Week Four
My workload this week came with a new list of countries for me to dive into from a research perspective. NCSC is currently hard at work on a proposal for a project titled "Increasing Judicial Independence in Mongolia," and the interns have become a valuable resource to help even out the necessary research, paperwork, and administrative tasks. Women's rights are a passion area of mine, so I was happy to take on the "Gender Analysis Report" that's required of all proposals. I had some fun leeway with a writing assignment this week where an employee needed the interns to complete 1 page write-ups on any justice-related topic of interest in Latin America. I unsurprisingly wrote mine on access to justice for women in Latin America, and how much this access varies in rural vs urban parts of countries throughout the region. At the end of the week, I picked up another exciting, Latin America focused project involving animal trafficking and chemical pollution. Environmental justice is my other main passion point, so it was a great week for my professional growth.
In my personal life, I had an exciting week exploring the suburbs of DC. On Saturday I visited a friend's pool in Alexandria and spent the evening navigating Bethesda to pick up necessities for my apartment. On Sunday, I visited Great Falls Park for the first time and was completely in awe of how gorgeous everything was. After a moderate hike in the hot sun, we drove to Lake Anne in Reston for lunch and more sight-seeing. Lake Anne is unique in that it is one of very few successful, intentionally planned communities in the United States. Its brutalist architecture includes condos, shops, restaurants, concrete playgrounds, and a lovely walking trail around the lake. 