos of the sporting facilities, student center, the fabulous Riggs Library, the medical school, and other assorted buildings on the back half of campus. I also don’t have photos of Lauinger Library, the awkward 70’s era library that breaks with the classy stone architecture of other Georgetown buildings.

To get a better sense of the layout of the buildings, check out this great shot on the Georgetown School of Business website.

In the last month the situation in Sudan has become the focus of international attention. Initially the magnitude of the Sudan story wasn’t evident, so Knight Ridder’s early coverage was handled by interns. As the only photography intern I was able to watch this story unfold from the first news conference in the cramped Senate Radio and TV Gallery.

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I’ve posted another gallery of news photos from my last month in Washington. The photos include travel photos of DC churches, Capitol Hill press conferences, protests, Republican response to the Federal Marriage Amendment vote, and shots of Rumsfeld, Clinton, and the Bushes. Enjoy!

As you may have concluded, I am done with my summer in DC. After my graduation at Georgetown on Friday, my family and I made our way back Greenville with a stopover in Virginia to see family.

I had a hard time keeping up with my blog in DC, so in the next week I hope to continue to update my blog with brief news items that I did not have a chance to share. I also plan to post several more photo galleries–photos from my work assignments as well as photos from my life as a student. I will be sure to indicate when I am done posting for the summer.

Today I had a long-awaited opportunity to cover the White House. I had a chance to shoot the Bushes coming back from the ranch in Crawford, TX.

My supervisor got my security clearance this afternoon. I was supposed to be to the White House an hour and a half early, so after clearing security I had plenty of time to get familiar with the press office and chat with other journalists. I enjoyed reading the letters and news cuttings posted on people’s desks or on the bulletin board.
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Yesterday, I began the process of saying goodbyes for the week. My roommate, Jake, left Wednesday morning to go to a student legislature conference. Jake and I developed a close friendship over the summer, so it was sad to see him head back west.

Tonight I will start packing my belongings to come home. It will be very good to be back in Greenville, although I will miss the fast pace here. Tomorrow is our graduation ceremony with Elaine Chao, the Secretary of Labor, as the speaker. My program director asked me to give the invocation to open the graduation program.

Monday I went to the annual meeting of Le Club des Chefs de Chefs. The organization has to have such a fancy name because its members are the personal chefs of world leaders. Last night they gathered at the Willard InterContinental Hotel and prepared their leader’s favorite dishes.
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At the beginning of this month the Washington MTA enacted a fare hike for subway and bus transportation. The base fare went from $1.20 to $1.35. Unfortunately I was too busy at the time to protest, go on a hunger strike, or even get seriously annoyed.
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After lunch Sunday I went with about six other students out to McLean, Virginia for a tour of USA Today. After a lengthy subway ride and transfer to metro bus we arrived at the stunning 1,491,000 square foot Gannett-USA Today headquarters. The glass-walled building is made up of two office towers connected at the bottom by an airy atrium.

The complex boasts a fitness center, masseuse, grill, salad bar, deli, two Starbucks, a bank, a gift shop, and a travel agent. The scale of the building and quality of the décor create an impressive image.
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Thursday was a great day. For the first time this summer, I had visitors from Greenville. Actually, the excitement began Wednesday evening when my dad arrived in town so that he could make it to a Thursday morning meeting. I spent the night with him at the Capital Hilton, which gave me access to a continental breakfast and put me closer to my office. Although we knew that we should be getting to bed or doing homework (respectively), Dad and I kept each other up pretty late enjoying each other’s company.

That afternoon, I met up with my aunt, uncle, and cousin–the Lohr family. The Lohrs were in Virginia for a bell choir convention in Norfolk. They very kindly treated my friend Eric and I to supper in the food court at the Ronald Reagan building. Eric and I very much enjoyed the time we had with the Lohrs.

Last week students from AACS-affiliated schools around the country assembled for the Youth Legislative Training Conference at the Leadership Institute. Gail Nicholas of BJ Academy was the sponsor for South Carolina, and her delegation was largely from BJA. I had hoped to catch up with the group, but my work and class schedule didn’t permit.

Michael Murphy, a teacher at BJA, was vacationing with his family in DC as well as joining the Academy group for some of their activities. After I finished my economics final exam Thursday night–a reason to rejoice in itself–I headed over to Arlington to see Michael. We hadn’t talked for some time, and several hours blew by as we sat in the lobby of a Hilton Garden Inn and caught up.

I’m sorry I have been so delinquent in my blogging (and virtually all other communications) recently. My academic workload peaked this week. The good news is that now it’s over. I have completed my classwork. Thursday night I had my last final. It was a challenging econ test with maybe a half-dozen essay questions. It took me 2 hours and 20 mins to complete.

Over the next few days I will work to update DC Report with news and photos from the last week or so. There have been some exciting events!

One thing that makes DC unique is that it manages to keep a small city feel despite its size. I love that I often see friends and fellow interns as I work around the city. More than once I have run into tourists multiple times in different parts of the city.

Last Sunday I had another “small town” encounter. On my way back from church I met two guys in a Metro station near Georgetown that graduated from BJU (in 2000 and 2003). I recognized the younger guy from one of my philosophy classes. Both graduates are now in law school and were in DC for a conference.
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On Thursday (July 14) I took a tour of the Washington Bureau of the Associated Press. I’ve always found AP interesting because it so ubiquitous. You could accuse AP of having monopoly power, although I haven’t seen evidence that they abuse their position in the industry.

I learned quite a bit from the tour. One thing I didn’t know is that AP is actually a non-profit newspaper cooperative. Virtually every major newspaper in the country is a member of the cooperative. AP’s structure has evolved over time, so that today other groups–like online news sites–can also subscribe to AP news service. The Associated Press is also much older than I realized. It was founded in 1848. AP likes to brag that the standard transcript of the Gettysburg address was recorded by an AP reporter.
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Late Wednesday afternoon former President Bill Clinton had a book signing at the Barnes and Noble at 12th and E Street. Individuals had reportedly been waiting in line since the night before to get their books signed. Many fans camped out with lawn chairs, umbrellas, and coolers. As I was leaving work I decided to stop in to see how difficult media access was at the event. Although the event staffers were very hyper, I was able to get signed in and through security in less than 10 minutes. I was escorted behind a curtain and onto the photographer’s shooting gallery.
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