Well I have to blog even if it is just for a moment because I SAW PRINCE WILLIAM! Literally he was getting in a car across the street from me on my way to dinner with some roommates. Cait and I nearly freaked out with the level of excitement we felt. It was so wonderful because he was my first royal in London and we just stumbled upon him. Sadly, he was balding but stil very good looking.

This week has been very similar to the last few in terms of work, although I do get to go to PMQs tomorrow. Also i was invited to my MPs victory party in Liverpool and I attended a reception for the union of the Labor party where I met Harriet Harmen's husband, who is also a fellow MP.

Sadly after this weekend two of my top three teams have been knocked out of the world cup, but luckily tonight we are going to watch the Spain Portugal game so I can stare at Cristiano Ronaldo for a whole 90 minutes. My day is complete. This weekend we are going to Edinburgh to tour the Scottish Parliament and see Scotland. A few of us are hoping to make it to St. Andrew's to see where the British Open is being held, but it is a two hour trip. Other than that these next few weeks will be very exciting. After Edinburgh, we go to Dublin then only have two more weekends in London before traveling. I am trying to make the most out of every opportunity which has been going well so far.

I finally added some more pictures to facebook last week and more are coming soon! This week has been another fabulous week at work, but a bit stressful outside of the office because I had a large paper due on Friday. That is the main reason why I have not blogged. Work is still going great as I said. This week my boss was sick on Thursday so I had the chance to take on so extra responsibilities which was neat. I answered phones, wrote letters directly for my mp, and scheduled more appointments completely on my own! I love it!! It is also neat because we have football games on all day so I am becoming more enthralled with the World Cup and the various teams. I even bought a US jersey. Apparently, according to my office I must come in on Wednesday with an England shirt as well

Other than work, this week was very exciting in terms of touristy things in England. On Thursday night we got tickets to go see MacBeth at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. We had the standing tickets, which was not the greatest part since it is a 3 hour play, but overall it was a neat experience with great actors. On Friday we spent the majority of the day after class at local pubs watching the US and England games. Both were very exciting to watch, but neither ended pleasantly.After the games everyone came home to our flats and hung out listening to music and drinking tea. I have developed quite the infatuation with tea. In my office Alex insists that I drink it with milk and now thanks to him it is my favorite drink here!

Saturday was my favorite full weekend day in the past few weeks. I woke up early to hop a train to Liverpool and explore. It was a neat town and even cooler, it is where my boss has her constituency. I spent the morning there and then came back and decided to go get tea and shop around at Harrods. Harrods is having their yearly sale and all I can say is when I walked in I saw a sign that said GUCCI, BURBERRY,BOTTEGA VENETA, and FERRAGAMO 50% off. I shed tears of excitement. The Harrods experience is like nothing I have ever seen. I wandered around for hours. I have also never been more motivated in my entire life to be successful then at the very moment I stepped into that store. haha. The tea was also quite exquisite. I really want to go to another afternoon tea while I am here, but one that is very authentic. Saturday night we all watched more world cup games at our favorite pub, The Court. After that, we met up with some of our friends and ventured around the city quite a bit. A large group went to see Feddy DJ and a huge techno club called Ministry of Sound. I think every person that went out that night came home as the sun was coming up. I must say that was a first, but I think each one of us had a great night no matter what we did.

You have no idea how much I missed the fish fry today. I was slightly heartbroken as it is one of my favorite holidays.Obviously getting home so late last night, I had a lazy day today. The one thing I did that is exciting is we booked hostels for my trip after the internship ends! I will post the rough itinerary below so you can see where I am going and for how long! Each date with a city beside it is our arrival date in that location. I cannot wait for it!

7/20 Amsterdam
7/21
7/22Berlin
7/23
7/24 Prague
7/25
7/26Vienna
7/27
7/28Munich
7/29Paris
7/30
7/31Brussels
8/1
8/2Amsterdam ferry to London overnight
8/3London then home to the US!

Also, Val and Kourt-- it took all of my restraint not to buy the most adorable outfits for the kids in Zara baby. They have little Euro jeans for infants and boys and the cutest dresses and scarves I have ever seen.

Papa, Daddy,Uncle Lon and Joe Happy Fathers Day!!
Luke-- I hope your first Fathers day was the best ever!!

Love and miss you all!!

I have been so incredibly busy with everything going on here in London. From work to the world cup to class assignments, I never realized how much I was cramming in to one day! I started my second week today at work. My boss mentioned that he thinks I am doing a great job and my MP noticed as well. That is feedback I never received in DC, so I was so overjoyed. I have really adjusted well to the office routine. I write a lot of letters and do quite a lot with scheduling. It is so neat, especially because I contact people like David Miliband, who will most likely be the next Labour leader and leader of the opposition. I hope he does win because that will make Prime Minister's Questions so much more entertaining with heated responses and jabs at Cameron. If you haven't seen PMQs, you should try to watch one week on BBC and CSPAN or youtube the old PMQS. The best are when Tony Blair took on former Prime Minister John Major. Sometimes I wish the US had these!

Now to be less political, I have my first paper due this Friday (yuck), but I have found myself enjoying foreign policy much more than I used to. My DC professor Sunil would be so proud of what I've picked up regarding the EU and British foreign policy on a more broad scale. My paper topic is going to have something to do with the EU by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of Britain's Atlantic alliance with the US on its EU membership. I know, it seems like a bore, but it is shocking how much this question affects every aspect of British domestic policy.

I almost forgot, on Friday I went on a Shakespeare walk around London. We walked across the London Bridge and saw the original location of Shakespeare's Globe theatre and where the current one stands. We also saw Catherine of Aragon's home prior to her marriage to Henry VIII. I am not a huge Shakespeare buff, but the walk around London and on the River Thames was such a pleasant way to spend my Friday afternoon. On Friday night everyone went to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant called Sofra. It wasn't my favorite, but I did order a really neat sampler meal with a bite of each of their 12 most popular dishes. "It was an experience," as my mom likes to say.

Now onto Saturday...
The world cup games here have been so exciting! Watching the US v England game on Saturday night was a once in a lifetime experience. We all decided to head to one of our favorite local pubs called The Court. We were surprisingly not the only Americans! The pub was packed, along with nearly every other pub in London. I have never seen so many businesses close early nor have I seen a metropolitan hub shut down like London did. Everyone was in a pub and not a single person was on the street. Football is so big here and you would be shocked how many guys are so surprised when American girls love it. I was slightly offended haha. A group of englishmen even quizzed me on the English and US rosters and they bet me dinner that I couldn't answer their questions. Of course I had studied up so I could name the defensive players for both teams and I got a free subway sandwich out of it. You all should be so proud! I also placed my first sports bet on the game. Given it was only 10 quid, but the odds on a US victory were nearly 10:1 and a draw at 2-2 would have given me nearly 450 quid, so I could have made quite a bit of money. One of my roommates told me he would go shopping at Burberry with me if I won. That of course made me laugh. Sadly, the score was 1-1 so I didn't get to go to Burberry, but I did have the most amazing day watching sports which I wouldn't trade for anything.

FIRST WEEK AT WESTMINSTER!

It has been a while since I have blogged, but that is mainly because I have just started my first week interning in Parliament. To sum it up.. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! The office staff is much smaller than DC, which I really like and I really life my colleagues. They have been so great with introducing me to life at Westminster and also introducing me to their friends during lunch. I would argue that I, by far, have the best office to work for! I do quite a bit work that is similar to what I did in DC by writing letters, and dealing with mail, but I also get to help with scheduling and invitations for Louise. I love working in a small office, mainly because Chris and Alex show me some great stuff and explain so much of what is happening in Parliament that I am unfamiliar with. I got to go to a few of the pubs in Parliament after my first day, which had to be one of the highlights of my time here. I met some really nice people and got to experience what staffers do after a typical day. I can't wait to go more, if nothing else just to see MPs and Lords who also frequent the pubs.

Today was particularly special because the MP who I work for, Louise won chair of the transport committee for the House of Commons! Both Chris and Louise said the work would pick up, but I am excited to see what goes on behind committee meetings here versus the ones that I worked in DC. We even got to celebrate with Louise and her husband at the MP only bar called Strangers. It has the most beautiful view of
London!

Basically to sum it up, I love London, my internship, and the guys I work with. It is such a great experience and I am having a blast!

Today I had my midterm exam and of course, it was all in essay format. Luckily, I feel confident in what I studied and I was able to get the main points of the six essays I had to write (I hope!). After the exam, I took the tube to meet with my boss in Louise's office. He was so nice and really made me feel comfortable with coming in to work for a foreign government. We had tea and he went over the role I will play in the office. It is rather small, which is so exciting because I will have the chance to work with senior staffers. The work he described is also fairly comparable to what I did in Washington, which makes me confident about diving in on Monday. I am very excited. I start at 10am, (such a blessing) which as you all know I am pretty much the anti-morning person. The MP offices are set up much like Congressional offices in that the district office handles the casework for individual constituents and the Westminster office will handle policy issues. I will be in the policy office that is my main area of interest.

Tomorrow I will be going to Brighton on a day trip with a large group of my roommates. We are getting on an early morning train to get there by 10:30 and spend the day relaxing on the beach. Yes, mom and papa I did buy sunscreen so you should be proud :) The town is supposed to be very cool and relaxed with many of the restaurants and pubs located directly or in very close proximity to the beach. We will come back tomorrow night around 8pm. That will allow for a full day to relax and lay in the sand! Brighton beach is actually world-renowned and the most popular beach in England. It is known for its pebble beaches and great attractions surrounding the beach from the pubs I mentioned to shopping and clubs. It should be a great day and a perfect Saturday before work starts!

The weather is absolutely beautiful today! After class I decided to venture around for the afternoon by myself and explore. I ended up going to Tate Modern to see the art there, but sadly I have come to the conclusion that I'm not a big art fan. After I left the museum I walked along the River Thames and popped into a few shops in the area before coming back to my flat on the Tube. Tonight I have to study British Politics because I have my midterm tomorrow morning. Yes, I am dreading that. Luckily the silver lining is that on Saturday everyone is taking a train and heading to Brighton to go the beach! It is supposed to be 75 degrees and sunny so it should be a beautiful day! Now I have to go study...

Sunday was a lot of fun. I decided to do a few of the touristy things and buy tickets to the Tower of London and one of the exhibits at the British Museum. The tower was such a cool thing to see, mainly because I love The Tudors and much of what took place with Henry VIII took place at that location. The neatest was the crown jewels in their vault and also the location where all beheading took place for those in the royal circle. It was the location of all three deaths of Henry VIII's wives, most notably Anne Boleyn. After the Tower of London, we went to a pub where a group of people got the fish and chips with tartar sauce. I tried some of theirs and I am sad to say that it was not my thing. Our beefeater tour guide named Colin was funny and had a lot of this type of information. I was interested to find out that to become a beefeater and work as protection for the crown that one must have 20 years of military experience. They then reside with their families within the walls of the Tower.

Monday and Tuesday were filled with more class in preparation for the exam we have on Friday. Nothing too eventful happened other than venturing to a club with all of my roommates. It was a gay club so they had a neat drag show that everyone thought was so entertaining. Some of the men dressed up were very pretty!

Today was the first time that I set foot in Parliament. We had a tour of the House of Lords and the House of Commons with our professor. The houses are so small in comparison to those of the Senate and House. The members do not have desks, but instead sit on benches facing each other. One side is for the government and one for the opposition. I will be working for the opposition so when question time takes place on BBC, I get to see the Labour party dig at Cameron. It will be a different experience compared to Washington because I will not be working for the dominant party, which I think is exciting! The houses even have voting rooms because no procedures have been updated in over 150 rooms. They have to physically be checked off and verbally give their vote in a particular line, either on the yes or nay sides of the chamber. I also saw my office building that I work in called Portcullis House. It has an unusually large amount of chimneys on its roof so I could not miss it. The last bit of exciting news is that my member will remain the chair of the Transport committee and maintain leadership with the liaison role within the committee! I am now more excited than before to work for her. I cannot wait for Friday's interview!