Realization

It's nearly two in the morning here... tomorrow I have a test in a class called Política y Comunicación but that's besides the point, I've been studying now for quite a few hours, all in Spanish, and the realization has hit, I can understand this language. That in itself, is an amazing feet for myself, to be able to read and write in another language, is one of amazing proportions, at least for myself. My hard work has finally paid off, even though, I still feel like I should have studied harder, I feel I've done well.

My time here is beginging to move faster and faster, and the more and more I think about it, the less and less I want to leave, but I know I have to; I have to move on. Although I haven't been writing as much, and I haven't been studying as much as I should, the hardships I've had here have - like all of my experiences - taught me a lot. The difficulties of language, the difficulties of communication, of culture, of being far away from it all, have shown me something. The first thing I'd like to note is the acceptance of the Argentine people, and generally people of the world; as long as you're willing to accept them, there is always a place in their lives/cultures for you. Honestly, I couldn't have done this with out the people I've met along the way. The second is the pain of throwing your self into the unknown, although at first the pain is hard to bear, in the end the trees always bear fruits - sweet delicious fruits.

I'm currently contemplating traveling to Chile this weekend with my roommate, just for the fun of it, to know more about different places. I've also got a place in my heart for a family I once had there that I'd love to reconnect with, hopefully the plans will go through, and things will happen as they should.

Anyways, I must be off, a good nights sleep is always essential before a test of any kind.

Much Love from America Latina,

Drew

A Roof for my Country

It's been quite some time since I've made a post... nearly 6 months, but a lot has happened in that time.

First of all, I'm no longer in Washington DC, viewing the world from the top. I'm now in Córdoba, Argentina living and studying from an entire different perspective, that of the deep deep south, America's backyard...

Numerous things have happened in the fast few months, and I've learned a lot about who I am, who I want to be, and my capabilities as a person. From my first days here, playing Monopoly in Spanish with some french roommates to building a house for a family here in Argentina this past weekend.

I plan to re-incarnate my blog into something about my ever-changing life and experiences. This... is the beginning of of my experiences here in Argentina. For some reason, I feel the need to write again, I feel the need to let out my emotions, my experiences, and most of all, the lessons that I've learned along the way.

Thus, I've begun, please enjoy the ride and the stories to come.

/Drew

A Few Things

The end of my tenure in Washington, DC is coming to an end faster and faster each day; honestly, I'm ready to get home. I think I've learned my lessons here, I think I've taken from this place what I needed. Along the way, I've learned a lot about my self, a lot about who I am, and a lot about where I want to go in life. First things first, I do NOT want to work in an office, at a desk, staring at a computer, all day.

As time flies by and the days become shorter, I've realized something about this place; it's temporary. In almost ever sense, this place is temporary. No one lives here forever, they always come and go. Especially being an intern - I get this feeling. I know there are probably hundreds of people lined up behind me willing to do the same thing I am; and I know they will. I hope I've left at least a bit of my mark on this place, and I hope I've learned enough to make this worth while. I feel as if I could work my entire life here and have minor affects on this place, whereas if I were in SLC doing the same thing, my influence would be felt much more so. Don't get me wrong, I love every aspect of this town, but I feel its time to move on. I'd love to come back someday and work for a year or so, but that's for another day.

Last Friday at about one PM me and a friend decided it was a good idea to go to South Carolina for the weekend. Seven hours later we were on an epic journey to Myrtle Beach. My problem was I had no where to stay but I knew of a family there. I showed up, my friend left, I slept on the beach for a few hours, woke up, called my friend hoping I could at least meet up with them. I ended up staying in a super nice resort, getting super good food, on the beach, with some of the nicest people I've ever met, but only knew for a day. I really wish we had more people like the Heiners in the world. They’ve made me realize so much about myself and who I am, both through David, Becca, and the Family it’s self.

Anyways, my time is flying, I saw the Flaming Lips today and Ratatat a few days ago, there is so much more to experience, cheers and love for now.

Drew

Children of the World

*Update*: Here are some photos for those of you without Facebook:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36971994@N08/

For the last couple of weeks, my life has been thrown in a colorful blender of happiness, adventure, and sometimes sadness. I've been telling my self for sometime now that

"My life is an adventure, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always interesting"

I can attest to this statement, and can confirm that it is indeed true. From my days in Thailand, to my current days in the District.. it never stops. Don’t get me wrong, it's defiantly a good thing, I wouldn't want it any other way honestly.

So, just a few weeks ago, I decided it was an awesome idea to go to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day... so I did just that. Besides, I had some friends I wanted to see in London, so I got work off, did some smooth talking with my parents, and walah, I was there. St. Patrick’s Day began with five South Africans from London, two American girls, two Australians, and a bottle of Jack and Coke at nine in the morning; it all went down hill from there. We had the best day of our lives. We pub crawled from the oldest pub in Dublin, to our Hostel, to all over Dublin. We were set out to enjoy St. Patrick’s Day, the way the Irish do - or at least the tourist in Ireland at the time.

I was told that they don't really celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland... and I can tell you... this is not true. Whoever said this, you've got the wrong idea. I also had an epiphany along the way; I've decided that I want to experience all of the world’s events in their locals. I will do it, don't you worry, and it WILL be awesome. If you have Facebook, you can see my pictures there, or just ask me to send some to you.

While there, I was able to tour the Guinness Storehouse and the Jameson Distillery, both places with so much history and Irish culture. There really are drunk Irish people in the streets, everyday; and its legal (I think so anyways) to drink in the streets... which is kind of odd from an American standpoint.

I met so many random awesome people along the way, from Aussies, to Utahans, to South Africans, to Americans.

London was a trip as well. I met up with some friends I hadn't seen in nearly six years. I really want to go back to London and live there someday soon, its an incredible place; always an exciting night (in some cases into the morning). We made the great American culinary wonder of French Toast and just enjoyed ourselves, I will be back.

In the end, everything was insane, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat, and probably will someday.

Cheers from good Ol' DC,

 

Drew

Cleveland, Ohio

Here we go, its been a awhile since I've wrote anything, so I figure on the day of my departure to Cleveland, I should jot something down. DC is as awesome as ever, at times there isn't much to at work to do, but I suppose thats all apart of the game. I love the group of kids that I'm out here with, we all have a good time, just living our lifes, doing what we do.

Not to much new has really gone on... I've attended a few hearings on the Hill, a buddy of mine say President Obama... I've gone out a lot, thats pretty much it. However, I am headed towards Cleveland to go see some family I haven't seen in some time and just lay back. It should be fun, that will be an interesting experiance without my family.

Furthermore I've come to the conclusion that I don't want to go back to Utah just yet... so I've decided to spend next semester in Argentina, that shall be interesting, keep reading, I'm sure those adventures will be posted here, and I'm sure they'll be even more interesting. Also, I've come to the conclusion that Valentines Day is no fun when you don't have a Valentine, its been I think 4 or 5 years since this has happened to me, but my x-valentine is getting married, so I guess its a good thing that I don't have one right now. I could never get married at this age, I have no idea where I'm going in life right now, I couldn't sustain it, I'm just straight up too reckless. Meh, everyone lives a different life, mine is the way I make it.

Off to Cleveland,

Farewell.... for now.

Much Love,

\\Drew

Cut, Copy, Paste, Coffee, Repeat

So, the title of this blog essentially defines what my last week has been like. I'm not complaining, but I'm pretty sure I've lost quite a few brain cells... I've been compiling data into Excel Spreadsheets for quite sometime now. Its all in good fun, I suppose, and I just hope this is the beginning intern grunt work that goes on, and then later on (hopefully sooner then later) I can move into some serious work and projects. We can only hope right? Hey, atleast I'm here, and atleast I'm not on the hill doing one of their mind numbing internships (I've heard they're pretty bad, I have a friend that is Orin Hatch's personal assistant's personal assistant, I can't imagine how that might work out...).

On another side of the story... our heater broke... for the fourth time. Atleast I'm getting warm showers (if its cold, I opt out). The mornings are interesting... typically coffee is the only thing that keeps me warm, we'll see how it goes. Also, our microwave broke, its amazing how much you use that thing and don't realize it.

Oh, and I was covering the phones today so our receptionist could take a lunch break... and the white house called... and I hung up on them, haha, that was interesting aswell.

We may be going to Philadelphia this weekend, just for a day, I'll let you know if that happens, and I'm sure there will be pictures soon to follow. Anyways, enjoy the music I've posted, and keep reading, more adventures to come soon!

Oh, yeah, one last thing, if you ever have the desire to question everything have your x-girlfriend (whom you just broke up with less then a year ago) tell you she plans to get married by the end of the summer... all I have to say is, thank god its not me.

Also, I've posted my bio in my profile if your curious to see what I've done, thats also something that will make you question everything... write your own bio. I guess someday It'll be odd having someone else write one on me (assuming this happens).

As always,

Much Love,

\\Drew

Music!

Pictures: Inaug

The Metro Afterwords

This was all we had to experience the moment.

We made it!

He was everywhere today.

The Day Heard Around the World

O-BAM-A
O-BAM-A
O-BAM-A

Yes we did!
Yes we did!
Yes we did!

Let us in!
Let us in!
Let us in!

These words, along with others, have occupied my mind and the crowds around me all day. Of all the days to be in DC, this was the one. Finally, history has begun down a new road, hopefully we'll hit the road runiing and won't look back. Today... was incredible, probably one of the most historic moments I'll ever witness in person in my entire life. And wow... it was worth it.

The day began at about 6:30am, as my roommates were leaving, I quickly showered, ate some toast, and packed myself a lunch. I knew there was a long day ahead of me. Headed to town, hoping the metro wouldn't let me down. It really wasn't too bad, I didn't have to wait for any trains, they were just packed. I arrived at the gates at about 7:45am found some friends, waited for the gates to open at 8am just to stand around for three hours in line. We began chanting "let us in" as the gates closed, and I'm not exactly sure what happened, but some how we all rushed through. As we made our way in, chants of "yes we did" and "Obama" began to fill the air. Shortly there after, barriers began to fall, as we rushed into the silver ticket section and through what was supposed to be the handicap section. I stood about 25ft or so from the reflecting pond in front of the capital (different pond then the one in front of the Lincoln memorial). I couldn't see anything, but I could feel everything. Change was in the frigid air today in January, I could feel it all around me, everywhere I looked, every face I saw. The crowd was reported to be 1.5 million thick. I'm glad I can say that I was there, that historic day in January 2009. Apparently somewhere around a billion people watched it today, the world's eyes were on us, and hopefully, this time, we won't let them down. Happiness can barely describe the feelings of those around me as we said fair well the George Walker Bush. As his name was announced, the entire place boo'd. Good bye Dick... good bye Bush! Truly amazing and incredible moment in time. I now consider myself 'historically enhanced', who knows what the future holds. I do, how ever, wish my new president luck. Hope, courage, change, prosperity, and honor can barely describe this moment, but hopefully the words and the pictures to follow will bring justice to my experience. God's Speed Black Emperor.

I watched Bush speak after the inauguration, and for some reason, it was an amazing speach. I have a new respect for that man, now that he is done serving (or screwing) our country. The speach was very moving, it makes me wonder why he couldn't have done that a few years prior.

One a different page, my roommate said I would make a good cartoon. That has to be one of the best things anyone has ever said to me. I found it amusing.

Anyways, I think I'll partake in some more of the festivities,

Much Love,

\Drew

Button Town

It's truely amazing to be here to experiance this all... but there are a few things I have found to be quite interesting. The first, is that everyone and their mom has to have a button... they all have them and they're everywhere. Why? They look terrible, and they scream "I'm a tourist". It's kind of insane, but meh. Oh, and I saw a chick covered in buttons, taking pictures with people... I mean come on... why?

I went to the free concert yesturday. I'm not sure if it exactly counts as 'going', considering I was probably about a mile away, but it was cool to be there. There had to be atleast a million people there... I didn't even know that many people existed in the world. It was insane to see that many people. It was cool though, I never thought I'd see anyone I knew there, and I ended up running into a girl that I knew from work and her fresh out of the box Indian roommate. We had a lot of fun, we ended up walking back to her place and making sushi, it was incredible.

There were some interesting aspects of the concert, one being that Steve Correl was the host, and I found Obama dancing kind of awkward... but cool none-the-less. He spoke afterwards, and I'll tell you what, that guy knows how to speak and how to move a crowd. Once again, awesome. There were also some anti-gay protesters... that was interesting. 'Homo Sex is SIN' read one of the signs, it was quite bothersome. These huge brute type men holding signs and just taunting the crowd. I think I saw more gay people kissing infront of them then I ever had in my entire life, so that was an experiance.

There will be pictures to come soon. I should probably go take a shower now and get ready to go back to town, I know there are more experiances out there to be had. Oh, one more thing, the other night we were at a book store after we had gone to an Indian resturant and I donated $4 to some underground Art society or something. I got a bumper sticker that says "Stop Bitching, Start a Revolution", so I suppose it was worth it.

As always, much love.

\Drew

Party: DC Style

So... I got off work at 6 last night... walked up stairs... and there was a party. Honestly, I don't think life gets much better, drinking wine with the best of them.

Afterwards, we went to a place called the Hawk and Dove, it was a bar with a dance floor (and under 21 could get in). We danced the night away, it was awesome.

Anyways, this place is slowly becoming a zoo with signs of a circus lingering. I should probably go experiance it all, I'll post more on the inauguration events as they come.

More to come later,

Much Love,

\Drew

Week in Review

If any one is interested this is what I've done this past week (Jan 12-16). It's all super exciting stuff.

A Week in Review: Progress Report

Center for American Progress: Economic Policy

Andrew Reeve

• Literature Review on Cisco CEO: Make Broadband part of Stimulus. [attached]

• Event summary of the Brookings Event: Memo to the President: Invest in Infrastructure for Long-Term Prosperity. [attached]

• Summary of some of this weeks events: What to Watch: Washington Finical events including one on Senate Banking Committee and one on Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. [attached]

• Helped Karla Walter with a lot of work, including finding some contact information, researching survey questions, researching and summarizing Acts, and examining and double checking data for a Unionization Map. [some attached]

• Attended a House Committee hearing and summarized the event. [attached]

Personal Statement:

Pretty successful first week, I’d say. I’m really enjoying working here, and I thank you for having me here. I hope to continue the work that I do, and hopefully it fits your standards. Let me know if I need to work on anything, and as always, I’m open to help with whatever.

Much Love,

Andrew Reeve

If you actually want to see the stuff that says attached, let me know, I have no idea how to attach it here.

\Drew

In Search of the Right Question and me on TV

Already on TV, and I haven't even been here for a week, hah. Meh, it may only be YouTube or C-SPAN, but you know how it goes, I do the best I can. Watch this video, I'm behind the second speaker:

I worked out yesturday, for probably like the 2nd or 3rd time (willingly) in my life. It was nice, I think I'll continue.

If you ever have the desire to waste your time, look for a survey question. I've just spend probably the last 3 and a hlaf hours of my life, looking on the internet, for a single survey question, how exciting. Welcome to the world of an intern I suppose, I guess I learned a lot, and I suppose its better then not doing anything (like some of the other interns I know here), but meh.

So I got in an argument the other day about the bombing of Gaza with a girl from Ohio State... that was interesting. I just barely found out that they, Israel (whom I do not like), just bombed a U.N. warehouse. Of the over thousand people killed, 100 women have died, half have been civilians, and a quarter have been children. This is terrible... why are they doing this again? Is Hamas really that bad? That Israel has to take out their women and children and bomb U.N. warehouses? Anyways, I suppose I'll stop ranting on the subject, there's not much I can do at this point in time, but whine.

Anyways, I should probably go back to work.

Much Love,

\Drew

Day Two at Work

Well, here I am, sitting at my desk, writing a blog post.

The first two days have been fun, but frankly, not very exciting. I'm defiantly glade to be here, I'm learning a lot about everything. I've come to realize, I hope I don't end up with a job where I'm at a desk... reading and writing... day in... and day out. Because that's what I've been doing for the passed two day. Honestly, its not that bad, but I really don't think its my cup of tea. I've already wrote a literature review and a summary of an event, both extremely exciting papers. I can already tell this semester is going to be one of the best times of my life, I've experienced so much already, and I've met so many interesting and cool people. I don't doubt that this won't continue. As for now, I've done all of my work for today, so I'll spend the last few minutes, writing more.

I feel so young here... everyone around me has at least 3-5 years on me. Interesting, but a good thing, its good to see how far I've gone with the few years that I've been 'in the business'. I went out the other night with a 36 year old and a 26 year old... talk about mind blowing. We had a lot of fun though, don't get me wrong, and I hope I bring a little bit of youth to the table for everyone.

Anyways, I probably should go back to work now.

As always much love, make babies not war.

\Drew

The Eve of an Adventure and $37 Dollar Haircut

End of story, but I look nice.





I hope...

Day Two: Because Day One was just too good

Here I am, at 1:13am at night, sitting in the business center of my new apartment building... contemplating everything. I've asked myself several times... why am I here? What am I doing? The answer is still no where to be found... and honestly, I think I'm fine with that.

The first two days of my adventure have been pretty nice. I've met many nice kids, and I know there are many more to be found. We were talking on the metro today... and I realized something. I'm going to make so many connections here that are going to be benefical to me down the road... its mind blowing. Who knows what the future holds, but as long as I have good friends and good times... I don't mind what's thrown at me.

We walked around Georgetown today, and I think I've found where I'd like to go to school. The campus is breathtaking, there are few words that could describe it, and I don't know many of them. If you ever get the chance, take a trip there, you'll love it, atleast I did.

I start work tomorrow, and I'm extremely curious to see how it goes. Regardless of what happens, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Adventures are what I do, and this is just another adventure... in an ever growing list of adventures that I've taken in my life. Who knows what the futures holds, but I can tell you one thing, I'm excited to see what happens. Stay tuned, you can take the adventure with me, all of the details, good and bad, of what I have dubbed "The District", will be exposed.

Anywho, I best be off, its rather late, and I have nothing to do tomorrow. Much Love, make babies, not war.

--Drew