Tickets to Florence Booked

Round trip tickets were only £40, but after all the fees it came out to £87 (about $120).

I fly into Pisa (only a short trip from Florence) around 11pm Thursday Feb 12 and leave early Sunday morning.

After work it's right to bed, then up at midnight to get to the airport by 4am. I arrive in Amsterdam 2 hours before sunrise--hopefully in time to see this:

...And You Think The U.S. Economy Is Bad?

Be grateful you're not looking for a job in the UK right now.

Meeting My MP

Finally got to meet my MP Mark today. We got a brief chance to chat about my time here already and what his expectations are. He is quite an energetic man whose thick Scotish accent is difficult to understand at times. I think he will be quite enjoyable to work for. He has quite a few assignments for me, namely research on various consumer protection isssues relating to energy. Nearly 15% of U.K. citizens have a "pay-as-you-go" system for their electricity and gas. Many of the people who use this system are low income, and unfortunetley most electic and gas companies charge significantly more for the "pay-as-you-go" than they do standard billing or direct debit billing methods.

I've contacted Mikey Maresca, a good friend from Marist, who is currently studying in Florence about visiting for an extended weekend from Feb. 12-15. I found a round trip flight for £50, which I may finalize this evening.

Countdown until Amsterdam: <2 days

Tomorrow

So I finally meet me MP (Member of Parliament) tomorrow. I'm highly anticipating it. Hopefully, my next 2 and a half months here will become clearer.

Also today after work I met up with an old friend from middle school, Brooke Sciarrotta, and recalled simpler times. We both remembered that she came to my formal freshman year of high school with me...Wow that seems like lifetimes ago.

Lots of schoolwork to do before Amsterdam. Goodnight....

Amsterdam Here I Come...

I just booked a flight to Amsterdam tonight. I'll be leaving London 6am Friday morning and I'll be back late Sunday night. The whole trip was thrown together very last minute, so it cost me more than i would have like 154 pounds sterling, but I'll be sure to book one of those 5 pound flights when I go to Florence/Rome/Paris.

My First Van Gogh

For part of the Hansard Program I must write a dissertation of roughly 35 pages on a topic of choosing relating to British politics. In between my two classes today, I met with my one professor to finalize my topic--we settled on a comparison of UK and US environmental policy through examination of various legislation. The UK is the first nation to set clear carbon emission reduction guidelines and put them into law. 

After my last class I went to visit the National Gallery and saw my firs Da Vinci and Van Gogh in person. I must say photos of Van Gogh's do not give his work justice; you really need to see the piece in person. The thick brushstrokes and rich texture bring another dimension to the painting that photos like the one below cannot display.

...possibly my favorite painting in the museum Van Gogh although here it's a little cut off

For Those Yankees Fans...

If you haven't already heard you may want to read this story on ESPN.com about Joe Torre's new book about his time with the Yankees. I'm a little scared about what we might learn and I've certianly lost a little respect for Joe for publishing this while he is still an active manager. We'll see what becomes of this...