DC for the summer!
I shall start from the beginning. I am writing these words on Monday August 8, even though the date above belies that. I'm going to attempt to remember everything that's happened before August 8, so it will be categorized neatly in its proper date, for future nostalgia's sake. Slightly inauthentic, but organized nonetheless.
Through some miracle, a summer internship opportunity plopped in my lap. I was finishing out my days at the RedEye (an edition of the Chicago Tribune), had just had a meeting with the Trib hiring manager, sheila soloman, and was lamenting the fact that yet again, I'd waited until the last minute to apply for a summer internship, thus sealing my fate as an underachieving wannabe journalist without a journalism job for the summer.
At the urging of my sister, I'd applied for MSN, the muslim student network program she'd done way back when. It's a DC-based program bringing muslim students from across the country together to live together as they pursue internships in public policy, gov't, media, etc. I was still internship-less though, with several prospects in Chicago but none in DC.
Then, lo and behold, Medill sent out a notice about an internship at National Public Radio, of all places! In DC, as an online intern. long story short, 'hamdillah I got it, and I was packing up and on a plane headed for DC before I knew it.
I arrived today. The MSN house in in Silver Spring, MD. It's a cute two-story tucked into a thicket of greenery. There are four other girls living there, plus our house mom of sorts, Mrs. K. The guys live a few blocks away, but come over to our house to help cook, eat, and listen to the daily sessions held by guest speakers (professors, experts in their fields, ppl from different organizations, etc.)
In addition to my sister's goading, I decided to do MSN b/c two of my Cairo buddies are doing it also. Seeing them and catching up as if it had been yesterday and not six months ago that we saw each other last was awesome. And having two built-in friends already makes the transition seamless. But in all, all of the interns seem really cool. They say it's the most diverse year they've ever had: no single group dominates the cultural ethnic makeup. There's a half-Iraqi, half-American; half-black, half-Mexican, three Egyptians, east african desi, afghani, syrian, indian, libyan, kashmiri and palestinian ;). Plus, they're from all corners of the U.S. so the mix is quite amazing.
more to come, i'm sure....
Through some miracle, a summer internship opportunity plopped in my lap. I was finishing out my days at the RedEye (an edition of the Chicago Tribune), had just had a meeting with the Trib hiring manager, sheila soloman, and was lamenting the fact that yet again, I'd waited until the last minute to apply for a summer internship, thus sealing my fate as an underachieving wannabe journalist without a journalism job for the summer.
At the urging of my sister, I'd applied for MSN, the muslim student network program she'd done way back when. It's a DC-based program bringing muslim students from across the country together to live together as they pursue internships in public policy, gov't, media, etc. I was still internship-less though, with several prospects in Chicago but none in DC.
Then, lo and behold, Medill sent out a notice about an internship at National Public Radio, of all places! In DC, as an online intern. long story short, 'hamdillah I got it, and I was packing up and on a plane headed for DC before I knew it.
I arrived today. The MSN house in in Silver Spring, MD. It's a cute two-story tucked into a thicket of greenery. There are four other girls living there, plus our house mom of sorts, Mrs. K. The guys live a few blocks away, but come over to our house to help cook, eat, and listen to the daily sessions held by guest speakers (professors, experts in their fields, ppl from different organizations, etc.)
In addition to my sister's goading, I decided to do MSN b/c two of my Cairo buddies are doing it also. Seeing them and catching up as if it had been yesterday and not six months ago that we saw each other last was awesome. And having two built-in friends already makes the transition seamless. But in all, all of the interns seem really cool. They say it's the most diverse year they've ever had: no single group dominates the cultural ethnic makeup. There's a half-Iraqi, half-American; half-black, half-Mexican, three Egyptians, east african desi, afghani, syrian, indian, libyan, kashmiri and palestinian ;). Plus, they're from all corners of the U.S. so the mix is quite amazing.
more to come, i'm sure....