Web Copy: Disability Living Allowance

My first bit of web copy went up a few weeks ago. It's the part on Disability Living Allowance. My web copy on prescription charges will be going up sometime soon. I'm also working on web copy on insurance, after my paper for the programme is done (which is due Monday). That will also go up soon after I get it in.

I'm home safe & sound. I'll have to do some late updates on what I did in London, Ireland, & Wales.

So, About that Blog

No, I haven't died or anything terrible like that. I haven't forgotten about the blog either, just haven't gotten around to updating it in a ridiculously long amount of time. Things are always so busy that when I finally sit down I can't make a dent in my to do list regarding writing & keeping in touch with people. I'm terrible, I know! I do miss you all & think about you.

Things I owe you: an update on all my sightseeing around London; recap of Jared's visit and the crazy amount of things we packed in; thoughts on my class/school in general; & the story about my trip to Ireland, complete with pictures. Eventually it will all be up! I make no promises on when though.

For this entry I'll just concentrate on work, which is actually one of my favourite things about this whole experience. It'll probably be the thing I miss the most, despite the fact that I love London & I'm going to miss the city a bunch. Considering the only job I've had is working at the gym at Clark, it's such a different experience. I love the office setting, even though it's taken me a while to get used to sitting at a desk all day & I wish I could move around more. I know that if I were actually working there, I wouldn't always be in the office. Everyone else has meetings & goes to conferences a lot. For example, my supervisor isn't going to be in the office much for the next month because he has so many external things going on.

I finished my research on the destitution of asylum seekers & wrote my document. I'm waiting for feedback from my supervisor before sending the document out for consultations from other UK organisations. After that I'll be using their comments to revise the document, which will be used to inform the work that the National AIDS Trust does on asylum seekers. Eventually there will be a publication as well. My last week there I'll be presenting to the policy team on my findings and recommendations.

I've moved on to writing web copy. My first bit is on prescription charges in the four nations (England, Scotland, Wales, & Northern Ireland), but that's been pushed back. When Joe (my supervisor) came into the office today he told me that something urgent came up & El asked if I could write some web copy on the changes made to the Disability Living Allowance that will go up by the end of the week. So I spend the day reading up on the DLA & the changes that have been made to it. Tomorrow I'll be writing up a bit on it and then it should be going up Friday. I'll try to put up a link to it this weekend.

On Friday I'm going to a conference and then next week I'm going to a debate in the House of Lords. I'm taking notes at both events & then reporting back to NAT about them. In a few weeks Joe & I are going to a trial at the Royal Courts of Justice to support a solicitor who is trying the case of an asylum seeker who was denied medical support.

Other than that I'm just enjoying being around coworkers & being part of a team. A few weeks ago Leah came -- she goes to Clark & interned at NAT this time last year. One day she came in & some of us went out to lunch & then after work a few of us went out to a pub. It was just a few of us from the office, but it was really nice to hang out with people outside of work. We're going to try to plan a night where more people can go out. It was a Friday & it's hard to get people because either they're so tired from the work week (I usually am) or they're so ready to go out they already have plans. We'll have to do it quick though, because I unfortunately only have another month. We already have my leaving lunch planned. :(

Two options that we mentioned to me were staying on for the summer -- which isn't possible because we're going to Florida in May ... & I don't think my mom would be too keen on not seeing me for another couple months! -- or coming back after I graduate. These options were mentioned by my study abroad programme. I talked to El about the possibility of coming back after I graduate. Since the organisation is so small & doesn't have the money to take on new employees, we'll just have to see if there's anything available around that time. El said that she & Joe will keep in touch & let me know if there is anything. Joe also said that he'll keep a look out at other organisations he thinks I would be interested in. So we'll see if anything comes of that, it's nice to know that potentially there will be an option there after I graduate.

Alright, enough gushing about work. People at the office joke that they don't believe I love it so much there. Then when I bring work home with my my flatmates think I'm doing schoolwork & think I'm crazy when they find out it's from the office.

I've thrown in some pictures. Random one of me at Tower Bridge (which is way better than London Bridge). There are a couple from the night at the pub: in the first one it's (left to right) El, me, & Sheonaidh; in the secon one it's Leah, El, me, & Sheonaidh. More pictures to come in later entries.

Barcelona

The idea of going to another country for the weekend still seems so odd to me, but that's what I did. Rachel and I left for Barcelona on Friday. I went in for half a day on my day off so that I could leave early on Friday. We got in to the city late, so we went straight to the hostel and called it a night. We stayed at Itaca hostel, which is right by the Catedral in the Barri Gotic area, the city centre. It was actually nice, we picked it because it sounded clean, and it was.

Saturday morning we got an early start. The weather was gorgeous all weekend, but especially Saturday. It was in the 60s & so sunny. First we went to the Catedral de Barcelona. There were tons of statues all around the church. I lit three candles: one for Dad, one for Mom, and one for Joey. We went up to the roof for a great view. After that we went to the Museu Picasso. The wait wasn't too bad at all. We went through the whole museum and looked at works from all of the different periods Picasso went through (like his Blue period). It was really interesting to see so much of his work. They had a lot from his Cubist period. There was one painting by another artist that he rendered several interpretations of. And by several I mean a ridiculous amount. Next was La Pedrera, which is also known as Casa Mila. This was the first work of Gaudi's that we saw. There's a museum inside as well as an apartment set up for people to walk through. The really exciting part was going up to the roof to see all of the chimneys. I don't know how to begin to describe them, so I'll have to let the pictures do the talking. Also on Saturday we went to Park Guell, another Gaudi design. The park is just gorgeous. So green, but there's lots of mosaic everywhere as well. We walked around and went all the way up to the top of the park, which overlooks the city. When we sat down at the top we picked a restaurant for dinner: vegetarian for the both of us.

Once we were done with dinner, we went back to the hosel to recoup a bit. We looked through our guidebooks and found this place called the Harlem Jazz Club that we decided we wanted to go to. After we changed, we set out to find it. It was pretty close to the hostel. Since it was early there was a comedian (not so funny when you don't understand the language) and once she was done, almost everyone left. So many people smoke and almost everyone in the club was smoking, which did not bode well for me. We decided to try to find somewhere else to go for a while, and we wound up finding a bar that had milkshakes too. So I had a nice strawberry milkshake, a nice change from cranberry or orange juice. At 11:30, when the salsa band was supposed to start at the club, we left but decided not to go to the club since we would have had to pay to get in and we were both exhausted. Instead we went back to the hostel for some sleep.

It was another early morning on Sunday. Our first destination was Sagrada Familia (Gaudi). Everyone at work who had been to Barcelona talked about it, so we decided it should be one of our stops. It's still under construction, but you can go in and see everything. The only thing hampered by the construction when we were there is that the stairs up to the roof were closed. Instead there was a lift, but since the like was 90 plus minutes long we decided to pass since there were other things we wanted to do before leaving. We went to Las Ramblas, a long shopping street full of street performers. It ends almost at the waterfront, so we went and looked at boats. After lunch we wandered around until we found a beach. Even though it was slightly overcast, it was beautiful. While Rachel wrote postcards, I went and walked along the water. Then we wandered around Barri Gotic a bit more before leaving for the airport.

All in all it was a great trip. The architecture in Barcelona, even normal buildings, is gorgeous. It's so hard trying to do it in a weekend though. We were so exhausted ... I'm still trying to get rested. We didn't get back until 2am & I went in to work for 9am, as usual. I was actually the first person to get to the office. Luckily I have flexi-time to take off, so I knocked off around 3.

I've neglected my blog lately, so I have some catching up to do with what I've been doing in London. I'll take care of that in an entry or two hopefully this week.

Wicked Weekend

I had a pretty low key week ... I had the flu. For a week or so I had a sore throat, but other than that felt fine. Then Monday night I went to my class at the gym & half way through thought I was going to get sick & pass out. I left the class & had to sit down for half an hour before I could leave the building, & I had started a terrible cough. Tuesday I went to my class (& handed in my first paper) & after that just ran errands. Normally I go to museums or something fun like that, since it's my day off from work, but I simply wasn't feeling up to it. I was lightheaded & wanted to be in/near the flat instead of off around London. Wednesday I went to work and left a little early. My supervisor & everyone else told me to stay home if I wasn't feeling well on Thursday. Well, I'm stubborn & went in anyways, even if it was an hour late. I wound up leaving an hour early too. Then Friday I took the first half of the day off, but went in for the second half because I was feeling better. Not completely better, but enough to be able to work for a few hours. Plus I would have felt terrible because ...

Friday night I went to see Wicked!! It's a musical about the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. Completely different from the book, but just as wonderful. I'm really, really enjoying theatre here! It's so much more affordable than at home -- where you would have to at the very least get to Boston, but ideally get to NYC. I'm planning on seeing Les Miserables & PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at some point as well. I love the movie Rent & want to see the musical ... I really want to see it on Broadway, but I think it would be a good idea to see it here since I'm not sure when I'll ever get the chance to see it on Broadway. I would probably regret not seeing it here!

I also got my hair cut on Friday. Saturday I did some sightseeing: Platform 9 & 3/4 (Harry Potter) at King's Cross; 221b Baker Street -- Sherlock Holmes' address; Piccadily Circus, which is mainly shopping so we didn't really do anything; Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens; & Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived. After eating & resting for a bit I went next door & we had a movie night: Don Juan DeMarco & Laws of Attraction (aka Johnny Depp & Pierce Brosnan).

Today is going to be pretty low key. Right now I have laundry going & still have another load or two to get through. Wednesday we have a short paper about our internship due for the program, so I'm going to get to work on that today. I'll probably look at some travel guides -- I'm going to BARCELONA & DUBLIN! I'll be in Barcelona 22-24 February & Dublin 19-24 March. I'm so excited! Other than that, I'm trying to figure out where to go get ashes on Wednesday. I could go to Westminster Abbey, although it's Anglican & not Catholic. We'll see. I think Elizabeth might be planning on getting ashes, so I have to see if she's found a place she wants to go to.

Recap

I haven't had a chance to sit down and write, so I'll try to recap my week. For the most part I just went to work and researched destitution. It's so hard to sit at a desk for 8 hours straight! I try to find reasons to get up and walk around the office. Generally I work through lunch, so twice this week after I ate and finished reading whatever article I was on I went for a walk. Thursday was the first time I actually went out, and when I said I was going for a walk one of my coworkers, Eleanor, suggested that I go to the cemetary. The suggestion sounded odd at first, but when she explained that there are famous authors buried there it made more sense. It's just down the street from the office, but it was a nice little walk. It's called the Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. Some of the people buried there are John Bunyan (Pilgrim's Progress); Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe); Henry and Richard Cromwell (sons of Oliver Cromwell); and William Blake (poet). Lots of people eat lunch in the cemetary -- there are benches by the graves of Bunyan, Defoe, and Blake. It was really interesting. Yesterday for my walk I stopped in some of the shops across from my office building. I get really cold at work, so I picked up a sweater to keep there. There's also a big grocery store and the prices are better than some of the ones I've been to, so now I know that I can pick up a few things on the way back from work.

For my day off on Tuesday I went to a few museums -- which does NOT include the British Museum, for once. My supervisor was shocked! I went to the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, which is amazing. I also went to the Sir John Soane Museum, which is a lot better than I thought it was going to be. John Soane was an architect and he built the house which is now the museum. It's filled with things that he acquired while he was alive: furniture, paintings, artifacts. He had the sarcophogus of Seti I! I plan to go back to both of the museums at some point. The Sir John Soane Museum will take some planning, because it's best to go on a sunny day. The house isn't very well lit. When it gets dark they light some candles, but that doesn't do very much good. There are lots of skylights, so you just have to hope for a clear day when you go. Actually, the Petrie Museum isn't well-lit either ... I had to walk around with a flashlight (although they called it a torch, I'm not sure if that's because in England they call flashlights torches or because it was supposed to add to the atmosphere).

Thursday night I went on the Jack the Ripper walk with Alisha, Amber, Elizabeth, Kim, Liz, Steph, and Tara. The tour guide brought us around the areas of the City of London and East London where the victims of Jack the Ripper were found. It actually wasn't as creepy as we thought it might be, which was nice! Really the only time we were creeped out was when the tour guide said "Even though you don't know it, you've walked in the footsteps of Jack the Ripper. The cobblestone you walked over is the original cobblestone that was here in 1888, which he walked over to kill his victim." I know I had chills up and down my spine when she said that. It wasn't scary, but it was definitely creepy. That was one of the two things that are the same as they were in 1888, for the most part everything else is different. Between making things modern and having to rebuild after the war, there aren't too many things that have survived.

Other than that, I finally joined the gym after figuring out where the building is! The facility is pretty good. It's bigger than the gym at Clark, but smaller than I would have thought for so many students. So far I haven't had to wait for a machine though.

I don't have much planned for the weekend other than writing a paper that's due for my class on Tuesday. I am going on the London Eye today! Very exciting. Pictures in the next entry I write. :)

Busy Week

I can't believe it's already the weekend! I last wrote on Monday, so I'll start with Tuesday to recap. Tuesday is my day off from work since I have my class in the morning. I'm taking Social Psychology, which is really interesting. Turns out I really don't have much outside work for the class. The reading is optional unless you're writing a paper on that week's topic. So after class I went to the British Museum -- again. I saw the Lindow Man, mentioned in about half of the forensic books I've read; the African gallery; the Enlightenment gallery, which is incredible; and other things -- can't remember what I saw Tuesday & what I saw before that. The Enlightenment gallery was fantastic & I went to the hands on desk, where you can actually touch things! Which is good because every time I go to the museum I have the intense urge to touch things, which is a big no-no. My favourite was this little tiny vase from EGYPT! I held something from ancient Egypt! They also have a dinosaur skull on loan.

Other than that I worked all week. It's so weird getting back to the flat & not having anything to do. I'm not used to having any free time, I pretty much had none last semester, so I don't know what to do with myself! Luckily on Wednesday I didn't have to worry about that because as part of the programs we got tickets to see The Sound of Music! It was incredible! I've seen a few operas, but I had never seen a real musical/play -- just school productions. And I haven't seen the movie in a while, I forgot how much I love it! If anyone wants to get me a homecoming present in April, The Sound of Music on dvd & the soundtrack would be a pretty good bet! :P

Tonight there was a wine & cheese party for everyone on the program over at the flat next door. I have a group of firends already, which is nice, but it was good to see other people too. I don't drink, but I figured it would be rude not to have a glass of wine ... but then when I hated it like I should have anticipated, I had to trade glasses with Alisha. The cheese was good though! We wound up taking some cheese & grapes back with us. We watched the last episode of Grey's Anatomy online & I started some laundry ... I think I've already compalined about how ridiculously long laundry takes.

Tomorrow we're going to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday, which is on Monday. In the late morning we're going to go sight seeing for a while then we're going to this place called Roadhouse for dinner & dancing. It's smart-causual, but we were planning on getting dressed up anyways.

So there's the very abridged version of my week. Highlights: British Museum (as usual), The Sound of Music.

National AIDS Trust

First off, somehow I forgot to write about the guided walk of the Thames that we did Friday night. It was so nice. The tour guide was great & very knowledgable. There was a lot of Shakespeare stuff as well as the millenium projects & the London Bridge -- which is actually quite the let down. Apparently Tower Bridge is the exciting one, so I'm going to have to see that sometime. A few of us were going to go see it right after the walk, but couldn't figure out how to get there. Yesterday I went to Camden Market with a few of the girls. It was crazy & fantastic. I bought some cheap things, mostly scarves.

Today was my first day on the job. I'm working at National AIDS Trust. Even though there are only 16 staff members, it's one of the most important HIV organizations doing policy work. I'm on the policy & campaigns team & I'll be working on immigration & asylum. Basically I'll be doing lots of research, because they don't have much information on the subject. I'll specifically be looking at the right to housing & the right to work, how they influence HIV, etc. The two big projects I have are (1) generating a document for internal use & presenting information to the team on that as well as suggesting a course of actiong, be it publishing something for public use, holding a conference, whatever; (2) putting stuff up on the website about immigration & asylum. So you'll be able to see some of my work eventually.

I'll also be picking up smaller tasks. Today I started on a project that my supervisor's supervisor gave me. A few months back another HIV organization folded & didn't get around to creating/publishing a report or holding a conference that they had on tab. Another HIV organization took the conference & NAT took the report. Eleanor created the report & now it's ready to be send out, but the organization, for whatever reason, didn't have contact information for the 50 or so organizations the repord had to go out to. So today I looked up the contact information for them all & sent out the report. There are a handful of organizations that are tricky & I'll have to call around on Wednesday, but Joe was surprised that I pretty much finished it before the end of the day. I think it was supposed to be for the better part of the week. Now I'll be starting my research when I go back on Wednesday.

Tomorrow I have the day off since I have class in the morning. I have some errands to run before & after class, then I'll probably hit up a museum. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the British Museum again. There are other museums I want to see, but I'll probably save them for weekends since they aren't just around the corner! Plus it's supposed to be gross out -- up to 3 inches of rain & really windy. I'd rather be close by & not trekking around the city.