Happy hours, sizzling heat and eight friends packed into a house. Those are the first memories that come to mind when I think about my summer. Like the rest of the rising seniors not in New York, I was interning in D.C.
My friends and I had paid the deposit for our Georgetown house well before any of us had scored an internship. I guess that shows what our priorities were going into the summer--work was not high on the list.
And I think we all knew that once senior year started it would be time to start thinking about that scary, looming emptiness ahead called "The Future." These three months would be our last big rebellion against growing up.
The house became a weekend hotel, with people sleeping on just about any empty space they could find. Our kitchen shelves were filled with not much more than Easy Mac and beer.
But, amidst all of the revelry, we ended up devoting much of our energy to our jobs and enjoying them more than we ever thought we would. I guess, even in the summer months, the Duke motto, "work hard, play hard," rings true.
Twenty thousand interns descend upon the nation's capital each summer and a few lucky ones are able to find lucrative jobs. Most of us, however, weren't making a penny at our internships and we were forced to become creative with packed lunches and long walks to work to save money.
My "employer," the Department of Justice, gave me the simple explanation that when you work for the government you are compensated with a priceless experience. And somehow, they were right.
At my internship with the U.S. Attorney's Office, a branch of the justice department, I was randomly assigned to work with federal prosecutors from the major crimes division. This meant that I spent a lot of time researching homicide cases and feeling like I was on an episode of The Practice.
The first shocking weeks filled with morgues and crime scenes made me look over my shoulder more frequently than I ever had before. I began to regret my choice of internship.
Instead of meeting the "good citizens" running the country from the capital, it looked like my summer was going to be split between the superior court and the jail.
But little did I know I really was working with some of the best people in D.C. The underpaid, overworked attorneys were eager to teach me how I could help them. I helped interview witnesses, wrote trial motions and even got to put my Spanish major to use.
It seemed like all of the attorneys were determined to make sure that I had a valuable experience. In addition to giving me assignments, they got to know me on a personal level.
By the end of the summer, they relied on me to do the work of the professionals they didn't have the money to hire. And I wasn't alone. The U.S. Attorney's Office takes on 90 interns each summer and it wouldn't be able to operate without them.
Almost all of my housemates had rewarding experiences working everywhere from the United Nations Information Center to Capitol Hill. We left work each day with countless on-the-job stories to tell at happy hour.
The best advice I can give the next class of "Duke in D.C." summer interns is to find out as much about your job as you can in advance. You may think that your final college summer is supposed to be just one big party, but an internship can be one of the most valuable additions to your college education. It was for me.
Oh, and it's never to early to start looking for a great house n Georgetown.
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