After the opening of the European Parliament building, I was walking within the grounds when I was approached by a man in a suit. It could have been anyone - a regular staff member, or a fascist MEP, I don't know.

The man hurriedly came towards me and probed, "are you lost?". I replied, "do I look lost?", trying to casually get by and joke with the man. He then stared at me for a second, before assertively telling me to ‘leave the building’.

I stood my ground of course, and when I showed him my MEP pass, he smirked and walked off without apology or response.

This isn't the first time I've been made to feel out of place in my life. I'm used to it - and I've never attempted to fit in or to hide away. The path towards becoming an MEP has been paved with incidents like this where just my presence and existence has made people uncomfortable.

While I'm not surprised at what happened, I felt it was best to use this opportunity to highlight how much work needs to be done to make the European Parliament and the EU in general, a truly inclusive and representative body.

It’s business as usual for me. I can't wait to get started and get to work.