"I'm Just A Coalminer's Daughter"

Ahhhh so many exciting things to update everyone on from this week!

So like I said on Thursday I met with my MSP and got a little taste of what I would be doing.  What I failed to mention (didnt have permission to talk about these things yet!) was that they also invited me to attend a training session in Glasgow on Saturday.  For those of you unaware Glasgow is the biggest city in Scotland (and third biggest in the UK) and is about an hour away from Edinburgh. This whole training session thing was a little short notice, but I didnt have any plans and I had never been to Glasgow so I agreed to go.

Unfortunately I didnt realize that my commitment to going to Glasgow meant that I needed to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to be at the train station by 7:30 to catch an 8 a.m. train into Glasgow. On top of all of this it started pouring down snow just as I was leaving my flat.  Not exactly the happiest thing to experience in the dark at 730 in the morning, but fortunately I made it to the train station no problem.  I rode over to Glasgow with two of my fellow interns Ian and Fergus (who's nickname is Cumbria....?).  They're both 19, at university in Edinburgh and very nice! Fergus took to calling me Georgia as soon as he found out where I was from which I didnt exactly enjoy, but hey at least we bonded.  Unfortunately I cant really say I saw much of Glasgow since we went straight from the train station to the metro to the office building where our training session was, but underground Glasgow seemed very nice....?

Despite the early morning wake up call the training was actually really fun.  Everyone there was in a good mood and we got to learn how to use photoshop to make campaign flyers and stuff. We also had competitions over who could finish their project the fastest and best, which clearly I won.  Those Scot's were obviously not at all prepared for an American overachiever.  I also taught the entire room how to play freecell and they were all very impressed with my skill, so thanks dad for playing that game nonstop when I was little!

Only true pros could get the metal opener stuck IN the bottle of wine

Sunday was spent mostly in the library trying to prepare for all my finals this week (still not really sure how those are going to go) but I did manage to meet up with Sarah and Becca later for a wine night :) Unfortunately this plan was better in theory because of a slight problem with a wine-opener and a corked bottle of red....oh well at least we know for next time.

Monday morning Becca and I went to this amazing cafe called Elephants and Bagels for lunch.  It was spectacular, just the name has two of my favorite things in it, plus the cafe is adorable. It has all of these cases full of elephant dolls and drawings, and they make their own cream cheese. Basically it is my Mecca.  Later that day everyone in the program met up again to watch a DVD about Scotland.  We ended up watching a Hitchcock movie I'd never seen called 39 Steps.  It was very good and was actually pretty accurate in its portrayal of Scotland, i'd definitely recommend it.

Yep, I'm a boss.

Now Tuesday was my exciting first day of work!!! I arrived at parliament at 10 a.m. and got my security badge, which may be my new favorite accessory.  Seriously this thing is awesome.  Its pink, and cased, and opens any door in parliament just by flashing it at a sensor.  I feel like such a bad ass using it.  Plus it allows me to sign anyone I want into Parliament so if you're in Edinburgh and want a behind the scenes tour of the Scottish Government I got you :)  Tuesday was mostly just spent getting settled and learning how to work everything.  I did get to summarize some reports on human trafficking and listen to some cases on law reform which was really interesting.  My MSP is super nice and I can already tell that working for him is going to be one of the most fun and educational experiences of my life.  Yes, I just used those two words together.


Today was mostly spent struggling to get a laptop working and setting up my email account but later in the day I was asked to research information on a bunch of Coal Mine Regeneration Projects in Scotland.  This may sound boring but it was actually really interesting to read all of the arguments for protection of the coal mines, especially since I never really thought anyone would want to protect a coal mine. Most of the arguments were pretty emotional too. I swear everyone in Scotland is related to someone who worked in a mine. 
I know I've only been in Parliament two days, but overall I think that I am going to love my time here.  Between my personal desk, my security badge and my close proximity to lawmaking its basically a dream come true.

I have my first final on Friday and my other two are next week so until then I will probably have a fairly limited social life.  Eight hours of work plus studying at night will do that to you, but I cant wait until theyre done and I can immerse myself fully in Parliament.  That and have my nights back ;)

Talk to you all soon!