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.