My apologies for not having updated in a few weeks. As mentioned in my last post, I had to wrap up that assessed 3,000 word essay, which I did, and then in the past week I had to write another assessed 2,500 word essay, worth 50% of one of my grades. The essays went well (on bureaucratic responsiveness to citizens and EU fish stocks and scientific policy advice), and I am happy they are handed in. Can you believe it? With the exception of my dissertation, I am done writing essays at LSE! Crazy!
Besides the lack of essays, I also only have 3 more days of class left. Tomorrow, Friday, and next Monday, and then that's it! Essays are done, classes are pretty much done... that leaves one thing: FINALS! You think final exams at UW or anywhere else in the US were intense? Final exams at LSE account for anywhere from 50% to 100% of a grade (most of them trending to the latter), some of them covering classes that ENDED in December. Thus, for the next month or so, beyond going to those 3 days of classes, I shall be in full-blown study-mode! Exams are June 2, 3, 4, 10, and 22. Dissertation is then due September 2, and then that is an LSE wrap!
As the semester is clearly starting to wrap up, I have been doing some general cleaning and organizing. The weather (minus the last 2 days anyway) has been getting better, so I also packed away my winter coat, gloves, hats. I have come to realize that bringing 4 suitcases, plus another suitcase-load of clothes in September and December to London... it's going to be hard to fit all of that, PLUS what I have bought here AND with what I have been sent here into only 3 suitcases heading back. I guess I will worry more about that as we get closer.
Travel plans are coming into gear. June 25 (3 days after my last final) I am on a bus out of London to Wales, then a ferry to Ireland, and bus up to Northern Ireland over the course of a week and a half. The night of July 4 I fly from Belfast back to London Gatwick, spend one last night here, and then the morning of July 5 I'm off to Heathrow to fly back to O'Hare via Philadelphia on US Airways. After a week or so at home, I am road tripping it out to Arizona to write my dissertation from the desert.
In the sports world, today has been quite the day! First up, Chelsea kicked off at home in Stamford Bridge against Wigan, needing a victory to win the Premier League. Well, they did that, and frankly, they did more! They won 8-0, which is the largest margin of victory in Chelsea's 105 year history. They had won 7-0 a few other times this year and in previous years, but never by an 8-score. With the 8 goals, they ended up with a total of 103, which tops the 97 scored by Manchester United in 1999-2000 to set a new record for the most goals scored in the history of the Premier League. In English top-flight football, the 103 goals are the most since 1962 when Tottenham put up 111. ALSO, as if all of the above wasn't enough, Didier Drogba scored a hat trick (3 goals), to finish with 29 for the season and win the Premier League's golden boot, the trophy given to the player who scores the most goals in the league. Finally, when I was in Vegas back in August, I put down a little money on Chelsea to win the league, and with their victory today and league win, I have won the bet! Not much money, but I'll take it, and it's an excuse to head back to Vegas to claim it! MGM sports book, here I come! Up next for Chelsea... the FA Cup Final, next weekend, against Portsmouth. If they win, it will be the first time in team history that they won both the Premier League AND the FA Cup. One game left to play!
In the hockey world, things have progressed a lot since my last post. In the first round, Detroit took out Phoenix in Game 7, while Montreal came all the way up to post a HUGE upset by winning Game 7 in Washington to knock them out. Thus, the second-round series looked like this:
East:
Boston vs. Philadelphia
Boston vs. Philadelphia
Pittsburgh vs. Montreal
West:
San Jose vs. Detroit
Chicago vs. Vancouver
San Jose vs. Detroit
Chicago vs. Vancouver
Well, last night San Jose beat Detroit 2-1 in Game 5 to win their series 4-1, so they move on to the Western Conference Finals. Out East, Boston is beating Philadelphia 3-1 in that series, while Pittsburgh is up 3-2 over Montreal.
In our series, the Blackhawks got absolutely destroyed at home in Game 1 by a 5-1 score that was just plain embarrassing. Then, in Game 2, Vancouver was up 2-0 in the first 5 minutes of the game, before the Hawks started to turn it around. They came back, took the lead, and ended up winning by a final of 4-2 to tie the series at 1-1 heading back to Vancouver. Then, in Game 3, the Hawks went to the net, and just dominated. Dustin Byfuglien scored a hat trick to lead the Hawks to a resounding 5-2 victory to take a 2-1 series lead. In Game 4, Vancouver basically imploded, and the Hawks won by a final score of 7-4 to take the 3-1 series lead. Tonight, in Game 5, the Canucks put up 3 goals to take a 3-0 lead through the first 2 periods, and ended up winning 4-1, so now the Hawks are leading the series 3-2 going back to Vancouver for Tuesday night's Game 6.
With that, I am off to bed... have a great week everyone!
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