| Starting at the Dail |
[Feb. 12th, 2007|12:26 pm] |
JOURNAL ENTRY III: 6 February 2007
I started at the Dàil today, and right now I am in a bit of downtime so that is where I am at currently. It seems to be alright so far. My first real assignment is to write a briefing paper for the party on a certain topic. This is the kind of assignment I hope to continue to receive because I prefer to work on research and briefing versus just making phone calls over and over again. My one strength against the phone calls is my lack of an Irish accent (although I tend to slip into one from time to time after being here), and the fact that constituents may not be happy to speak to an American on the phone. I’m working for Labour Party TD Mary Upton and her assistant Stephen Douglas. (Continuing on, now 9 February). I find that in general, everything is much slower paced than in the states, especially compared to the law firm. I have assignments, which I do fairly quickly, and then don’t have very much else to do. Even the dress code is somewhat relaxed, there are about half of the people in suit and tie, but others without a tie and other even wearing jeans. My work isn’t the most interesting, but it passes the time and it is definitely not any less interesting than it was back at the firm.
This weekend I am going with the rest of the students to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It should be an alright time, I wasn’t too set on really wanting to go there but the rest of the students were going and I didn’t feel like sitting in Dublin on my own. It should be a good time though; we plan on visiting the Heineken Brewery, as well as the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh museum. There will definitely be enough to do, and from what I’ve read Amsterdam is like a smaller version of Venice, Italy. This is costing me €150 for the flight, €80 for the room, and probably around €60 in whatever it is I decide to do while I’m there. At first I immediately regretted signing on for this, but it should be a great time.
Speaking of Venice, Italy, this week I decided what I was going to be doing for Spring Break (or rather I guess it should be called February break as it is from 24 February to 5 March). The plan is that I will go with Tim, Kevin, Brendan, and Lauren to Milan, and from there take the train to either Venice or Florence (this is up to debate, should be decided on very soon), and from there to Rome. We will spend two or three days in Rome before getting on a cruise ship, complete with entertainment such as a casino and restaurants/bars, for the 15 hour ride to Athens. We will then spend two to three days in Athens, before flying back to Dublin. It will be a lot of travel, but definitely worthwhile because I will be seeing a lot. I’m really looking forward to this as I was unable to see Venice or Florence when I was in Italy and I’ve always wanted to see Athens. The altogether price of this excursion will be around $500-600 US. This replaced the prior plan of going to Geneva, and then on Austria and Budapest, which I did not have as much interest in and would have cost about €800. I still do plan on going to Geneva at some point while I’m here, and have emailed my former professor about setting up an insider’s tour at the United Nations European Headquarters. In terms of other travel that I have planned, I will be meeting Carlin in London on the weekend of 10 March, and also plan on traveling to Scotland, Belfast, and western Ireland. If I can afford it, I would not mind going to St. Petersburg, Russia sometime in the second half of the semester. Again, if my wallet can handle it, I may join Lauren and Tim in a week or two of backpacking through Europe, I’m not sure yet where we would be going during that time. I will be spending a couple thousand dollars on these various trips, but I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity while I’m here so I should take advantage of it. Also if I ever attempted these trips again in the future it would cost me even more money.
Ah yes, the money issue. As I said in my last entry, everything is very expensive here. The Euro is ahead of the dollar at a rate of about €1 to $1.39 US. The last time I was here it was about €.80 to $1 US; obviously I prefer how it used to be. The economy here is doing fantastic, and you can notice just walking down the street and noticing every third or fourth car is a Mercedes (I’ve even seen several Mercedes taxis). Even the beggars are well dressed (I kid you not). In addition, the SSIAs (which are somewhat similar to US Bonds) were just released which gives most people additional spending money, and spending it they are. There are still affordable things around, but in general some things are tremendously expensive. As a result, it is easy to find yourself spending much more money than was planned while you are out and about. Because of this I have found myself sitting in the house during some days, although I regret this because why should I sit around in my house when I can go out and see the country. I have asked my dad about getting some more of the money that my grandfather left me, and it seems as if he should be sending this off to me very soon. Thankfully, this will allow me to continue on with my Spring Break and other plans. |
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