MSP Assignment

Exciting news - I got my Member of Scottish Parliament assignment! I'm going to be working with Margaret Curran from the Labour Party. She's a constituency MSP from Glasgow, and she seems to be involved in a lot of the urban issues I'm interested in, so that's good. And I met her today, she seems really nice.

It has been intense for me to be away from the States this week - first the Giants win the Super Bowl, and then today is Super Tuesday. Holy crap! (p.s. can I just say that I feel so bad for those guys who wrote the book "19-0" that documents the Patriots "perfect" season...yeah good luck getting that published). Seriously, I have been frantically checking The New York Times every hour, even though I know no information about the primaries is going to come in until like 6am.

Also, Paul Rusesabagina is speaking at Hopkins tonight for the Foreign Affairs Symposium!!! I'm so freaking excited, I'm going to be texting Katie, Anne and Liz at 4am asking them how it went.

Even as I'm missing the States today, I'm really starting to feel at home in Edinburgh. When I was in Paris, I actually missed it a lot - the city has a certain quality that makes it really easy to love. Also, I've gotten to know a few places pretty well (pubs, grocery stores, etc.) and last night I went to a movie (No Country For Old Men...it was overrated), so I'm doing things that are less "Oh my god I'm in a foreign country" and more like I'm settling in. But funny story - when we were in the movie theater, before the previews started we saw literally 5 commercials protesting the legality of "snares" (those things that catch beavers and other animals), it was so weird.

Anyway, I put the rest of my pictures from Paris up on Webshots (http://community.webshots.com/user/pamelalachman) so you all can look at them...they really came out amazing.

Also, I have a new story up on Scoop08, check it out: www.scoop08.com (if it's not on the front page, click the "Issues" button).

Miss you all so much.
Pam