I'm just wrapping up my second week in Washington, D.C., working for Media General, which owns newspapers and television stations primarily in the Southeast. I'm here as an intern with the Washington Center for Politics & Journalism, which chooses 14 students internationally every semester to attend seminars with celebrities of the political and journalism spheres while working full-time for a news bureau.

My bureau is right in the National Press Building. I managed to get a corner office with a door that shuts, a window, a couch and a credenza. I'm not going to aspire to have an arrangement this good in 10 years.

My bureau also bought me a membership to the National Press Club, the most prestigious of its kind in the world. Last Friday I went to a luncheon with Donald Rumsfeld in the club. I'd gone to a breakfast briefing with Ralph Nader the day before.

Allyson Bird, 20, is a third-year print journalism student from Folly Beach, S.C. She is spending this fall in Washington working for Media General News Service, which owns newspapers and broadcast facilities in the Southeast.

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My first assignment was a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda; my story made the front page of The Florence Morning News. Since then, the pace has been slower, and I've been chasing the same story for the majority of this week. But that's Washington, and that's the journalism world: an up-and-down experience you just have to take as it comes. So here's that experience, through the eyes of a Folly Beach girl and third-year print student in the USC J-School.

Sept. 20
After work I went to a discussion with Jim Lehrer from PBS's NewsHour. Marvin Kalb was the moderator. Since my mentor at Media General helped start the Kalb series, he got me into the dinner beforehand. There's nothing like eating a fancy dinner at a table full of media celebrities and then talking about South Carolina beaches with a national political commentator. I sat next to a former New York Times writer who told me this Washington internship would help me decide if I really want to be a journalist, if I really want in. Later we talked about the summer's party conventions, and I told him I'd been at the Boston convention. "Watching or working?" he asked. When I told him I'd been working, he said I must already know I want in.

Sept. 24
Yesterday I went to my first White House press conference, which was a meeting between Bush and the Iraqi prime minister. My editors let me write a first-person color piece, since the experience wasn't at all like what we see on television. Read article>>

Sept. 27
Friday I went to a press breakfast with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She didn't say anything too noteworthy or unexpected, but the breakfast was a good exercise in note-taking while chowing down on scrambled eggs and cheese Danish. more>>

Sept. 29
I'm getting used to the way this internship works. Though my bureau produces stories from Washington for our individual papers much like a wire, it can't compete with the staff and resources of the Associated Press when it comes to breaking news. So, the articles I write have to take on new angles or more analysis. more>>

Oct. 4
When you tell someone you're spending time in Washington, you're first asked what you do and then asked where you live. Since I've been working on a lot of the same articles lately -- and since I think it's unlucky to talk about an unfinished story, I'll tell you a little bit about where I live. more>>

Oct. 6
Today was one of those days I'll remember when I look back on this semester. I started off writing a first draft for a features story and then asked at lunchtime if I could go to a press conference on voter intimidation. I hopped on the Metro and just made it to the Cannon Terrace at the House to see Sen. Hillary Clinton preparing to speak. She was joined at the conference by House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and others. I knew I was in the right place when I saw the guys in black leaning on the bannister with large guns in hand. more>>

Oct. 12:
Not to get off topic, but today was my first day back after a three-day weekend spent at home on Folly Beach in Charleston, and I have to describe the sensation of returning there from Washington. more>>

Oct. 14:
Last night I helped out with Media General's debate coverage. My job was pulling the debate transcript off the Federal News Service Web site as it came in and compiling it. Then, if someone needed a quote or figure, I'd find it in the transcript. It was like the factory work of event coverage, and right at 11 p.m., I was completely finished -- no editing or quote-checking. Just finished. more>>

Oct. 18:
Last night at dinner at Thompson-Markward Hall there were pink printouts on every table. In boldface type were instructions on where to go in the event of an attack and a note that a silk scarf doubles as a gas mask. We were all instructed to check our beside drawers for flashlights. more>>

Oct. 19:
The heart of The Politics & Journalism Semester is the seminar series. Twice a week we hear from professionals over bagels and coffee in a roundtable setting. more>>

Oct. 25:
Friday was a scramble. Thursday I pitched a story for our Florence, S.C., newspaper comparing Bush and Kerry contributions from local donors. Putting together the spreadsheet took hours, but the results were startling -- 238 donors for Bush, and seven for Kerry. more>>

Oct. 27:
I finished up a second presidential campaign donor piece yesterday, this time for our Lynchburg, Va., newspaper. The story wasn't so fun this time. I spent the entire drizzly day calling donors and didn't get one who was willing to go on the record. I took my list home and made more calls until 8 p.m. -- dinner-interrupting telemarketer style. Needless to say, I didn't get the warmest reception from a lot of folks. more>>

Nov. 3:
My bureau was just writing analysis for election night and didn't need me to report. So, not willing to let my Nov. 2 in Washington slip by without filing something, I wrote a story for The Gamecock. more>>

Nov. 5:
For the first time since I've been here, I had a story hit the wire without edits yesterday. I'd written a post-election story about the sought-after youth vote and whether it met expectations. When I checked the news bank, I read my original copy word for word. I wasn't sure whether that made me nervous or proud, but I liked the feeling nonetheless. more>>

Nov. 9:
I ran to the Federal Trade Commission after class for a press conference about its new "Operation Big Fat Lie," an initiative to curb false weight-loss claims. I got to the conference 10 minutes late and then had to wait for an escort to the event. By the time I made it inside, I only caught about seven minutes of the conference. more>>

Nov. 14:
Saturday I grudgingly woke up at 8:30 put on a suit. I spent all day Friday and Saturday at a computer-assisted reporting boot camp put on by the Heritage Foundation. Held at the National Press Club, it was free to members. I figured I had no excuse not to go, seeing as I've essentially escaped class for a semester. more>>

Nov. 18:
I get the feeling Washington likes the holidays. The giant wreaths went up at Union Station yesterday, and all week everyone has seemed to be in a better mood. Maybe people don't like Christmas so much as they like the election being over and Congress preparing to recess for the year, but I like the holiday argument better. more>>

Nov. 19:
I just wrapped up a piece on a new "Price of Freedom: Americans at War" exhibit at the National Museum of American History. more>>

Nov. 23:
I was getting out of the subway in the Capitol this morning and almost ran smack into Sen. Joe Lieberman. I smiled, and he said "Good morning." I felt pretty important until I looked down at the paper in my hand, my reason for being in the Capitol two days before Thanksgiving, with Congress gone: an application for replacement credentials. Who loses their Capitol press badge? Well, I guess I do. more>>

Dec. 2:
At some point during the seven hours I was sitting in Dulles waiting for my plane to take me home for Thanksgiving, I realized how little time I have left in Washington. more>>

Dec. 6:
I wrote a story about the Alabama congressional delegation, which faced no real competition this year. Sen. Richard Shelby has $11 million already in the bank for his next run -- in 2010! more>>

Dec. 7:
Of all the celebrities I've glimpsed this semester, I have a new favorite. Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania groundhog who predicts spring's arrival every year, was awakened from hibernation for a press conference in Washington about the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center. more>>

Dec. 16:
I finish work at Media General tomorrow, and my last class is Tuesday. We had our company holiday lunch Friday afternoon, and we have our class farewell dinner tomorrow. I'm was surprised to learn that my groundhog story held in the top 10 stories on our newsbank all last week. One of our Virginia papers even put it on the front page. more>>

Final Entry:
And it's over like that:
I glimpsed the unicorn. At age 20, I had the rare opportunity to do what professional journalists spend years working toward: I got to work in a Washington new bureau for the national press during an election season. more>>

Check back later for Allyson's next diary entry.

She is a member of the fall class for the Politics & Journalism Semester, a program offered to 13-14 students internationally each semester through the Washington Center for Politics & Journalism. The class attends seminars twice a week with top names in politics and journalism while working full time for their respective news bureaus.

Allyson interned in the features department at Charleston's Post and Courier this summer and blogged the Democratic National Convention as a part of the Wireless Election Connection Team. Her other newspaper experience includes copy editing and writing columns and news for The Gamecock; covering state legislature for the Associated Press; and interning at the Charleston City Paper.