I'm just a Bill on Capitol Hill

March Days 24-27

To end my spring break, I went to the great state area of Washington D.C. I attended AAPA's annual Capitol Connection with a group from LMU. Our goal was to lobby to congressmen from our home states to pass bills pertaining to the scope of practice of PA's.

Considering D.C. is 8+ hours away from Harrogate and no one in the group wanted to drive that far after returning from spring break, we decided to take the 'Megabus'. To say the ride was uneventful is ludacris. From rude bus drivers, to uncomfortable seating, it was an experience that will never be forgotten. *more details, if you ask, that might possibly include dramatic hand movements, ghetto talking, and a contorsionist act or 2*

Arriving in D.C. included heaps of walking around, looking like ridiculous tourists trying to find the best Metro route to our hotel. Once we got checked in, with the help of the frontdeskman Roland, we showered and headed out to explore the historic city. We stopped by the Washington and WWII monument, the Capitol, and cherry blossom lane. And of course, we also had to get a picture in front of our LMU homeboy, Lincoln!!!

After a full day of Lobbying 101, we spent an entire day meeting with congressmen and their staff. I was very intimidated but got the hang of it as I went on. I even saw one of my childhood dance friends working in Congressman Hall's office. Small World!

We were even able to snag tickets to a Wizard game [with a complimentary John Wall tshirt, yeah buddy!!], sneak into a lower section of the arena, and enjoy dinner at a local pub in a quaint Virginian downtown strip illuminated with christmas lights.

We megabused it home Tuesday night to spend Wednesday regrouping and realizing how little we had studied for our upcoming Endocrine exam.

Overall the trip was a great success!! I even developed a newfound passion for PA legislation.

xoxokc

P.S. After few days back in Harrogate, I recieved an email from the coordinator of the conference telling me a congressman I lobbyed to officially co-sponsored one of the bills I and another PA proposed to him. HOW COOL!!! If you dont understand the magnitude, imgaine Casey Anthony's lawyer after winning her case. Minus all the killing, psychotic people, and media attention. I guess I really did make a difference on Capitol Hill!