Meanwhile, Daniel was working his way up in Finance. He started as an entry level intern and did really basic stuff. They soon saw that he was really smart and sharp and brought him up to work on a special team which calculated how much each donor had donated towards the campaign so far and how much they were still able to donate within the federal limits. He did that with a few guys for a few months and was brought up again to work with a group of people who were all paid staff. We were frustrated because he was doing the same stuff as employees but he was still unpaid. We found out the finance department had reached their limit of how many people they were able to pay. Daniel met with a lot of people and the end result was that they agreed Daniel could claim the experience as a job, even though he was unpaid. They really did want to pay him because he had learned to do stuff that no one else on the campaign dealt with so he really was sought after. He was offered a position in another department and he told them he would take it. We then found out that the person he would be replacing did not end up getting fired because his dad was a big donor and they didn't want to start problems so once again our hopes were crushed. We were running out of money very quickly and finding out Daniel would have no income at any point was very hard to accept. We were really happy about him being able to call the internship a job because we knew the experience would be worth it based off of that alone. He had many people who would vouch for his work and that made it worth it.
When we were deciding whether to go home after the month, or stay for the whole campaign, Daniel's parents told us they thought we should stay for sure. We told them we were not sure if we would be able to make money while we were there so we would run out if we did not get paid eventually. They said they would help us out because they did not want us coming home and not taking advantage of the opportunity because of financial reasons. So going back to the story, we did pretty well on money because we were very frugal, but two weeks before we left to go home we did run out. They covered the rest of the time we were there for us but it was frustrating not being able to make our own money and support ourselves because we were working SO HARD.
While all of that was going on, I was able to switch departments in the campaign. I was in Operations from my first day, July 25th, to September 3rd. I was able to switch into the area that I really wanted to be which was communications. My first day of communications was very overwhelming and I thought about going back to the comfort of Ops where I was the one explaining the procedures to everyone else. The ops group chatted while we worked and we grew pretty close. In comms, no one really talked to me my first day. I had to teach myself a bunch of things I had never done and it was really boring stuff. I got the hang of it and met some friends and started to like it. I wrote op-eds, blog posts, vetted about a billion people, ran errands for Kelsey (the one in charge of my group), and helped desk coordinators with their emails. I also got to answer the phone when big time press called and I told them about upcoming events and put them on our press email group, and told them about the press release information. It was a great resume builder and good experience for my major.
These Romney posts are the most scattered and unorganized posts EVER so I apologize. Random memories are flying into my head and I do not want to forget them so I write them as they come.
Going back to when I started the internship... my first week in Ops I met a girl named Aditi. We got along instantly and I really liked talking with her because we had so much in common. She is from Southern California, she loves Mexican food, and her favorite things to do are run and eat chocolate chip cookies. We started going on cookie breaks together and we would hang out all the time. When her work was slow, she would come to my office area and when mine was, I would go over to her desk. Daniel was in the other building than I was so I couldn't visit him unless I was delivering mail to him or on our way back from a cookie break. Aditi was Mitt's personal assistant so her work was AWESOME. She would go to his house and get his mail, do his dry cleaning, order his clothes online, pick up Anne's clothes from the mall that she special ordered, do their grocery shopping, get him new shoes, get his watch fixed, plan his vacation for Christmas break and so forth. You get the point. Well, because Aditi and I were best friends, I would go with her pretty much every day. When she did his bills and the boring stuff I would get all of my work done so when she had to run the errands I would go along and help her. We became super close because his house was 30 minutes from headquarters and we would just talk and laugh and learn all about each other's lives. She made the campaign fly by for me because we always had a good time together. When I switched to comms it was a lot harder to be able to go on the errands but she would always still come by and catch up. I was down on the first floor so it was not as convenient as when I was in Ops on the 3rd floor right by her desk. We are still great friends and we txt here and there. I hope we always stay close.
There is soooooo much more about the campaign that I want to write but there is so much I do not really want to go into because it isn't important. I will write one more post about the campaign next week so hopefully I remember all the good stuff. One thing I want to mention is how we had a day trip group. Stephen was a finance buddy of Daniel's who we grew to love... he is the one who pulled Daniel up and kept trying to get him paid. We would go with him and his roommates and Evan who was another finance guy. We went first to Martha's Vineyard, then Nantucket (where we got to work a Romney event but we made a weekend out of it) and to Maine. The trips were all so fun and even though I was the only girl, it was awesome because they were all so nice and respectful to me.
We drove to the cape and took a ferry to Martha's Vineyard. There, we ate some tasty burgers then rented bikes and rode 10 miles to a cool beach and hung out there and went in the water. We then rode 10 miles back to the port area and went to a yummy place for dinner and then went to a local ice cream shop. We would always find our food places by asking locals their favorite. That worked out well because the food we ate was amazing and the ice cream was THE BEST EVER. We all gave Stephen a hard time for getting the normal size as we all got the massive one and Stephen and Daniel were the only ones to finish. Daniel regretted finishing because he was so full and Joe and I felt so incredibly sick that we wished we got the small one. All in all it was awesome. We left in the morning and got back at night so it was quite eventful and tiring. That trip was Daniel, me, Stephen, and Joe.
We made a weekend out of Nantucket because we wanted to be able to spend some time there and we also spent a day working the Romney event. We got off the Ferry and got lunch. Then we got ice cream at a pretty yummy place and walked to the beach. We sat and hung out there for a bit. Then we walked back and caught a ride from a Taxi to the house where the event was. The house was unreal and it was just a vacation home for the owner. We got all ready and worked the event. Daniel and I got a picture with Romney and he spoke to the group. He thanked us volunteers for our work and we talked to him for a little bit. The experience was awesome. It was so cool to be able to be there because we would never be able to go to an event like that in our lives if we had not been volunteering. You had to donate 50,000 to attend. We ate oysters and crazy expensive random stuff and got to enjoy the party. We couldn't get ahold of the donor we were planning on staying with so the home-owner offered for us to stay in his guest house. It was a three story mansion so we reluctantly (but thrilled inside) agreed. We stayed up playing catch phrase and then went to bed. The next morning we went to this little breakfast cafe that was UNREAL. The food made me want to cry because it was so tasty. We then boarded the ferry and headed back. We played catch phrase the whole way back. That trip was Daniel, me, Stephen, Evan, and Stephen's Roomate (don't remember his name).
Last day-trip was to Kennebunkport Maine. This group was Daniel, me, Stephen, Joe and Evan. Right when we got there we stopped for world famous Lobster Rolls. I did not eat one. Then we went and walked around for a little bit and I got food. Then we drove to George Bush Senior's house and walked on the beach (rocks). Everyone but Daniel and I jumped in the freezing water. Then we went and walked all around the Quaint little town of Kennebunkport. (Inside joke from all of our daytrips. The guys couldn't call the towns we passed through "cute" so they said quaint was the guy version. Then we called everything quaint like the kids we passed or the girls they thought were hot and so forth.) We of course had to stop for ice cream and we found the local's favorite place. It was amazing as usual. Then we drove to a cool beach and played football. Daniel threw a log at a seagull and it actually hit it. We were all so shocked and it nailed the bird so we all burst out laughing. Once it started to get dark we headed home. The whole way back we told riddles.
The day trips were awesome and we wanted to do a lot more but the campaign got so busy and we had not time on weekends. Daniel had never been back east before we got to Boston so I was really glad we got to explore together quite a bit.
There will be more to come but some fun memories I do not want to forget are:
- The amazing Italian Food
- Pauli's for Lunch
- The cool old buildings
- Harvard Square and the food around there
- Qdoba
- Yummy pastries
- Mafia members hanging out
- Amazing authentic Italian pizza: Ernesto's and Regina's
- I will think of more later. Haha
Jaws Beach
Jaws Beach in Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Famous Lobster Roll Shack
Cute little beach cottages
Cool little tide pools
Joe
Our Buddy Stephen
We like SD beaches MUCH more
Jumping into the water by George Bush's house!
The Restaurant in Maine
They jumped in the cold water in Maine!
Eating dinner in Maine
Nantucket Beach
Cool roads in Nantucket
We were all a bit tired on the Ferry
Nantucket!
Ferry ride to Nantucket
Romney Event in Nantucket
Cool Seaweed in Nantucket
Random storms ALL the time.
Quaint Little Nantucket!
First few months of marriage were always an adventure!
Maine
On our way to Work
Woke up from a Nap and who knows
Early morning walking to the T... (T is the subway. We lived a mile from the closest stop and we always ended up running so we didn't miss it.)
Romney event in New Hampshire
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