Thursday, January 14, 2010
Today was quite eventful, to say the least. My morning at work was quiet until Wallace and I were offered the chance to go to a briefing on rainforests in central Africa. We didn’t really understand what it was on, but thought it would be interesting to go anyways. We made our way over to the Capitol armed with our House of Representatives folders for note-taking. After receiving our name tags, we were ushered into a room smelling of fresh coffee and complimentary Georgetown cupcakes! Seeing as we were among the less important people in the room, Wallace and I opted to stand in the back with the other interns, instead of taking up the seats. While the first speaker was talking, I began to feel warm and a bit dizzy. I thought about how I had not eaten breakfast this morning, and how much I was looking forward to lunch. The feeling got worse as the room began to blur, and I asked Wallace to hold my things, as I felt like I was about to pass out. Next thing I knew, my vision went black. A few seconds later, I blearily opened my eyes to find myself on the ground with people whispering all around me. I heard the security guard mutter “female down” into his walkie-talkie. I was helped out of the room into the hallway where I sat down with a big cup of water. I felt perfectly fine after a few minutes and got up to leave. Instead, the security guard insisted on waiting for the doctors in the health clinic downstairs. The paramedics rounded the corner with an AED, wheelchair, and other medical supplies in hand. They rushed over to the security guard exclaiming, “Where is she?!” They were surprised to find that the girl standing next to them and the “female down” were in fact, one in the same. Ignoring my objections, they made me get in the wheelchair and wheeled me to the health clinic, insisting on checking my vitals to make sure that I was okay. On the way, we passed a few Capitol tours that were going on, which was embarrassing, although kind of funny at the same time. When we reached the clinic, the doctor questioned me as the nurse performed some routine tests such as checking my blood pressure and giving me a finger prick. As expected, everything was fine and again, I tried to leave. However, the doctor wanted to hear my heart one more time. As she felt my chest with her stethoscope, I could tell that something was off from the look on her face. She told me that it sounded like I had an early beat, which was pretty normal, but wanted to give me an EKG just in case. And so, little sticky patches attached to wires were placed all over my body and I was hooked up to the machine. Scared that I was about to discover an unknown heart condition, I held back tears as the nurse ran the test. When it was finished, the doctor looked at it and determined that in fact, nothing was wrong with me. Finally, I was free to go. Wallace (who had been there the entire time with me) and I walked out of the clinic and proceeded to make our way back to the office, laughing the whole way about how unreal our most recent adventure in the Capitol seemed to be. When we returned to the office, we retold our stories and settled back into our desk. Not long after, Marsha appeared on the news. We watched her debate with another Congressman over bank taxes while Tara answered angry phone calls regarding Marsha’s latest television appearance. The rest of the afternoon was quiet, so Wallace and I got to leave early.
Tonight we went on an Old Town Trolley monument tour. We rode the trolley as our knowledgeable guide gave us a history lesson of our nation’s capital littered with little known facts, quotes, and poems. Our first stop was the Jefferson Memorial, which is definitely one of my favorites because of the beautiful water spread out before it. Throughout the night, we saw the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, Washington Monument, and Arlington Cemetery. We also stopped at the Marine Corps War Memorial, which is the huge bronze statue of the soldiers raising the American flag at Iwo Jima. I had never seen this touching memorial in person, so it was definitely my favorite stop on the tour. Our guide told us that if a Marine dies, their family can request for the 48 star flag flying above the memorial to be placed on their coffin, which I thought was really interesting. Tomorrow will be an exciting day filled with White House tours and Marrakesh for dinner, should be fun!
