So I’m not working somewhere insanely glamorous like Paris or somewhere fast-paced and crazy like New York but I AM working somewhere totally cool. And that, my friends, is Washington DC.
I suppose like the others I should introduce myself. I’m Julie Sizer and am really looking forward to telling the blogosphere about some DC adventures this summer. I’m generally a talkative person so ideally that will translate onto a blog and you’ll be able to get a good idea about what working and living in the district is like. I’m majoring in sociology and am in PICA, so I’ve had to tailor my CELS experience around my PICA project pretty closely. In PICA I’m hoping to study how media campaigns affect HIV awareness and prevention of youth in sub-Saharan Africa. I did a lot of research while abroad in South Africa last fall that showed me that the majority of the media campaigns they see are made by US-based non-profits, mainly in DC. So that lead me to look for internships in the city and here I am now!
I am taking a slightly different CELS-route than most – I’m enrolled in a summer program at Georgetown where I’m taking classes at night and interning during the day. The program helped place me in an internship that fit my interests and are having us take two classes on philanthropy and volunteer ethics – very PICAesque. It’s a really great opportunity for me, since I’m pretty sure I want to work in the non-profit sector after college, and I can already tell this summer is going to be a great way for me to see if that is something that goes from a “pretty sure” to a “definitely”. Since Wednesday I’ve been working with the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families and so far it’s been great. Here’s the website if you want to check it out: www.aids-alliance.org.
I’m living on the Georgetown campus now which fortunately has easy transportation to and from the center of the city. My job is ONE block from the White House – the dork in me is truly going to come out this summer. A great majority of the museums here are FREE so I will be going to a ton of them, and the program plans a lot of “excursions” – next week we’re going to Mount Vernon and this weekend we’re having a night tour of the monuments. Today, as I’m sure you all know, was the UK-USA soccer game and the South African embassy reserved a whole park for the city to watch the game on big screens. It was INSANE. And immediately afterwards was a gay pride parade. I have a feeling I will not be bored here…
Pictures will come soon! And more updates 
– Julie
