Erin Miller

After finishing up my semester of school and work at Columbia, I spent a week in Denver and Boulder enjoying the company of my family and boyfriend before heading west on the Oregon Trail with my best friend and driving companion, Rachel. Seattle welcomed us with open arms and sunny skies when we arrived the Saturday of Memorial weekend. The incredible hospitality of one of Dan’s friend’s, Steve, who offered me a place to crash for the summer, also helped give the city a friendly feeling. I was impressed by how much I liked the city — surrounded by mountains and water, Seattle is a nice-sized city, but cleaner, cheaper and more manageable than the big apple. Steve took us on a whirlwind tour — hitting all the best views, the space needle, the market, the first Starbucks, and a number of local bars and restaurants, all before dinnertime on our first full day in the city.
After a few days to settle in, I started my internship at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). I am surrounded by fun and intelligent staff and fellow interns, and when we get bored of each other we call up someone like the president of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors or the director of community health for Georgia and talk to them about the preventive services available through Medicaid — analyzing the availability of these services will be my primary project for the summer. Secondarily, I will be working on a request from a congressperson regarding the availability of dental services under Medicaid, triggered by the death of a 12 year old boy in Maryland when an abscessed tooth became infected and the infection spread to his brain. We are currently working on scoping and creating methodologies for the projects and I have been working on some background research. So far, the internship has proven challenging and rewarding.
Guessing correctly that after my past nine months in Manhattan, a 40-ish hour work week would seem like a piece of cake, I came into the summer with brilliant plans of working on some hobbies of interest — writing, yoga, rock climbing, and cooking specifically. However, I find it difficult to focus on these pursuits between the hours devoted to interns’ quest to experience all the best of Seattle’s happy hours. Living out of a suitcase for 10 to 12 weeks lends one a certain sense of freedom. In an effort to create some balance, I have spent time the last two weekends hiking around Seattle. My mom came out this weekend to get a sense of the shape of my summer. She joined us on an evening of happy hours and she and I spent a wonderful day hiking along some beaches and enjoying a terrific seafood dinner.
While the first weekend was sunny, the sun disappeared for about two weeks shortly after I started work. A local newspaper headline ran, “Colder than Siberia.” I strain to see the humorous side of this small tragedy. However, the sun returned this weekend and it is begging me to go outside and enjoy it so it is probably time to put down my computer.

Dan and I hiking in Boulder

Rachel, Steve, and I in downtown Seattle

Rachel and I in front of the city

And by popular demand…my amazing mother