Causey Farm

CAUSEY FARM, IRELAND -- Just a rundown of the things we did today at the rural Irish farm an hour outside Dublin...

Played with some adorable puppies to start the morning
Learned traditional Irish line-dancing in three steps, four to a line, and four different parts in formation
Milked a cow for the first time, and then actually drank her milk straight from the udder
Baked Soda Bread, a traditional Irish loaf of bread
Played Hurling, a traditional Irish sport kind of like lacrosse but much more difficult and complicated
Lunch with tea and biscuits - mmmmmmmmmmm real butter
Played an Irish drum
Rode to a bog and got a 'bog facial' - special mud (like the Dead Sea) very good for your skin
Watched traditional Irish dancers and musical talents perform

Overall a phenomenal day! Tomorrow we are off to the west coast of Ireland :)

Ireland

DUBLIN, IRELAND -- First off, I have very little time so this will be a short post. But in sum, I went home for the parade, saw the Stanley Cup in the middle of Chicago with 2 million other fans, saw my family and friends for the first time in 6 months, Sarah for the first time in 9 months, and generally had a really great 5 days at home after not being there for so long.

I got back to London and that night started working for People to People, speaking to delegations about leadership, my experiences with People to People, and my experiences living in London and going to LSE for the year. In total I spoke to about 300 delegates!

In between I took my last LSE exam! Hard to believe that I may have taken my last final exam in life, but hey, I thought that about a year and a half ago and look where that got me, so who knows. In any case it went well and I'm glad.

I also took a camping trip followed by a day trip to Wimbledon! We saw Day 3, last Wednesday, during Round 2 of the singles. The grounds were incredible, and would you believe we got 4th row seats to see the greatest tennis player of all time, Roger Federer? Also seen playing: Kim Cljisters, Andy Roddick, Venus Williams, and Day 2 of the EPIC Isner-Mahut 11 hour, 5 minute match. Seen walking the grounds: Rafa Nadal.

After that, I took one last trip to LSE, said goodbye to my London friends, and this past Friday morning met up with a People to People delegation from Oahu and Kauai, Hawaii! I hopped on their bus, and we spent the day at Warwick Castle, where I was previously at 11 years ago to the week, in 1999 on my very first People to People program.

Saturday we visited Chester, England, and yesterday we were in Wales where I managed to soft-break an inch-thick slab of wood with my hand (did NOT think that was possible), and then in the afternoon I repelled down a Castle Tower overlooking the Irish Sea and the Welsh countryside almost 100 feet. Just superb!

This morning we boarded the ferry from Holyhead, Wales to Ireland. Two hours of mostly flat seas later we reached the port, easily got through immigration (yay new stamps), had a 90 minute city tour of downtown Dublin, a 2 hour tour of the Irish National Athletic Stadium, and then another 90 minutes to walk around Dublin and shop. From there I met with my homestay family, a delightful bunch who were extremely polite and kind. We talked about Chicago, LSE, Ireland, travel around Europe, the World Cup (and utilizing instant replay), People to People, the University of Wisconsin, and a whole lot more. I am typing this from their computer room (yay internet), but am going to sleep soon and then tomorrow we are off to a working Irish farm!

Some things I've noticed about Ireland/Dublin:

1) Post boxes are the exact same as in London, but they painted them green over the red
2) City buses are the exact same as in London, but they painted them yellow over the red
3) Flats all are the exact same as in London, but they painted the doors different colors over the black
4) Electrical outlets are the same
5) Cars still drive on the left side of the road
6) Guiness is everywhere
7) Pubs are everywhere
8) Yay Euro being RIDICULOUSLY cheap right now
9) Definitely cooler than the UK
10) Also light out later - far north, and further west
11) Pubs are everywhere
12) Saw the world's only square bridge
13) Dublin is small
14) The accent is tricky, but I have already picked up on it

That's all for now - I will post more later when I get home, etc!

Ireland till July 2, then Northern Ireland till July 4 I fly back to London, July 5 back to Chicago.

THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS ARE STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!!!

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS HAVE WON THE 2010 STANLEY CUP!!!

PATRICK KANE WITH THE OVERTIME WINNER FOR A 4-3 WIN AND 4-2 SERIES WIN!

More later... I am off to an exam in a few hours and then heading straight to Heathrow to get home for the parade.

Speechless...

Three down, two to go; two down, two to go

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Does that make any sense to anybody? Allow me to explain...

First up, exams! I had my first three exams Wednesday, Thursday, and yesterday (Friday). Wednesday was a two-hour Statistics final worth 100% of the grade. I studied long and hard for it, and it paid off... I am extremely pleased with how the exam went, and frankly, I would be surprised if i did not get a distinction on that exam (and thus for that course).

Thursday was a three-hour exam, my longest, in my core course, Issues and Approaches in Public Policy and Administration, worth 75% of the grade. We were told it would be fair to expect 12 specific topics on the exam, with us expected to write 3 essays out of the 12 options. Well, just to be safe, I prepared 4 topics, and boy am I glad that I did, since one of them ended up not being on the exam! Alas, it was no big deal... I memorized and utilized 20 different authors over the three different essays, and I was able to incorporate some class-related metaphors that should surely please the professors. The Iceland Volcano, pit bulls, badger culls, and most importantly of course, polar bears all made an appearance. Overall I was also very pleased with how this exam went, and when combined with the other 25% of my grade that was one of the two essays due a month ago, I am expecting a merit for the course. Agenda-setting, interest groups, and reward.

Yesterday, Friday, was a two-hour exam in my most difficult course, Policy-Making in the European Union, worth 100% of the grade. It is never a good feeling going into an exam that is worth 100% of the grade when you know that it is not your strongest subject. As if that would not have been bad enough, to have to do it without having much feeling in my hand as a result of the 5 hours of exam writing from the previous day and a half, and it was certainly going to be a bit of a battle. A little perspective... after my exam on Wednesday, I immediately came back to start crash-studying for my exam on Thursday. After about 6 hours of this, I slept for 3 hours, woke up at 1am for the Blackhawks game, went back to sleep at 4am, slept another 3 hours, and then spent the entire morning preparing for my exam that afternoon. When the Thursday exam let out it was already 530pm, and I had essentially been up constantly save for a couple of long naps, so I passed out immediately. Friday morning I woke up at 2am, and studied straight through the night and into the morning for the 10am exam. You know, no big deal! But alas, the exam came, I managed to stay awake throughout it, and my hand did not actually physically fall off. Though that said by the end of it, I had permanent indentations to the bones on my fingers, which even now, almost 36 hours later, are still quite present. The exam itself was fine... one of the questions was word-for-word one of the ones I practiced for, so I wrote that first. The second that I chose had ambiguous wording, but I was able to specifically manipulate and tailor the argument to what I wanted to write about. EU implementation rates and the EU budget.

There you have it! Three exams down, and two more to go. Next up is GV4F4, also known as "The Politics of Policy Advice," this coming Thursday June 10. That exam is 2 hours and is worth 50% of the grade, the other 50% coming from the second of the two essays I wrote about a month ago. Then, after that, my last exam is not until June 22, a 2 hour exam for DV415, aka Global Environmental Governance. That exam is worth 80% of the grade, the other 20% coming from an essay I wrote back in January, that I got a merit on. So yeah... 7 hours of exams completed, 4 to go. I took today off from studying (I needed a break), but tomorrow the preparation for Thursday gets started!

Now, for the second set, what else could I be talking about besides some playoff hockey?! When I last posted, the Hawks were up 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals against Philadelphia, winning a high-scoring affair 6-5 at the United Center. In Game 2, they beat Philadelphia again to take what seemed like a commanding 2-0 lead. However, Game 3 did not go our way, and we lost in overtime to make it a 2-1 series lead. Then, most heart-wrenching, the Hawks blew Game 4 by a 5-3 final, and the series is now all tied up 2-2. Thus, it is a brand-new, Best-of-Three series for the Cup. Game 5 is in Chicago, Game 6 is in Philadelphia, and if need be, Game 7 would be back in Chicago. Without any question, the next two games (and possibly three) will be the most important hockey games in my life's worth of Chicago hockey. Winning at home is essential tomorrow night. If the teams split Game 5 and Game 6, and force a Game 7, it would be Friday June 11. With my exam on the 10th, I would be heading home for that game, and a chance, with a win, to lift Lord Stanley's Cup for the first time in 49 long Chicago years.

First up, Game 5, tomorrow night at the United Center. 7pm Central, 1am London.

Two down, two to go.