Adrian Guerra
London School Economics
London, England
Fall 2016

On November 22, the British Parliament honored John Hampden for his patriotic acts during the British civil war. Miles Buchinghamshire, the earl of Buchinghamshire and descendant of John Hampden, invited Guy and me to the ceremony and to lay a wreath in front of the statue of John Hampden.

I woke up really early, since we had to be there by 8:30, and the commute was roughly about an hour. When we got there we couldn’t help but to admire the stunning scenic view that was in front of us. Parliament was a sight to behold and looked massive in size. We got a special tour of Parliament from the earl, Dominic Grieve (Conservative and former Attorney General), and Ruth Cadbury (The Labour Party’s spokesperson on Housing).

We learned a lot about the British government and about John Hampden’s role in the civil war. Did you know the Queen cannot go into most of the rooms in Parliament? She mostly stays in the House of Lords. I don’t think she has much to complain about though, because she has a fairly impressive golden chair in there. In addition to the House of Lords we went to the House of Commons, and that is as small as it looks on the television.  We found out they are planning on moving the House of Commons to a bigger venue to accommodate more people. We were not allowed to explore more of parliament on such short notice, but the trip was well worth it anyway. The architecture was beyond beautiful and the history that this building has was awe-striking.  The connections we made were incredible and the experience definitely once in a lifetime. It has almost been a full semester and I am beginning to feel completely immersed in the British culture.