and three weeks later....
I've literally been too busy to sit down and write a legitimate blog post. And even now, I really should be working on my Policy paper that's due next Monday. I suppose it can wait.
So in summation, I love London. Our area is great--lots of restaurants, a silly convenience grocery store, two wine shops, a good local pub, a stationery store, a hardware store, and another pub. Also an amazing cookie shop. And the tube stop is 3 minutes from my front door. There's no real shopping, which is good, or I would be even broker (not a word, I'm aware) than I am.
The first week we were here was literally like summer camp. We went to intro meetings and classes, and seminars, and were pretty much on our own to get settled in and see a little bit of London. And see London we did. We went on a bus tour through the city, which got detoured because of a crazy biking event, and did exploring on our own. The programme also took us on a tour of Parliament, which is all I'll see of the place, since my internship placed me elsewhere. The first week was great to just settle in a little, have lots of time to get to know one another, and get our bearings a little bit.
The second week, we went to Edinburgh with the whole group, thereby wrecking any semblance of routine we managed to create the first week. Edinburgh was a 4 hour train ride through the countryside, and a really nice little adventure to take us all on in the first few weeks. We stayed at a really cool little hotel that felt like the Scottish version of our flats, and served cute little breakfast in the morning. We had lectures and the chance to sit on on Scottish Parliament, which was awesome. We watched a debate in the morning on whether or not the Scottish National Party had held up its end of the promises it made coming into office. The MPs were really intense and yelling and mocking each other: pretty sweet, and nothing I could've imagined going on in the Senate back home. It was a cool window into another political system. The UK has a devolved system, where Scotland and Wales have their own Parliaments, but also send MPs to Westminster. The building Scottish Parliament is in is also interesting--apparently cost a fortune, and seems a little unnecessary, but since my mom's an architect, I got a kick out of it.
While in Edinburgh, we also had free afternoons and got to do some sightseeing. We saw Edinburgh Castle, bought some plaid scarves, did a funny little tour of the underground part of the city, and hiked up a little mountain/hill in the center of the city. We ate and drank at some cool pubs, and generally wandered around the city. I liked the way the city felt: old and kind of grand, without being overwhelming at all. The architecture was cool, castles are amazing, and it just seemed...mature? London feels like a younger city, and is definitely more fun, but I liked Edinburgh a lot.
While we were there, we all had different roommates too, which was really nice to just bond with some new people and switch up the social scene a little bit. I loved taking the train there and back as well: its relaxing, scenic, and less of a pain than flights. Having a few hours with nothing to do but read and listen to music was definitely ideal.
We found out about our internships on Monday the 8th: and were due to start them Tuesday the 9th. There was a lot of hubbub the day before, because Gordon Brown, the new Prime Minister, was hypothetically going to call a snap election, which would have meant that MPs would have gone home to their constituencies to campaign, and nobody would have been placed in Parliament. I knew I wasn't getting placed with an MP because I didn't receive security forms, but there was a general spike of insanity in the flats for a day or two.
My placement is...drum roll...
At London City Hall, with the Greater London Authority, working for the Equalities Team, primarily on gender.
What does this mean?
I'm working on a team of about 6 people, who report to one or two of the advisors to the mayor. My projects will consist of updating the "State of Equality in London" report with this year's stats, then pulling all gender-relevant pieces out to compile a large body of data and trend for a "Status of Women in London" report for the mayor, as well as maybe working on a womens conference that will be held in the spring. I like my team thus far, and am going to dinner and a show with them this week, actually.
Got sidetracked editing Armine's Fulbright application, so I'll continue this tomorrow...bedtime!
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