A Very British Reception

Just after the internship started we heard that we'd be meeting with the British Ambassador, but we knew not why nor quite how. Last Wednesday our questions were answered, at least in part.

After not having been at work due to spending the day at the Library of Congress having an induction to the 'Fundamentals of Federal Legal Research' in the slightly misplaced hope that it would prove to be a sort of taster of what legal study in the US might be like, I decided to walk to the British Embassy. It seemed like it would be a nice walk through leafy greens towards the US Naval Observatory, but unfortunately, when I found myself walking through a wood and along gravel lanes with little idea of whether I was heading in the right direction with less than ten minutes to go before I was supposed to be there, walking seemed like a poor decision. But I finally made it just in time to be ushered through.

We only found out what the occasion was when we were given our name tags with 'British American Business Association' (affectionately known as BABA) printed across the top. Having never been to an Embassy reception I had no clue of what to expect, and things seemed bad when the first thing we had to do was the whole cringeworthy lining up to shake hands with important people, themselves lined up, and who probably have little interest in what you've got to say, or any reason to remember you afterwards - especially when you're in a situation like me where the name tag in saying 'Intern' just about says all there is to say.


Being outsiders to the event it was a little difficult to work up the enthusiasm to network, and our meeting with the British Ambassador lasted just about long enough for a handshake and a photograph. But the Embassy itself is impressive and in a pretty imposing position up on Massachusetts Avenue beyond the Embassy Row quarter of town. The gardens were pretty and plentiful and the Ambassador's residence where the event was held was fittingly grand.

It was odd being surrounded by so many British people again. We're still living together as British interns, but we know each other well enough not to think of each other as being British, so to hear all these unfamiliar voices in familiar accents was initially slightly disconcerting.

Unfortunately, we had been promised 'heavy finger food', which didn't materialise, so we had to make speedy dinner plans after being ushered out after little more than an hour to clear the way for a dinner the Ambassador was hosting that same evening. Unfortunately, just as with the day before the weather intervened at this point by delivering yet another torrential downpour that turned the sky pitch black just as we were exiting the Metro. Washington DC doesn't seem to have much time for us.