Pancake Day/Mardi Gras...whatever it's still awesome!

Mardi Gras is celebrated as Pancake Day here, but there were no pancakes to be had. Instead, this Louisiana girl put the fat in Fat Tuesday.

The cafeteria at the Scottish Parliament is quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of the job. They serve good, hot meals every day for lunch at subsidized prices - thank you, Scottish taxpayers! Today they had a celebratory feast of cajun cuisine, and I helped myself to jambalaya, sweet potatoes, corn, gumbo, a roll, and peach cobbler smothered in custard. It didn't taste quite like home, but for 3.50 GBP total it was an amazing culinary experience. 

Since I've last updated, I haven't had any experiences quite as exciting as my adventures in Stockholm or misadventure making my way home. I'm a working girl now, and this past week has also included two final exams. One more paper due Friday and I'm officially done with school for the semester. But it's becoming increasingly hard to write...

My internship is going well so far. Today was the first day my MSP was in the office, and I had quite a bit of work to do: writing briefs on statistics releases, compiling information for an upcoming debate, and helping with other general office work. One thing that is already apparent is how much of a hands-on internship this is gonna be. The MSPs have very small offices (mine just has one regular assistant), so there is plenty of substantial work to be done.  I feel as though I'm really in the center of the action: My research supervisor showed me a press release the communications guy made from a summary I did today and said it would be all over the papers tomorrow. 

Friday night was my one break night. Some other girls and I went to dinner at The Filling Station, a wannabe American diner/bar. My southern chicken sandwhich was lacking on the southern flair, but I had a pint of cider to wash it down with ahhhh...what am I gonna do when I'm no longer in a place where every bar has cider on tap?  We met up with some other interns at the student union and then went to The Three Sisters, one of my favorite pubs/clubs here right down the street from my flat.

But after that, I studied studied studied to the least of my abilities. I really tried, but being in a foreign country and taking classes pass/fail really put a damper on my motivation. I think my exams went well considering. All I need is 40% to pass, woo hoo! 

Sorry for the somewhat lame, pictureless update, but I promise things will soon become more exciting. This weekend will be full of celebrating my soon school-free status, and I have plans in the works to go to London and Dublin in the next few weeks. 

One thing I love about the Scottish is that they respond to pretty much everything with "cheers" -  from my understanding, it can mean anything from "thank you" to "hello" to "good bye." So cheers, good bye, until next time my dears.