Final sprint + Visits from friends

I'll be leaving in London one month and two days and returning back here in who-knows-when. I've already started having nostalgic conversations with friends about how fast this year has gone.

Next week I have three exams and one in the following week, and so I've had my nose to the grindstone. My statistics exam was kind of a disaster, but I think these shouldn't be so bad (knock on wood, er... touch wood, as the British say). I should be working on my dissertation during this time as well but these exams are the first hoop to jump through.

Outside of the bubble of my own academic stresses, the streets of London have become a lot more crowded with the annual summer visitors. I hosted my first guest of the summer, my dear high school friend and fellow journalism junkie Fallon. This was her first time crossing the pond, and we spent several of her days walking around the city. Walking through the park on the way to Buckingham Palace:

With the traditional guards in the background.


Fallon also met one of her celebrity idols, Zac Efron. I took this photo right before they left on a date in Kensington.


Alright, so I lied: this was actually taken on our trip to Madame Tussaud's famous wax museum. I had been there once about three years ago, but the displays had been updated a lot (including High School Musical, as pictured above). The star attraction was the Oval Office with our new U.S. President, Barack Obama. The line was so long that we only got a photo of him between people.


So I had to settle for a photo with a slightly less popular leader :P


Fortunately, I got blessed by the Pope in a line that wasn't as long.


And took a photo of what might have been if I'd had a camera on that night last November...

Kind of a big tourist trap, but it make for a fun afternoon. We also saw Peter Pan performed in Hyde Park at a huge tent sent up just for the production. It was a great way to celebrate her last evening here.

Arriving the day before Fallon left, my cousins Michele and Alicia also came for a visit! It was also their first time crossing the pond, but fortunately I didn't have to fit them both in my jail cell-sized dorm room. Taken with their iPhone:


We have had several meals together, but they have been really good about letting me go to study when I need to. Fortunately, they have found a lot to do in London, like a bus tour and visiting the Tower of London.



They are currently in Edinburgh until tomorrow morning, so I've just been studying. On Saturday morning, we are taking an early Eurostar train to PARIS for just over 24 hours. More updates on that later.

Happy June, everyone.

Hmm... not sure if I agree

My thoughts:
1) As a culture, the British definitely seem to drink more than Americans, at least publicly.
2) I've been in U.S. cities where public display of drunkenness is way worse (i.e. New York City and Las Vegas).
3) It rains so much here that it's hard to notice when people pee/throw up in the street anyway.

One down, Five to go

First exam (media theory) is done. It went pretty well, but I can only speculate on the mark. Next is statistics. Argh.

Here are some photos in the mean time:

I went to the Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. It was really cool -- they played theme songs from TV shows/movies like James Bond, Harry Potter, Mission Impossible, Star Wars, etc. I promise I wasn't the only guy.

On Mother's Day, I took a break from studying to spend the day with Dave and Vickie Scruby, who could practically be my substitute parents. They are on a cruise around Europe and took the bus into the city, so I showed them around for a few hours. We went on the London Eye:

I didn't know that Vickie was afraid of heights when I bought the tickets, but I think she managed without getting too scared!

Finally, after the exam, a bunch of us from our program went out dancing.

And celebrated Tal's birthday...

A fun way to blow off some steam, but today it's back to the library for me!

Россия

I am going to Russia in the very end of June!

Just booked the flight with two American friends... going to Moscow first, and then taking an overnight train to St. Petersburg. Flying British Airways and staying in American hotels for a combination of cheap and safe.

Just have to make it through exams first...

Quick update from LDN

It's been ages since I've updated, but at least I have an excuse. On May 1 I turned in three papers, and I have my first exam next Wednesday. So I've been incredibly busy writing and studying and having some fun in between.

Some random recent updates:

-- The man who works at a cookie shop in Charing Cross has started to recognize me because I've been coming there 2-3 times to week to buy cookies on my way home from class. I always get 6 raspberry & vanilla. This week they were all out of that flavour, so the guy offered to bake me some more of if I returned in half an hour. When I got back, he gave me 12 cookies for the price of six and packaged them in a nice box. It was the nicest customer service gesture that I've seen since I came to England. He gave me more 2 for 1 certificates, so I'm sure I'll be back soon. I just need to practice some moderation (or find some friends to share the cookies with?) :)

-- I've been sitting on a committee since the beginning of the year with LSE administrators to discuss issues of student affairs (hence the name, the Student Affairs Committee). I like to be involved, but I'm practically the only one there who isn't British. This may not sound like a big deal, but considering that 50% of people here are from outside the UK (even more in the postgrad) I feel like I'm hardly ever around groups of British people (except in situations like transport where we're not talking). Anyway, my point is that about 60% of the time I can't understand what is going on because I can't understand British speech (yes, still). I was telling my (British) friend today that I don't realize that people are arguing until it's been going on for about 5 minutes because their insults are so subtle and they don't raise their voices like awkward Americans. I am slowly beginning to learn the language here.

-- I am working on some exciting stuff at my internship that actually involves real-life, strategic, applied political campaigning! I can't really discuss it because it's a controversial campaign and we've already been trashed in the national media. But today I spent a couple hours researching education and social mobility in a district outside of London. I'm submitting the information tomorrow and it's been printed on campaign literature. Thus, I'm trying very hard not to make mistakes and choose information from reliable sources.

-- I finally no longer feel nostalgic for UCLA. Maybe it's the weather improving here, or my educational internal clock knows that this is about the time that I was supposed to be finished originally. I was reading the Daily Bruin yesterday and just couldn't image myself in that context anymore (student elections, etc). It feels weird.

-- I am very excited to for friends and family to come visit: Fallon (high school), Michele and Alicia (cousins), Maher & Lynn (UCLA), Alex (high school & college) and hopefully more. Looking forward to showing them around London and balancing it with exams.

-- Hair is back!

-- The weather is getting better. The trees on my street have fresh green leaves:

My California tan is fading, but the days are getting longer. Perfect for spending hours in the library!

That's it for now!

Home for a Month.

I got home late on Monday from London, and I'll be spending the next month on-and-off at home here in Oroville. A summary of my time here so far:

-- The weather outside is incredibly green and warm. I jumped on the trampoline in the back yard today.

-- I've been eating good meals at the traditional times of day and watching daytime TV. 

-- I'm completely broke and am relying on my parents to get me the things I need. 

-- I'm listening to the 90's station on XM radio right now. Vintage Britney Spears just came on.

In short, I feel like a kid again! Papers, exams and dissertations are half a world away. I may eventually get bored, but right now I hope it never ends.

The last highlight in Lent term was having afternoon tea at the House of Lords with my boss, Lord Philip Gould, the Baron of Brookwood. I've been working for him since December, but have hesitated to write about it on my blog because I wanted to make sure it worked it out and respect his privacy. But at this point, now that I've established my work ethic as an dedicated unpaid intern (read: indentured servant) I think it's appropriate.

I'd been on a tour of Parliament before, but going with him was a bit different -- instead of paying for admission and waiting in a long line to get in, I got to enter through the "peer's entrance" where I got a badge with my photo on it. Philip showed us around the lavish rooms, and I almost felt like I was breaking the rules at a museum when I sat in the chairs in the main Lord's hall:

Of course, the Queen wasn't there when I visited. 

After a brief Margaret Thatcher sighting, we setting into a room to have tea, scones and cucumber sandwiches. Once outside, Jim (my classmate and fellow intern) posed for a photo with Lord Gould. It was one of my coolest experiences of my time in London!

 

Exam Schedule

I finally got my final exam schedule! It may seem nerdy that I'm posting this as a blog, but I've been waiting the entire year to find out where my six exams fall within a two-month span. This will determine how much time I can spend with family and friends, as well as some side traveling. I'm mostly pleased, but the last week will be awful.

Communication Theory -- May 13 -- 2:30pm

Statistics -- May 26 -- 2:30pm

Political Communication -- June 9 -- 2:30pm

Democracy and Communication -- June 11 -- 10:00am

Modern Campaign Politics -- June 11 -- 2:30pm

British Politics and Policy -- June 15 -- 2:30pm

Almost spring.

It’s a beautiful day in London today. It was gloomy and rainy yesterday, and it could be just like that again tomorrow, but it’s hard not to enjoy it anyway while it lasts. I decided to talk to Subway and get a sandwich wearing only a sweatshirt and flip-flops, and it felt so nice. Apart from exams and the extreme stress that I’ll inevitably face, I think I’m going to enjoy summer’s approach.

Over the last week or so, I feel like a fire has been lit underneath me. I’ve nearly finished two term papers and I’m starting on my third this weekend. They aren’t due until May 1, but I’d like to get as much done here in London while I have access to the LSE Library. I currently have 17 books checked out and they’re all piled neatly along my wall right now. I wonder how many I will actually read? Haha.

I think I’m channeling energy into these papers so I can put off the inevitability of starting my thesis. I met with my adviser last week, and I could sense that she was frustrated with the direction I want to go with it: she’s a critical theorist and anarchist (no joke), and I want to do a quantitative study of voting behaviour in California. She’s not the one giving me a grade, and I have full reign to meet with whomever I want, so I think it could actually end up being a positive experience. When I visit UCLA in April I’m planning on talking to some of my old advisors to get some input as well.

I was going to go out last night for a friend’s birthday, but I was exhausted from the week and I’ve started getting a pretty bad cold (or maybe it’s allergies). Last weekend I went to a Japanese-themed bar near campus. They were giving out free costume items to the audience, so I just ended up taking everything and wearing it at once. The result was kind of scary:

Today I worked on stats with a friend and cleaned my room… not the most exciting Saturday but pretty relaxing.

I only have one week of class left. Back to California in nine days!

C'est la vie.

As I've told many of you and hinted at indirectly on this blog a few times, I'd been holding my breath since November on a fellowship working for the executive branch of the U.S. government. After checking anxiously all week, I just learned via e-mail that I didn't get it. 

While I thought I'd be disappointed, I actually feel kind of relieved. I had started picturing myself locked into living in Washington, DC for the next two years (the minimum commitment for the program). Although it would've been a great experience and it offered good pay, in the long term, I don't plan on becoming a civil servant. I'm confident that other opportunities will arise. In this economy, I'm thankful for what I have.

Not much else to report. Life is good.

Clearing Skies

Well, it's March now. I've mostly spent the last two weeks taking it easy, enjoying the improving weather, and catching up on reading. After a kind of crappy January and February, I really feel like the rain clouds hanging over my head -- both real and metaphorical -- have dispersed.

On Saturday I tried to go to Borough Market to have lunch with some friends, but once I got to Waterloo Station I discovered that the Jubilee Line, which I needed to take to London Bridge, was closed for the weekend. I spent about half an hour walking around trying to find the replacement bus service, but I became so frustrated that I ended up just going home and making macaroni and cheese in my kitchen. London Transport isn't that hard to figure out, and I've become a lot better at it in the time that I've been here, but I still have my moments of confusion!

Hair update: I think I blew the whole situation out of proportion. It's only been 10 days and I already have a think blanket of dark hair and my eyebrows are nearly back to normal. Here is some photographic evidence.

It's not my best look, admittedly, but I think most would agree that if you saw me on the street that you'd still recognize me! Some people have even told me that they like it better than my long hair, but I think they're just lying to make me feel better.

Finally, it's hard to believe that my time at LSE is coming into the home stretch. The key to my success over this period is going to depend on my independent work ethic. I only have three more weeks left of class before I go home for spring break. I have five weeks off -- by far the longest spring break of my life -- over which I'll have to write a few papers and study for exams. I'm also hoping to go down to LA for a while to visit friends and also to Stanford to stay with my sister. Then I return to London, spend 2 months taking exams and finishing my dissertation, and I'll be done! I'm still on the fence as to whether I'll be here in London much over the summer. But at this point it looks like I'll probably go home for a while during July before returning to submit my dissertation in August.

Hope everything is well with you all.

Baldness

They say that youth is the time when people should be "free to make mistakes" and "learn from their lessons." In my 22 years, I guess you could say that I haven't made that many -- I have good judgement. But on Friday night, I made a fairly big mistake. Someday I'll probably look back on it and laugh, but right now I'm kinda horrified and would just like to crawl underneath a rock for a while.

When I came back to my room from having drinks with friends, I decided to take a shower before going to bed. Although I thought I was washing my hair with shampoo, it turned it to be another chemical that shall remain unnamed. To make a long story short, when I woke up the next morning, half of the hair on my head had fallen off and I had a gigantic bald spot. My eyebrows were also gone.

My reaction was sort of like this (minus the breaking of glass, prom crown and lunatic fisherman):

After moping around wondering what to do for a day, I finally just buzzed it all off. I've never had a shaved head before, and I can't say that I'm a big fan. But this too shall pass: hair grows back, and I'm thankful that it wasn't a worse accident.

Here is a photo:

If you're traumatized by this, rest assured that:

1) I've decided to wear a hat for the next month or so.

2) Many of you won't even see me before it's back to normal

3) At least it's not from cancer treatment. And I'm not a neo-Nazi.

Have a good week, everyone.

Edit: My mom just e-mailed me this photo from the last time I was bald.

 

دبيّ‎

I'm going to Dubai for a weekend in March!

I got an incredibly cheap flight, and my friend got us a free hotel using his Hilton points. I'm looking forward to visiting the "Vegas of the Middle East."

Confessions of a Nomad

It's been nearly a month since I've updated, as this term continues to be a whirlwind. I thought that having class only two days a week would mean that I'd somehow have more time to relax, but that hasn't been the case. Although six weeks into the term, this is the first full week that I've spent here in London since I arrived in January.

Let's see... At the end of January, I went back to Los Angeles for four days to take an exam to work for the executive branch of the federal government. I could have gone to any of the 12 or so biggest cities in the U.S., but I decided to go to LA because the flight was almost the same as those to the each coast and I had a free place to stay with friends. I wasn't expecting to feel such a high level of nostalgia when visiting UCLA -- maybe it was the 70 degree temperature or the rush of seeing friends again, but I really started reflecting on my time there and missing it. 

One of my favorite places on earth:

If I don't end up in Washington DC after graduation, I wouldn't mind working in Los Angeles for a few years. I've always maintained that I don't want to end up there, but I have so many friends there and the quality of life (minus smog and traffic) paired with work opportunities is just too great to pass up. Whatever happens, I hope to visit again soon and I'm sorry to those people who I didn't get a chance to meet up with.

When my flight from LAX was coming in to land at Heathrow, I was extremely surprised to see a thick blanket of snow covering all of London! It turned out to be the heaviest snow that London had received in almost 30 years, and our flight was preparing to divert to Charles de Gaulle in Paris before we received permission to land. It lasted for about 3 days before it had finally melted completely.

The following weekend I went to Amsterdam for two nights with four friends from my program. I had originally thought about canceling my ticket for the trip because I was so exhausted and behind in school work, but the flight was non-refundable. Anyway, I ended up having a good time. Our hotel was really centrally located -- literally in the same square as the Dam, the central monument in Amsterdam. There is a lot of hype about Amsterdam because of their liberal social policies (legalized prostitution, loose marijuana standards) but beyond this, it is truly a gorgeous city with a lot of character.

Since I'd visited there in summer 2007, I remembered a lot about the city and felt less rushed to try and see everything. I headed back to the Van Gogh museum, and we took a riverboat tour through the canals. While we were on the boat, it started snowing! It sounds cool, but at the time I was worried that our impending flight back to London was going to be grounded. Anyway, we made it back safely and it was an enjoyable weekend.

Unfortunately, when I got back to my dorm I got some very bad news -- our family friend George, who had been treated for stomach and esophagus cancer, had passed away that morning. My dad had spent 8 hours with him the day before because he was in so much pain and needed help. Although technically not biologically related to me, he was essentially an adopted grandfather. He and his wife, Eva, helped pay for me and my sister to attend college, and we've been going to their house for dinner every Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. Eva is one of the strongest people I know, and I'm sure she'll get through this time alright, but I still feel for her right now and wish that I could be home.

I'm off to see Revolutionary Road at Tottenham Court Rd. I'll try to update more soon from now on.

New Term, Paris + Inauguration

Well, this is my first update since beginning the Lent term at LSE. Things have naturally been pretty busy and hectic, but with some fun mixed in here and there as well.

Although I'd initially thought that LSE was pretty easy, maybe even easier than undergrad, things have started tightening up and I'm beginning to feel the pressure. Last week I turned in all my term papers that were assigned in the fall, and subsequently pulled my first all-nighter since coming to graduate school. I checked out 21 books from the library - the maximum permitted - and carted them all the way back to my room, and only ended up using a handful. The interesting thing about LSE is that all papers are marked twice by two professors each, and then the scores are averaged or the professors debate which mark is more accurate. It takes a ton of time but it's pretty fair I think.

On Saturday, I took the Eurostar from London St. Pancras station to Paris Gare du Nord. With a journey time of about 2.5 hours, it's an incredibly fast and smooth ride from central London to central Paris. Getting ready to board:

Once we arrived, I went to stay at Garance's apartment with her friend Andrei, a classmate from Chapman who I've hung out with before at UCLA. My friends from LSE - Jim, Jackie and Josh - stayed at a hotel. Highlights from the trip included visits to the Rodin Museum, Père Lachaise Cemetery (where Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, and others are burried), and the Louvre.

Musee Rodin:

One of his most famous works, "The Kiss".

Eating a waffle with Andrei.

Tomb of Oscar Wilde.

Garance thinks this looks like the photo from the beginning of a spy movie, haha.

My friend David from high school works as an English teacher in Paris now, so we got the chance to meet up with him twice. It was good to catch up on how things in Oroville are and relive old times.

Out to dinner with Garance's family.

Before boarding the Eurostar to return to London.

We arrived back to London on the afternoon of inauguration day. Though I had decided to skip class to watch, Obama's speech had ended well in time for me to still go. I watched it in the quad at LSE, which was standing room only. Not surprisingly, given the liberal nature of Europeans and the Americans who go to LSE, there was a lot of cheering and jubilation.

One fact that I admire about Obama is that he is a devout Christian with strong convictions, yet he is genuinely respectful of other faiths and doesn't hesitate to acknowledge their existance. Sure, our nation may have been founded by protestants, but our intellectual diversity and individual liberties are even more valuable, in my opinion. In this respect, I think Obama's rhetoric of inclusion matches his message about wanting to unite, not divide the American people.

Obama's high approval rating with inevitably take some hits over the next 4 (or 8) years as he approaches the many challenges that our country faces. But nonetheless, there's no denying the historical moment that took place on Tuesday. This is a man who only a half century ago would have been turned away from many restaurants in the south, or even more troubling, could have faced lynching for approaching a white woman the wrong way.

This is the smile of progress!

The mall, where a few of my lucky friends were.

Maybe President someday? Hahaha...

A Change in Temperature

High today in Oroville, California: 61 degrees F

High today in London, England: 38 degrees F

Hence the reason I'm walking around in a long jacket with a scarf as I prepare to head to the airport today.

Goodbye, North America.

Hello, Europe.

A Time for Everything

"All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.
A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace."

--Ecclesiastes 3:1-8