My First Day in Richmond

I got up really early for my first day of this internship. I knew that I was going to have to be early because I had gotten feeling from my phone calls with Ryan that this was not going to be as lax of a culture as my other internships. I got into my car and it turns out that I was actually about 30 minutes early to my internship--I had unfortunately underestimated my traffic knowledge. So, I ended up getting coffee and getting back to the office about ten minutes before I was supposed to start. When I got to the Civic Center in Richmond, I parked in the employee parking lot and walked across the way to the Civic Center. When I got closer to the building it dawned on me that I had no idea where the office was--so I panicked a bit and finally, after some "google-ing" I found the general building where the office was supposed to be. When I got inside security called the office and a man came down the steps for me--Joe.

Joe was a recent graduate from UC Berkley and he was the newest staff member on the team. Joe took me up the elevator and into the office. I finally met Ryan and introduced myself. He shook my hand because he was busy on the phone with someone so I decided to sit down. After some sitting, Joe decided to take me on a tour of the building. He took me on a tour of the entire Civic Center and showed me the mail room. I really got to know the ins-and-outs of the Civic Center and I learned that day how important the mail was to the Congressman. After the tour of the entire Civic Center, Joe took me back to the office--at this point, Ryan was off the phone and we were introduced in person. Ryan and I then went through the employment contract of what I could and could not do. The things that stood out to me the most was that I was not allowed to talk to the press and that I was going to be watched at all times because I am not a representative of the Congressman. At first, I was a little put off by these things but then I realized that this was typical of a government job. After the handbook, we went through a map of the district, ate lunch, and we talked about a typical day at the office. After this Ryan and Joe had to leave for a meeting so they let me go for the day and asked me to come back to Richmond on Wednesday.