Though two of Connecticut’s lawmakers traveled abroad, most put district events at the top of their lists for the recess, which began April 12.

Trying to deal with all the state issues that need attention in only a two-week recess can be a daunting task.

On Thursday alone, Sen. Christopher Dodd met with students at a Bridgeport high school, held a news conference for police officers at the New Haven FBI building, spoke at a Habitat for Humanity luncheon and attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new office of a Hispanic community newspaper in Hartford.

“He’s had a really busy week,” said his press secretary.

Rep. Nancy L. Johnson spent her time holding town hall meetings, speaking with representatives of community groups and visiting schools, hospices, and state facilities in Waterbury, Danbury and New Britain.

“Nancy feels it’s very important to meet with constituents in open forums as much as possible,” said press secretary Brian Schubert.

After a trip to Portland, Ore., to discuss urban planning with Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rep. Rosa DeLauro also has been home, meeting with constituents and preparing to open a new office in Derby.

Rep. John B. Larson has spent most of the time involved in forums with police, fire, and emergency medical officials in the district to discuss emergency response needs and sources of federal funding.

While some of Connecticut’s legislators returned home, others had work that took them across the country and overseas.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, running for president in 2004, split his time between Connecticut and campaigning. On April 11, he was in Iowa, Connecticut on April 12, South Carolina on the 13th and Illinois on the 14th, said Jano Cabrera, his campaign press secretary. He returned home to celebrate Passover with his family, Cabrera said, and then he was off again, that time to New Hampshire.

Reps. Robert R. Simmons and Christopher Shays went even farther afield.

Simmons left for Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 20, to work with a task force whose goal is recovering the remains of American soldiers who have been missing since the Vietnam War. In his online trip journal, Simmons said he was looking for Army Capt. Arnold Holm of Waterford, a helicopter pilot missing since 1972.

Shays has been in the Middle East since April 12. He was invited to Kuwait by the Islamic Institute to speak at a conference on democracy and free markets in the Middle East. From Kuwait, Shays traveled to Israel and Jordan, and to Iraq with the relief organization Save the Children.

Shays’ chief of staff, Betsy Hawkings, said that the congressman made a public commitment to travel to Israel early this year at the behest of constituents at a town hall meeting who urged him to seen the results of the Israel-Palestine conflict firsthand. War with Iraq made the Middle East visit even more important.

Shays believes “the most important work that we have to do now is to help the Iraqi people rebuild their country,” Hawkings said. The congressman has said that on his return he plans to hold hearings to examine the effectiveness of the relief efforts in Iraq, especially focusing on how much access to the country relief organizations have had.

Shays chairs the National Security Subcommittee in the House, which paid for portions of his trip.