My time in Senator Gopal’s office has been very interesting and has constantly kept me on my toes. Even when doing seemingly monotonous tasks such as answering phones or responding to emails, I always feel like I’m getting something out of it whether that is learning more about certain bills on the Senate floor, getting to know constituents, or anything else. Before the internship I was particularly excited to learn about constituent services and how the Office of the Senator dealt with consistent complaints or requests for help. However, as this internship progressed, I have become more interested in the policy side of things and enjoy researching and finding bills over dealing with constituent issues.

There are a few other interns at Senator Gopal’s office on any given day and this has really made everything more comfortable because we can always ask each other questions when we are unsure of things, and it overall makes for a better atmosphere. By having such a nice atmosphere for work, it makes everything more enjoyable and makes the whole office less tense.

Something that I also found very interesting was how the staff of the Senator have to constantly sort through all of the different constituent requests to meet with Senator Gopal, and choose only a few of them. I was also thoroughly surprised by the fact that the Senator only had four full time employees and a few interns working for him as I thought it would be a larger operation.

One of the best things that I have done in the internship so far was sitting in on a webinar about teachers rights and taking notes on it. Not only was this a change of pace from what I am normally doing, but I felt like I learned a lot from the panel of experts, and am interested to see what other webinars I will have a chance to sit in on. I have also been given the chance to go to certain events outside of the work hours, which I never thought would happen. Overall, this internship has been very interesting so far and constantly keeps me on my toes and surprises me.