Some photos.

On Saturday I took the train to the edge of London to go to a wine and cheese party at my friend Fulvio's apartment. Like most other big cities, location is everything -- he rent is roughly the same as mine, yet instead of a jail cell he has a two-story apartment with hardwood floors and a spare bedroom. Since the trains closed down, I spent the night after.

Here is the group shot.



Rise and shine!

Yesterday I decided to skip class to sip hot chocolate on the Strand. I was almost feeling guilty about it, until I found out later that my professor didn't show up either! So it worked out well.

I took some silly photos with my Mac:

Into the swing of things

Tomorrow will mark a month that I've been in London. While I feel like I've been here about 5 years, the time has actually gone by pretty fast. Less than two months until I come home for Christmas. I'm just trying to make the most of everything here and have fun. It's working out so far.

Class has been keeping my pretty busy. My favorite is British Politics and Policy - the professor is really funny and enthusiastic, and we've had some pretty good discussions in the seminar with him. Aside from that, I'd have to say that the majority of teaching I've experienced here is only so-so. The professors are intelligent, but many of them I can tell would rather be researching instead of teaching. Some people in my program seem pretty disappointed about it, but I'm honestly just taking it in stride. I've had worst professors at UCLA, and much more time here is spent doing independent study or reading instead of in lecture.

Aside from class, I've gotten involved in a few things on campus. I'm trying not to load up on activities like I did at UCLA, but things just keep falling into my lap. I got a research position at a journalism think tank here at LSE called POLIS, where I'm helping the director organize a forum in about a month on financial journalism. It's been interesting so far and I think I'll learn a lot before I'm done. I also got an associate editor position at the Clare Market Review, LSE's student-run research journal that was founded in 1905. I don't know much about this yet, but will be going there tonight at 6pm for our first editorial board meeting. Still waiting on whether I'll get an internship at Parliament.

Here are a few miscellaneous photos from my life recently...

My Oyster card, which I use to get a student discount on the underground and on buses.

On Saturday I went to Oxford with 3 Canadians, 1 Australian and 2 other Americans. We took the train in the morning from Paddington Station, spent the afternoon walking around the city and university, and then took it back in the evening. It was really exhausting but fun. It's definitely a lot older than LSE!

I've been hanging out a lot with people from my program... who are really awesome.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Still Awake

For some reason, although I've been in England for nearly three weeks now, my circadian rhythms still think that I live in California. I woke up at 3pm yesterday, and have laid awake in bed until 5am the last two nights. I'm pretty tired, but here I am once again awake... listening to the occasional sounds of police sirens and the hourly chimes of Big Ben. Fortunately I don't have class until 1pm tomorrow, but I'd like to break out of this. I'm going to have to force myself to wake up early I guess.

Embarking on my second week of classes, it's becoming clear that I'm going to actually have to do work in order to live and have fun here. I'm taking five classes this term -- Research methods, Statistics, Democracy and the Media, Communication Theory and Politics and Policy in Britain. It kind of seems like a lot, but each only meets for 1-2 hours per week. Next term I'm only going to be taking 2 classes and working on my dissertation. The cool thing is that everyone in my program is taking at least four of the above classes with me right now, so I spend a lot of my time before and after class hanging out and talking with them.

Yesterday I spent some time exploring the LSE library -- or the British Library of Political and Economic Science, as it's technically named. It's the largest social science library in the world and takes up a whole small block or so on the LSE campus. Here is a photo from Wikipedia:


Although LSE is about a quarter of the size of UCLA, the library seems about 10 times as busy and frantic. Almost nobody I've met here has actually purchased books for their courses, and a large part of the bottom floor is reserved only for "course books." They have about 10 copies of each book that professors assign, which can be checked out for 24 hours, three days or one week. So, every day before or after class, people rush in to try to get a copy to take home and read before someone else gets it. I've never had to wait in a line 40 deep of students to check out a library book before! But overall, I think it's a pretty efficient system. Now if I could only bring myself to read...

In other semi-uneventful news, I've discovered the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted available at a coffee chain called Costa. Too bad it costs the equivalent of 6 US dollars a glass. I've introduced it to three other people I know here and they're all addicted now too.

Anyway, I'm going to try and get some sleep now.

London at Night

Amazing photos of London at night that I thought some of you might enjoy:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/london_from_above_at_night.html

This is the city that I now call home.

My Professor at LSE

One strange aspect of studying communication, especially new media, is that I end up with professors who are (1) young and (2) often extremely nerdy and eccentric. I googled the name of the professor I have for Research Methods, and sure enough, one of the first links to come up was his MySpace profile. Apparently he also goes by "Dr. Chill" in the digital world.

This isn't the first time I've found one of my professors on MySpace, but one of the photos I found was just priceless:

Living in L'Auberge espagnole

A couple of years ago I saw a French film called L'Auberge espagnole ("The Spanish Apartment") about a bunch of Europeans who come together in a Spanish hostel, each representing their various countries and cultures. Maybe you've seen it; I guess it's kind of a cult classic now and they've made a few sequels. But anyway, the other night I went to a bar with people from my program -- from the U.S., England, Italy, Germany, Australia, Croatia, Norway, Romania, Denmark, England, Thailand, Canada, Wales -- and we've subsequently hung out over lunch, coffee, drinks and in other casual settings. 

In many ways, we have a lot in common. We're roughly all from the same generation. Out of over 120 master's degree programs at LSE, there are 37 of us with a particular interest in how the government and the media interact. There's a news anchor from Canada, and a girl who was George W. Bush's daily agenda scheduler. One guy from Thailand wrote for a Asian financial publication. Yet culture is the ever-present elephant in the room as we navigate the social and political landscape with conversation and get to know one another. We may all know who Sarah Palin is, yet when an American from Ohio asks where the trash can is, he is met with blank stares. "Oh, the rubbish bin?" an English girl in our program replied. And that's just within the English language. The list goes on and on. (Note to Americans: "Fanny pack" is not something you should say in England.) 

I contrast the experience to last summer when I came to Europe with UCLA Travel Study. I made many close friends that I still keep in touch with. But I think we were drawn together more out of our common backgrounds in a foreign country (To continue the film analogy, see Lost in Translation). Although it is sometimes awkward or even a point of contention, I can already tell that cultural diversity is going to be one of the most rewarding things about my time at LSE. I scarcely even like to use the phrase because of its frequent use during my time at UCLA, where it was often surrounding by debate and discussion about how to "increase diversity." Although I love UCLA and often think about it with nostalgia, LSE makes UCLA's diversity seem almost insignificant. My whole life I attended public schools in California in the United States of America. I traveled and met a lot of people, but was still always somewhat in my own little bubble.

At UCLA, I felt like I'd finally found a place where I belonged. At LSE, I'm having to reassess who I am in a much broader, global context. 

I'll keep you updated on the transformation.

On my own

After a few days of sun-filled bliss, the rain showed up again this morning. I woke up early and walked my parents to the Piccadilly Underground station to catch their flight from Heathrow back to the U.S. I am officially on my own in London... Taking it one day at a time, getting over jetlag and becoming more acclimated to the community here.

Last night I went to see a free film showing at LSE of "Killer of Sheep," an Italian neorealist film made by a UCLA student in the 1970s. It was interesting and had good music, yet was very strange otherwise (as in, jazz music playing over montages of sheep being slaughtered). I went to a pizza joint afterward with three Americans, and then they came back to my place and we had some ₤ 2 wine in my room.

It seems like other people stumbled across the idea of going to LSE just as accidentally as I did. It's a nice diversion from the traditional path of U.S. college students (not to mention that no GRE is required). We all agreed that we have no idea what life will bring for us after this year.

I'm leaving in an hour or so to go to the induction for postgraduates. I've received very little official information about my program thus far, yet managed to sign up for classes on my own to get the ones I wanted (old UCLA habits die hard). Tonight I'm going out for drinks in the Old Street area with some people from my program. Probably watching the VP debates on Thursday with some other Americans.

I can hear Big Ben chiming. I guess that means that I should be going.

Arrival in London

I've arrived in London!

Everything has been good so far. My parents are here until Tuesday staying in a flat in Leicester Square, about five minutes walk from my room on Northumberland Ave. I live on the sixth floor in Northumberland House, which LSE bought and converted into a dormitory in 2006. While I have my own room and bathroom, I share a kitchen with 11 other students, so that adds a dimension of social interaction. Tonight I'm going to the first social event for my house.

Last night I hosted an event for LSE-USA students at a pub in High Holborn called Shakespeare's Head, which I discovered last summer with Travel Study. About 70 people came, and I met a lot of cool people, including the cousin of one of my friends from Oroville. 

The weather has been really warm, and I'm hoping it never ends.

Here are a few photos of my room (before and after):