Day five was sure different from the rest! First of all, Ivan and I were assigned to work together at the NCDOT (North Carolina Department of Transportation) on this day, as Mondays are slow around the legislative office. This is because technically, our NC Senate and House operate part-time, so the first time they come in on Mondays is around 6 or 7 pm! Wow, it would sure be awesome to have that same system at CA…. oh well.
We first started our day at 10am, which was a plus from the get-go. We then met with one of our two hosts, Deans Eatman. He is a youngblood in his department, as he is only 23 and he absolutely refuses to be referred to as “Sir”. He also doesn’t wear socks, which Ivan found quite strange. We spent a while in his office, asking questions about the department, the budget, and all sorts of other juicy gossip of that nature. Deans then declared that he was hungry, as he hadn’t eaten breakfast, and off to our first meal we went! Ivan got just apple juice, I got just iced coffee, and Deans got a nice biscuit.
After our lovely repose in the coffee shop, Ivan and I sat down with Mrs. Joy Hicks for the first time. Her job is quite numbers heavy, and some of the terms she threw around (expenditure, contractionary, fiscal, discretionary) made me glad that I took Econ with RJ! We spoke for about an hour, and then we all went out to lunch!
After lunch, Deans took Ivan and I over to the LOB (Legislative Office Building), where there were a couple protests going on within the building. Quite a few brave citizens took to the office of their representatives to exercise their first amendment rights, and by the noise level, most definitely their loudest voices too.
All in all, it was a very interesting and rewarding day! I enjoyed spending time with our new friends over at the DOT, and of course also with Ivan.
