Term 2: 2 weeks down, 8 to go

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Well hello everyone! It has been a couple of weeks since I've updated and to say I've been busy is a bit of an understatement. In the few days immediately after my last posting I was busy finishing up my Global Environmental Governance essay on Copenhagen, which I submitted and I'm pretty confident in getting a good mark. Last week was the start of term, and here is my schedule:

Monday:

12pm-1pm: Issues and Approaches in Public Policy and Administration, Lecture

1pm-2pm: Policy-making in the European Union, Lecture

4pm-5:30pm: Issues and Approaches in PPA, Seminar

Tuesday:
Reading day!

Wednesday:

12:30pm-2pm: Policy-making in the EU, Seminar

2pm-3pm: Israel Society weekly meeting

Thursday:

11am-12pm: Politics of Policy Advice, Lecture

1pm-2pm: UGM, Student government weekly forum

3:30pm-5pm: Politics of Policy Advice, Seminar

Friday:

4pm-5:30pm: Special guest lecture series by Sir John Bourn

Tada! Not a bad schedule... Mondays and Thursdays are long days to be on campus and constantly in the swing of things, and the late class on Fridays isn't a whole lot of fun. That said, the Friday class is only the first 5 weeks of term, and so after today I'll only have 3 more of those left... it's good timing, because by the time week 6 rolls around here, I'll need to be focusing more on written work instead of just reading. I enjoy all of my classes, which is always a good thing, and it makes the hundreds of pages of reading each week much more bearable.

Here is an optimistic note for the day: starting today, every day for the next six months will be getting, on average, warmer. In the Northern Hemisphere, the average coldest day of the year is January 21, so while it will no doubt fluctuate over the next days, weeks, and months, on average at least we now know that it is getting warmer, in addition to getting lighter. In fact, we are now out of the 2 darkest months of the year, and the sun is going down at a much more reasonable 4:30-5pm, as opposed to the uber-depressing 3:15 just about 1 month ago. Things can change quickly!

Chelsea is still on top of the Premier League table, the Blackhawks have won 3 of 4 on the road (and are at the top of the NHL still), and the Australian Open is underway from Melbourne... Federer is into the 3rd round, and there haven't been any major upsets so far.

I'm also making it a point to see at least 1 new thing each week here... last week my Grandpa was here, and it was great to see him! We were all over town in only a few days... we saw most of the important buildings from the cab (Buckingham Palace, Westminster), did some walking around Bankside, LSE, and over to Trafalgar Square, did a little shopping at Harrods, and went to the Marble Arch synagogue Sunday morning to pay our respects for my Great Grandma Esther, who passed away two years earlier to the day. We also got to plenty of new restaurants for me - Saturday morning we went to a Moroccan place, Del Aziz, that is literally right next to my building... they have the best omelette's ever! That night we went to an absolutely delicious Indian place, Mango Tree, that is actually only 5 minutes walking from Bankside... chicken tikka masala with some pilau rice and garlic naan, mmmmmmm! Sunday morning we went to a Dutch cafe right next to Harrods, then in the afternoon we went to a Jewish deli, Reuben's, and at night we walked over to one of the local pubs, Flouder's Arms, which is right on the Thames. Monday morning breakfast buffet at the Mercure Hotel, and that was it! Thanks for the visit Grandpa - it was great to see you!

This week, I am off to the Museum of Natural History. Next week, going to the National Gallery. Kew Gardens is somewhere on the list, as is Wimbledon, but both of those would be better for later months, when the weather improves. For the next month or so I think I'll stick to the museums and stay inside. We're also trying to get a behind-the-scenes tour of Parliament, and I'll be sure to keep you posted when that happens. Outside of London, I'm aiming for a trip to Rome and Florence in March, and at least one other trip at some point in April - Spain? Portugal? Greece? Netherlands? Not really sure... but we shall see!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Break is coming to a close...

LONDON, UK -- Well I figured before things get too crazy next week I would update the blog!

It has been a really nice and relatively relaxing break, even with all my travels included, and as such I am getting excited to start up the engines again for next week with some new classes and the like!

This week has been really low key, and I definitely needed a low key week (it has been FAR too long since I've had more than 24 hours to just sit around and do nothing). That said I still have been getting some things done, and my productivity in the last couple of days has gone way up... I wrote an essay on environmental regime theory as it pertains to Copenhagen, yesterday spent the entire day in Oxford wandering the town, done some grocery shopping for food, cleaning up the room, need to do some laundry. Tomorrow I'm off to LSE for the first time in a month to head to the library, as I have some reading to do and a summary to write.

I also uploaded TONS of pictures to facebook today! It seems like just about everyone who reads this is now on fb, so you should be able to see them. If you are on fb and not friends, just add me and then you will be able to see them. Pictures from London, Copenhagen, home, Arizona, and Oxford are all on now.

Check out this picture of the UK, snapped by a NASA satellite yesterday: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/42000/42237/gbritain_tmo_2010007_lrg.jpg

The UK is totally covered in snow!

Also, an interesting read from the BBC about the future of wind energy in the UK - they just approved 10 new HUGE wind farms that will begin construction next year, and then they're going to connect via underground cables to 8 different national power grids across Europe to sell excess power when it is more efficient/buy excess renewable power from them when it is more efficient, all to make the system greener. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8443865.stm

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are unstoppable. They have won 22 of their last 28 games (including 3 out of the 3 I got to go at home), and now are sitting on top of the entire NHL. I would comment more, but what could I say? They simply are THE best team in the entire league, and are finally getting the type of national recognition they deserve. Want some more reading? try http://espn.go.com/nhl/ or http://espn.go.com/chicago/, http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/, http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/blackhawks-confidential/, or http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/blackhawks/.

Chelsea is still on top of the table in the Premier League, and just advanced past the 3rd round of the FA Cup (while Manchester United LOST, suckers!).

A few other random things... it is finally back to light out at 4PM again, and we are no longer in the darkest month of the year, so there is good news on that front! It's still quite dark all the time, but yeah, progress is progress. It is definitely colder, but even then the high is still in the 30s, which beats the pants off of what it has been at home recently. As you can see in the picture noted above, it did snow here (and everywhere in the UK), but honestly not much more than a dusting here. Oxford, on the other hand, got a good 5-6 inches of snow, and we spent the entire day yesterday walking through it and on condensed ice, which is always fun.

That's all for now - have a great weekend everyone and I shall post again soon with class schedules and updates!

2010!

LONDON, UK -- Happpppppppy New Year!