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Published: August 16th 2010
The Capitol Dome
I had a beautiful view of the Capitol Dome from my bedroom window. Nearly three months after returning to the United States from my internship in Brussels, Belgium, after applying for nearly 85 different jobs, I have found and accepted a position in Washington D.C.! Though I had never been to D.C. before this summer, for years I have wanted nothing more than to end up in D.C. On August 3rd I will start a position as the Press Assistant for former Vice President Al Gore's non-profit The Alliance for Climate Protection and I could not be more excited. - July 23, 2009
It's now been over a year since I started writing this post that I, until now, had not been able to find the time to complete. That in and of itself is very indicative of what my life was like in D.C. From the moment I accepted the position with the Alliance, my life was faster and more hectic than I ever could have imagined - which is quite surprising considering what I was used to.
In August of 2009, I moved to D.C., found an amazing apartment with a friend in the Shaw/Howard area and worked day and night. Life in D.C. was quite the experience. I was
My Roomie and I
Jenn and I lived in the 'Jungle Palace' together. thrown into a relentless lifestyle of political games and posturing, and was given a crash course in communications, politics and life. I worked 14-15 hour days and on the weekends on an issue I had little-to-no experience in. I sometimes struggled to pay my bills and at times wished I was closer to my family and friends back home. But, I loved every minute of it, or almost every minute of it.
D.C. is an amazing and beautiful city. If you haven't ever visited, do. Unlike while living in Brussels, I rarely traveled on the weekends while I lived in D.C. I was constantly finding things I wanted to see or places I wanted to go in D.C. (when I wasn't working), and still have yet to do everything there. For all the bad talk about D.C. around our country (which, of course was the same of Brussels in Europe), it truly is full of many honest, hard-working people who are just trying to do what they think is best for our country. I was constantly impressed by the talent and dedication of the people I would meet. And I reveled in the thought of all the history and
The White House
(from the other side) the reach of the decisions made in this city throughout the years.
Alas, I finish this post and ultimately this blog not from Washington D.C., but from my home back in Colby, Kansas. While I truly enjoyed my time in D.C. and learned an immense amount from living and working there, if there is one thing living there did teach me, it's that I would never get to where I thought I wanted to be without going back to school. Thus, I will leave Kansas at the end of this month and head across the ocean, once again, to further my education. This time though, I will be heading to Dublin, Ireland to study Comparative European Politics at Trinity College Dublin. There will be much more on this to come, as I do intend to start a new blog about my time in Ireland - so look out for that! But, in the meantime, why study Comparative European Politics, you ask? Good question.
One of my favorite authors, Thomas Friedman, summed it up for me pretty well in a recent column he wrote for the New York Times:
"America’s most important competitive advantage: the sheer creative energy Kansas Sunset
This is how I'll remember Kansas everyday that I'm away. that comes when you mix all our diverse people and cultures together. We live in an age when the most valuable asset any economy can have is the ability to be creative — to spark and imagine new ideas...I like the way Newsweek described it in a recent essay on creativity: “To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).” And where does divergent thinking come from? It comes from being exposed to divergent ideas and cultures and people and intellectual disciplines."
I'm going to Trinity not just to learn more about European politics, but to learn more about politics in our own country. To learn more about what works and what doesn't work in various democracies throughout our world. To learn why one country does something one way and another does it a different way, and to try and figure out if one way is really better than the other or if each method is just the best possible option for that country. If there's one thing I've learned from all my travels, it's that you cannot fully appreciate what you have unless you are exposed
My Room in D.C.
Loved this place! to other ideas, cultures and peoples. And that you cannot attempt to make what you have better if that's all you've ever known. You have to be creative. Think divergently. This is why I'm going to Trinity College.
Thank you to each of you who have kept up with my blog. It was always my hope that I could share a bit of my travels with all of you through my writing and maybe inspire you to start your own travels or your own writing. I hope you have enjoyed reading my posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. It's been more than an exciting journey for me the past couple of years and as I head to Ireland for grad school, I know there are many more adventures to come. I hope you will join me in this next phase of my life as explore new ideas, cultures and people.
Clarissa Unger
8/16/2010
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Ann Anhalt
non-member comment
Good Job
Got the link today... and I wondered... how is she liking DC. Glad you enjoyed your time there (and I'm sure you will be back someday) and your post about missing Colby, KS and not keeping up w/ the blog. This year on our Europe trip (c/hagen, hamburg, heidelburg, rothenburg, geneva, paris, normandy, dublin, london) was as exciting but w/ FB... did not blog about my trip. Keeping up w/ FB was more than I could do. So TCD, nice. We had a briefing there in March and really nice school. Good for you and the best w/ Grad school Ann