Market Places and Familiar Faces

This past Saturday was dedicated to being entirely a tourist. It began with a trip to Borough Market with my friend Cece and our new friend Rob, who is a Londoner and loves to show my friends and me around the city. I'll be honest, at first I was really not feeling venturing out early Saturday morning. Having been out and about late the night before, I was looking forward to a lazy morning in. Needless to say, I'm so glad I didn't miss out on this adventure!

Borough Market was a sight to behold! Located amongst old tunnels, this half open-air, half glass-ceiling enclosed market is magnificent. Never in my life have I seen so many cool and interesting vendors in one place. Although I could've spent the entire day (or days, for that matter) exploring each and every vendor set up in the place, we decided to grab a bite for lunch at a traditional English pie vender set up at the market, grab a coffee, and do some light exploring around the market. Since we went on a Saturday the place was a bit crowded. It's open Thursdays-Sundays, so I think it'd be much easier to move about and explore on a Thursday or Friday morning.

The beautiful glass atrium that was half of the massive market.

Fresh produce was not in short supply.

And for that matter, neither was fresh poultry.

A market that lets you purchase a glass of morning prosecco while you browse? Yes, please.

While wondering I looked up and saw this beautiful Gothic church high above the market.

One of the neat tunnels surrounding the market.

I had the venison pie for lunch. Deer meat covered in herbs, surrounded by a pastry-like pie crust, and topped with British gravy. It was delicious! 

After exploring the market and making a quick stop by High Street Kensington to make a TK Maxx run (yes, you read that right - the Brits replace the J for a K), Cece and I were walking back to our flat from the Tube when we ran into 2 familiar faces, our friends Tom and Julia. They were heading off to watch the sunset at the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Honestly exhausted from the day, I really just wanted to head back to the flat to rest. However, once again, after much convincing I decided it was a rare sunny day in London and what a beautiful way to watch the sun set than overlooking this beautiful city on an equally stunning piece of architecture? In all honesty, I'm a sucker for a good sunset.

Unfortunately my phone had died much earlier in the day so I wasn't able to get any pictures from the Tower Bridge, but the experience was surreal. Not having my phone almost made it easier for me to focus on being present in the moment and soak in the amazing scenery and people around me. After all, isn't that part of the experience of living in an entirely new place? 

Moral of the story this weekend? Never let an opportunity pass you by, no matter how big or small. While it may not seem significant at the time, saying yes to an opportunity to explore, enjoy, and live in a moment is the most enriching experience and it's moments like these that make a lifetime.

My MP and Me

My first week in Parliament has been an absolute blast. Because of my visa restrictions I only work 3 days a week and the past 6 days of working have been an amazing experience and full of work. Most days I work on casework for my MP, responding to email that constituents have sent. One day I wrote an article on the NHS for my MP to publish in the local newspaper and on his website. What an eye-opener that was! First off, I know absolutely nothing about the UK healthcare system. Second, I didn't really know my MP's writing and speaking style. And third, I don't necessarily agree with national healthcare and my office manager looked up the article I wrote at ATR about disagreeing with Obamacare as I was writing the article - yikes! My article was finally complete and published so that was an accomplishment I was proud of after several days of stressful work.

Let me tell you a little bit about my MP because my office is very interesting. My MP happens to also be a Minister, meaning he also was appointed by the Prime Minister and the Queen to work for the Government. That being said, I'm lucky to be an office located in Westminster Palace rather than the office buildings that surround Parliament. That means I'm right down the hall from the House of Commons chamber and the Lords' chamber. Very cool! If I had to make a comparison, it would be like having an office in the actual Capitol building (like the Speaker's office is) rather than being in a House office building like Cannon or Rayburn.

Westminster Palace, the building where my office is located

The lobby of Westminster Palace. My office is located in a hallway right off this chamber.

My MP has a great taste in decor.

My MP's office. These pictures on the wall are of the Ministers that previously held his position.

My MP has a love for whiskey and Ella Fitzgerald. Needless to say, he's a great fit for me.

Books in my MP's office

My office is also very small. It's only my MP, his office manager, and me. His office is very elaborate and beautiful, but there are only 2 desks and 2 couches. My office manager sits at his desk and I sit at my MP's desk while my MP sits on the couch when he's in the office. One day my MP came in with this massive red box that looked like a huge briefcase. It turns out that every Minister carries a red box with all of his paperwork in it. It's a tradition in UK politics that I hadn't heard of before this week. This red box is incredibly heavy and apparently it's nearly impossible to destroy or open it unless you have access to it, as most of these red boxes contain very confidential information.

It's been a great week interning so far. My MP is up for reelection and hopefully throughout the semester I'll get a chance to visit his constituency and do some campaigning. It would be a neat way to experience both sides of British politics.

Lovingly,

Loren

Palaces, Parks, Parliament (first week in London recap)

If I could think of a word to describe this past week, it would be overwhelming. Getting into a new routine is usually overwhelming for me generally, but this is a new kind of feeling overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed by how incredible London is, I'm overwhelmed by having a different attitude than the British, and I'm overwhelmed by how blessed I am to be here.

This past week has been filled with palaces, parks, and Parliament. Since my friends and I only worked in Parliament on Wednesday and Thursday this week, we had 3 days free to explore the palaces and parks in London. Like I said in my previous post, we went to Buckingham Palace and St. James' Park on Monday. We ended up going back to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday to watch the changing of the guards ceremony. I can't even describe the elaborateness of this. On the even days of this months, the guards at Buckingham Palace change with this incredible display of ceremony. There are bands, music, and horses galore. Picture a marching band x100.

Buckingham Palace

Wednesday and Thursday were spent in Parliament, which is a blog post all of its own. Walking into Westminster Palace for the first time on Wednesday nearly brought tears to my eyes. I feel so blessed to have this amazing experience!

Yesterday, Friday, was our day off and we decided to explore Hyde Park and Kensington Palace, which is right down the street from us. Hyde Park is huge and beautiful, as are Kensington Palace and its gardens. It's probably the biggest park I've seen in my life. Kensington Palace was incredible. As we were walking up to the Palace, we noticed that people were walking in so we decided to follow. It turns out that Kensington Palace has a public section and a private section (where Will, Kate, and Prince George, and Harry live). The public section tells the story of Queen Victoria and her husband Albert, who lived in the Palace. This was Queen Elizabeth's great-great grandmother. The Palace also had the King's Apartments and the Queen's apartments, which have both been used by kings and queens since the 1600s. Every detail of this Palace was so elaborate.

Hyde Park

Hyde Park

Kensington Gardens

Kensington Palace

The King's staircase in Kensington

The chair where the King sat to hear trials

Gorgeous ceiling

The King's ballroom

Celebrating a first great week at a pub down the street from our flat

Lovingly,

Loren

Flat No. 9

I'm so lucky to be in London with such an amazing group of people. I have no doubt that these people will be lifelong friends and I can't wait to get to know them more this semester!

That being said, we're all living together in a flat in the West End of London. There are 3 girls and 3 guys total, with a triple room, a double room, and a single in our flat. The location of our flat is amazing! We can walk almost anywhere in London and I'm loving being in central London.

Here are pictures of home in London!

Girls' room. I'm on the bottom bunk.

Girls' bathroom

The view from our living room

Kitchen

Living room

Dining room

Hello from London!

The past 24 hours in London have been an absolute whirlwind. As exhausted as I am, I'm loving every second of taking in this amazing city.

Until tonight my friends and I chose to walk everywhere rather than take the Underground. Even though I had no idea where we were heading it was a great way to get oriented with the city and see all of the beautiful sites. Let me just say, everything about London is beautiful. Every building, every person, everything just seems so exquisite and perfect.

Here's a recap from the past 2 days.

I arrived in London at 6:50 am. After going through customs, I met up with my friends Luke, Julia, and Stephen and then we taxied to our flat together. Heathrow was the most insane airport I've ever been in! To have 5 separate buildings that connect with a subway is incredible to me.

After that, we unpacked our things, got settled, then began to explore. We walked down to Marble Arch and Hyde Park, which are both just about 5 or 10 minutes away.

Marble Arch

After walking Hyde Park and going to a bar on a carousel (yes, that exists) in the Winter Wonderland amusement park that they have set up for the wintertime, we hit up our first British pub! I got to try my first authentic fish and chips, which is incredible, and English cider. The pub is literally two steps from our apartment building and has trivia nights every Monday. Needless to say, the bartender Lucio is going to become a very good friend of ours. 

We were so tired, we ended up going straight to bed after the pub at 7:30 p.m.

This amazing cider I tried

Today we woke up after a nice 11 hour sleep, had a meeting with our landlord, then immediately went exploring. First we saw Buckingham Palace, which was unbelievably huge. We also saw the statue for Duke of Wellington and the war memorials, which had poppies as a tribute to fallen soldiers.

The gates around the palace gardens are serious business.

Next we headed to St. James's Park. The parks around London are gorgeous, but this park had a beautiful swan lake that overlooked London.

After this, we saw Downing Street and Westminster Palace. We also saw Westminster Abbey and the church next to it, St. Margaret's. St. Margaret's was amazing! It was built in the 1000s and serves as the church to the Parliament.

West Minster Abbey

St. Margaret's

All in all, it has been wonderful experience exploring London. I can't wait to get to know this city more this semester! 

Cheers!

Loren