On my second week here in DC was the first week where I begun my internship with the Homeland Security (DHS). It was my first time meeting my supervisor, Kathy. When I got into the building, two interpreters was already there waiting for me. Kathy came down to get us, and we followed her into the component's offices and showed me the tour. A surprise has come to me when Kathy started to talk to me in sign language, and I was very thrilled! After meeting several of my other co-workers, we sat down at her office and we discussed on what I will be doing this summer. I also was told that the building do have a cafeteria and they do have good food (if you don't eat there everyday, otherwise, you'll get sick of it). We had our first lunch together across the street, and she have been very generous and amazing with me. She gave me one of her work laptops to borrow so I could work until I get my own work laptop.
During the week, I have been working on several projects such as writing up a improvement plan as well as working on spreadsheets. I was told that I will work on a project with Java (computer programming language) later in the near future, and I'm looking forward for that. Nevertheless, everybody here in the office have been awesome and friendly. On Thursday, a videophone was installed at my cubical office, as well as my own work laptop. Everything has been going smooth and fantastic. After work, I went to various shopping centers (Wheaton, MD and Pentagon City, VA) and visited the National Mall (Lincoln Memorial, U.S. Capitol, The Momentum, and the White House).
On Friday, I met Katie for lunch. She is a IT Project Manager working in the U.S. Customs & Immigration Services at DHS. She is also deaf. We did hit it up and had a long chat during lunch, telling each other about our backgrounds, our work with DHS, our past experience in college at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, N.Y. She is a wonderful woman; she already told me that if I need any help with anything or whatsoever, I can get in touch with her anytime on the first day we met. Everybody here in D.C. is awesome and very helpful.
It has become more and more clear to me that my goal to work with the Federal Government is solid. That is what I want for my future, and I am very happy here working with DHS. Katie, during our lunch on Friday, told me: "You need to work harder to get who and what you want to work with, so you'll be happy that way instead of working on something that isn't for you."
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