Reunion

What’s up, everyone!  Hope all is well wherever you are.  It is such a wonderful day outside in D.C. today; there isn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature is supposed to get up to 66 degrees today!  I’m sure the San Diegans reading this are laughing at the thought of 66 degrees being beautiful, but hey, it’s as close to beautiful as we can get around here this time of year!

Before I begin, I just wanted to give everyone my March Madness picks for college basketball, because we all know that it’s that time of year again.  Even though my school was absolutely nowhere close to qualifying for this tournament, it’s always exciting to see who ends up on top.  That being said, my Final Four picks will be Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, and Duke, and I have Kansas State and Kentucky in the championship with Kentucky winning the whole thing.  I can’t wait for all the games to start!

So last weekend, my good friend Brandon came into town and we had a chance to hang out and check out all the different sights.  I got the chance to do the tourist thing all over again, which is always nice.  We first made our way over to the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian.  It was a great refresher’s course in biology and a wonderful reminder of how awful I was at it in high school.  All kidding aside, I really enjoyed looking at all of the different exhibits.  Afterwards, we walked all the way to the Lincoln Memorial.  It was just as beautiful of a sight to see as it was the first time that I had visited it.  I’m sure I’ll be going at least one more time and it will probably be equally as beautiful once again.  It’s difficult to put into words just why it’s so beautiful; unfortunately you won’t really get a sense of what I’m talking about unless you’ve actually visited the memorial.  Afterwards we walked from the Memorial over to the World War II Memorial and then to the Washington Monument and physically got up close and touched the monument, which is something that I hadn’t done yet.  What I also learned is that by law, no building in Washington DC can be taller than the Washington Monument, which I thought was very interesting.   

 My buddy Brandon & I in front of the ledge below the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

 The Lincoln Memorial: Take 2

Just recently at NESA, I was given a great opportunity to work with a scholar who specializes in Syrian politics and US-Syrian relations named Dr. Murhaf Jouejati.  He also teaches at the George Washington University here in the D.C. area and teaches courses on Comparative Politics and the politics of Syria and Lebanon.  He attended the confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the upcoming US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford.  Right now, I’m helping him prepare a presentation to high-ranking military officials on the importance of the Arab-Israeli conflict towards restoring peace in the Middle East that he will be giving on Thursday, and I will also be there to assist him during his presentation.  I will be sure to let you know in my next post how that goes, because I’m really looking forward to sharing that with you all. 

I have a very busy rest of the week planned, not only do I have this upcoming talk to attend, but I’ll also be going to Philadelphia this weekend to visit some friends, plus I’m going to get the opportunity to interview a specialist on international trade for my Washington Center portfolio next Monday.  I’ll explain more of what that all entails in next week’s post.  Until then, take care, and hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week.

Peace! 

Speak Up!

It’s going to be really hard to try to top last week’s post, but I’ll try my best. Hopefully everyone is enjoying the sunny weather, I know I am!  If you can believe it, it’s going to be 70 degrees outside today!  Not even you Southern Californians can say that it will get this warm in your area today, so I will definitely enjoy the warmth however long it lasts.

Last week was somewhat slower than recent weeks.  I did, however, get a chance to visit the Library of Congress for the first time so that I could access their database for my research paper for USD.  The main reading room was one of the most beautiful rooms that I had ever seen.  Part of my fascination with the LoC was just because I was not expecting the building and rooms to be more than just a plain, functional building.  It was very difficult to get any work done in that room for the first 15 minutes just because I was in amazement by how beautiful the building looked. I loved it so much I took a picture of it with my cell phone and immediately uploaded it onto my Facebook, which is something I don’t normally do. 

When I look up at my study area this is what I see inside the Main Reading Room at the Library of Congress.  So beautiful!

This past week, I visited Georgetown for the first time.  I had always heard about how beautiful Georgetown was to walk around, but I never had the chance to see it in person.  For those that ever come visit Washington, DC, it’s a great place to just hang out, or perhaps to take your significant other out for a romantic evening on the town.

This apple turnover that I had at Georgetown was so delicious that I had to put this up.  Once spring comes around, I'll have more pictures up of Georgetown once the photo ops present themselves.

Although last week was somewhat slow, this week has started off pretty strong.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a talk at the Cosmos Club on the implications of American national security strategy reform under the Obama administration with the Honorable Kathleen Hicks, who is the current Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Forces.  Among the people who attended were high ranking officials from the UK to Japan to Algeria to Israel.  What I enjoyed most about this discussion was that it was not a diplomatic discussion in which officials would just exchange pleasantries and get around the topic questions without ever saying anything substantive.  The moderator for the discussion made it absolutely clear that he expected everyone to NOT be politically correct so that they can feel comfortable to say whatever is on their minds. This rule in these formal discussions is commonly referred to as the Chatham House Rule.  This is one of many of these discussions that I’ve been to since my time here in DC, and to be perfectly honest, not as many people spoke up they did at some of the others that I’ve attended.  In all fairness, though, the setting and environment was very formal, and I know that if I were one of the participants in this discussion, I would feel less inclined to just spout off on whatever crosses my mind about the topic.

The outside of the exclusive Cosmos Club

Hope everyone is doing well, and I look forward to sharing more of my experiences with you next week.  Until then, take care and hope you enjoy the rest of your week. Peace!

My Trip to Norfolk, VA

Right now, you’re probably looking at the title of this blog post and thinking to yourself “Norfolk?  Really, Cameron?  What is so special about Norfolk?  You could have talked about anything else in the world and it would have been at least twice as interesting.”  Au contraire.  This was in fact one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had in my entire life. It didn’t feel like much of a business trip to be honest, but rather more like a vacation.

We left DC at around 7:30 am on Wednesday morning by bus to Norfolk, and it took us about three hours to get there with one rest stop.  I was tired the entire morning, and to be honest, I had the same feeling about this trip as you probably did when you read this blog post, “Norfolk?  Really?”  But that sentiment went away quickly, especially because the group of military officials that we accompanied was such a great group to spend time with. Of course, I enjoy working with the other interns and staff members at NESA.  We stopped for lunch at a nice Spanish restaurant called “Bodega Tapas”, and the food was absolutely delicious.

One of the perks about going to one of these trips through the NESA Center is that the trips are all-expense paid, and this includes the meals, which are typically very gourmet.  We went to the US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) Headquarters in Norfolk for a briefing on what USJFCOM does and the role that it plays in the transparency of the United States Department of Defense.  What amazed me more than anything is that despite the complex chain of command and all of the different sub-departments that make up our national defense, our national defense system is so strong and transparent.  Now of course, there will always be discrepancies here and there, but by and large the image that USJFCOM presented was that those in the higher rankings of the Army, Navy, and Marines are all on the same page as far as foreign strategic policy goes.  Of course, I understood in theory that the US has the strongest national defense in the world, but I never really had much of a sense of how strong it was beyond statistics and all of that I’ve read in newspapers and magazine articles.  After this briefing, we checked into our hotel rooms quickly before attending dinner.  It was a beautiful hotel room; I had two queen beds and a big-screen HDTV all to myself.  Needless to say I really felt like a VIP!  After we quickly changed our clothes and unpacked, we went down to the Grand Ballroom for the Friendship Dinner, where the participants of the seminar as well as some of the USJFCOM speakers came together to have dinner and chat about life, politics, and anything else that can come up in informal conversations.

Is this a nice hotel, or is this a nice hotel?!

The next day was what blew me away the most.  It started with a briefing at the Air Combat Command, which, to quote the website, is “the primary force provider of combat airpower to America’s warfighting commands”.  Immediately afterwards, we stood 10 feet from an F-22 Raptor fighter jet and got professional pictures taken with them!  This is not your ordinary fighter jet, it is currently the crème de la crème of all fighter jets that are being flown as of right now.  Unfortunately I do not have the picture with me, but the moment I receive it, I’ll put it up on the next blog post.  Afterwards, we had another excellent lunch at Air Combat Command with the speakers and the military officials that were participating in the seminar.  Once we filled up on lunch, we headed over to the Norfolk Naval Base and toured the USS Truman, one of the largest aircraft carriers on the base.   There we received an insider tour of the ship, including a tour of the flight deck and the area where all of the flights coming in and out of the carrier are managed.  In fact, we got to go through the “Captain’s Passageway”, where apparently only official business could be carried out in order to pass through it! I’ve attached many pictures below to show you what I got a chance to see in person.

 The view from the flight deck of the USS Truman

 Inside the Flight Deck 

The Captain's Chair Inside the Flight Deck 

It's okay, captain, I'll take it from here. 

 We got to walk through this passageway!

Standing on one of the runways aboard the USS Truman 

Friday, to be perfectly honest, was the least interesting of the three days.  We went to Yorktown to witness the battlefields that held the American Revolutionary War, and the battlefields were just that, a field where a battle took place.  Other than a couple canons and the Yorktown Victory Statue, there wasn’t all that much to see, but it was nice to get a refresher course on 18th century American history.  Afterwards, we headed to the Prime Outlet Malls in Williamsburg, VA.  The saddest part, however, was when we had to say goodbye to the participants because they were all heading home the next day.  It was especially sad because we had all grown very close after spending so much time with each other.  I definitely will never forget them and the experiences that we’ve all had together.

 

In front of the Yorktown Victory Statue 

I’m not sure what’s in store for next week, but rest assured it will definitely be exciting, so until my next post, take care and hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week.  Peace!!