My class is definitely spoiled. During our second week we were told that the schedule would be changed on Thursday. When we got to class Thursday we were told to take ourselves to the buses to go to Main State because THE SECRETARY requested our presence....We got to State and went up the elevators to the Diplomatic Rooms....WOW...pretty darn posh!!! I was so busy gawking that I got a seat in the back...not a problem since it was not a huge room. We waited nervously and chatted and then the music started....and kept going...and going...we waited for a good hour or two...but then...Condoleeza Rice and George and Laura Bush came in...We watched Condi give awards to Laura and George...George calling Condi like a little sister...for one award a whole crapload of impressive ambassadors (really they are ALL impressive) were in the room, I really need to get better at knowing who the bigwigs are (at least I know when the President or Secretary are in front of me!)....then we watched President Bush give the Presidential Medal of Peace to Ryan Crocker....Bush shook hands with many of my classmates who were up front and some made it into the Washington Post picture the next day...pretty cool...I went to the bathroom twice so I could check out the rooms a bit...I went past the desk on which the Treaty of Paris was signed which had the Treaty of Paris sitting on top of it!...I had a five minute internal debate as I thought about stealing one of the hand towels, the fancy napkins people put out now had the presidential seal on it....I didn't do it but later found out that a classmate did!!! Maybe when I am back for the swearing-in...so excited to have my mom there!....
Then we went back to State and had Ambassador John D. Negroponte (then Deputy Secretary of State) talk to us...WOW...finally our class mentor Ambassador Thomas Robertson...what a DAY!!!
THIS Thursday we again were at main State....and Bill Burns, Undersecretary for Political Affairs (the P, at State those high up have only one letter to describe them, Bill Burns is the highest ranking career FSO, fourth in command) spoke to us...then hosted a reception full of high ups...and during that reception in the Treaty Room (so beautiful, the floor is so cool and it is interesting to note how the various secretaries in the paintings had posed and of course to see what books are on the bookshelves) the doors opened up and HILLARY walked in...I swear she glowed...I was pretty close but felt it would be rude to just walk right away from the bigwig I was talking to...luckily he said you need to go over there, go...so I started to do so but there are a lot of, well let's say type A people in my class who pushed their way in front of me, literally, and then wouldn't move out of the way after shaking hands...so I got really close to a handshake but wasn't pushy enough to actually get one...but I was about a foot from her...she is beautiful, much more so than I expected. She talked about smart power being rooted in smart people, said she had looked over our resumes and thanked us all for joining. It was AWESOME!!!!
and no, not every class gets all these brushes during A-100. we just RULE!!!!
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