Well, I made it to Seattle!! It was my first time flying by myself and I didn’t miss any flights or lose any luggage. I’d say that’s a success! As I was flying into Seattle, the pilot pointed out that we were passing Mt. Rainier. I must say, it is absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, I was not in a window seat, so I could not get a picture of it.
On Saturday, I had my first space needle sighting! It was very exciting. Between that and Mt. Rainier, I’m officially in Seattle!!
On Saturday, I had my first space needle sighting! It was very exciting. Between that and Mt. Rainier, I’m officially in Seattle!!
The first Space Needle sighting occurred on a bus headed to Seattle’s International District (aka Chinatown). I have never been to a Chinatown before, or at least not that I can recall, so it was fun and interesting to see and walk around and see the culture. To show us around, we had a tour from a guide from the Wing Luke Asian museum located in the International District.
To end the day, a group of us went to Seattle’s Summer Solstice festival. We ended up getting there more towards the end of the festival than we had realized – so much for taking advantage of the extra daylight, am I right? – but it was still fun to see something unique to Seattle! We found a street full of cool cars – and you can actually buy some of them! My next car perhaps?? I’ll show you some of my options:
To end the day, a group of us went to Seattle’s Summer Solstice festival. We ended up getting there more towards the end of the festival than we had realized – so much for taking advantage of the extra daylight, am I right? – but it was still fun to see something unique to Seattle! We found a street full of cool cars – and you can actually buy some of them! My next car perhaps?? I’ll show you some of my options:
Once the week started to get underway, we all started to get our routines established. With that, the first week of work has gone well! I really like my community partner placement at Seattle Works and the people there are all great. There is also another intern (from Central Washington University) working with me this summer, so we had a day of orientation on Monday and then started our separate projects for the rest of the week. The office is a tiny windowless room, but so long as we’re getting our work done, they encourage us to take breaks outside, which is great! Especially since we’re very close to a Trader Joe’s, which by the way has killer dark chocolate peanut butter cups. Discovering those has been very dangerous.
DukeEngage also had a couple of events for us this week. On Tuesday we got to meet our Duke alumni partners. The event was held at Escala (fun fact: that is where 50 Shades of Grey takes place). Anywho, we all got to catch up with each other on our first days of work as well as meet the alumni partners. They were all very eager to meet us, interested in what we’re doing with our community partners here in Seattle, excited to hear about our time at Duke, and help us acclimate to Seattle.
On Thursday, I went with my supervisor to the Boys and Girls Club of America in Rainier Valley, which was very interesting. The reason we went was because the state department was hosting a few ambassadors’ wives on a trip to Seattle. While we were there, I learned a lot about that particular Boys and Girls Club, as well as the national Boys and Girls Club network as a whole. I also got to see how vital clubs like that are to a community as the kids were telling of their experience going to the club and the friendships that they have built there. Some kids practiced their public speaking and presentation skills by presenting a short powerpoint about themselves. During these, many of them noted how they look forward to going to the club after school because of the freedom of choices of what they can do each day. Additionally, the club offers academic support, which fuels many of these kids’ dreams to attend college to become all kinds of things from a pilot to a lawyer.
I must say, though, that my personal highlight from this event was getting this box of MnM’s. Who knew that the President has his own MnM’s made? This might be the only box of MnM’s I’ll never eat.
DukeEngage also had a couple of events for us this week. On Tuesday we got to meet our Duke alumni partners. The event was held at Escala (fun fact: that is where 50 Shades of Grey takes place). Anywho, we all got to catch up with each other on our first days of work as well as meet the alumni partners. They were all very eager to meet us, interested in what we’re doing with our community partners here in Seattle, excited to hear about our time at Duke, and help us acclimate to Seattle.
On Thursday, I went with my supervisor to the Boys and Girls Club of America in Rainier Valley, which was very interesting. The reason we went was because the state department was hosting a few ambassadors’ wives on a trip to Seattle. While we were there, I learned a lot about that particular Boys and Girls Club, as well as the national Boys and Girls Club network as a whole. I also got to see how vital clubs like that are to a community as the kids were telling of their experience going to the club and the friendships that they have built there. Some kids practiced their public speaking and presentation skills by presenting a short powerpoint about themselves. During these, many of them noted how they look forward to going to the club after school because of the freedom of choices of what they can do each day. Additionally, the club offers academic support, which fuels many of these kids’ dreams to attend college to become all kinds of things from a pilot to a lawyer.
I must say, though, that my personal highlight from this event was getting this box of MnM’s. Who knew that the President has his own MnM’s made? This might be the only box of MnM’s I’ll never eat.
Martha Dawson
Duke Student '16
Duke Student '16