MBAs vs Laundry machines

One of the things that I find really different in the US is the approach to doing laundry. In Europe, I’m used to having a laundry machine in my house. And it is common practice for all houses and flats to have its own laundry machine.

For me it’s different to say the least that flats in new buildings that are 8 or more stories high do not have laundry machines inside. Instead, there is a set of laundry machines in one of the stories or in the basement and people go there to do the laundry. Sadly enough, most of these machines are coin operated.

That poses two problems. Firstly, it is costly. Secondly, if you have never seen this system in place and the laundry machines are old, you might be completely clueless when it comes to operate them.

That’s exactly what happened to us in our temporary accommodation. There was a set of machines and they were all coin operated. However, they were very old and there were no instructions. Now imagine being in a foreign country with a limited number of clothes and at some stage, having all of them dirty! I’m sure you’ll understand the case is even worse if I say in Washington it is more than 35 degrees now and humidity is very high!

After many unsuccessful attempts to put them to work, things didn’t seem that bright. As clever Cambridge MBAs we thought we were, we didn’t give up. We tried all different possible combination of coins, all different buttons and still the damn machine wouldn’t start working. After exhausting all possibilities and making use of our recently learnt MBA skills, I’m proud to say we finally found a reasonable solution:

Shelter in place

The World Bank is a very exciting institution to work for. It deals with many interesting projects that will have a huge impact in the community it is addressing. That is what we learnt on the first day of work.

On the second day of work we learnt there are other forms of excitement in the Bank sometimes. We were eating at the canteen when an announcement was made through the speakers: “For security reasons, we are imposing a Shelter-in-Place. No one is allowed to enter or leave the building until this condition is lifted”.

Shelter in place occurs whenever there is a potential threat to the World Bank’s personnel. Despite being locked inside, it seems like no one really cares that much. The World Bank building is so big that it seems like a city by its own right. Apparently, some individual left a suspicious package near the World Bank and the police was investigating. Turns out it was nothing.

I just hope if this happens again, it doesn’t happen by the end of the day. It’s my first time in Washington and I still have lots of sightseeing to do, so I need to get out early from work!

Washington sightseeing

After a very hectic week and finally getting our independence, we were able to relax. And to celebrate that, we went for sightseeing in Washington. We went to most of the hot spots of Washington DC, and when I say hot spots, I really mean it, as it was over 35 ºC degrees all day long!

Washington DC is a very nice city, especially in a sunny day. We got to see the White House, the Capitol, The Treasury, The Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. These are all places I’m used to see on the movies so it was very cool to see them live.

The most striking thing for me is the scale of everything. The streets are amazingly large with four lanes each way and the buildings despite not being very tall are massive!

It’s also new to navigate in a city where the streets have no name. Instead, they are Excel-spread-sheet like: they have numbers for rows and letters for columns. I guess it makes it easier to know exactly where a certain street is.

The day ended with a visit to a shopping mall (guess whose idea was it!). It's amazing how everything looks like it's on sale once you leave the UK! Hurray for the weak dollar!

Boiling Spot

Despite coming from Malaysia, a country bordering on the equator, my (almost) ten years living in the UK have acclimatised me to the cold, constant rain pour and limited sunshine. Like a vampire suddenly coming out of the closet to realise the warmth and optimism of sunshine, I am slowly adjusting back to the heat.

It just so happen that I have arrived in the hottest time of the year! Averaging at 90 degrees, Washington DC is one hot spot right now.

I’ve got a great tan to show off. I’m wearing shades, slippers and shorts, and eating ice cream on a daily basis. Hurray!!

1st Day at the World Bank

After many weeks of waiting, we finally got to start our first day at the World Bank on 1st July. It was an amazing experiencing walking down the streets of DC. As part of a normal journey to work, we would walk past monumental organisations like the White House, UN, American Red Cross, FBI (Yes FBI) and IMF. Every corner is home to leading organisations that have such global impacts.

Bordering H and 18^th Street, we find the World Bank Group Building itself residing in between the IMF and White House.

I was in awe as I stepped into the glass building. Amidst all the high security, we were greeted into the building with an atrium at the centre, fountain and a wall decorated with flags from all nations. A plaque with “A World without Poverty” in platinum silver stood out at the main entrance. We were going to be working in this building and for the Energy Unit Anchor Department, to learn about developing frameworks for ensuring energy security and stimulating investments in energy efficient projects. We were excited!!

Independence Day

After three days of uncertainty we finally got our independence! We found a place to stay and were released from the money-sucking hospitality industry. We didn’t get a definite solution, but were able to stay at a colleague’s house for a week while she is away on a mission (a mission is the World-Bank-posh-way of saying "external assignment"). That will buy us some time to work out a definite solution and give us some peace of mind to focus on our work here.

This was a great relief and the Americans were kind enough to celebrate our independence day with us. They even threw a major fireworks party near the Washington Monument that lasted for more than half an hour.


These Americans are so nice!

Visa rush

By late May we had some great news: we got an internship with the World Bank! That was very exciting but it was only the beginning of a long journey to get the logistics of our journey done. We knew the internship would start on the 1st of July and we wanted to get to Washington beforehand with some time. However, for cost reasons, we booked our flights for Monday, 30th of June. Since we still had an entire month before the flights, we thought that would be more than enough time to sort out the Visas and take care of accommodation.

Well, turns out to get a diplomatic Visa, we need the World Bank to send some forms to the Embassy. After a couple of weeks, our contacts there were kind enough to send the paperwork for us, but the Embassy requires the central HR department to take care of everything.

By this time of the year, the World Bank is packed with requests for Visas and its central services operate in a first come first serve base. To make a long story short, we spent two weeks exchanging emails with the World Bank and the American Embassy in the UK.

The paperwork was only sent on Wednesday, the 28th of June to the American Embassy in London who was already more than sick of us after so many phone calls and email exchanges. It usually takes 48 hours to process a diplomatic Visa, but Thursday for some reason was a public holiday. The stress was huge and we weren’t seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Most likely we would have to reschedule our flights and start the internship later.

Bottom line...we got our Visas Friday afternoon, just the last week day before boarding to Washington DC. What a rush!

Welcome to Washington DC!

We’re finally in Washington DC! It’s hard to believe we made it to Washington DC on time to start our internship by the 1st of July. After the immense journey we went through to get our internships and our VISAS sorted out on time, it feels nice to finally be here.




It all started on the 30th of June when we landed in Dulles International Airport. In this blog we’ll describe our experiences in the United States as interns at the World Bank. And believe me, we've arrived less than a week ago and we already had loads of stories to tell!