So for the first time in the almost week I’ve been here, I was actually glad to have started at the crack of dawn. At approximately 5:15 in the evening tonight, a small “gunfight” took place very near the Capitol. At approximately 3:45 that same evening, we were loading our busses to return home from a long day of touring, you guessed it, the Capitol.
When breaking news “breaks”, people tend to not know very much about it in the first hour of its life. Reporters are trying to gather as much information as they can as fast as they can, and we the people are trying to comprehend it as fast as we can. The dominating question being passed around in the dining hall tonight was “Oh my God, did you hear what happened? There was a shooting at the Capitol!” This caused quite a stir. All of a sudden parents were calling, everyone was on their mobiles checking the news, and perhaps the most significant, no one was much interested in the cafeteria food anymore. Go figure. As the night wore on however, we were informed of the facts. You know, the actual facts. You can read the short editorial here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532880,00.html
But our day was a relatively normal one; searing heat waves, blistered ankles, falling asleep during the lectures, making fun of a certain leader’s innapropriate dress, and you know, the occassional shooting. The usual. The big excitement came from the meeting with NBC’s Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd, who just returned from the president’s paparazzi entourage.
Not only will we get to sleep in an hour extra tomorrow morning, but we also have just been told that will will have the opportunity to conduct a real press conference with, get this, the Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. And we’re soo important, he’s coming to us.
I imagine there will be some much more interesting news tomorrow. Because, I’ll be honest with you, today was boring.