Fancy Parties: DC

There is a downside to attending the pre-orientation trip: I arrived exhausted, with a sore throat, and with my brain fried from constant intellectually demanding conversations. What I didn't anticipate was the intensity that would ensue for the next week.  While the orientation was packed with interesting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities (like hearing a hilarious and insightful talk from David Rennie, editor of the Lexington Column in the Economist), I was totally and completely drained by the end.

The first day involved hearing several talks from people involved in the Association of Marshall Scholars about their experience and their advice to us.  Later we had a quiz night about British history.  Unfortunately I am absolutely terrible at trivia.  For whatever reason, random recall is not my strong suit.  When the question about architecture came up, the whole room turned to me.  I pretended I knew the answer but quietly explained to my team that I had no idea what the answer was. My team was in last place until the end when we tied with about 4 others after wagering everything on the final question: What was the original name of the Marshall Plan? Embarrassingly, almost no one got it right.  I guess we're lucky we had already gone through interviews!

The next day we went to the State Department and had talks with different Marshall Scholars that were working there, including the acting legal adviser for the entire State Department.  The conversations were a little constrained and formal because of confidentiality and the sensitivity of some of the topics we were probing (such as the crises in Ukraine and Syria) and because we were all wearing suits.  By this point I had a slight cough but I was still able to hold it together.  Soon this would not be the case.

In the afternoon we heard David Rennie, an Embassy Counselor, and a panel of Marshall Scholars that directed a policy-making workshop.  My group covered what goals the US and UK should have as leaders in development.  Our answer was basically that the US should try to distance itself from judging political organizational structures in order to collaborate and prevent redundancy in international development actors (China, for example, is very active but gives aid to governments that the US considers corrupt).  We also said we should promote using specific instead of rigid models to make more effective policy and that we should strive to make long term goals that aren't dependent on election cycles (the majority of aid projects have 3 year timelines because politicians want to be able to use the results).

In the late afternoon, we walked over to the Embassy and attended a swanky reception in a gorgeous mansion. We were then taken out to dinner in small groups.  Our host was very friendly and fun and we spent the evening getting advice and chatting.

The hall leading to the reception

Paintings in the fancy house

Later in the evening I met up with Alex Jacobsen, who happened to live near to the hotel where we were staying.  By this point, I was fully sick.  My hacking cough had developed, and soon it would define the rest of orientation.  I felt bad for my roommate, Shama, because I seriously doubt if he could sleep through my coughing bouts and wheezy gasps for air through the night.

The next morning we toured the White House and had a brief meeting at the Ambassador's residence before heading to the airport.  My favorite part was walking by the window that looks toward the Jefferson Monument and knowing that it was Abraham Lincoln's favorite place to reflect during his Presidency. At the airport, fatigue and sleep deprivation were setting in...I bought a pack of cough drops and got ready for a rough night.