The Liberal Democrat Manifesto and other light reading...

Yesterday was my first full day at Parliament and the night before that was my first full nights sleep! The day went by fairly quickly.   Monica had some things to do out of the office throughout the day, so I worked on some reading to get myself into the swing of things.  It was really good interesting stuff.  I begin with the Lib Dem Manifesto.  Here, before each election, every party puts out a manifesto that comprehensively outlines their views and of prominent issues and visions for the future.  I was surprised at the level of inclusiveness in the document, but Monica told me that the conservatives say that the lib dem manifesto isnt comprehensive enough.  Following that I read the executive summary of a study for possible ways to improve or replace the Trident nuclear deterrent program.  It was a little dense, but brought alot of things into prespective for me(as I am working for the minister of armed forces)  Monica asked me if I wanted to take a break, but I was on a roll, so Ikept at it.

Monica had a lunch engagement, so I went over to her friend Tim's office.  He has so many interns.  He doesnt know which days they work 'there are just loads of them around all of the time'  One of them, Becky, is 19 and I really like her!  We watched Prime Ministers Questions (which are on wednesday afternoons, for an hour I think?)  and they were super entertaining.  Alot of booing and screaming happens that you dont get to see if you're watching that sort of thing in the U.S.  We went down to lunch and met with another Tim, who i've met before, a girl who is job shadowing him, and Kerry, a fellow American who I've also met earlier in the week.  It was actually a very fun time.  I told them about that new alcohol infused whipped cream that we have backhome and they loved the idea of it.    Tim (who we refer to as miserable Tim, though hes not) liked the idea of only being able to buy liquor at liquor stores, as we do back home.  Other debates that took place were ones such as, if grapes and cucumbers are real foods, and the plot of Mean Girls (as we threatened to call miserable Tom Regina George instead [he gets Christmas cards, but doesnt send them]). Very fun times.  Becky is a fellow Tswift fan as well, which we bonded over.

Becky explained the UK high school and exam system to me, and I was very surprised at the way in which it works.  Senior year is spent preparing for huge exams at the end of the year; no other grades count except for what you recieve on these exams.  Jeeze, we thought SATs were bad in the states; but this is nuts!!!  Becky is in her gap year now, she is going to India in march I believe to work with children.  On her last day we've resolved to watch Mean Girls.

at 5 we had a meeting with Nick and 2 men from a Trident committee.  At that point I was very glad to have done so much reading on Trident so that I knew what they were talking about.  Most interesting were the relationship between France and UK and France and US concerning this.  But I suppose I wont bore everyone with that here.  I got out of work about 10 after 6 and took the tube home, grabbed some soup and bread+ margerine, then it was time to head to tha theatah.

 We took forever to find it and just made it for the beginning.  We went to see War Horse at the New London Theater.  It was different from any other play that i've seen, and had a bit of a musical component as well.  The setting was just before and during WWI in Devon (which is incidentally where the MP for whom I work's constituency is).  The mechanical horse puppets were really amazing, as were the people operating them.  Thank goodness it was a happy ending!

I had Modern Art in London class this morning.  I expected to be least enthusiastic about this class, however I think it just might be my fav.  The professor is younger, id suspect early 30s, and incredibly intelligent and passionate about the subject.  I think I forget that the arts are kind of a guilty pleasure of mine that I rarely oblige.  He compared art to a number of different other things and spoke about anthropology as well.  The professor seems to have so much to say about the subject that its impossible not to be engaged in the lectures.  We began with the Betrayal of Christ and moved along with some analyses of paintings, it was good stuff.  In the class we take field trips every other week to museums and exhibits around london, which are free.  The professor told us we will probably end up going somewhere every class period, so as not to sit in a lecture room for 3 straight hours.  When we went around the class to say our experience with art and stuff, I talked about how I used to paint a bit, but how most of my practical knowledge with the arts is with music.  I said that I had played cello blah blah, and he was outraged at why I would quit, and I said tht I had sold it last summer. It made me a bit sad, he told me to buy another one asap, its a shame to quit an instrument.  ::sigh::

After class I had a frustrating ass time at the Barclay's, a bank down the road (You cant even try to say that without a british accent)  I have decided not to get a bank account there and am going to try HSBC tomorrow.  It just sucks that all of this is taking so long, I have a 456 pound cheque to deposit that I havent been able to touch to cover my oystercard and weeks groceries and stuff, all of which up to this point i've paid for myself.  After i set up the account it will prob be 4 to 5 business days until I can deposit the thing, and another 4 or 5 to clear.  UGH- on the other hand i need to buy my gym membership ASAP (its 75 pounds for 3 months)  After that frustrating time, I decided to take a REAL QUICK nap, and make it to the other bank before it closed at 430.  Well, 2 hours later my roommate found me in the position pictured above.  lights on, scarf on, boots on, laptop backpack and parliament background book in my bed with me.

Caitlyn Danielle and I went on a fun adventure this evening!  We decided to do a lil shopping and explore.  We took the tube to Picadilly Circus and started to walk around; I saw a japenese store and ran in to check for mochi, and I FOUND IT .  It made me infinitely happy.  We did alot of walking and went into quite a few stores.  The most time we spend was in Zara, of course, we all left there with something.  I got a nice tan work skirt for 7.88.  We went into a huge toy store and into Anthropologie which I love and wish I could afford (here and in the states).  Maybe one day.....
We spent awhile looking for a reasonable place to eat and ran into a bunch of gelato and crepe places that looked delicious.  We settled on a little thai place, where we ate a bunch of food and I had my first sake!  On our way back we stumbled through the red light district, and many interesting photos were taken there (see facebook).  All and all, us ladies had a real fun little time!!!

Work tomorrow, 930 to 230.  Ill get my official security pass which is awesomeeee, it only took 2.5 business days and its supposed to take 10!  I need to figure out what im going to wear.....After work I was supposed to have lunch with my dear Katerina, but have to run home to HSBC and do the banking thing.  Maybe we will meet up after.  Tomorrow night, im sure will be fun, but i'm really pinching my pennies (or pence, i suppose) until that cheque comes through ; /

Goooodnight!