I’m writing this blog surrounded by packed bags, a little bit gutted to be flying out today. The last day at Liberty Mutual yesterday was a bit surreal, it almost passed me by. It felt strange saying my goodbyes to everyone knowing I’ll likely never see them again. Everyone has been so good to me, it was a real wrench leaving for the last time. My notepad is loaded with e-mail addresses though, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep in touch.

I was kept busy at work right til the end, which has made time pass even quicker. Work started on a new audit last Friday, so I’ve been able to complete the initial sampling stage of that, and left a draft report for the others to carry it on. On Tuesday I was summoned to a meeting with the Senior Product Manager of Personal Markets to discuss the findings of my main audit. Again it was nice to be able to contribute to the discussions, and we were thankfully able to answer the questions posed to us. Afterwards I got talking to the manager, who as a MacPhee has some Scottish blood in him, and he was fascinated to learn about the Saltire Foundation and our culture in general.

It’s been another hectic few days outside of work, trying to squeeze as much as possible into the final few days here. As mentioned last week, Christine, David and I went to WWE Monday Night Raw at the TD Garden, celebrating their 900^th episode. It felt like I was a little wean again, watching the characters I pretended to be as a kid grappling it out in theatrical fashion. Think we were the only ones cheering on the Scottish wrestler Drew MacIntyre, with the capacity crowd encouraged at one point to mock his accent with a round of rolling rrrrrrrrrr’s. At least it’s not just me that apparently sounds like a pirate!

Things were about to get even more homely on Tuesday night, when the three of us took our Boston tour to the only Scottish restaurant in the city. We had a fantastic night, and were treated so well by Jason the owner. I couldn’t think of an apt superlative to describe the sensation of a chilled glass of Irn Bru after a 7 week absence, and what could be better for dinner than a hearty portion of haggis, neeps and tatties?! Naturally for dessert we tucked into a deep-fried Mars bar, shamefully my first ever, and again it was cooked to perfection. If anyone is ever in Boston I couldn’t recommend the place higher, the Haven restaurant (http://thehavenjp.com/) just off Jamaica Plain. I decided to order an extra portion of haggis and a couple bottles of Irn Bru to take into the office on Wednesday. The juice went down a treat, though disappointingly they all wimped out of trying the haggis. To be fair I think you may need to inherit the immune system to cope with such a delicacy, so maybe it was for the best…

As you can tell, I’ve been well fed this week. As well as the Scottish feast, I was out for lunch with the rest of my department on Wednesday, had a meal with the other 7 interns on Wednesday evening and had lunch with Helen Sayles and the other Liberty interns on Thursday. It was a very enjoyable hour, reflecting on everything we had done and listening to Helen talk about her vision for the future of the Saltire Foundation. A whistle-stop tour of the city on Thursday night offered the opportunity to see the sights for the last time, have numerous impromptu kickabouts and get a soaking in a park fountain or two.

Anyway, I better head off, got a plane to catch! Thankfully the threat of Hurricane Earl has subsided so hopefully everything should go to plan and we’ll be in sunny Scotland on Sunday morning. Safe journey everyone, see you all soon.