Interesting Tibit

Here they say drink-driving. Kind of keeps throwing me off when I'm reading paperwork at the office. That's all.

The Job

I had my first day of my Parliament internship on Monday. The office is so sweet. These are the views out of the window! (Big Ben and Parliament, West Minster Abbey, Big Ben)

It was pretty scary being there. First of all, security is super rigid. I have a pass that I swipe plus a pin number I have to enter. Then I find out that the MP I'm assisting, Alun Michael, represents a district in Wales. I found this out right away when they had me answer the phone and some Welsh lady called in. To this day I still have no idea what she was saying to me. Hopefully I warm up to the accent soon. Alun also walks around the office speaking Welsh to people on the phone. It really is a different world for Wales.

I spent the morning reading examples of speeches, newspaper articles, and letters to get the style of what they do in the office. Then Owen, one of the staffers went down to lunch with me and walked me over to the houses of Parliament. We went to the oldest part of Parliament (its the building on the left in the first picture) which was built in 1066(?) There are plaques all over the floor where famous events occurred such as Charles I's trial in 1649 and such. Owen also told me the coolest story of all. He is not sure if it is true but he was told that when they cleaned and refurbished the original rafters sometime in the last few decades, they found pig's bladder tennis balls. These date back to Henry VIII when he would use the hall to practice tennis. That was by far the coolest story I have heard about the building so far. He also took me through some secret corridors and showed me a few of the secret pubs that exist there. It is so strange to see all the art that is hanging in random corridors there. I saw a drawing dating back to the 1400's just hanging on this wall. I am going to have to go exploring soon. I believe I will be going on an official Parliament tour tomorrow morning.

When we got back to the office, he had me start to work on answering constituent letters. The one I worked on was about the possible expansion to Heathrow Airport which is the biggest debate in England right now. I also sat and watched the questioning taking place in the House of Commons even though it was quite boring.

I did catch a glimpse of David Cameron, the leader of the Tory party, during my interview last week! I have a big feeling that the conservatives will take hold of Parliament after the next election. Things are certainly changing in Great Britain.

Eeek!

I'm off to Parliament!

James Mcavoy

I am going to go see James Mcavoy in his stage performance of Three Days of Rain. I'm not sure what it is about exactly but it opens on January 30 and I am so excited to go!

On the Hunt

According to all the gossip blogs, the hot celebrity Robert Pattinson from Twilight and Harry Potter has been spotted in pubs all around the city. Just the other night he was seen in one by my school in Islington! We are going to go Pattinson hunting and try to track him down.

My Schedule

Starting tomorrow morning I now have a routine:

Monday - Internship 10:00-5:00
Tuesday - History of Modern Britain Class 9:30-1:00
The British Legal System Class 2:00-5:00
Wednesday - Internship 10:00-5:00
Arcadia Class 6:30-9:30
Thursday - Internship 10:00-5:00
Friday - FREE!

The Gherkin

The funny looking building above my head. Title says it all

Spitalfield

Sunday I went to the Spitalfield and Brick Lane Markets. Spitalfield is a roofed craft market where designers and artists come out. It was very cool to walk up and down and look at everything they were selling. Brick Lane is a street that we were told showed the "true" London. There was something from everyplace all over the world. It was a short walk from the Liverpool Underground Station.

Chelsea Football Club

The arena where the Chelsea football team plays is a few blocks from my flat and I can see it out of my Peter Pan window. Saturday, Jan. 24, they played Ipswich Town and won 3-1. Here is a picture of the view out of my window during the match. The lights are of course the stadium.

V&A

Saturday I explored the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, two tube stops from Earl's Court, my tube station. I looked through the Europe 1500-1800 exhibit, the awesome fashion exhibit, the photography, and the sculpture. That was only 1.5 floors so I know I will be going back many more times. The best part is...IT'S FREE!

Exploring

Friday, we went out to the Sherlock Holmes Pub by Trafalgar Square and drank a Sherlock Holmes Ale.

Zoo Bar

Wednesday I went out with a group to Zoo Bar, a famous dance club in Leicester Square. I had a great time. It was so crowded and so much fun!

Because the tube stops running at midnight, we had to take the bus back to our flat, one of the classic red double decker ones. One of the boys we went out with has been there since September so he was a lot of help there.

American Day.....

Tuesday afternoon, a few girls and I walked to Buckingham Palace and to Harods. They then decided to go take advantage of "American Day" where places were giving out free admission to Americans in gratitude for electing the wonderful and magnificent Obama to save the world!

.....I took a nap.

Work

I met with Dan Mount, the staffer for Alun Michael, on Tuesday. He is very friendly and I am very excited to be working there. Alun, the MP also came down to meet me as well. I start work on Monday at 10am!

Wow

On Tuesday, I went to the Porticullus House fro my Parliament interview. Its the building right on top of the Westminster tube station across the street from the Houses of Parliament. There is a tunnel going to the houses because it is an overflow building filled with the offices of the MPs. My office is on the top floor and looks right out at Big Ben.

This was the view I got when I got out of the underground.

Eton

After seeing the castle on Saturday, we walked across the bridge to go see Eton, the school where the princes went. It was beautiful, as much as I would expect for £75,000 a quarter. They wear uniforms with black coats with tails and top hats. Pretty cool.

On the river, there were hundreds of birds!

Windsor

Saturday we took a trip to Windsor to see the castle.

Looking for photos?

Most of my pictures will be posted on my facebook

Here is one album I have up so far:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73974&l=4c963&id=666957038

Surrey - The Homestay

My first weekend in England was spent out in Surrey, which is about 40 miles south of the city. I said with the Gunnings who lived in Old Woking in a 15th century English Cottage. It was right out of a storybook. It took them about 16 years to get it to the state its in now. When they bought it they said they could see the sky from the ground floor dining room if that is any indication of how far they have come. It was beautiful. They researched everything from what kind of glass would have been in the windows to the proper structure of their 15th century fireplaces. They found out that the original structure, which was just the ground floor, was a whorehouse. The second story was a "modern" addition they said and was built in the later half of the 15th century.

Clive, the husband, finished it himself. He is a handle maker and the only one in the nation who does what he does. Prince Charles is one of his clients! Here is an article from their paper about it: http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/business/s/73438_craftsmans_royal_client

Shirely is the mother and is going back to school/working from home. They have a few children who now have families themselves.

On Friday night, she made us English pie. It was basically a shepherd's pie with beef, peas, carrots, and mashed potatoes on top. It was delicious.

Saturday we ate a traditional English brunch. It was just like a Thanksgiving: roasted chicken, gravy, stuffing, grilled parsnips, roasted potatoes, yorkshire pudding and more. Everything just had a different twist or flavor, especially the stuffing. They also add red currant jelly on top of the gravy. I loved it! Then we had ice cream with maple syrup.

Sunday morning we had an English breakfast: eggs, bangers, tomatoes, toast, potatoes, beans, and bacon (which is not like our bacon at all).

The weekend was a lot of fun with the family and I drank loads of tea. Their favorite tv show to watch was North and South, the Civil War drama with Patrick Swayze.

Brompton Cemetery

A couple of us went exploring in the cemetery 2 blocks away. It opened in 1840 and is so packed that people are buried on top of one another. A lot of them are covered in moss and ivy. It was so cool. Later, we were walking back from a different street to go to our flat, and someone came running out of a pub we passed. He asked us if we were going back to the cemetery because he recognized us. One of the girls was carrying flowers and he thought that we were going to go put them there. He was so funny. He said that the gates were closed, but if we needed to, he would let us in. It was so random.

Walkabout

Some girls went to a bar called Walkabout. It's in Leicester Square and in an old church. It was really fun and had dancing to 80's music.

We Will Rock You

We all went and saw the Queen musical We Will Rock You. It was pretty bad. The singing was amazing but the story was awful.

I guess others in our group happened to walk by Will Smith's movie premiere and saw him! I didn't go the same way as them.

The adventure east of the city

Tuesday night, I went with a girl from Madison out to Tower Bridge. Her boyfriend goes to school here for the year so we went to go to his dorm. The area is beautiful. We took the tube to the Tower of London and then crossed the bridge. His dorm is just a short walk from the river. He has a collection of roommates: one from Belgium, Germany, and the US. They took us out to this swanky pub and it was a lot of fun. What made it even more exciting was that it was just two of us traveling instead of the 35 it usually is in our group. Being in a group of 35 Americans in the city is no fun, let me tell you.

My First Day Out

Tuesday was spent sitting in a room for orientation, but we got to explore in the afternoon. They took us to Covent Gardens and to St Paul's Church, the "Actor's Church." They have memorials to famous actors, directors and playwrights. The only one I knew was Charlie Chaplin. The Church was also the place where the first victim of the plague was buried.

We then went to Trafalgar Square and went into the National Portrait Gallery for high tea. They served us sandwiches, cakes, and biscuits and had a panoramic view of the city. It was beautiful! I am so surprised how much I loved the tea! I have tried so many times at home to like tea but never did. I have had a few cups everyday since. The key is the milk.

The Peter Pan Window and Mary Poppin's Roof

My flat is in a very wealthy posh area of London and is a great location. It is close to so many good places and the tube station is only a 10 minute walk away. I haven't been able to do much exploring of the area yet, but I will in the next few days.

So I get to the building and have to carry my ridiculously heavy bags up the front steps only to go in and find out that I am in the top floor loft. There is only 3 floors but I am a weakling. And, I tripped so many times on the steps as they narrowed around curves. So it took me 3 trips to get everything up to my door. Then I open it, and SURPRISE! My bedroom is in the loft, another flight of stairs. I can still feel the upper body work out I got from that day.

I am in a double room all by myself! I got so lucky. So there is just an extra bed chilling on the other side of my room. I have a window that opens out to the roof. It reminds me of Peter Pan! I get a view of the street and the other rooftops and can just picture Mary Poppin's dancing on them.

Pictures will be up shortly.

The building is pretty nice. There is a basement flat where about 6 boys live. Then there is a flat on each floor with two on my floor. Our GA (like our RA) lives next to me. He seems really nice so far. His role not like a dorm room RA though. He just gets to live here it seems in exchange for keeping an eye on the building and us.

My flat has a double room, 1.5 baths, a kitchen and a living room with two single rooms upstairs. My flatmates seem alright so far.

I Made It!

Getting to London was not the easiest thing in the world. After getting to the airport and discovering that my flight with Virgin Atlantic was canceled, I managed to get on a British Airlines flight 2.5 hours later. I have to say, terminal 5 at O'hare is awful. Then, I decided not to be smart and watch the awesome movies they had. I spent the night engrossed in chick flicks like Officer and a Gentleman and Nights in Rodanthe. Because of that, I slept for an hour and a half. Go me!

Because my airline was changed, I landed in the wrong terminal and had to figure out my way from terminal 5 to terminal 3 to meet the bus. I get my bags and struggle to figure out my way. I bet watching me trying to navigate Heathrow with two bags and two carry ons would have been hilarious. I end up having to take a train to get to the terminal and then walk up this ridiculous ramp with all my bags. I believe I lost about 10 pounds in that hour from all the exercise and because of how much I was sweating. After being in Wisconsin, 50 degrees was a sauna.

I found about 15 other Arcadia students. We loaded onto a bus and drove about 40 minutes until we got into the city and were dropped off at our flats.