a week in the city (DC, that is)

back in february, i applied for the knauss fellowship in marine policy, run through an office at NOAA call seagrant. i applied through my state office (in california), interviewed there back in march, and found out i was accepted as an executive fellow (as opposed to legislative. means i will work in an agency, rather than for a congressman on the hill) in may.

so i knew that i was a fellow, but not what agency i would be working for. and then last week, all the fellows converged on DC for what is called placement week - basically a very intense, exhausting, but amazing week in which we determine what agency/office we will be working for the next year. this entails presentations from all host offices (43 this year - there are 32 exec fellows), followed by between 11-15 interviews throughout the week, happy hours to "schmooze" (i.e. network) with potential hosts, and then on friday the actual placement process (which is a whole other story in itself).

the dynamic of this week is very different - us fellows are all guaranteed a spot (hooray a job!) and because there are more host offices than there are fellows, so of them won't get a fellow. in interviews, they are interviewing you as much as you are interviewing them. interviews are 30 minutes, which is barely enough time to understand what the office does while simultaneously trying to convince them that you are perfect for that job. for placement, fellows are allowed to call their top 3 on thursday afternoon and by 6:30 on friday, hosts have to rank (as in 1,2,3...) all the fellows they interviewed. it's a bit of a game. and ego-blows are basically guaranteed.

it's a whirlwind of a week and after 15 interviews all over DC, wearing a suit and heels everyday, lots of talking and chatting and in general being "on" from 6am-10pm everyday, i have been "placed" in the NOAA Fisheries (a.k.a. NMFS) Office of International Affairs. i am absolutely psyched and excited about this - it was one of my top choices and sounds like a great office to be in. i will be working on a lot of issues - international agreements, trying to manage international fisheries, illegal fishing on the high seas, working to reduce bycatch (unwanted catch) in fisheries, all sorts of fun things! if you are curious, here's their website for more information: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/index.htm

basically, it's going to be awesome.

thanks to all my family, friends, cohorts, etc. etc. that have been so supportive throughout all of this. it is amazing to reflect on the last year and how i got to be here. if you had asked me one year ago if i thought i would be moving to DC to work on ocean policy, i would have thought you were insane ... and now here i am.

for now i am recovering from the craziness on my parents' couch in boston and will head back down to baja after thanksgiving until mid-december, when i head back up to the states (tucson) for christmas. and then out to DC in mid-january for my start date 1 february :)