Thursday, March 25, 2010

Sláinte


The Countdown Begins

All of a sudden it was my final week at Parliament! With traveling to St. Andrew’s and Arran it snuck up on me and all of a sudden I realized it would be a lot harder to leave than I had ever expected.

The beginning of the week was spent making lists and minorly freaking out. A paper to finish! A briefing about new media for Anne! And worst of all… PACKING!! Needless to say I have somehow managed to aquire more things during my time here!

I’m very sad to leave the Bat Cave, it has been a wonderful home for me and I couldn’t ask for better Scottish roommates.

Until I started thinking about good-byes I didn’t realize how many I would have to say! But I turned most of them into “see you soons” or “talk to you sooner,” the wonders of Facebook, emails, and a savings account!


Tuesday March 16, 2010 11 Days left

Tuesday night we hosted a belated-Burn’s Supper at the flat. Iain and Jamie whipped up terrific Haggis, neeps, and tatties despite my continuing argument that the root vegetable Iain bought and made neeps from was most definitely not a turnip!

After some extensive Wikiepedia research the results are in:

What the Scots call a “turnip” the Americans call a “rutabaga” and the Brits call it a “Swede.” That’s all that matters and that we need to know.

Another reason why Scots deserved their independence, so they can call their “turnips” turnips without snarky comments.

Here is the whole group reading the “Address to the Haggis”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do-WILAk6vI

Iain even found a bottle of Robert Burns whisky from….the Isle of Arran! Consequently it was on sale as Burn’s Night was about two months ago…oops! Never a bad time to eat, drink, and be Scottish!


Wednesday March 17, 2010 ST. PATTIES! 10 Days left

Wednesday was the long anticipated St. Patricks Day and after a long day of work, I’m afraid I did not do my heritage justice. While the other went out, I fell asleep working on my paper sometime before 10:00! (I only know this because Iain came to see if I wanted to go listen to some folk music and there was no response from the depths of the Bat Cave).

Nonetheless, I feel like I still participated as I heard plenty of revelry from the streets below, despite my deep slumber. It was indeed impressive for a Wednesday night. Gotta love the Irish.



Thursday March 18, 2010 9 Days left

Thursday, the long awaited, Last Day had arrived! Of course, it was another busy Thursday. I showed off my knowledge of new media that morning, typed frantically responding to emails both professional and…less so until FMQs (First Minister Questions) began and to my great luck I managed to snag a ticket! And watch the dynamic dialogue that is the chamber every Thursday for 30 minutes. Salmond did not disappoint and a certain opposition leader’s voice was as grating as ever, even without the TV delay.

Just before FMQs ended I rushed (as fast as one rushes in heels and a pencil skirt) around to where the MSPs enter and exit the chamber to meet Anne. As we had arranged she “spoke with appropriate people” and fanagled me a photo with the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond. After watching, and even more importantly hearing him for so long, I couldn’t leave with out a photo. Yes, I am guilty of being a “celebrity whore.” But anyways here is my precious photo!


We had a final lunch with everybody at the exact same table in the canteen we always sat at…sigh…

Anne was scheduled to speak in at a debate on International Development in Malawi later that afternoon but after lunch she had us all into the office. Stewart had been talking about “going to see a man about a doug” all morning, and completely out of character I chose to ignored him:-). Instead of a lively bit of banter about how to best annoy Anne, the topic turned out to be sweet good-byes! On behalf of the whole gang Stewart and Michael gave me a lovely thistle necklace! I had actually been planning on finding one to declare my Scottish allegiance! Even better a group of true Scots (and one Ohioan) found the perfect one for me. Thank you all :-)

The Scottish theme continued as Anne gave me a lovely gift bag (decorated with all things Scottish) filled with Scottish treats, a Scottish Parliament key chain, and a friendship cup, a quaich. Even more touching were her words, however, despite threats to physically harm me I couldn’t bring myself to tears. I’m not a cute cryer for the record. I was Anne’s first intern and so incredibly lucky to be so well paired with not just my MSP but with the whole staff. I couldn’t imagine a better environment to be a fledgling intern with no clue about the dynamics of Scottish politics or water cooler talk (btw they don’t have a break room, it’s a Tea Room)


Goodbye desk...


After work a bunch of us grabbed drinks in the Member’s Bar one last time.


This is pretty typical of this group. It’ll be so strange to talking to those 4 constantly everyday to nada! Maybe we’ll keep the intern thread up back in the states…

The Interns (yes we are planning our premier as a disco-pop band):


Ian- the lone male, yet he survived.


Lauren- future cider model? I think yes.


Brittany- Partner-in-crime gurrrl


Emily- classic! haha


Our group headed to Holyrood for our official farewell evening. It was great getting to go to drinks with everybody one last time.



The Ladies


An excellent final day at Parliament, except…I ended up going back in the next day! I had a “few” more emails to forward myself and thought I would get more work done on my paper there. Great in theory until somehow I didn’t save/lost everything I did that day. Oops! Everything happens for a reason, so I figure the version I have now is just that much better.

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