London Calling
Yes, I picked the most unoriginal title for this blog post but after finishing my finals a week ago, my mind is too fried to think up anything creative. This summer I will be interning in the Political Section of the US Embassy in London. Right now, I am about 20 days out from my departure date.
In college, I was extremely fortunate to study abroad three times. I went to Panama City, Florence, and London. Each experience was more amazing than the last, but London is by far my favorite city, mainly because I had the fantastic experience to work with a Member of Parliament, Ms. Sarah Teather. Ms. Teather is one of those rare politicians that truly cares about her constituents and works nonstop for them, and her team is just as amazing. Working with them was an absolute pleasure. I even learned how to make a proper cup of tea, which is important, because as an intern in the UK, you are basically on tea duty 24/7.
While I loved working for Ms. Teather, the experience left me wanting to find a similar position with my own government. So when my wonderful writing instructor, Professor Stevenson, told me about an internship I could apply for with the State Department, I jumped at the opportunity. It has been a long road from that simple application; nevertheless, my excitement for this summer has not lessened one bit. In fact, I think it has been the one shining light in my life, throughout the self-imposed torture that is the 1L year of law school.
So here I am, only a week out from the most grueling year of my life and there is so much to do. My pre-London checklist has taken almost as much time as studying for my finals did. I got my security clearance, bought international health insurance, sent in all the paperwork for my visa, cleared my start and end dates with my supervisor, booked my flight, and shopped for more business appropriate attire.
Now there is only one more thing for me to do: find an inexpensive place to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world...joy. The last time I lived in London, I had a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, wonderful apartment, a block from the British Museum, 15 minutes from work. It had a doorman, security, breakfast, and free cable and internet. Normally, a college student would go bankrupt renting a place like this. Fortunately, rent was included in my program fee. Of course, this time, I foolishly decided to take a job that did not provide housing. I have been successfully procrastinating this house hunt for several weeks now, after the realization that this would not be like an episode of House Hunters International, where a lovely real estate agent shows a family 3 homes to choose from all in a short and easy 30 minutes. I have a feeling this might take a little longer, and involve a bit more stress.
So now the search begins. Stay tuned to see if I end up living in a box on the street.