Audrey Sperling participated in the Illinois in Washington program, where she interned on Capitol Hill and experienced the challenges of the federal government shutdown firsthand. Through the experience, she developed resilience and flexibility while building strong professional and personal connections, strengthening her interest in living and working in Washington, D.C.
My time in DC has been some of the toughest times of my life, but also some of the best. My internship was unfortunately interrupted by the longest government shutdown in United States history. As you may know, interns cannot work on the Hill during a shutdown. This meant for 43 days I should’ve been working; I had to figure out what to do with myself. For the first month of my internship, I fell in love with working on the Hill. I doubted whether the government would actually shutdown, thinking it was just a rumor. Turns out, loving a job and then having to leave it, not by choice, is not easy. The first week was easy, just Spring Break but in the Fall. After that I struggled to figure out how to keep myself busy and not go absolutely crazy. I had two choices in this situation, completely shut down and not leave my room until I went back to work, or “reboot” and find a different way to learn about the DC experience and not go stir-crazy. This shutdown really drew me closer to the girls in IIW. We would constantly try to find free things to do together, because with a shutdown, we were not getting paid. We pushed each other to be social, ensuring we saw each other at least a couple of times a week. I grew to really love my friends I made through the program. They don’t let everyone in for a reason, we all had similar goals and a similar drive. We also, it turns out, had a lot in common and really connected on deep levels.
These friendships really pushed me to learn flexibility. We all had gone through the same thing at the same time and formed close bonds over it. We would constantly remind each other to stay in the loop with things happening on the Hill, stay informed about current events, and get to know DC as a potential future place of residence. I walked a lot and explored the area. A couple of other girls and I started walking dogs around DC to explore and make some extra money. I fell in love with the city and its culture. The people here, both in IIW and not, were people I would like to surround myself with. I realized I thrive in a culture like DC’s, where things are constantly changing and moving.
The shutdown, above all, reinforced lessons of flexibility that I had been learning for the last year. Flexibility, I have heard, is one of the most important skills to have when working for the Federal Government. The shutdown taught me how to “reboot” and redirect my energy into productive uses of time rather than completely shutting down. After coming back to work, the shutdown taught me how to be patient and flexible when assigned tasks. I learned to be even more grateful for the opportunity, which I did not think was possible, and to savor every moment because it really does go by in the blink of an eye. With that all said, Audrey Sperling is logging off as a Congressional Intern, and I couldn’t be sadder about it.
Student Blog Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in student blog posts are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Illinois in Washington Program, the University of Illinois, or its staff and affiliates.