The Queen and I

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all having as good a day as I had today!

What made my day so wonderful, you ask. Well.... I SAW THE QUEEN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right, the QUEEN OF ENGLAND AND A WHOLE LIST OF OTHER COUNTRIES!!!!!!!! (But it was no big deal, I'm not excited or anything...) Let me back up and tell you the whole story (it's a good one)...

So a few weeks ago I was walking past Trafalgar Square on my way to my house. From Trafalgar Square you can see down the Mall to Buckingham Palace and I saw that something was going on. However, it was about midday so I just thought, it's probably the changing of the guard. It was only later that I found out the Queen and the President of Indonesia (I think it was Indonesia) were parading through the streets and I had missed it! After that, I decided that I needed to be a bit more proactive if I was going to meet my goal of seeing the royals up close!

So...I went online! Turns out the Monarchy has a wonderful website and it is possible to find out the scheduled public appearances of various royals. So I was perusing the upcoming events and happened to see, much to my amazement (and excitement) that on 14 November (the day before my birthday, no less) the Queen was scheduled to visit the Royal Commonwealth Society. Now this wouldn't mean all that much to me except the website also stated the address and I realized this building is literally across the street from my house!! I was further excited to find out that 14 November was a Wednesday (meaning I have only one class, and every other week, no class at all) and that this particular Wednesday was one where I wouldn't have class! This meant that I could sit outside all day and just wait for the Queen.

And that is precisely what I did! I thought of it as "Operation Camp-out and Wait for the Queen" and it was a complete success. The only problem with my plan was that the website (presumably for security reasons) did not say what time the Queen was expected to visit. So I went out at 8 am this morning! Turns out that was entirely unnecessary but it was an adventure. As the hours passed, I watched people bringing in equipment to set up the room, the police dogs arrive to search the building, and police arrive to do some lengthy prep in the building. Finally, at about 12 I screwed up my courage and asked a police officer about the Queen's visit. He suggested I go inside for a few more hours. "No sense getting cold" he said as she wasn't not expected for a while (I didn't bother telling him that the advice about staying warm came about 4 hours too late). So I went inside for about an hour and then came back out and prepared.

They had set up only one set of barricades so I went to stand near them and when two ladies got behind the barricades, I figured I better do so as well or risk losing a prime spot! As it turned out this was a stroke of luck as these two ladies were great and we became friends as we waited. They discovered that this barricade was really for the press so we stood elsewhere (they finally put up barricades for us as well, but it didn't seem as though they were really prepared for as many people as showed up). The women were from Canada and were called Margaret and Maggie. Margaret apparently comes over multiple times a year for several weeks and sees the Queen as much as possible. She has camped out for several days for events and has been here for Will and Kate's wedding as well as the Diamond Jubilee and the Queen Mother's funeral. In short, I ended up with the experts and very nice company to boot!

Finally, we saw the police motorcycles and the Queen's car (it is a nice car, just FYI)! I was so excited!!  And then, there she was!! Turns out, she is really quite small. Anyway, she basically went straight into the building and as we found out she was coming out another door we all moved over there (again securing wonderful spots right up front, thanks in no small part to the expertise of Margaret and Maggie). I had gotten pictures when the Queen arrived, but had to do a bit more planning for her departure. Margaret said that the Queen can get quite put-off if there are cameras shoved in her face and while I wanted her to come close and wanted close up pictures, I did NOT want to upset the Queen! So I devised a plan (actually, I thought of it last night laying in bed). I would put my camera on video and hold it down low (just above my waist) so that it would be unobtrusive, but if the Queen came over, I would still get it on video (genius right?)!

The Queen came out of the building and Margaret and Maggie held out small bouquets of maple leaves (remember they are from Canada) that they had made to give to her. This was brilliant and the only reason why the Queen came over at all. While I didn't have anything to give the Queen, because the people around me did (including an odd woman on my left who tried to ask the Queen about politics while also handing her flowers), I ended up about a foot or two away from the Queen!!!! For the record, this is closer than I got to Nick Clegg last year! When she came over I said "Your Majesty" rather quietly and did this sort of half-curtsey/bow thing. Now, before you say it, I know, I'm American, but it just felt right!! I couldn't help it! And it would have been a better curtsey but I was kind of being squished by a lot of people (and as an American, I'm not very experienced in the curtsey department)! Then she got in her fancy car and drove away and I got the entire interaction on video (not that she interacted with me personally, but I spoke to her so that totally counts and again, is better than I did with Clegg)!!!

Anyway, it was a wonderful day and totally worth sitting outside and getting really cold!! I have posted all the pictures on Facebook as well as the video. If you don't have Facebook, I'm sorry, but it is the best and easiest way I have of posting photos, but I would be happy to send you some if you would like. I will also post several here and I'll try to post the video (but I'm not sure it will work). I'm sorry it ended up being such a long story, but I was so excited I just had to share it with you all!

The Queen arriving! This picture is not zoomed in or edited in any way so you get a sense of how close we were! 

This is the same picture as above, but cropped on the computer.

Margaret, Maggie, and I waiting for the Queen to come out after her visit.

Margaret and her Canadian bouquets that enticed the Queen to come over! 

The video I took of the Queen coming over! Hopefully it plays and sorry for the poor quality. Remember I was trying to be unobtrusive so I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing with the camera.

Well, I am exhausted after all that shivering in the cold! But as I said, soooo worth it. In other news (I know, amazing to think anything else could happen today), I applied for two more Parliamentary internships. So, we'll hope for the best with that (but I am comforted by the knowledge that if I had gotten that first internship, I probably wouldn't have had time to sit around today and wait for the Queen so I know things will work out). Going to take the rest of the evening off and go to bed early!

Love to all.
Cheers,
Abbey

My very British weekend

Hello all,

Happy Veterans Day to those in the States. I have to say that I have never been so moved by this day as I was today (but more on that shortly). To those of you who are veterans, thank you. Today, I found myself thinking a lot about my Papa (my grandfather) who was a awarded a Bronze Star in WWII.

Anyway, I am breaking tradition (in a good way) and updating my blog soon after my previous update because I wanted to share the events of this weekend with you. In short, I learned that London knows how to party/put on a show!

Yesterday, I went to the Lord Mayor's Show/Parade. This was quite a lucky break. I had read about the show and made a note that I wanted to see it, but I didn't realize it was going on yesterday until someone posted something on Facebook. Luckily I had time to rush out and didn't miss a thing! This event has been going on for almost 800 years. It takes place after the Lord Mayor of the City of London has been elected. By the way, the Lord Mayor is not to be confused with the Mayor of London who is, according to Wikipedia (to my professors, this is not my usual research method and I ask your forgiveness for using it now), the Mayor of Greater London rather than just the City. Anyway, after he (or presumably, she) is elected (but not the same day), there is a huge (this year it was over 3.5 miles long) parade from the mansion house, past St. Paul's, to the Royal Courts of Justice (which by the way, is just around the corner, literally, from LSE) where he swears allegiance to the Queen (or King as the case may be). After a break for lunch, they all march back by a different route. This was quite a procession! Reminded me a bit of the Thanksgiving Day Parade in the States with all the bands (yay; I even saw a marching bassoon), but there are more people in military uniforms than I remember at Thanksgiving and at the end, instead of Santa Clause, there is the Lord Mayor in an 800 year old gold, horse-drawn coach! Anyway, it was quite a good show and I'm very glad I went. (Below is a picture of the coach with the Lord Mayor sticking his head out.)

And then today...wow. I went to the Remembrance Day Ceremony at the cenotaph (that is what they call the war memorial) on Whitehall (literally, one street over from my house). This is the British version of Veterans Day and it was a sight to behold! The entire street was shut down (as were others nearby). The ceremony starts at 11 but I got there about 9:15 and was able to secure a spot right up against the barricade with a decent view (except for the sun in my eyes) and a great view of a big screen broadcasting the events at the cenotaph. First, at about 10:15 or 10:30 thousands of veterans started marching down the road in their battalions (this is probably the incorrect military term and I apologize, but they were organized in groups). I read afterwards that there were nearly 10,000 of them! That is in addition to the thousands of spectators along the road. Once they were all lined up in the road, it was nearly 11. Just before 11, an acolyte carring a cross with poppies attached led a procession of clergy out of the building by the cenotaph (they can do stuff like this in a country that doesn't separate church and state). After the clergy, came the Queen and Prince Philip and other assorted royals and government leaders including the leaders of the three main parties (for those I have not yet bored with my incessant talk about British Politics or who have blocked me out when I have, those are the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Labour Parties).

Then Big Ben rang 11 o'clock and two minutes of silence started. This was amazing. Maybe it was because I was near the middle of the crowd and the closed street, but it felt like the entire city or country or world was still for those two minutes! The only sound I heard was gulls. After two minutes the ceremony began. There were prayers lead by the Bishop of London and hymns that everyone sung accompanied by the amazing military band (I'm sure they have a more specific name, but you get the point). One of the most amazing feelings was standing in this group of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people with (it felt like) everyone saying the Lord's Prayer together. The Queen laid a wreath, followed by Prince Philip, Prince William (sorry, I know, the Duke of Cambridge), and other assorted royals. Then David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and Ed Miliband laid wreaths one at a time (they are the leaders of the parties). Then a bunch of other people (I think representatives from the Commonwealth countries) laid wreaths. After that and some more of the service (some of the prayers and hymns were here, not before) everyone sang God Save the Queen and then the party at the cenotaph went inside and all of the veterans marched by and each group put down a wreath. It was simply amazing! And one of the most moving ceremonies of my entire life.

Now, I know that what I am about to say is not fitting with the solemn and respectful nature of the day. However, I really feel like I want to share these thoughts so please excuse me just for a minute. I WAS IN THE PRESENCE OF THE QUEEN AND THE ROYALS AND CAMERON AND CLEGG AND MILIBAND TODAY!! With the exception of Nick Clegg (good story for another time) I have never been in their presence and it was awesome! Granted, between the distance and all the veterans on the street, I couldn't see them in person, but I got great views on the screen (and pictures of said screen) and I think I saw some of their hats as they were walking. You have to understand, for me, this is my version of meeting/seeing rock stars or movie stars! And, I didn't think they would be there, but WILLIAM AND KATE WERE THERE TOO! I actually stood in a group of thousands of people and sang God Save the Queen TO THE QUEEN!! Yes, yes, I know Dad, I'm an anglophile, no sense trying to deny it now.

 

The veterans lined up on the street.

 

The Queen.

 

From left, Miliband (kind of hidden by tree branch), Clegg, and Cameron (the Prime Minister).

                                        Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge, third from left.

 

The Duke of Cambridge saluting.

Chelsea Pensioners.  

The Cenotaph after they let the crowds come forward.

In short, this weekend was amazing and I even managed to get some work done (but still have more to do). I will try to put some more pictures up some other time (and on Facebook), but I really ought to do some more work before bed.

Cheers,
Abbey

My life in London

Hello all!

Once again, I apologize for the long period between updates. However, in my defense, I have now been here for about a month and a half and am still giving updates which is much longer than I was successfully blogging when I was in Bath, so this is an improvement!

Things have been very busy, but also good here. I think I will do this post a bit differently and just give you what I think have been the highlights of the last few weeks. Hope you enjoy (and maybe this will be a bit less boring to read)!

-Since I have been here, I have been in Parliament (or Portcullis House where many MP offices are) three times! Since I joined the Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat societies, I have been trying to make the best of these opportunities! The first time was on a Labour trip to meet Ed Balls (the Shadow Chancellor). Highlights of this trip included meeting in the old shadow cabinet room where a number of shadow cabinets met and walking past Ed Miliband's office. After that, I met (this time on campus) Baroness Royall at a Labour society meeting. She is the leader of Labour in the House of Lords. She thought she had campaigned with me, but alas, apparently someone else looks remarkably like me because I have never campaigned in the UK. Both of them were quite interesting! With the Conservative Society, I went to Parliament and met David Willetts. He is the Minister of State for Universities (after the tuition fee raise, we couldn't have him here to campus because he is such a polarizing figure among my age group). He was great and what I remember most was the way he respectfully talked about the other parties, especially their coalition partners, the Lib Dems. It would be easy to blame the Lib Dems rather than taking responsibility, but several times he gave them credit for good things the government had done. Finally, just this week I went with the Conservatives to meet Sir Malcolm Rifkind (he was a minister for 18 years under Thatcher and Major). He was fascinating and I realized as I left how cool it was that I had just met someone who knew Margaret Thatcher! Seeing as I won't meet her, I figure this is as close as I will ever get.  Next week, on my birthday, I will be going on a full tour of Parliament with some people from my program!

-Classes are good. I still really enjoy my comparative politics class! Oh, and since it is now more than half way through week 5 of term, I can say that I have made it through half of my first term of graduate school! This also means that I made it (although I don't yet know how successfully) through my first round of essays. I had two essays due last week. One each in the History and Theory of European Integration and Comparative Politics. Hopefully my instructors will think they are okay, but they are just formative essays meaning that the marks don't go into my final grade. I will have to brace myself though because I understand that grades are technically out of 100 but no one ever gets above an 80 which is amazing/genius and a 70 is really really good. So that is going to be a major shift from the US, regardless of my grade.

-Less a highlight, but nevertheless an update...I didn't get the Parliamentary Internship I applied for. This may not be all bad because I have more time to focus on my work and even tour around a bit, but I was disappointed. I am keeping an eye out for other opportunities though.

-I got my first care package from home and it had American creamy peanut butter in it!!! Definitely a highlight of my last few weeks! Thanks Mom and Dad!

-My friend Sam from F&M was here last week to visit her boyfriend at University College London and we got to see one another for lunch and a walk around campus. It was really great to see a friend from the states and my life back there!

-On Sunday night I went with some friends to see the new Bond movie, Skyfall. It was quite good! But most exciting was watching Bond race around London and to know exactly where he was! In fact, several times he was within two minutes walking time (which I figure is about 2 seconds, Bond time) of my house!

-Speaking of the states... exciting election! Rather than stay up all night to watch returns (remember we are five hours ahead of the east coast) I decided to get up at 5 am. This meant that I got up just after the election had been called for Obama by the news stations, but before Romney had conceded so I got to watch Romney's and Obama's speeches live. That was quite something.

-I should be careful not to get my hopes up too high, but my internet MAY be fixed!!! I have been meeting rather frequently with people from IT and they have finally started really taking an interest in my case and getting the people who actually can help on board. Yesterday, they tried something and it worked beautifully last night (evenings being usually the worst time of the day for internet for me) so I am quite hopeful it is fixed! Mostly this makes me ecstatic, but it is also a bit sad how simple the fix was and that it took 5.5 weeks to come up with.

-Perhaps most exciting of all... an essay I wrote has been accepted for publication!!!!! I really can't believe it! In fact, I almost didn't submit it at all, but aren't I glad that I did! It will be in the Journal of Undergraduate International Studies which is published at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (and edited by students). It is an essay on Duverger's Law and the Case of Britain, which means that most of you would probably find it incredibly boring, but in it, I argue that contrary to something really important in political science called Duverger's Law, Britain exhibits multiparty competition rather than two-party competition. It is more complicated than that, but that is the basic idea. I wrote the essay for my senior seminar at F&M with Professor Medvic. When it comes out, I will be sure to send you all a link to look at it online.

-Oh, I also wanted to share my address with you, just in case you feel like sending me a letter (I like mail, but don't worry, we can still be friends if you don't send me anything). My address is incredibly long, but oh well:

Abbey Heller Room 5.34
LSE Northumberland House
Edward VII Rooms
8A Northumberland Avenue
London
WC2N 5BY
United Kingdom

Well, I'm probably forgetting something, but those are the updates for now! I will try to keep up. I hope you are all well and that those of you who were affected by the hurricane are recovering! I have been keeping you in my thoughts! Regardless, love to all!

Cheers,
Abbey