Eager to Start

June 13, 2017

I arrived in London on May 19th, 2017 and my first few days here have been awesome! The night I arrived my accommodation in central London wasn’t yet ready, so I rented an Airbnb for the evening before I could move into my flat the next morning. I explored the city for all of 5 minutes after arriving before I retreated to my Airbnb for a solid 12 hours of sleep.

Observing London, I noticed many similarities to Boston. First, the River Thames flows through the center of the city as the Charles divides Cambridge from Boston. However, there’s something a bit more breathtaking about crossing the Waterloo Bridge than the Harvard Bridge. Second, the structural similarities to Boston are undeniable — lots of old brick and stone structures (Westminster Palace, for instance) with a touch of modernization (the Shard or anything in Canary Wharf). I feel comfortable here.

Orientation has been a days-long process. We began on move-in day with a 30-minute “Accommodation Orientation.” the building security staff took the other scholars and me around the premises and gave us an introduction to the building. This portion of our orientation was relatively short but contained some useful information.

The next part of our orientation involved an introduction to the Hansard Society Scholars program including academic expectations (that will be covered in more detail later this week), internship placements, and scholars’ security abroad. The bulk of this session was extremely useful as most of our program had been disrupted by the 2017 impromptu general election in the United Kingdom. This is both a time of political turmoil and security uncertainty in London. The program directors were able to explain program changes and heightened security risks to catch us up to speed with the ongoings during the remainder of our stay.

What’s standing out most during this week is the drive of my fellow scholars in this program. The students here are uniquely enthusiastic about the content of this program. Each of us is eager to begin our internships and classes.

I can tell I am going to enjoy this program thoroughly. I already love London!

— Daniel

Written By

Daniel Allen

My name is Daniel! I’m a fourth year Political Science and Finance student at Northeastern. What sparked my interest in the Hansard Scholars program was its melding of work in parliament with course work pertaining to parliamentary politics – experiential learning in true Northeastern fashion. During this program I hope to gain knowledge of the political institutions dominating Westminster and apply them to my knowledge of similar institutions back in the United States. The prospect of studying abroad has always interested me, but it wasn’t until I discovered this program that I decided I was going to participate. Read my blog to learn more about my experience!