"What We've Got Here is a Failure to Communicate."

So as of today I am officially done with my parliamentary internship.  Election Day, or as the Scottish call it Polling Day, was Thursday and now I'm just relaxing and finishing up some stuff until I leave on the 13th.

 Sunday night was the beginning of election week so I headed to the office for one final campaign meeting.  Everyone was very positive and we pretty much just discussed final strategies and plans for the week.  On Monday I woke up early and went on deliveries until around 2 p.m. and then headed home for a few job interviews and some homework.  Monday night Lindsey was kind enough to invite me to dinner with her parents so I got to enjoy some yummy Scottish food and wine with the Zea's.

Tuesday was another busy day at work followed by a celebration in the evening for Lindsey's last night.  After hanging out at Noah's for a bit we all went dancing at the Hive one of our favorite clubs.  The evening was very fun but a little sad because I knew it was the last time we'd all be together and the last time I'd be seeing Lindsey for a while.  Its just so strange that people have already started to leave, I'm honestly struggling to figure out where this semester went.

Me, Rachel, Lindsey, and Noah on Lindsey's last night

Wednesday was the final day of campaigning before Polling Day and one of my busiest yet.  Deliveries in the morning, canvassing in the afternoon and then a final campaign meeting in the evening.  This meeting was a bit different because it was a chance for us all to get our assignments for the next morning and to have one last gathering before we all split up on our various tasks.  Alex and Kevin both gave speeches and since I'm not going to be here for the thank-you party they were both kind enough to say a little thank you to me during the meeting.  I also received a pair of socks as a gift?  Apparently its a Scottish tradition and I have to say I was very excited. It was a great evening just talking with all the amazing people I've met on the campaign and reflecting on just how much we've achieved.

As busy as Wednesday was it doesn't even compare to the madness of Thursday.  After getting four hours of sleep I woke up at 4am and was out of my flat by five to begin the work day.  We started with "good morning" leaflets which we delivered to swing areas in an attempt to remind them to vote for Alex before they even left their houses.  I delivered the "good mornings" and some target letters until about 12 p.m. when I took a thirty minute break for lunch.  Then right after lunch we were out and about again this time canvassing, knocking on doors of likely voters reminding them to get out there and vote for Alex. By 5 p.m. I had knocked on almost 300 doors, was exhausted, running on nothing but caffeine and adrenaline and still greatly enjoying myself.  On my last canvass run around 630 p.m. it started to pour down rain so I headed back to the office where I was given a cell phone and some numbers to canvass over the phone.  After a day of walking around this was definitely fine by me.

Around 9 p.m. we finally stopped phone banking since there was only an hour left until polls closed.  The campaign was kind enough to provide us with pizza which I enjoyed immensely considering my severe energy depletion levels.  By that time I had been working for 17 hours straight, but the day was far from over.  After a short meeting about results, policies and the events for the evening we all headed out to Islington for the count. 

My badge for the count

Now for those of you who don't know the UK does not use electronic voting machines in their elections.  I've heard a couple different reasons why this is.  Explanations range from machines are not reliable to we're idiots, but regardless every ballot is counted by hand by a real live person.  Now part of the tradition of this count is that it is done through the night after Polling Day so that the results are available as soon as possible.   During this all night count Parties can observe the votes to record demographics and voting information.  This is the activity that I was participating in.  When I arrived at the count I entered a massive room with hundreds and hundreds of tables and four people at each one counting the ballots.  Us party members had to stand on the other side of guard rails and look over the shoulders of the people counting in order to record how many votes we had gotten.

By midnight, after a few hours of waiting, the count had begun and immediately I realized that the result was not looking that good for Alex.  The Lib Dems were consistently coming in third for every ballot box opened and it didn't take long for us to realize that Alex wouldn't be winning.  By 2 a.m. the count had finished and we all met for the bad news and to console Alex.

Overall, I wasn't that surprised that Alex lost, simply because the Lib Dems are so unpopular in Scotland right now because of their coalition with the Conservatives.  However, after all my hard work and everything I'd seen the campaign put into this election it was pretty hard to watch someone I really liked and respected lose everything he wanted.  Regardless, Alex took the news fairly well and was very nice in his acknowledgements and congratulations to the winner, Marco Biagi of the SNP. Although, I am unhappy with the outcome the experience of participating in such a unique and exciting campaign was unlike any I've ever had and I know I will look back on it all with positive memories.

Even though we knew Alex hadn't won by 2 a.m., we had to wait around longer for the official declaration and Alex's speech.  I intended to wait up for this event, but when 5 a.m. rolled around and we still didn't know how much longer it was going to be I officially couldn't hang on anymore and ended up taking the bus back to my flat.

Needless to say I spent most of Friday in my bed catching up on the 26 hours of sleep I had missed.  Friday night however was unfortunately Noah's last night so once again I headed out to say goodbye to one of my good friends.  The night was fun, but it was a little bit sadder for me than Lindsey's last night because unlike her I don't know when I'll  see Noah again.  It was super hard saying goodbye and it was made all the harder knowing that I 'm going to have many more of these goodbyes to do in the next few days.

Some of the girls on Noah's last night

My parents get in tomorrow and I'm super excited to see them but I'm also very sad because it means that my time in Edinburgh is coming to an end.  Words cannot describe how amazing this experience has been and I can't believe I only have a week left to enjoy it.  My 21st birthday is Monday and a lot of my friends are still here, so I'm trying to be happy and just live up my last few days!