so keep on comin', these lines on the road

And how I'm all wrapped up in my mother's face
With a touch of my father just up around the eyes
And the sound of my brother's laugh
But more wrapped up in what binds our ever distant lives

I love those lyrics. They just fit.

Goodbye, comfortable car and really long commute. My uncle switched car dealerships and had to give the Taurus back. So, hello public transportation. It's not fun being stranded in the suburbs of Virginia, but I can hop a bus that takes me to the metro, so it's not so bad.

It's interesting how you can experience culture shock within your own country. One of the other interns was talking about this since she's from Oregon and goes to school in California. Life out here is much different and we both come from places where people are much more laid back. Watching professionals out here teaches me both what I do and don't want to do with my life. I'd like to be successful, but when the weekend comes, I want to have time off. My aunt is the kind of person who doesn't know how to slow down and I don't want to be that. I pride myself in my ability to sleep for 12 hours easy, watch TV all day and shop for hours. They walk into a store, grab something, don't look at the price, rush around and buy it. "We'll take it, it's fine, just ring us up," etc. Where's the fire? Why do we need a game plan when we're coming home from the grocery store? Why do we need to plan out who will put the groceries up, who will take in the dry cleaning and who will walk with dog? It's exhausting just watching them.

I finished my first week of work and it's been interesting. I like the interns and we have a lot of fun in our corner of the office. We have cubicles but they're open, so I'm sitting in a quad with three other girls and I'm looking at them. I'm also looking out the window onto downtown Arlington. In the distance I can see the Capitol and the Washington Monument. I've started writing some of the mailouts and editing one, which is what I'm used to doing so it's not such of a challenge. It's good to be working though, but the work days are so long. By the time 4 p.m. rolls around, after I've been awake since 5:40 a.m., my productivity level drops significantly. I have a calendar with meetings, workshops and activities scheduled for every day. And I wear business professional attire every day. It's just funny.

I have Fridays off though. I think that makes up for everything. I'll and post more often.