My exodus from Egypt/Chag Sameach!

CAIRO, EGYPT & LONDON, UK -- In many ways I think it is ironic that Passover starts in a few hours, and I'm writing my blog entry about my last days in Egypt and my "exodus" back to the UK.

I posted on Tuesday evening from Cairo about our travel day on Monday and then briefly about seeing all of the different Pyramid fields on Tuesday.

From there, on Wednesday we spent the day in historic Cairo. In the morning we walked about a mile through downtown to Ramses Station, which is the central Cairo train, metro, and bus station, where we got our tickets to and from Alexandria for Thursday. From there we hopped on the Cairo Metro, which is the only one in all of Africa, for only 1 LE (Egyptian Pound), the equivalent of something like 17 cents. It was interesting seeing two of the cars (the middle ones) reserved for women only... women can go in any car they want, but no men in cars 4 or 5 on any of the Metro trains.

Anyway we rode for 8-9 stops, got off at "Mar Girgis," and found ourselves in the middle of ancient Coptic Cairo! All of the most famous churches are in Coptic Cairo, and Christians are the only real minority in Egypt to this day, mostly centered around this area. After visiting the Hanging Church we walked over to the Ben Ezra Synagogue, the last remaining open Synagogue in all of Egypt. The Synagogue itself reminded me of all of the ancient Synagogues in Safed in Israel, up in the hills. Like those, the bimah was in the center of the Synagogue, facing the Altar. Not surprisingly, the altar (and entire Synagogue) faces northeast, towards Jerusalem. Besides all of that, however, the most interesting thing about this Synagogue is the location it was built on in the first place. Just behind it is a concrete well built over the exact spot Moses was found as a baby by the Pharaoh's wife along the banks of the Nile River. At the time the Nile flowed right to the spot the Synagogue is now on, though today it is maybe a half-mile to the west. After making a donation to help with the preservation, one of the workers was kind enough to take me back to the well where I took a few photos there.

By the way, I suppose now is as good a time as any to mention that ALL of my Egypt pictures are now uploaded onto my facebook account. Feel free to access them there, otherwise the public link is: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2696242&id=8623973&l=a92a777729

From the Synagogue we walked out of Coptic Cairo into the downtown area of the city, and we caught a cab over to the Cairo Citadel.

The Cairo Citadel was built in the 12th century on a hill overlooking downtown Cairo to be a fortified seat of the Egyptian government, to protect against the European crusaders. The entire Citadel has a commanding view over the Nile Valley, and it is clear why they chose to build the fortress where it is at. For the past 200 years or so, however, the jewel of the Citadel has been the Mohammed Ali Mosque, built in the mid-19th century. It is a massive building that can be seen from across Cairo (we had a nice view of it from our hostel, etc.), with many minarets and tin domes that were designed based on then-contemporary Ottoman architecture (which is why it resembles the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul). We visited the Mosque (shoes off!), took some pictures, enjoyed the views of Cairo, and then walked a few miles from the Citadel, back down into the city to Al-Azhar Park.

The Al-Azhar Park was opened in 2005 and is the largest park in central Cairo. There are several waterfalls, lots of green grass, trees, flowers... kind of like a mini-Botanical Garden combined with a traditional park. The charge was only 5 LE (under $1), but that's enough to keep much of the dirt and trash out. I would say the Al-Azhar Park was the cleanest part of Cairo we saw. Better than that, however, was the food. We ate at the "Citadel View Restaurant" within the Park, which had a commanding view over both the park itself as well as the Citadel up on the cliffs. The food was pure delicious. We had one of the best hummus dishes I have ever had, with some type of wonderful Egyptian bread I had never seen before, and then for the main dish I had a baked chicken and rice casserole type of thing. It was essentially shredded white meat cooked into the rice. SO GOOD!

After that bliss we continued our walk... we left the park and headed into the chaos of Islamic Cairo. We walked to the Al-Azhar Mosque, founded in the 10th century (just two years after Cairo was made the capital of Arab Egypt), and in acting as a university, it is the second-oldest continuously running university in the world (after one in Morocco). Again, we walked through (shoes off!), took some pictures, and just enjoyed the beauty of the open courtyard.

From there we crossed the street and visited the Khan El-Khalili Market. The Market itself dates back to the 14th century, and you could spend days just looking around. Like most markets however, most of what they had was junk that you would never imagine yourself needing or buying, and most of the rest of it is overpriced tourist trap material. That said I did some successful bargaining bringing some initial prices down by about 75-85%. The problem I have is that you feel bad either way... either you haggle successfully, like I think I did, but then they make you feel like crap for taking away their big profit (and given that most of these people are quite poor, it's quite the guilt trip). Or, on the other hand, you accept that you aren't going to haggle it down, but then you feel like you got totally ripped off, which sucks too. I guess I'm just not much of a market person. In any case I got some souvenirs at a pretty reasonable price, we took some pictures, and then took a cab back to the hostel and called it an evening.

...Thursday was Alexandria day, Friday morning we were in Cairo, and Friday evening we flew back to London. I will post more about that soon, but for now I am off to a dinner with friends and introducing them to matzah!

Chag Sameach everybody - have a nice Seder and Pesach!

EGYPT

CAIRO, EGYPT - Greetings from the Nile Valley! I'm writing here from the hostel on the 10th floor over the Egyptian Museum, overlooking the longest river in the world and the Cairo Tower, among an obelisk and other monuments. It's 8pm and 75F... beautiful!

Not much time, but in short... our flight was delayed 5 hours, due to the plane we were using hitting a bunch of birds when landing at Heathrow before taking us on. Some of the birds went into an engine, so they had to do a thorough inspection and apparently that takes 3-4 hours, then to load up our luggage and board, etc... it ended up being 5. BUT, the flight itself was good - BMI has a good in-flight entertainment system, and I had a delicious spinich casserole for dinner. We ended up landing around 830pm last night, but the driver had my flight information and was standing right there. The airport was also REALLY nice - like, possibly the nicest airport I have seen in my life, totally spotless.

The drive into the city was crazy... traffic was insane, even at 9-10pm, and there are ZERO stoplights, stopsigns, lane deliniations... nothing. It reminds me of Mexico but at least three times as bad.

The building the hostel is in is garbage, but the hostel itself is VERY nice. It is only 2 years old and everything is spotless and new, and best of all, the people are very friendly and have been very helpful. We are also in a great location, and the view, as described, is wonderful!

Last night after a traditional Egyptian tea welcome, I slept pretty well... though the 5am call to prayer wakeup wasn't so much fun. Oh well! Reminds me of Jerusalem.

Today was a fun day... after our bread and hard-broiled egg breakfast, we headed out with our driver to the Giza Pyramids, then the Sakkara Necropolis (featuring the Step Pyramid), and the Dashur Necropolis (featuring the Red Pyramid and the Step Pyramid). After that we saw historical Memphis (the original capital of the Egyptian world), with a MASSIVE statue of Ramses and the second-biggest sphinx in Egypt (after the one at Giza). We saw many mummies, all kinds of hieroglyphics, tombs, went inside pyramids, hiked halfway up other pyramids, and spent a lot of time in the Sahara desert under the sun! From the pyramid complexes, which are all in the Sahara west of the Nile Valley, you can see clear across the green valley to the East Desert on the other side. To our west, the Sahara extends all the way to the Atlantic Ocean (as the largest desert in the world). To our east, the desert extends to the Red Sea and Sinai Peninsula, ultimately into the Negev in southern Israel.

After all our pyramids (and a 5 min stop at a random falafel stand where we got DELICIOUS hummos for the equivalent of about 40 cents), we headed back into town, and then this evening walked across the Nile from the hostel, had dinner on a river boat (halal chicken sandwich = wonderful), then walked back across the river on another bridge, and here I am!

Tomorrow we are off to the Egyptian Museum, Coptic Cairo, and Islamic Cairo, and then Thursday is Alexandria on the Mediterranean!

That is all for now - more stories and pictures later this week or this weekend.

Have a good week everybody!

On the road again...

LONDON, UK -- Next stop, Cairo!

End of Term!

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- And just like that, the term is over. 10 weeks of classes, over. For that matter, all 20 weeks of classes are over. All that we have left is 4 weeks of revision classes in the summer term, which is April 26-May 17, plus two assessed essays due April 30 and May 7. Then, I have final exams on June 2, 3, 4, 10, and 22. Three exams in 48 hours will be fun, but at least everything is calm after that. After my last exam I'm taking a short trip to Wales, Ireland, N. Ireland, and Scotland, and then no later than July 7 I'll be touching down at O'Hare, just 3 1/2 months from now. Time flies.

In the meantime, I have had a productive last couple of weeks of classes. Nothing too exciting to speak of, but I have been keeping up on the walking to try and see as much as possible. Speaking of which, I had a delicious falafel wrap for lunch made fresh at Borough Market today. Everything in that market is amazing, there is just no other way about it. It is considered the best market in the UK, and there is a clear reason why! After lunch I walked to the Tower of London, and in doing so I walked right by the London Monument to the Great Fire of 1666. It was built the following year, in 1667, and is 202 feet tall, exactly 202 feet away from where the fire originated. It's only 2 pounds to climb all the way to the top, and while I was in a bit of a hurry today (and the weather wasn't that great anyway), I am excited to check it out with my camera sometime in the next few weeks while I have all this time off!

In sports, Chelsea has bowed out of the Champions League after losing 3-1 aggregate to Inter Milan last week. That said, they still are at the top of the table of the Premier League, though they have Manchester United and Arsenal right on their tails. Win out though, and the league is ours. In the FA Cup (the British Cup), Chelsea is in the semifinals for the whole tournament.

The Blackhawks have been subject to a firestorm of controversy the last few weeks. I'm not going to get into it, but the good news is that they won a big game last night 3-0 in Los Angeles, and now they have two big back-to-back away and then home games against Phoenix. As it stands, they're in 1st place in the Western Conference and would get the #1 seed if the playoffs started today. Three weeks till the real season begins!

I'm off to a friend's for her birthday celebration tonight... then off to Egypt first thing Monday morning!

Have a good weekend everyone!

What's with this weather?

LONDON, UK -- Seriously... we had not had two days of back-to-back sunshine since last November, and London decides to grace us with a week straight? I could get used to this! It has been in the low-40s and sunny for a full week now, and while I was busy with schoolwork and couldn't exactly take advantage of it for awhile, yesterday I did manage to spend some relaxing time outside.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to take a walk outside, for maybe an hour or so, and that walk turned into a 6-mile hike way out west on the Thames, past the Eye and Parliament, past the MI5 headquarters and even all the way to the MI6 headquarters. Then I finally started to get chilly, so I crossed the river at the Vauxhall Bridge, and stumbled upon one of the very few London museums I was interested in seeing that I had yet to visit, Tate Britain. It essentially is a combination of the National Gallery and Tate Modern, with all sorts of British art from the past 500 years. Like almost every museum in London, it was free, which is great, and I probably spent an hour or so walking through the galleries. After heading out of there, I walked through the Victoria Tower Gardens, which in my opinion might be the world's greatest location for a game of Ultimate Frisbee, past Westminster, and through the South Bank back to Southwark, where Bankside is located. Overall a nice long walk and it was nice to see some new places!

Today the sun is out again, so I'm thinking of taking another walk, though probably not that far out. I also need to get out and do some grocery shopping anyway. Tomorrow I am giving my little 3 minute dissertation proposal presentation which I'm sure will go well. This week should be relatively busy, but more for fun reasons than for crazy work-related reasons like last week. After class tomorrow I'm planning on booking all of the Italy hostels - should come out to 3 nights in Rome, 2 nights in Florence, and 2 nights in Naples. Just need to figure out what order to do that in and where to book, depending on prices and location and the room layouts, of course. After that, Thursday we are going to book our Italy rail passes and make reservations on certain trains, so we're guaranteed seats and yeah, that should be it as far as pre-trip bookings go! Also Friday we have a guest lecture for my Politics of Policy Advice class, but I'm not sure exactly what on (the National Audit Office, maybe?).

Other than that, Charity is back to London for work come late-March, so I will be excited to see her after I get back from Egypt. Speaking of Egypt, I set my budget after making an itinerary in the last few days. We'll see if this holds true, but for now hostels, immigration fees, trains, transportation to/from the airport and to/from the Pyramids, museum fees, and national park fees, plus breakfast each day (but not including lunch, dinner, souvenirs, or the flights to/from Egypt), the grand total comes to just $155 for the 5 days/4 nights. If that holds up, needless to say, I will be a very happy traveler!

Well, I am off for now - definitely will be back to watch the Blackhawks play Detroit in a few hours. It's a breakfast game at home - get up and turn on the TV! Finally a good time for me... prime time in London for the game. Here is hoping they play like "gorillas in a cage," like they did on Friday night against Vancouver (and as the Russians termed the Canadians after they were whooped out of the Olympics by them a couple of weeks back).

LET'S GO HAWKS!!!

Happy March!

LONDON, UK -- I am going to try and keep this short... Just wanted to say hello and wish everyone a Happy March! The days are getting longer, the sun is actually out on a semi-regular basis (as opposed to never), and who knows, maybe it will start to get warmer too.

Classes are going well - I have one more essay to write for Friday, and then one mock exam in a couple of weeks, but besides that I'm done with non-assessed work. The assessed work isn't due until April 30, so I have plenty of time between now and then. As a result, most of the focus these days is on the dissertation.

My advisor approved my dissertation topic, and I'm giving a short 3-4 min presentation on it this coming Monday. Hopefully it continues to go well and I get more green lights to start actually doing some research and framework argument plans. "Do Politicians Listen to Public Opinion? Lessons from the Copenhagen Climate Summit" is my topic, and so far I've come across a variety of well-conducted surveys to gage public opinion worldwide. Theory is pretty strong too, as that is what we went over in class. Plus, I was actually there in Copenhagen, so I have plenty of first-hand knowledge on what exactly happened and how it went wrong. Let me know if you have any advice!

The Olympics are over and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them for the last few weeks. Sad that Team USA lost to Canada in both the men's and women's hockey gold medal games, but seeing as they breathe and bleed the sport, and since they were at home, good for them and I'll take silver this time. Congratulations to Vancouver for hosting one heck of an extravaganza.

Blackhawks are back in action now... last night they really stunk up the joint, but I'm thinking they'll turn it around tonight at home. 20 games to go, and they're sitting in 2nd place with a comfortable lead, so steady play for the next month and then it's playoff time.

I'm off to Egypt in 2 1/2 weeks! Then Italy 2 1/2 weeks after that. Flights are booked for both, hostel for Egypt, and looking into the Italy railpass and hostels in Italy tomorrow and next week. Also looking at Amsterdam sometime in May, and Wales/Ireland/Northern Ireland sometime in late-June/early-July. Back home July 7 at the latest!

Have a great rest of your week everyone!

Winter Olympics 2

LONDON, UK -- Just a quick update from Vancouver...

All of the sports have heated up. Did you see the men's Ski Cross? "Carnage on the course" was the way the BBC described it, and that was accurate. Shaun White won a gold medal for the US in the men's Snowboard halfpipe, with a 1260 MacTwist. Don't know what that is? Basically a double-backflip combined with three full rotations (plus an extra half rotation, but you get that automatically on a halfpipe). The curling has been intense (I'm not kidding), even though the US teams have been awful. The British on the other hand are much better at this and much more entertaining. Speaking of which, Amy Williams won a gold medal for Great Britain, their first and only medal so far at the games, in the women's Skeleton. Lindsey Vonn in the downhill. Bode Miller in the combined. Ice dancing, cross-country, luge. I could watch the Winter Olympics all day!

BUT, much more than all of the sports above, for most Canadians, and for most of the hardcore fans in the US as well, the Winter Olympics is about the ice hockey. The vast majority of Canadians will tell you that a gold medal in the ice hockey is more important than having the greatest number of golds, and for the US, I feel the same way. Sure, it's nice to have the most golds overall, but gold in ice hockey just seems to mean so much more, given my interest in the game and as anybody who knows me, I've been going to Blackhawks games, Badger men's and Badger women's, Chicago Wolves, Rockford IceHogs, plenty of other NHL games in Montreal, Phoenix, LA, NCAA championships, and I'm sure a whole host of games I've somehow forgotten about (Winter Classic) for the past 8 years or so now.

And so, the USA men, which as noted in my previous blog entry, needed to win against Switzerland and Norway, did just that. They beat Switzerland 3-1 and then Norway 5-1 last week. However, the reason why they were "must win" games proved to be unfounded. Last night, in the biggest US Olympic ice hockey upset since the 1980 Miracle on Ice, and for the first time since the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics of 1960, Team USA beat Canada. Except this time it was IN CANADA! Sure, it wasn't for a medal, but the game was one of the most exciting hockey games I have ever seen, and the 5-3 win was well-earned and very satisfying. Neither team is guaranteed anything yet (well, the US did earn itself a bye to the quarterfinal round with the win), and every game from here on out is a must-win. Canada plays Germany tomorrow, and the winner of that gets to play Russia (widely considered to be the second-best team in the world, only after the Canadians themselves). Team USA, on the other hand, will play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday against either Switzerland or Belarus (they play each other tomorrow night). Win on Wednesday, and you're in the semifinals.

In the women's tournament, the action has been incredibly one-sided. Canada and Team USA have been destroying all opponents. In the preliminary round, USA beat China, Russia, and Finland by a combined 31-1. Canada beat Sweden, Switzerland, and Slovakia by a combined 41-2. You can't really argue with that. The women's semifinals were tonight, and Team USA beat Sweden 9-1 to ensure at least a Silver medal, and barring the biggest upset in the history of women's hockey, Canada will beat Finland later tonight and it will be USA vs. Canada for the gold on Thursday.

That's about all for now! GO USA!

Enjoy the games!

Winter Olympics

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Well it's day 5 of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and in about 6 hours the USA men's hockey team takes the ice for the first time, facing off against Switzerland. The qualifying round is only 3 games, and the USA got seeded in the same group as Canada. Given that we stand very little chance of taking Canada down in the preliminary round, this first game against Switzerland and Thursday's game against Norway is absolutely essential. Win them both, and we could make the medal round regardless of what happens against Canada.

In women's hockey, I am thoroughly enjoying watching current and former Wisconsin Badgers take the ice for both Canada and the USA teams, and destroy their opponents. When I say destroy, I mean DESTROY! Canada beat Slovakia 18-0 in their first game. The next night, USA beat China 12-1. Last night Canada beat Switzerland 10-1. Tonight, immediately after the USA men's game, the USA women take on Russia. Double digits would be nice, but a simple win will do. It is very cool to see these girls on TV at the Olympics on the national teams - Erika Lawler, Jessie Vetter, Carla MacLeod, Meaghan Mikkelson, Jinelle Zaug... we used to see all these girls at the Kohl Center in Madison. They would destroy opponents in the form of other schools (Ohio State, Minnesota, Bemidji State) then... now they're still destroying opponents, but in the form of other countries. Pretty wild!

Besides the hockey, everything else has been impressive to me, with the exception of course to the tragedy on the luge track the afternoon before the opening ceremonies. Georgian Olympian Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21 year old slider, crashed at 89.7mph into the wall during a practice run. His sled flipped over after hitting the wall at the finish line (usually the fastest part of the track), and it sent him flying through the air. Dangerous enough, he almost certainly would have survived given his helmet and other safety equipment. Instead, whoever designed the track left a series of steel beams unprotected next to the wall. He hit one of the beams at full speed and died. Pretty haunting, and definitely tragic... I was surprised to see CNN had actually posted a video of the crash. If you are interested to see exactly what happened, here is the link: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/15/winter.sports.dangerous/index.html

In other news, thanks to Sarah for sending me an interesting article from the New York Times regarding high fructose corn syrup and soda/pop as a leading cause for children obesity in America. There are some interesting comparisons between the industry lobby and the tobacco lobby, and some interesting proposals to tax pop, and then use the money to subsidize the prices of fruits and vegetables, along with public service announcements and education for children so that they understand that contrary to popular belief, pop is not a healthy or harmless thing to be drinking. Check out the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/weekinreview/14bittman.html?emc=eta1

Finally, there has been a lot of talk of snow across the US in the last few weeks (no talk of it here in London - we have received a grand total of 'trace' accumulation of snow this entire winter - zero inches). Most people at home seem to think everyone else has been freaking out for no reason. Turns out there is some justification to Chicago's supremacy when it comes to snow removal... in an AP report, Chicago ranks at the top for snow removal: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jJ-tYDWorch1YAU1EkgWBnCu145QD9DT7S300

That's all for now - have a good day, and GO TEAM USA!!!

LOVE

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Greetings from a dark and dreary London! Low clouds, fast-moving, wind whipping. It's not raining, but it looks as if it will burst at any moment. Such is winter in London. But get this - we have received exactly 0, that's right - ZERO, inches of snow all winter long. Sure, almost the entire rest of the UK has gotten their fair share of snow, but here in temperate London town, zilch zip nada. Just some flurries and the occasional dusting, but no actual accumulation at all. Temperatures in general are in the 40s, so not terrible on that front either, even if the average is already the low 50s (it has been a "colder than average" winter here - seems warm to me!). Also, it's no longer super-depressing darkness, which is a welcome change. Daylight extends to around 5:30pm, and the extra few hours make a huge difference from a mental and Vitamin D standpoint.

Besides this, I've actually received a grade that counts, which I am very happy with. I also have been receiving good feedback that is right in line with what I want and what I've been expecting, which is also good news. It's nice to know where I stand, and to know that where I stand is where I want to stand. Also on the academic circuit, I have come up with a dissertation proposal! I'm meeting with my advisor this coming Friday, so we'll see what she says, but for now my proposed title: "Do Politicians Listen to Public Opinion? Lessons from the Copenhagen Climate Summit." What do you think? It's original because it's current, it's a simple and easy-to-understand question (you know what the purpose of the dissertation is), and it integrates my interests (environmental policy) with my degree (public policy and administration). I think I can definitely come up with 10,000 words on the subject as well. Let me know what you think and I will keep you posted after I meet with my advisor.

Can you believe that my second term is already halfway over? Week 5 ended yesterday, which means I only have 5 more weeks of actual instruction to go. WOW does time fly! Also, I have booked two trips in the last week and a half! So I now have an itinerary, which is awesome! I finish my last class March 18, then March 22-26 I'll be in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt! After a few weeks back in London, I'm off to Rome, Florence, Pisa, Naples, Pompeii, and Capri in Italy April 14-21! The Giza Pyramids and The Vatican, the Library at Alexandria and the Colosseum. Should be an amazing spring break! I'm going with other students in my program at LSE, who have never been before. We got cheap fares too - $400 return to Cairo, and $130 return to Rome (not too shabby!). Hostels in Egypt are so cheap that it makes up for the relatively higher airfare cost. Any suggestions on things to see in Egypt and Italy are much appreciated. Obviously we're seeing the pyramids - but any other suggestions?

Besides the mad travel circuit (and I'm trying to book a trip in between those two, depending on my budget and progress with my studies - currently in the mix are Athens, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Dublin, Istanbul, Lisbon, Madrid, or Prague), the music scene is heating up. Angels & Airwaves just released their third studio album, LOVE, yesterday. And get this - they released the entire album for free - how incredible is that? Rich musicians releasing a free album, and if you like it, then you can make a donation. If not, no pressure - you get the same 11 tracks clocking in at over 53 minutes for free like everyone else. Check it out here if you are interested in downloading it: http://www.fuel.tv/ava. I would highly recommend it - I'm listening to it for the 3rd or 4th time right now already!

The Winter Olympics started last night in Vancouver. I was actually recommended to help manage the logistics of the games, and had I not gotten into LSE there is actually a pretty decent chance that is where I would be right now. Alas, I will watch from an Ocean and a Continent away. The opening video was really impressive - I tried to find it on youtube but they don't have it on copyright grounds. I have it here in the UK on BBC, but that link will only work with a UK IP address. If you want to check it out it's probably on the NBC website in the US. The US men's hockey team plays at 2pm CT (12pm PT and 8pm GMT) on Tuesday for their first game and I'm planning on watching that here.

Well that is all for now - just keeping up on all my readings, starting to plan ahead both academically with my dissertation and travel-wise with my time off.

OH! Mark Kirk smoked the GOP primary - so thank you to all who voted for him. It is going to be an incredibly close race into November, but I do think he is the best candidate and should win for the reasons already stated. We will see as the campaign goes along!

Lastly, an early Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, but most specifically to you Sarah! I love you! :)

Have a nice week everyone!

Happy February/Primary Tuesday!

LONDON, UK -- Well, I don't exactly have a ton of time, but I just wanted to wish you all a Happy February, Happy Groundhog Day, and Happy Primary Tuesday!

If any of you are considering whether or not to vote today, the answer is simple: VOTE! If you are wondering who to vote for, lucky for us, in Illinois you can decide during primary elections if you want a Democratic or Republican ballot. If you choose the former, I would advise you to vote for Carol Sente in the 59th district for the Illinois House of Representatives. If you choose the latter, please vote for my man on the Hill, MARK KIRK for the U.S. Senate. He is the ONLY politician in Washington D.C. with a 100% approval rating both by AIPAC for voting with Israel, AND a 100% approval rating for environmental advocacy (he was one of only 9 Republicans in the House to vote for binding emissions cuts in June 2009).

That's all for now - been busy writing essays and I still have more to do. Classes are great, still have a love crush on London, and trying to plan my break in March/April to get to Italy, Spain, and Portugal (and maybe the Netherlands for kicks as well). Saw the National Gallery last Friday, and the Natural History Museum the Friday before (pictures on Facebook!), and am trying to get to the National Portrait Gallery this Friday, but before any of that I'm off to an SSLC meeting with the Department of Government at LSE to try and straighten them out. Is it really that hard to post minutes on the website from October? Come on - get your act together!

Great road trip by the Blackhawks (5-3), Chelsea is still on top of the table (and if they win tonight, they'll be 3 or 4 clear with an even number of games played), and Roger Federer absolutely destroyed the Australian Open field to win major 16.

Have a great week everyone!