This week has been all about Nicola Sturgeon.
We officially have a new First Minister. Nicola Sturgeon was elected by the Scottish Parliament on 19 November with 66 votes compared to 15 for Ruth Davidson and the rest of the 128 abstaining. No surprises there though. She's the first female First Minister and this was the first election with only female candidates.
I got to see it all happen.
First I got to see Alex Salmond's last First Minister's Questions; it was a complete laugh bucket. Alex had some good back and forth, as always, especially with Ruth. We had reserved tickets a week in advance and got to see Alex's farewell and the party leader reactions and speeches in chambers on Tuesday, his last day as First Minister before officially stepping down. At the end of the day a bunch of SNP people stood outside the door to cheer for Alex as he left and drove off for the final time as First Minister while waving flags. I was standing right by the door as he walked out and I think I got in a lot of photos and footage. I'm tall and wearing an orange coat. Look for me.
After his send off though, we spotted Nicola Sturgeon on our way back to our offices and I asked her for a pictures with my friends and I and then Rob (my MSP) walked by and I snagged him and got another picture. It was really neat; Nicola was nice about it. She's going to have to get used to it.
On Wednesday I got to sit in chambers again as Nicola was officially elected as First Minister by a vote from the MSPs, not that there was any doubt whatsoever about who was going to win. All of the party leaders gave their congratulatory speeches; they were all great except for Jackie Baillie, current speaker for the Labour party in chambers in the absence of a party since Johann Lamont's resignation, who was unnecessarily malicious. Nicola's acceptance speech promised an opportunity for all of the parties to work together for a better Scotland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqC7U3--UMc
Her first First Minister's Questions on Thursday, which I also got to attend, followed up on this promise. Whereas Alex's FMQs had always been funny, insulting, and adversarial, Nicola's were welcoming, encouraging, and peaceful. She promised all of those who brought up concerns in their questions the opportunity to come to her with proposals to work through together. I look forward to seeing if that sentiment lasts.
Friday Nicola officially announced her cabinet and, keeping with the theme of 'the first time in history,' there is a 50/50 gender split of the appointees. Several people on my floor have been promoted to ministerial positions and now have to pack up and move offices to work in the Ministers Tower.
But Saturday was one of the best days ever. A friend managed to get ahold of two tickets for the Glasgow stop of Nicola's Stronger For Scotland tour and was nice enough to give me the second ticket. So we hopped on a train to Glasgow, walked half an hour to the SSE Hydro, and had the most amazing two hours. There were all sorts of Scottish musical acts including my favorites The Red Hot Chilli Pipers (please look them up if you haven't already), Blank Canvas, Lou Hickey, Stanley Odd, Dougie MacLean, and more. Alex Salmond gave an amazing speech, as always, the new deputy party leader Stewart Hosie also talked, and Nicola gave a fantastic speech almost half an hour long. It was sensational. And, one of the craziest things about the day of all: since the referendum SNP membership has over tripled and Alex set a goal to have over 100,000 members by the 2015 UK elections; today, at the beginning of the event, the SNP had 90,263 members. An hour and a half later, just before Nicola gave her speech, SNP membership had reached 92,187. That's almost 2,000 new members in less than two hours. That's insane. And wonderful.
After that, we went to the Glasgow Christmas market and looked at all of the lights and decorations, took the hour train back to Edinburgh, went to the Edinburgh Christmas market and looked at all of the lights and decorations. Since there's no Thanksgiving, there is only Christmas. It makes me so happy. All we need is a light dusting of snow. But we probably won't get that.
The sun now doesn't rise until after 8 AM and sets before 4 PM. It's all sorts of weird. Not that I mind it.
Last weekend a few of my friends and I went to Linlithgow, a town about 30 minutes west of Edinburgh by train. It was an absolutely adorable place. Their castle is amazing, they have a yarn shop, a beautiful little loch with ducks and swans (including my new friends Sean the swan, John the swan, Dawn the swan, and Don Juan the swan), adorable little cafes, and just a feeling of nicety. I would live there. And, while there, I got to pet the only male Italian gun dog in all of Scotland. His name is Archie and his fur is so curly and soft. I also pet a Scottish terrier named Dougal.
This is my last weekend in Edinburgh though. I refuse to believe that my time here has passed into near-extinction so quickly. Next weekend a friend and I are (finally) going to London, which I am ridiculously excited for. The weekend after that I will be accompanying Rob on a constituency visit to the northern Highlands. So excited for that too, I always love being in the Highlands, even if it means nonexistent Internet. And then, less than a week later, I have to get back on the plane and go back to America. It's impossible; I swear I've only been here three weeks. Instead, now I have to leave in three weeks. And I'm not ready for that.
On the bright side: I finally started my research paper. Two pages done of 14 or so. It's at least a start...
I'm sure there's a lot more for me to say about blue carbon in Scotland. I just need to get around to saying it.