Goodbye, London!

December 19, 2017

A few weeks ago my time working the job of a lifetime came to an end and just a few short days ago I said goodbye to a city that made me feel at home from the moment I arrived. While endings are always sad, and this has been a time in my life I’m not eager to walk away from, I am endlessly grateful for all I was able to do/see/learn over the course of these three months and will look back on it fondly.

There’s a big, dopey smile on my face as I write this and think about how amazing my time on the Hansard Society Scholars Programme truly was.

As someone who is lucky enough to have worked fairly consistently for several years now while still an
undergraduate student, I was fairly confident in my ability to succeed in this internship placement going in. Fun fact: I have spent the entirety of 2017 in a professional position through co-op, a summer internship, and now with as a Hansard Scholar.

As such, I firmly believe that experiential learning is the most effective way to enhance one’s knowledge and skills, and can attest personally to its merits given how much I have grown professionally and personally thus far this year.

My time in Westminster was glorious, inspiring, sometimes nerve-wracking and, in many ways, still feels like something of a dream. Simply walking through the estate is an honor, so I am still in awe that I was actually able to contribute to the work done there.

I am exceedingly grateful for my supervisor, who typically on boards Hansard Scholars in much the same way he transitioned into his role in Westminster: all at once– a Band- Aid approach. While this is certainly not how everyone learns best and therefore is not reflective of everyone’s experience on the program, it played a major role in shaping my internship as I was able to demonstrate not only competence, but a will to learn right from the start.

I am by no means a master of parliamentary procedure or at drafting Parliamentary Questions and Early Day Motions, but I have improved exponentially since my first day. Similarly, my responsibilities in the office grew with each week, culminating in my managing the office during the final days of my internship as my supervisor and only London-based coworker was out of the office.

Following a number of heartfelt thank yous to all those who made my experience so valuable, I said my goodbyes to Westminster for the final time.

My final weekend in London was spent in the library (and a variety of wifi-equipped coffeeshops); the night I ended my internship, I also settled in to revise for my two exams and continue revising my dissertation. Having now completed all three, I feel relieved to be done for the semester, but have also realized just how much I learned this semester– through classes, the internship, guest lectures, or simply living in London I gained more knowledge than I would have thought possible and am excited to apply it to my coursework back in Boston this spring.

While I am a Political Science major, I have tailored my coursework toward international relations with a focus on continental Europe which is a large part of why I was drawn to the Hansard Society Scholars Programme in the first place; the opportunity to work in the United Kingdom’s parliament amidst the Brexit negotiations was too good to pass up. Indeed, this proved to be fascinating and added much to both my internship experience and the academic portions of the program.

I feel lucky to have been so close to this little piece of history and, in addition to the internship, one of the aspects of the programme which made this possible was the multitude of guest lectures we were lucky enough to have throughout.

The first few weeks of the program were primarily filled with guest lectures, including the study visits to Edinburgh and Cardiff and served as a valuable primer for both our internships and our classes.

From Peers in the House of Lords to lawyers, journalists and local politicians, the lecturers came from a wide variety of backgrounds and, while lecturing on different topics, each provided their own unique insights on Brexit and the future of the United Kingdom and European Union. These lectures helped me shape my own opinions and bolster my knowledge of key components before entering the academic and professional portions of the program.

During these first weeks, all of us scholars also got to know one another. I genuinely feel that the value of this program was greatly enhanced by the other students who participated with me, from Northeastern or otherwise. Having such a diverse group of students from all over the world and studying at all different universities allowed us the opportunity to learn from one another and gain new perspectives.

The friends I have made while on this program are ones that I will have for life. From London, to Paris, Dublin and beyond, we’ve traveled the world together and, in class and work, done out best to understand how it all works. I am lucky to be returning to Boston this spring with the Scholars who also call Northeastern home and absolutely cannot wait to be reunited with the rest of our group, whenever that may happen.

The opportunities Northeastern provides are endless and I often find it daunting to try and choose which ones to try my hand at, but I am beyond grateful that I was able to participate in this program. Living, working and studying in London as a Hansard Society Scholar is easily among the most significant achievements of my undergraduate career and, though I loved my Dialogue of Civilizations and global co-op, this is without a doubt my favorite ‘global experience’ I have been lucky enough to complete.

So, as this is my final post, I will end with this: Northeastern is an exceptional university and I am grateful for the way it enables and encourages students to go abroad. For anyone interested, the Hansard Society Scholars Programme will undoubtedly be worth it.