Memorial Day in the Capitol
Yesterday was Memorial Day. I'd never spent it in Washington D.C. before, and there was plenty of activity around our nation's capital to honor the day. Most people were kept busy by the service at Arlington National Cemetery, the parade down Constitution Avenue, or the concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol. If that wasn’t enough, this weekend was also “Rolling Thunder”, where Washington was filled with bikers from across the country. Consequently, the city was abuzz with activity and a patriotic flare. Yet despite this plethora of activity, I was unfortunately only able to give it a cursory amount of attention. On Sunday I moved into my apartment in the George Washington University dorms, and so most of my Memorial Day was spent organizing my apartment and doing necessary shopping trips. At least now I am completely settled, though, so I can focus on my work for NCSC and enjoy my time in Washington D.C.
Now that I’ve completed my first week of my internship with NCSC International, I’ve begun to get a good picture of what sort of work I’m going to be doing for the summer, and have already gotten to engage with some interesting projects. Like I mentioned before, I got my first assignment only 37 minutes into my first day, so there has been a little trial by fire. This week I’ll be writing a memo covering that employment issue, and I’m excited to be doing some actual legal work for NCSC. The assignment falls within my general counsel type assignments, so who knows, maybe this will give me a preview of my future legal career. While I’ve written similar memos for our Legal Practice course, I’m looking forward to testing myself with this assignment and getting a gauge of how Tim and NCSC view my writing and work. Luckily, I will be doing the assignment jointly with Amanda, so I’ll have a partner to test the waters with me. In addition, I spent most of my first week working on assignments related to the NCSC International rule of law projects abroad, specifically a project in Serbia that NCSC is implementing for USAID. This allowed me (and indeed required me) to read over the contract between USAID and NCSC, along with the related annual and quarterly reports. I found this particularly interesting since international transactions are an area I hope to someday work in. The project is very unique as well, so it gives me the opportunity to see the distinctive work that NCSC does at home and abroad. This is combined with my various legal and administrative assignments which are stemming from it, which will allow me to hone a wide set of skills. As I move into my second week, I’m anxious to continue with these diverse legal assignments and begin to cut my teeth in the legal world.