By Hannah Gray
As UP junior Katie Scally was dropping a bill off at The Capitol, via an underground shuttle, she ran into John McCain.
"That can be a typical day," Scally said. "You never know who you are going to run into."
Scally is currently in Washington, D.C., not only as a student at American University, but also an intern in California Senator Dianne Feinstein's office.
Scally is taking two four-credit classes and has an internship, which accounts for another four credits. The program is a semester long, according to Scally, who is studying political science and communication studies.
Scally's internship responsibilities include researching issues and writing memos for Feinstein, as well as answering constituent calls. Sometimes the constituents are angry and yell. Scally says she deals with them calmly.
"Every day is a new day," Scally said.
Already, Scally has talked to representatives at Capitol Hill and with campaigners and staffers.
"I was the one person in the group at UP into politics, but everyone is like that here," Scally joked about herself and her friends. "I found home. I found my people."
Jennifer Wascher, the hall director for Corrado, went to Japan in the summer of 2005.
Her trip was through the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme. Wascher helped teach English at a high school in Fuchu-Shi, Japan.
"Travel is a passion of mine, and I wanted to take that to the next level," Wascher said. "Going to Japan was really having to be a fish out of water."
Wascher most importantly notes that the Japanese were friendly and patient with her Japanese speaking skills.
"The Japanese were welcoming but curious," Wascher said.
She had the feeling of being "othered," since she was the white girl in Japan.
Japanese students had the huge stress of "cram school." Essentially, the students would go to school all day and then go to cram school at night, according to Wascher.
"How I understood it, high school was harder than their universities," Wascher said.
Even though the school where she taught had a policy against attending cram school, many students still went. It was something accepted within the culture.
Sometimes student would even fall asleep during class because they would be studying for long hours.
"The biggest issue was students were studying too much," she said.
The students looked forward to their English class because Wascher was a native speaker, which was engaging.
Wascher was also able to travel during the breaks and on weekends, in Japan and abroad.
"Some of the food was a bit of a shocker," Wascher joked. "Sushi in Japan is different. You don't get California rolls."
At one point she even ate raw chicken, which she said was delicious.
Another interesting aspect was the toilets. In Japan, the toilets had a sink connected to the top of it. The water from the sink, after you wash your hands, goes into the toilet as you flush. The sink water then becomes the toilet water. The toilets were sustainable, Wascher said.
"Nothing was shocking, just interesting," Wascher said.
Nicholas Ong, a junior at UP, is currently at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Penn., taking Civil War classes and interning with the Gettysburg National Military Park.
The classes go into more specific topics pertaining to the Civil War, such as Lincoln and civil liberties and women and the war, according to Ong.
The program also requires field experience, in which students look at the various perspectives of the war, how the battle took place and how the terrain affected the battle.
"We look at how it affects the battle because the terrain is a huge part of the military, especially with the Civil War," Ong said. "I love it here."
Ong is interning with Museum Services, working in the archives. Currently, Ong is taking inventory of relics.
"I've seen more bullets than I'll ever want to see again," Ong said.
Ong also came across old poker chips soldiers made out of soft bullets, as well as a chair that was on the platform when Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address.
In September, Ong went to the anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. The rangers at the park led an all day walk along the battlefield, to coincide with the same time of day the battle occurred years ago, according to Ong.
"Pretty much the entire day I had shivers going up my spine," Ong said.
