Happy 50th Pops!

Chelsea and I celebrated my father's birthday by strolling through Hyde Park, visiting a special Picasso exhibit at the National Gallery, touring Westminster Hall, going out dinner with all my friends, and then seeing a West End play, 39 Steps (it was very average).

Bath tomorrow...

Chelsea Comes Tonight

After work and a quick dinner, I'm off to Heathrow Airport to pick up her up. We haven't set up any strict London itinerary, but we'll be probably hit the Tate Modern, Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey. The one thing that is set in stone is that we'll be spending the day in Bath on Friday.

Another Day in the Office

Today, Mark treated me and my co-worker, Andrew to lunch. It was nice to sit and chat with both of them about travel, politics, and life at a less professional level.

Tomorrow there is a good chance I'll get to watch Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. For those of you that don't know PMQs, as they're called, are one of the most dramatic moments in politics. Basically the Prime Minister of the Government gets grilled by members of the Opposition party for an hour.

Here's a classic example of Tony Blair picking apart former Prime Minister John Major.

Spontaneous Concert

So mid-conversation with a dear friend today, I get a text from Jill saying that we should try and scalp tickets to see a sold-out Fleet Foxes concert. The Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut album last year was critically-acclaimed universally and a personal favourite of mine that I couldn't seem to stop listening to.

Needless to say we were successful in scalping and managed to only pay $27 a piece (The tickets were going for $60 on eBay last week). We also snuck up right along side the stage. Not bad for coming 15 minutes before their set. The show was really great--very unique atmosphere because everyone was listening so intently. The vocals on their albums  rival those of the Beach Boys and Crosby, Still, & Nash and surprisingly none of that sounds is lost in their live shows. In fact, their voices are even stronger live.

Jill and I hung around long enough to meet one of the band members, who was nice enough to have the entire band sign my ticket

Fleet Foxes Live

This weekend

This weekend I visited the ancient Greek exhibit in the British Museum which has the marble statues that once surrounded the Parthenon. 

Last night I went to a club down the street that Prince Harry and Prince William frequent. 

And today, I explored Hyde Park for several hours today before starting on my homework.

Chelsea comes on Wednesday and is staying until Monday. I am very excited to see her.

Everything Else I Did In Edinburgh

The second day I was in Edinburgh, my morning began with 2 presentations from Members of Scottish Parliament. For those of you that don't know in 1999 Tony Blair and the House of Commons passed an Act of Parliament that created a devolved Parliament in Scotland that took on certain responsibilities like education and health care. 

Then I went to visit Mark's constituency office downtown. I spoke with the three women that work there about how things work at the office. So now I not only know how Mark's London office is run, but how he works when he is home. Mark makes a point to respond to every single letter or email from every single constituent. He works very hard and is very in touch with his constituency.

The highlight of my day, however, was visiting the Edinburgh Castle later in the afternoon. Since the 12th century there has been a royal castle in that spot although few of the current building pre-date the 16th century. Either way, it is older than almost anything you'll find in the states.

front entrance of the castle

The castle was absolutely gorgeous and the view of the city was absolutely beautiful. I cannot imagine living there. Another cool thing I saw inside the castle was the the barracks were they kept French and American prisoners of war during the "American War of Independence" or Revolutionary War.

For dinner I had haggis which is a traditional Scottish dish.  For those of you who aren't grossed out you probably don't know what it is. According to Wikipedia it consists of sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, andsalt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.

At night we took advantage of the hopping night-life in Edinburgh and celebrated my friend Nicki's 21st birthday. 

Some Pictures from Day 1

One of the many cathedrals along the Royal Mile

Our ghost tour guide

The start of the Royal Mile

A view of the castle from below

The Beautiful Edinburgh

I returned to London late this afternoon after a very, very eventful three days in Edinburgh. 

When I arrived we only really had time to explore the city, so we walked up and down the Royal Mile--the oldest part of the city. It is called the Royal Mile because it is the mile of cobblestone road that leads out from the Edinburgh Castle. We went into all the different shops, stores, and pubs for most of evening getting a flavor for the city. 

Then at around 9:30 we took a ghost tour through the older parts of the city. It was a little corny, a little scary, a little historical, but extremely funny. We all had a blast. 

Other Hansard Blogs

My roomate Alex as well as another student, Omar, are both keeping blogs while abroad. If any of you are curious about what my Hansard colleagues are doing with their time here.

Edinburgh

I'm off to Edinburgh, Scotland in the morning with my program. Once we arrive at 1 we'll have the entire day free. Then for the next two days we'll have seminars with Scottish officials on various political topics, then we have the entire afternoon free to explore the city. I'm so excited! Its a pre-paid weekend vacation with my friends (in the middle of the week!)

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone

This is a shot of the LSE library where I will be spending a majority of my time today as I fight to finish my 6 page research paper. The library is the best college library I've ever seen, mainly because it's devoted entirely to politics, economics, and government. 

My Valentine's Day yesterday consisted of a romantic date with ancient Egyptian mummies at the largest museum in the world, the British Museum. The collection here is so incredibly massive that it would take weeks to give the museum the treatment it deserves. Fortunately, it is walkable from LSE, so in between classes on Monday John and I decided we would explore a different wing of the museum.

Here's a photo of my desk and office in Parliament, just in case you were curious

HUGE BUMMER

So once again London's inability to deal with snow has screwed me over. I wasted six hours Friday getting to the London-Stanstead airport only to discover that a mere 3 inches of snow had totally crippled the airport.

 

My flight was cancelled and all the flights Saturday were sold-out. I should be refunded my money for both my flights in and out of Florence.

Today, I visited the former home neo-classical architect John Sloane. It's currently a museum, and it is absolutely crazy. Arguably one of the coolest things I've since I've been here--his basement is supposed to resemble the catacombs, he collected hundreds of Roman busts, loved using mirrors.  If you click here and you can see a 360 degree view of one of the rooms to see what I am mean. This guy was crazy.

Off To Florence

Unfortunately the weather in Florence is supposed to be sub-zero (degrees Celsius) for this weekend, but I'm still very, very excited.

I spent this morning at work stuffing envelopes and writing responses to constituent letters about the economy in Britain (The UK Bank of England just lowered the interest rate to 1%).

This afternoon I'll be joining Mark for a Westminster debate on sustainable railways.

Off to lunch...then Florence!

Mark's Website Redesign

Mark, my MP, is trying to improve the layout and features on his website. Because I have more experience with Facebook, YouTube, blogs, etc. he has asked that I help with this. We'll see what role I take after I return from Edinburgh.


Parliament is in recess next week, which is why the entire Hansard Programme (British spelling) is headed to Scotland.

The Next Week

So tomorrow I'm getting a tour a of the Parliamentary Library and then doing research for my MP for the rest of the day. Then after work on Thursday I'm catching a bus straight to the airport. After a fantastic weekend in Florence, I'm going to write a paper all day Sunday. On Monday I'll have class. Finally, Tuesday everyone in my program will be headed to Edinburgh, Scotland until Friday. It's a program visit so it's my understanding that I'll be touring British Parliament and making other political excursions. Plus, my MP Mark is from Edinburgh, so I'm planning on visiting his constituency office too.

It will certainly be an exciting week (minus this essay hanging over my head).

Bon Jovi in London

I'm sure it was the number 1 question on all your minds, but yes it is true...the British love Bon Jovi.

I have heard "Living on a Prayer" more times than I care to recall. Honestly every British girl I've spoken to a bigger fan that most of the Jersey girls I've met.

Amsterdam 3

Sunday, my last day in Amsteram included a trip the Anne Frank House in the morning. We walked through where Anne Frank was in hiding during the German occupation of Amsterdam. I've been to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. before and that was rather intense, but mainly becuase it was just overwhelming. The Anne Frank story, however, personalizes the experience to one girl and her family and makes it that much more tangible. Walking through the empty annex where she lived made my eyes watered up quite a few times. It is a must do if you ever go to Amsterdam.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the city before finally heading to the airport and heading home just in time to catch the biggest snowfall in London in 20 years.

It's Been A Couple Days

So I've been very busy with my schoolwork (and will continue to be until Monday) so I haven't updated recently. Also a friend from Marist, Anna Parry, is studying in Dublin for the semester and facebooked me and asked if she could crash at my place for the weekend. Naturally, I accepted and so I've also been entertaining and doing school work, groceries, internship applications, and RA appliactions.

Expect another post on Monday. 

Warmest regards,

Andrew

Day 2 in Amsterdam

Saturday I had my fully catered Continental breakfast in the hostel (2 slices of toast, 1 hard boiled egg, tea, and jam). That wasn't enough so I went next door to this pastry shop and bought this delectable waffle covered in chocolate. I died.


Then it was off to the Van Gogh Museum, so we paid for the tram. Mistake. Apparently no one pays for the tram in Amsterdam. I didn't see a single person pay while we were riding there. Van Gogh is my new favorite artist. As I've said before seeing Van Gogh's brushstrokes in person significantly enhances the experience.


After Van Gogh we grabbed some lunch and walked through a street market. From there it was only a short walk to the first Heineken factory. I've never really understood how beer was made, so that was rather interesting. Plus they gave us a couple free pints, which we didn't hate either. We then spent the rest of the evening exploring the city and crashed early again.

After our Heineken tour

fun fact: the red house in the middle is the thinnest house in Amsterdam

A nice shot of the canal

Some Snow Shots of the City

both of these shots are right down the road from my flat

Comment Problems Fixed...Hopefully

Some of you were having problems posting comments before. I believe I fixed that now, so you can post anonymous comments where you don't need log-in information.

Try it now...

Amsterdam Day 1

So John (my program) Jill, Leric, Joel, Kathryn, Kate, and Megan (all Jill's program) arrived in the Amsterdam airport at around 6 a.m. and then took a train to Central Station, which is right in the heart of Amsterdam. We found our hostel pretty easily and checked in. In the first fifteen minutes there I had met 2 Swedes, 1 Pole, and 3 fellas from Manchester. The Swedes and Pole, who had gotten there just an hour before us, joined us as we began exploring the city. We were fortunate enough to come across a 3 hour free tour of Amsterdam. Without a doubt it was the best tour I've ever been on. Our guide was not only energetic, but had such a sense of history. The tour was the perfect way to get to know the city. 

The tour ended around 4pm or so and everyone was pretty beat, so they all headed back to the hostel. Thankfully, I had gotten some sleep the night before, so I was able to walk around and explore the city by myself. The city is so beautiful--the canals, the architecture, but mainly the people. Without a doubt the most welcoming part of the city is the mentality that Amsterdamers have. Throughout history the Dutch have been accepting of all races, creeds, sexual orientations, and lifestyles. I think America could learn a little from their tolerance.

After dinner and the necessary walk through the eye-opening Red Light District all of us were all beat again and ready for bed. 

Day 2 to come...I'm off to bed.

A Summary In Pictures

So London had it's highest snow fall in 25 years and the entiree city shut down--no buses, delayed trains, etc. My two classes were cancelled, which I didn't mind because I was still recooperating from my stay in Amsterdam.

So today was rather lazy. My friends and I just had a snowball fight in the street and once we were reprimanded by the neighbours we walked to Hyde Park and continued our battle. 

Hopefully, tomorrow I will find the time to update you all on my Amsterdam trip in depth, but in the meantime the following pictures should suffice.

formerly a post office, now a shopping center

Leric, roomate John, and Joel in front of our hostel

Anne Frank's diary

Van Gogh's most complete self-portrait and the only one where he portrays himself as an artist

One of the first church's in Amsterdam, now a modern art museum

One of the countless dams throughout the city

A beautiful church we stumbled upon

Inside the Heinekin factory

The view from our hostel bedroom window

Back Safe And Sound

It was snowing in London so hard when we touched down that the night buses stopped running and it was nearly impossible to get a taxi, but John and I made it home safe and sound around 2:15am just in time to see most of the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl. So I although I was upset to have missed most of the game I was happy to see some good football.

The trip was absolutely incredible. More details will certainly follow, but it was definitely the best weekend thus far in Europe.  It was just a great cultural experience that I certainly will never forget. It's amazing what I was able to do in just 2 and a half days.