Throughout these closing weeks of my summer in DC, I have found that it is getting easier to lose focus. As the uncertainty of what comes next looms large ahead of me, I find myself seeking distraction to keep apprehensive feelings at bay. Luckily, CAPS has provided me with opportunities to reflect, and this has helped bring me back to focus. A reflect-in here, a email thread with our CAPS director Katie there, and I find big questions again being brought to the forefront of my mind.
Sometimes, when reflecting, it is easy for me to see the negative things. For example, I think that if I had been more organized, I would have done a great deal more of job searching earlier in the summer. At the same time, I think about how I wanted to try to dive into DC head-on as much as possible. Looking back, I think there were weeks where I did a great job of this. Other weeks, I was tired, or lazy, or just did not plan ahead well enough to do all that I wanted to do.
But I try to give myself some credit. DC was a huge change of pace for me, a completely different living and working experience than I had ever had before. I am happy for the things I did well, and I am trying to learn from the things I would like to do better. I already look back on the nights I stayed in or the weekends where I spent most of the day fretting over what to do instead of actually doing, and I somewhat disappointed. I wish that I had planned better, or had gone to bed earlier the night before so I wasn’t so tired after work, or had not worried so much about what something was going to cost. But I also remember going to the monuments, and museums, and jazz festivals, and happy hours, and networking events, and I am very happy that I chose to spend my summer in DC, despite how new and challenging it might have been.
The most helpful aid to experiencing DC to the fullest was my CAPS cohort. They gave me a community to be a part of outside of work that made DC seem much less imposing. Some of my greatest experiences in DC came out of time with the cohort. And it was not so much that I did not have to go do something alone (although this was quite nice). Rather, it was that I had people to share the experience with that made these adventures great. I cherish CAPS for providing me with a community of great people during my stay here, and I hope that wherever I go next, I can find a great community that I can take part in.
As I look forward to my future after CAPS, I am somewhat overwhelmed by the possibilities that seem open to me. I have tried my best while in DC to network with different people and to learn about the possibilities for a professional life here. And although I have found that there are plenty of unique and interesting fields of work in DC, my heart is not set on it completely. I still have a mind to go even further and explore opportunities to work abroad. I have started wrapping up networking and ramping up applications. I hope that whatever I do and wherever I go, it will be enriching and informing as my CAPS Fellowship has been!
