Today is November 14, and I will be making my way back to Chicago 1 month from today, on December 14 after the term has ended. We are 6 weeks done, 4 weeks to go on that front, and this past week has been the busiest week I have had thus far by a longshot. Monday was a full 8 hour day at LSE... I had my two usual classes, plus the class that was rescheduled from the Friday before, and a public lecture from the Jewish Society at LSE talking about Herod in the Talmud. Tuesday I had my usual Global Environmental Governance lecture, which covered International Financial Institutions (specifically the role of the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which is the bank that collects and distributes all financing of the "carbon market" regarding climate change. Tuesday night I was convinced to go to the Mexican Society term party with some friends from Bankside and some others from my MSc program, which was a blast (though a rather predictable round of "one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, FLOOR!")... Wednesday was a slow morning to say the least, but after a group study session at the library and the weekly Israel Society meeting (we are planning an Israel week on campus sometime in February with a film festival and culinary dishes and speakers, etc.) I managed to pound through another essay on the post-Kyoto climate change regime that should be developed at Copenhagen (by the way, I leave 3 weeks from today for Copenhagen!).
Thursday the UGM was PACKED, which was quite the turnaround from the previous Thursday (the turnout at the UGM was so bad the previous Thursday we failed to have a quorum, and the picture of the room made the front page of the school newspaper, in which you can see me and a couple of my friends in the far right corner). This week Howard Davies, the Chair of LSE was at the UGM taking open questions, which is something rather unique to LSE and I was very impressed by his responses. There were the usual complaints about tuition and public spending, but he held his own and I thought his responses were all appropriate, and most of the complaints were not well-researched. Statistics this week actually got considerably more difficult, and for the first time I was not able to complete the homework during the computer class. Our program met up for drinks again at the George (pub on campus), and I wrapped up my essay afterwards.
Yesterday was another long day (trend of the week)... in the morning I had the first meeting of the Staff Student Liaison Committee that I was elected to by our program the first week of the term. We discussed a wide range of concerns with the Government Department faculty, ranging from exam dates to the ways grades are published, from course-packs to capped courses. The department was really responsive to our advice, and I am excited to see some of the changes in the near future (things like changing around the website can and should be done rather quickly). From there I had my last class of the week and handed in my essay, and then spent a quality 3 hours in the library doing that Statistics homework I was referring to and also writing up a summary of a reading for my study group. Personally I feel like I get more work done at home, but working in that library sure is something... every once in awhile I lean over and look up at the size and scale of the place. It's the largest social science library in the world, and you can tell!
Today I am feeling quite content with the fact that I got so much work done this week. It's really nasty outside so I'm just hanging out here, and I might do my laundry in a bit (always a good thing to get done when you're hanging around anyway). Tonight if this storm actually blows over I'm hoping to meet up with my friend Maddy who just moved here on Wednesday, from Southern California. The Badgers play at 5pm here at home against Michigan, so it would be fun to find a pub that has the game on. Tomorrow I am hoping to see the "This is it" Michael Jackson movie... everyone says it is great, and I found tickets for 6 pounds (which you simply can't beat here in central London anyway).
Next week should be slightly less busy from an academic standpoint, but on Friday I have scored a ticket to two awesome public lectures. The first is by Jens Stoltenberg, the Prime Minister of Norway. The second lecture is actually a panel discussing nuclear non-proliferation, headed by several high-profile people: Queen Noor of Jordan, Kate Hudson (the head of the UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), and Richard Burt, the former US Ambassador to Germany. The following week I am going to the ATP Masters Finals at the O2 Arena, the following week to Copenhagen, and the week after that Home (and the week after that to Arizona).
Sports update: Blackhawks are on a major roll, and a win tomorrow would be huge. Badgers play later today, as I mentioned. Bears are awful. Chelsea won that game last week against Manchester United 1-0, and now has firm control on top of the Premier League table, and a few weeks off before resuming play.
Weather update: leaves are still blowing up. Blah!
Have a great weekend!
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