So yesterday was my first official day of work; from 930 to 1. I took the tube to work and didnt take into account the loonggg line I would have to wait in bc I havent gotten my student oyster card yet. [cards for the underground are called oystercards, bc once you have them the city is your oyster...gag] I was super nervous that I would be late. I get on at the Russell Square station and take it one stop to Green Park on the Picadilly line. I then take the Jubilee line about 5 stops, I think, to Westminster and use the Houses of Parliament exit. Fortunately, I was not late.
When I got in Monica and I went through some mail; she showed me what kind of things to get rid of right off the bat, and where to put things that should go to Nick, the constituency office, or to her. She showed me some background documents to give me a little bit of context for the Liberal Democrat party and its positions. She showed me the agenda for the parliament session which began yesterday as well. I really like Monica alot. She knows whats up, but is also pretty funny. I feel like she's gonna work me to the full amount that i'm capable, but thats cool with me. I've only been there two days and i've already learned a ton. Theres something about being immersed in policy issues within a body like the parliament that lets you get to know the different faucets of it better than any semester-long class.
Around 11 we headed over to Nick's office, which is in the Ministry of Defense (as he is the minister of armed forces). That was awesome, his office was super nice, and he was even nicer. Monica, Hannah(who runs Nicks office in the MOD), the MOD speech writer Nick's advisor and I were all there to help him prepare for a speech that he was giving at 2. We read over the speech, changed some wording, took some things out and made sure everything was in line with the LibDem viewpoint. We were there for about 45 mins or so, but I already really like Nick and look foreword to working for him.
I ended my half day with lunch with some other interns and Monica's friend who is a reasearcher for Adrianne, the MP for South Devon (Nick Harvey is the MP for North Devon). Monica actually used to be one of Tim's interns, so its a small lil parli world over there. I had a tuna sub with cucumbers and a thing of grapes and it only cost me about 3 pounds. yay for subsidized food at Parliament!! I took the tube home and ran to pick up my ID and bank letter from some office, and got to class. I went into the wrong class at first, but eventually everything worked out. I looked like kind of a fool in my best pencil skirt and uggs. But lets see you (or anybody else) do that commute in a half hour with 4 inch heels on.
It was the first day of my Media forms in Britian class. The classes are very small, there are 16 of us in that one. I think it will be fine, and informative. I was falling asleep a bit due to my nonsleep. We had to pick groups on the first day which we will have for the whole term, which I thought was kind of dumb, so of course ill be working with 2 clarkies and another guy from our program who I believe is from Stonehill. I went home and changed quickly for our social from 5 to 7. We were all a bit surprised the limitless amount of wine that was there; so naturally we took advantage of it....and so did our professors. My dinner consisted of beans and 3 slices of whole grain bread, two of which had margerine on them. Theres this margarine here called Flora and I reallllllyyy like it. I then proceeded to eat nutella out of the jar for dessert and soon after passed out in my bed. Yessss, sleep finally, right?? Wrong. I was up again in 2 hours and didnt fall back asleep till four.
At 10am today I had Modern British Politics class. I was super tired and cranky, but I think it will be interesting, and the professor is pretty lively. The ambiguity of the assignments is a bit confusing, she literally told us to 'read something' for each week out of the huge list of readings....Before class pb and j on one peice of bread and on my way to the tube to go to work I had a piece of bread and cheese....I need to go grocery shopping again.
Monica texted me to come to work a lil early so I could meet her former intern and have lunch with them, but I didnt make it due to the longggg line I had to stand in to put 3 months credit on my oyster card. Once there I checked mail, read up on Trident (UKs nuclear deterrent program) and the lib dem stance on occupation in afghanistan. Both helped put things into perspective for me. I also read a defense magazine that was mostly propaganda, but sometimes you need to know what kind of propaganda you're dealing with. We took my passport and address letter to the Sergent at Arms to try to move along my security pass, and on the way visited a couple of offices of people with which monica is friends. I finished out the day looking at North Devon publication websites to read up on issues that are present in the constituency. North Devon is largely rural, with alot of farming, many of the issues were pretty entertaining as well.
Monica and I were talking about the school system in UK (there have been riots of students because their school fees are going from 3000 to 9000 pounds in the next 2 years. And this is what she told me: in the UK all schools cost the same; so you could get an oxford education or a crappy education and youd comeout of there owing less than 15000 pounds for ALL FOUR YEARS. Secondly, no one pays school fees when they're attending school, they pay them after. And you dont start repyaing your loans which have barely any interest until you have a job and are making over 17000 pounds a year. If you get layed off, you dont have to pay your loans until you are re employed. Sounds like the life, right? For this reason, i dont have sympathy for the people rioting and breaking the windows of the treasury. They dont pay anything before they graduate anyway!!!!!
Monica invited me to meet some people for a drink after work. yes, there are bars in the parliament and they are rather cheep. The first one we went to was the general social club; where I had some sort of appely fruity beer. We watched the screens to see which MPs were speaking on the European bill that was being debated today(if it passes and it prob will, it will prompt a referendum for any large power shifts to occur between the UK and EU) We then went to meet the MP which Tom is a researcher, Adrianne. I really liked him. THere is something genuine and all around non slimy about politicians here. I got a bacardi and diet, naturally, and they had these cute little single serving glass coke bottles. We did alot of talking, bought a few bags of 'crisps' to share and had an all around good time. Monica showed me how to get back to the tube station (houses of parliament are an absolute maze.) I was super happy on my commute back home; perhaps partially because I was a lil tipsy, but also bc I think this semester is going to be awesome.
I made a chicken breast and some onions for dinner, followed by a little bit of corn and chicken chowder, which does not compare to that of New England at all. Caitlyn shared some of her yummy strawberry ice cream with me too! I decided that I will not sleep until like 12 or 12 30, because I cant take any more of this waking up at 1am crap; i need to sleep through a night.
Tomorrow is my full dat at Parliament; 930 to 6. We all have tix to the New London theater to see War Horse at 730 so ill probs grab something to eat and head straight there. Thurs is more of a low key day for me; I just have modern art class at 10, and an appt at the bank at 2 to finally get my stipend check cashed TG! I think ill get my gym membership thursday as well, Its been like 8 days since i've had a proper work out, but I feel like all of my walking and not really eating makes up for it a bit. Friday ill be at parliament 930 to 230, then im meeting Katerina!!!! Im sure well all go out somewhere friday/ saturday and Sunday there is a daytrip to cambridge planned for us!
p.s. still no cat sightings
<3
no cats at all?! :(
ReplyDelete