June 6

I'm at the Library of Congress! Yay! And they actually had my name on the list, too, when I arrived to check in. You never know with my luck… Figuring out the DC public transportation system first thing in the morning without getting run over by cranky and rushed workers was a little stressful, but I managed without any problems and even got to work about 20 minutes early. Most of you who know me at all would be really surprised to hear that I was early to anything!

Intern-related things were pretty unorganized at first, which we were sort of led to believe will be the norm since the Jr. Fellows program was pulled together pretty quickly this summer. Pretty much the first thing we did was head down to get fingerprinted and ID'd. You wouldn't think it would really take that long to take pictures, make ID badges and get fingerprints of approximately 25 students but it did. After the 90 minutes or so that was allotted to that task, only about six of us had both gotten our ID badges and been fingerprinted. Luckily, I was one of them - one less thing to worry about. The new-fangled fingerprinting of 2005 involves putting this Purel-like stuff on your hand and then doing it all via scanning directly to the computer. No dirty hands or anything. Kind of amazing. Do they do that at police stations, now, too, I wonder? My ID badge turned out okay - I remembered to smile (something I did not do for my new driver's license) and it says Library of Congress in big letters so it's pretty much all I could ask for. Also, it says that I'm only there until August 12th, which is a relief because last week they temporarily told us we would be there through the 19th. Anyway, apparently, I have to wear my ID everywhere. And don't think I'm going to take it off once I get back to Syracuse…

After that security stuff, we listened to library personnel give welcome comments. Some former interns told us what a great opportunity was ahead of us - as if we didn't know that already. After lunch, we spent hours doing paperwork. And more paperwork. Oh yeah, and more paperwork. It's pretty crazy how much paperwork we have to fill out for a 10-week position.

Sometime during the day, I found out I was assigned to the Recorded Sound division. Although I knew that was one of the possibilities, there was also the chance I would end up in Motion Pictures and I really wanted to be there. This other intern, Thom, found out who the four Recorded Sound interns were and unwittingly let me know that I was one of them. I seemed to be like the only intern who didn't know exactly which unit I was in for sure... Apparently, that is because others have expertise in their given areas. I, however, know NOTHING about recorded sound. Nothing. So, I'm a little bummed about that. Our two recorded sound supervisors, Nancy and Gene, are both really cool, though. I like them both a lot and am glad I'm working for them, especially after meeting a couple of the other supervisors. The other Recorded Sound intern is this 20-year-old gal, Alexandra, from San Francisco and Brown University. The fourth Recorded Sound intern never showed up for some reason. It was a guy who I know I was just destined to marry and now, because he's chosen not to come to the LOC, I will probably die an old maid. Ha ha. Anyway, despite meeting our supervisors, we didn't really learn much about what we would be doing this summer. Specifically, I mean. Something about copyright and something about CDs. Luckily, tomorrow we don't have to be at work until 9:30 so I don't have to get up quite as early. Setting my alarm for 5:15am goes against every fiber of my being.