C is for Competency; Learning how to navigate and own the internship lifestyle

My cute little cubicle!
I feel so special :)

So I landed this awesome internship, and made it through the first couple of weeks...but now what? I have started to realize that every experience, especially those like internships, are 100% mine to own.  The ball is officially in my court.  Realistically, I could show up at my job (on time), and do the work expected of me for the next two months and still get a stellar review from my supervisor (thank you Career Services at DePauw), but where is the challenge in that?  The key to real internship success lies in realization of how this internship and your overall experience as an intern is supposed to fit into the grand scheme of things.  Determining this aspect early on is incredibly important for not just your success in your position as an intern, but in getting the most out of your time and experience in the "real world." I am extremely lucky to be surrounded by bosses and supervisors who are on my team in that regard.

My shiny SmarTrip car.

Being successful, however, doesn't just have to do with what you do in the office.  I've learned that it is extremely (and I mean extremely) important to understand and utilize the resources that are out there for you.  My biggest shock when first arriving in D.C. was the cost of the metro (which for my long commute, comes out to be about $8.10/day).  Not only did I have to spend 50 minutes (each way) riding to work, but I also had to pay more than I was being paid ($8.10 to be exact, #unpaidinternships).  While I was lucky to have received a grant from the Hubbard Center, I did some investigating on how to get the most for my travelling dollar.  Some government organizations and corporations in D.C. offer their employees subsidized metro passes, or benefits for travelling.  With the recent, but long overdue hype about reducing pollution and carbon emissions, more and more companies are strongly encouraging public transportation, ie. the metro.  I have been fortunate to discover how to get in on this offer.  This just goes to show how strategy and investigation are important for internship success.

See how wonderful
my new app is?

On top of the stresses of paying for the metro, as a small town girl from southern Indiana, an even bigger challenge has been navigating it (let's be real, even just saying I'm directional-ly challenged would be too polite).  Enter EmbarkDC (also known as my new favorite iPhone app).  Later in this post I will discuss my new-found love for technology, but for now, I will just mention how much reassurance just having this tool has given me.  Ever felt distress after going the wrong way? Not me! Thank you to whoever created this for interns like me who might just need a directional friend at the touch of a button. Now I just have to cross my fingers that there is an app this great in every city I visit!

My to-do list and Mole Skin
notebook (which is already
half filled...)

But being successful also means learning how to get organized in the new place you are simultaneously learning to navigate.  Every morning I take advantage of my first 15 minutes at work to catch up on emails, read the headlines of the newspaper, and make a short "to-do" list for my morning (typical Rachel, I know). I guess you could call this my own personal orientation.  But doing this every day has made me feel more prepared and has ultimately allowed me to be productive, even though I have only been at the Department of Education a short time.  Networking (both with people and ideas) has also never been more important.  I feel like I am constantly whipping out my Moleskine notebook (you should really get one if you don't have one) to write down something that is important or interesting.  I have attended many really interesting talks and had unimaginable conversations with people who live and breathe education policy. It is amazing.

Just like at DePauw, there are plenty of speakers, programs, and events to attend and get involved with, and while I would love to spend every hour of my day listening to experts speak about my favorite subject: education, I also have a job to do (so unfortunate, I know).  I have, however, found a middle ground of sort: Webinars.  We live in a time where saying technology has taken over would indeed be an understatement.  We also live in a time where those who are "getting ahead" are mastering this same technology and using it to their advantage. At school we are all too used to googling (yes, it is an actual verb) and searching for things we do not know or want to know more about.  The same is true for on-the-job work, especially when you are like me and are working at a place that revolves around statistics, but have never taken a statistics course...oops?

Replacing my Netflix obsession (only slightly, of course) with Khan Academy statistics "how to" videos, utilizing NCES's Distance Learning Dataset Training online, and simply looking up words and terms I'm not familiar with, has made a night and day difference in not only the amount, but the type of work I have been able to accomplish.  With the type of "to the point" writing I am required to do, my Political Science courses are certainly coming in handy, but ultimately Dictionary.com has become my new best friend.  All in all, the excuses that "I don't know how to do that," or "I haven't taken a course on that," are no longer an option for our generation.  Thank you DePauw, for teaching me how to use my resources (literally).

The best part of my morning commute so far:
Saxophone players and musicians galore!

But when researching and reading about any topic, I have learned how important is is that you pay attention and become familiar to both sides of the story, all the multiple perspectives, etc.  Being surrounded by so many education gurus and experts, it would be a shame to make myself look ignorant, or to offend someone simply by being uninformed.  This is instance where my longer than normal morning commute on the metro has started to come in handy.  I have started to read books about the things I'm working on, and the criticisms of it.  I have also expanded my library to include the "new ideas" that are circulating in the education world. It's been a rewarding experience, especially now that I can ask informed questions and understand why people take the sides they do.  It's basically like creating my own liberal arts environment on a daily basis!

I bet you thought that an internship in D.C. would be all fun and no work. Wrong! I am reading more now than I do in school (sorry, professors), and am learning more than I ever thought possible! I am also working harder than normal, simply because there are so many new things to learn, people to meet, and resources to take advantage of.  The added obstacle of the city, and increased anxiety of being in an unfamiliar place has definitely opened my eyes to why some individuals might not be as willing to put themselves out there and take a chance with this type of opportunity.  I am not normally the one to give advice, but if I have one piece (after a week and a half into this experience) it would be:

"Embrace unfamiliarity, and learn how to own whatever you do, wherever you are." 

The world is always going to be a scary place, and experiences are always going to be new, so you might as well make them your own.