Hi!
On Wednesday morning we arose with the sun, jumped into our Ubers (feeling very busy and important) and rode all the way to Georgetown and Georgetown University. When we arrived we were stunned by the Gothic architecture of Healy Hall and the University, which made us stop for a few beautiful (?) group pictures of us jumping in the air High School Musical-style. However, we soon walked through campus and met up with professor Michael Bailey.
Professor Bailey has the very fancy and long title Colonel William J. Walsh Professor of American Government in the Department of Government and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, and his areas of expertise are congress, the supreme court, separation of powers and federalism.
We sat down in a huge conference room and discussed the political system of the United States as well as the U.S Electoral College and federalism, and how that affected last years presidential election. After a rewarding discussion where we gained insight of the academic way to look at the election, we walked around campus impressed by the beautiful architecture and interior design, acting as if we were American students preparing for finals.
Afterwards, we walked around in the absolutely GORGEOUS neighbourhood of Georgetown, had some coffee, and then the group split up for lunch, museum visits and shopping runs.
At 2:45 PM we all met up again for a meeting with Zachary Abramovitz and Leslie Nuñes at the Department of State. Thrillingly, we had a meeting “off the record” where we amongst many things discussed the relations between Sweden and the United States, public diplomacy, the new administration and what you do when you work at the Department of State.
After the appointment, the group split up once more. The evening was crammed with many interesting sights and events; Christmas tree lightning at the Capitol, an “after work” at le Diplomate, museum visits and Ethiopian food for dinner were some of the things that the Travel Group enjoyed this Wednesday evening.
Looking forward to tomorrow!
Hanna Ladstedt
