More about life at State

A lot has been going on in the past few weeks. After all the snow in DC, we realized that any meetings we had scheduled for the two weeks before were basically not going to happen. Everyone was far too busy attempting to catch up on their own work that they fell behind on due to the snow. Therefore, a planning meeting that we were supposed to have was changed to a conference call. We talked with some authorities in education, and they really want to do a big event about womens education. I see that money has a lot to do with what can and cannot happen, and funding seems to be low everywhere. Thinking of cost-effective ways to have lectures or conferences seems to be a necessary life skill around here.

I managed to get out on a tour of the French Embassy. It was quite underwhelming to say the least, but at least I got to say that I was on French soil. We really didn't see much, there were two interns who gave us a half-hearted tour. Then we were met with an American guy who works in the press office. He was very condesending so no one really liked him. He was giving very basic information about what a press office does, and even said "This may be over some of your heads," even though most of the people in the room were either undergrads in or had graduated from a university. Some actually already held Masters Degrees. We wondered how an American managed to get a job at the French embassy because we thought you had to be a French citizen. He explained that that is not completely correct, and that sometimes foreign governments like to have Americans (who are fluent in that foreign language) work for the press office so that they can review the media with an American perspective. He said that he is paid by the French ministry for foreign and European Affaris so he does not work as a contractor for the U.S. government. They also discussed internship opportunities and expressed interest in recruting some of us. I realize that going to graduate school in D.C. is much better when it comes to getting work experience, but I also realize that CLP is a good program that recognizes we can't get experience in Central IL, and sends us out to see what we are missing. I think that my residency of 7months will be much more beneficial than a few 10 week internships that many Georgetown, American, and GW students take.

I got to see how foreign issues affect travel. A person in my office had a trip cancelled because the airline workers were about to go on strike. I was suprised to see that she was not on another continent this morning (as she should have been) but I heard the story. I was also excited for a Black History month event that was occurring. The CEO of Black Entertainment Television (BET), a channel that I have watched since childhood was coming to visit the department. She was introduced by S, who I was also excited to see again. Debra Lee is the CEO of BET and she talked about black empowerment and entrepreneurship and was very good. I liked that she said that she comes from the segregated south and went on to get a BA from Brown University and a MA and JD from Harvard Kennedy School. She talked of days where you would never see a black face on television and how now it is commonplace. I realize that women like her set the stage for me. She was a child of the civil rights movement and attended an all black high school because the town was segregated. For her to come from that and be what she is today is very inspiring to a young black woman like myself. There are so many racial barriers that still exist in society, and even with a black president racism still exists. But to know the adversity that she faced, and that today its nowhere near as blatant as guns, dogs, and waterhoses, I know that I can be great. She was definitely inspiring and though I do not currently have dreams of being in business, I know that my dreams of working in government can come to fruition with hard work and dedication.

I met a country desk and he was very informative. I liked that when I asked questions about operations, he was very straightforward and not highly diplomatic. A lot of times, when I ask superiors about jobs or department culture they give canned answers, or the sort of thing you would find on the website. He definitely "served it up straight." He told me how many embassies are not always responsive and bureaucracy makes it worse. Many people prefer working abroad because in a small embassy the chain of command is much shorter. Whereas in Washington, you report to so many people that its sort of ridiculous. Then you sometimes will have to report to other departments as well and deal with their bureaucracy. I am definitely learning more about how career life would be if I worked with State which is what I was looking forward to.