Anika's State of the Union: Debriefed

It took me an entire day to recover from the craziness that was the president’s annual State of the Union address Tuesday night.

My fellow Capital News Service interns and I convened at our D.C. bureau to discuss logistics with our bureau chief before going forth to the Capitol. We made the trek over and somehow found our way to the House Press Gallery to pick up our standing room tickets for the press box, occasionally getting lost in our endeavors. Also, Paul Ryan passed us two different times in the hallways (unique brush with fame).

We had a long wait time until the speech, considering we got to the Capitol at 3:30ish and the speech wasn’t scheduled to start until 9 p.m. Thankfully, us interns found our way to a little cafeteria, where we talked and I started listening to Serial (more on that in another blog post).

From L to R: The House Press Gallery pre-SOTU, my press badge and ticket to the SOTU, Statuary Hall pre-SOTU, Sen. Ben Cardin giving remarks after the SOTU

The time finally came to go back to the press gallery and anxiously await the doors opening. I quickly learned that you’re not supposed to clap if you’re the press (oops), but I clapped and cheered on the inside because I was so excited that I was there in the first place. The fact that I was in the same room as Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama (and many, many other incredibly impressive people) was awe-inspiring.

I live tweeted the speech and then left early to set up shop at Statuary Hall. I got in my interview with Sen. Ben Cardin, headed back to the press gallery, and frantically wrote down quotes to get everything in by deadline.

I truly felt like a real journalist.

xox