Never a Dull Morning

The only constant in my mornings at the parliament was that I came in at 8:30 on the dot. A fun little perk of my position was that I had to go through a security detector each time I entered the building (sarcasm). So I would scramble to take off my many layers of winter gear and grab my laptop at the same time. The security team always seemed to have their own fun and tried to keep the process as inconsistent as possible. Sometimes I had to take off my belt, or my watch, or even my shoes one time. That was pretty much the most predictable part of my mornings.

I generally had no clue what I was doing that day till I walked into my office. I had my own key, so I often got to the office before everyone else. I put my coat on the rack, set my stuff down, and then log into my EP account and email. Before I looked at my inbox, I immediately checked my MEPs schedule and email. If my coworkers aren't in the office, chances are they are at a meeting that I should also be at. Sometimes my supervisor puts the schedule on my desk, but that's only if we get it in time before the meeting. The mornings where I did have the regular 9 o'clock meetings, I quickly had to turn around, grab my notebook, and navigate through the maze of the building

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That was not all mornings, though. There were a couple slow mornings. Those mornings were usually only quiet because all the chaos of committees and delegations were pushed to the afternoon. In that case, I spend the morning researching the agendas for meetings I have to attend and help my MEP prepare something for his committees. My supervisor made sure that I was always busy, which I really appreciated because I would go crazy otherwise.

There was one week, Strasbourg week, where I got a respite in my mornings. My main task in those days was to watch the live streams of the plenary sessions, and my supervisor allowed me to do some school work on the side. Oddly enough, I didn't like that week. The busy mornings woke me up and made me feel like I had a purpose in the EP.

My absolute favorite part of my mornings was my coffee runs. For some reason, EP coffee was absolutely delicious, like way more than any other coffee. I hated the tiny cups it came in, but it sure did the trick. I loved ordering it in French, even though I butchered it half the time. I think it made the workers happy because they could tell I was putting in the effort even though it was early. Getting coffee was kinda like a game of manhunt. Sometimes the coffee shop below me was open, sometimes it wasn't. They were never specified. That meant I had to take a journey across the building to the other coffee hubs. It was a fun time to look around and see the hustle of the parliament.

Kendall Gilcrease