An early start at Waterloo only meant one thing; politics students going to Parliament. It was 8:30 and after a quick Maccies breakfast everyone was raring to go.

Our teacher Meir decided to take us on the scenic route to Parliament, stopping at every landmark and forcing everybody to take a photograph. He threatened that if you denied the opportunity to have your face plastered in his camera roll, you would be abruptly sent home. After acting like tourists for half an hour, we reached the Commons and split into two groups.

Before even stepping into the building, we were all grilled on the do’s and do nots. Do take interest in the building and ask thoughtful questions. Do not attempt to bring any sharp objects in or try to blow up Parliament. Every person was kindly leant a headset that took ten goes on how to wear it properly, with some unfortunately only working in one ear. Aside from that, we were guided by the lovely Lorraine, who knew about every single intricate detail there was to know, including the toilet that was used by past monarchs in times of emergency, before stepping into the House of Lords! Bruno kindly answered every question that there was to answer, and we slowly made our way around the building. The lack of seating was a tad annoying, however having a quick perch on Nigel Farage’s usual seat during PMQs is a moment I will cherish for life –(we do advise that any future parliament goers do not sit on the green benches, as if you are caught by one of the non-existent security guards it is punishable by death!). The Commons is by far smaller in person than on TV, and we were shown where the public gallery was. It has a glass barrier up due to irresponsible actions from protest groups such as the Suffragettes and Extinction Rebellion. We were also shown the seat to where an MP was “accidentally” caught watching pornographic material and told about the time to when two MPs blamed each other for their phones going off mid-PMQs, which resulted in them both being sent out by the Speaker of the House.

After the talk, we were joined by Lord Kennedy of Southwark. He doesn’t actually live in Southwark, but in his defence, he did grow up there. Many students asked extremely intelligent questions, such as “Where is Southwark?”, which was met with a much-needed geography lesson on the region which we all know as South-East London- thanks Lord Kennedy. One student also questioned whether the House of Lords undermined our democracy. Lord Kennedy obviously said it didn’t, because if it did, he wouldn’t have a job. Post interrogation, we all split into groups and formed our own political parties. Standouts being: “Reform Britain”, which created policies that would ban same-sex schools and ‘stop the boats’. Another brilliant and original name was “One Party”, who believed that a wealth tax and more public ownership of key sectors would help fix the country. Overall, Parliament was 8.5/10 – would definitely recommend!

The teachers generously gave us 2 hours for lunch, which called for another Maccies and an hour looking out at the extremely depressing River Thames. 5 students were unfortunately late to Meir’s strict deadline of 1:30 and gave some of the worst excuses ever heard. Hopefully justice will be served to these students, and the hopes of going on the Berlin trip is no longer. Post-teacher rant, the groups swapped roles, and now Parliament group was destined to the European Union House. Security was definitely slacker this time, however the organisers made up the safety risk by awarding every student with a name tag. We were all given lanyards with a different EU country on each one, some people finding themselves more fortunate than others. After being told that sweets were on offer to winners of the bingo game, everyone frantically dashed around the room trying to find countries that had a population of 762,924, or a country that hadn’t been saved by Britain in any world wars (there were none). The organiser accidentally gave out balloons as a prize, and the remainder of the session was met with loud bangs and pops, which gave security a real fright. We were then put into groups of different EU parties and discussed how each party may hold a different view on key issues such as the climate crisis, immigration, or trade. It had suddenly reached 4pm, and we were swiftly sent on our way by Meir and co. Time flies when you’re having fun! Overall, EU house was 6/10 – better things to do on a Friday afternoon, however was interesting at times.

We would all like to give a massive thank you to all the teachers who took the time to organise it. Hopefully we will back in some form or another, with future MPs or even the future Prime Minister.