In her first interview since getting elected, the elusive New Democrat who made headlines for going to Las Vegas during the campaign admits she's never stepped foot in her riding but says she is looking forward to visiting soon.

Ruth Ellen Brosseau told a Quebec newspaper that she was shocked she won the riding of Berthier-Maskinonge but is excited for the opportunity to serve in Parliament.

The 27-year-old said in the interview with Trois-Rivieres' Le Nouvelliste that she will quit her job as an assistant manager at an Ottawa bar and devote herself to her new post.

"It was unexpected but I'm very excited to work for the New Democrats," she said in the interview published Saturday.

In a halting phone interview conducted almost entirely in English, Brosseau sounds nervous and at one point takes more than 20 seconds to answer a question while papers are heard being shuffled.

Brosseau said she plans to get a tour of her riding from a local mayor in the next few days.

"I've heard it's a beautiful place and everybody has been so friendly and I've received so many emails of outreach," she said.

She said she plans to survey the severe flood damage in her riding, where Canadian soldiers have been dispatched to help residents control the waters.

The single mother said she is trying to improve her French so she can better serve her predominantly francophone riding.

"I speak everyday and I want to be completely bilingual," she said in a rare French exchange with the reporter, adding that her father is francophone and she attended school in Quebec until Grade 2.

Brosseau continues to take heat for her lack of French; a French-language Montreal daily took the unusual step of quoting her directly in English on the front page.

But she said she is learning to deal with the media scrutiny and her "skin is getting thicker by the day."

She said she has learned a lot over the week during meetings with other party members and leader Jack Layton.

Initially, she said, she put her name on the ballot as a favour to the party she has long-supported.

"It was just symbolic," she said. "I was approached to put my name on a ballot but I was a supporter of the NDP for many years."

Watching Monday's results at the NDP headquarters in Ottawa, Brosseau said she was surprised to see she had handily beat the Bloc incumbent.

There was some speculation when Brosseau failed to surface this week that she didn't want the job, but she said that "never crossed my mind."

"Once I set my mind to something I always stick to it," she said.

Brosseau came under fire for her vacation during the campaign and there have also been questions about whether signatures on her nomination papers were falsified.

The Liberals and Conservatives, however, are taking no steps to pursue the issue in court and Brosseau said the party's nomination process followed the rules.

"Campaign workers collected the signatures the appropriate way and the signatures were approved by Elections Canada," she said.

Brosseau also said the trip to Las Vegas was for her birthday and she couldn't cancel it.

The interview was Brosseau's first since the election despite a plethora of media requests.

NDP officials continue to shield her from the national media and The Canadian Press was denied an interview with her again Saturday.

Party veterans are hard at work training their new Quebec cohort, which grew from one MP to 58 in a stunning election last Monday.

Most of the newly elected representatives have little experience in politics, although there are a handful with a long list of credentials.

Well aware that the NDP may be judged on its ability to form a serious Official Opposition, party officials are cracking down on public commentary made by their new MPs.

They are setting up a mentoring program that pairs the newcomers with veteran MPs, and helping the Quebec caucus members find staff, set up offices and learn the Ottawa protocol.

"I'm sure we'll have growing pains," said long-time MP Libby Davies.

But she's confident the new diversity of the caucus will help the party -- and politics in general -- in the long run.

"I feel like we're going to turn politics on its head."