In the week and a half that I’ve been here, I’ve become accustomed to the hustle and bustle of the city streets. As I commute to work, I pass the men in the hard hats and yellow jackets hard at work, the woman who sits in her lawn chair on the sidewalk day in and day out watching the people pass on their way from their 9-5, the man selling the newspaper at the metro stop yelling good morning to the distracted daily commuters, and the bus that always threatens to run me over if I don’t cross the walkway quickly enough. Although for many people in D.C. this routine is just a part of their everyday, mundane lives, I find myself to be one of the only people smiling as I take in each and every little aspect of my morning commute. As I walk to work, I make a mental promise to myself, that I will never overlook the details and never take my daily commute in the bustling city for granted. As a Midwestern gal, born and raised, I can’t help but want to talk to each individual I pass and ask them about their story, and how they wound up in the city, or if they were raised here their whole lives.

My first week and a half at IREX has been crazy busy, but I have loved every minute of it. Getting to know my team of 25 that I will be working with. A team of 24 strong, independent women, and one very humble man — my supervisor. Everyone that I will be working with this summer has had some sort of experience abroad, and it is so very relieving to be able to work with a group of people that are as worldly minded as myself. Every one of my team members has a story about their experience and how they ended up at IREX, and each team member is so individually unique.

I’ve spent the first week and a half learning about what it is that I will be doing during my summer internship at IREX. My supervisor informed me that in two short weeks 700 young, carefully selected accomplished African leaders will be making their way to the U.S. in order to head to different institutes where they will be learning tangible skills that they will be able to take back with them to their home countries. After their time at these institutes, the young African leaders will head to Washington D.C. for a week long leadership summit with IREX. My job is to help place some of the leaders at different host sites for an additional, extended experience that 70 carefully selected leaders will be partaking in after the summit, and curating guides for the cities that they will be staying in. I will also be helping with some of the planning for the leadership summit that is to happen at the end of July.

This was a lot to take in in just my first week and a half, but I am more than ready for what lays ahead of me this summer, and I am already so excited to meet and be working with the individuals that will be traveling to the United States.

What I’ve learned in the past week and a half is that Washington D.C. is somewhat of an international hub for the United States of America. Walking around, I hear multitudes of languages, some I may not even be able to recognize. I may be biased as an intern at IREX, but it seems that the people here also just have a more international perspective than the inland United States where I was raised. The younger me inside who has always desired to travel and meet many people with unique stories and experiences is all giddy inside as my adventure here in the United States Capitol and IREX begins. Always looking to learn more about the world around me, I can’t wait to see what adventure awaits.