What I've been up to

So here are a few highlight of what I've been up to the last week:

The Globe:
Dad and I took a trip to the Globe Theater and saw Henry IV part 2.  It was really cool.  The middle of the theater is open to the elements and that night it happened to be pouring.  The whole standing crowd were in ponchos, drenched, but having a really good time.  Dad and I sat around the outside of the circle under cover.  Unfortunately the seats were a bit uncomfortable.  If I see another play there, I will have to pick a dry night so I can stand in the crowd.

Brighton:

Last weekend Dad and I went to Brighton out on the Channel.  It was quite a nice city.  Not a whole lot that we discovered to do.  We walked down to the pebble beach and down the pier.

One interesting thing we ran into while we were there was a VW camper show.  All along the lane by the beach, as far as the eye could see were VW buses and bugs.  There had to have been 1000 vehicles.

The VW's went on just as far to the right as well.

One other really neat thing about Brighton were the lanes in the middle of the city.  They were little pedestrian only lanes with lots of shops.  It kind of reminded of me of Post Alley by Pike Place, only much more extensive.

Cuba Libre:

Dad and I found an amazing Cuban Restaurant in the Angel Neighborhood.  The place itself had was very eclectic and the food was to die for.  I had a pulled beef dish with plantains and rice and beans.  Dad had some sort of seafood dish with pineapple that was served in a hollowed out pineapple.  If I have any visitors in London, this is a place I would definitely consider taking them too.

Dorm:

My dorm is slowly becoming more and more bearable.  I've pretty much finished decorating my room (pictures to follow) and I have food in my small cupboard and can make meals for myself now.  I also have met most of the people in my hallway and we all commiserate with each other about our individual dungeons.  In my hall there is someone from Azerbaijan, Germany, Columbia, India, and Philadelphia.  Quite the amalgamation of cultures.  I need to find a better place to study than my room.  School is a little bit far away and I tend to just want to take naps all the time in my room.  For those of you who are interested in google mapping where I live, my Address is:

Room DLA7, Lillian Knowles Residence

50 Crispin Street

London

E1 6HQ

School Stuff:

So school began on Monday.  I finished most of the orienting process.  It was pretty painless.  I finally registered for classes. This term I am taking History and Theory of European Integration, European Defense and Security, and the EU in the World.  The latter two I think will be more interesting.  History and Theory are is a requirement, so I will just have to get through it.

At LSE all (graduate) students are given an advisor to check in on them every few weeks to see how they are adjusting.  They are there if we are having any problems academically, but mostly they are there for pastoral purposes.  It is really a neat thing, particularly coming from UW where everyone in my Major (around 250) all had the same worthless advisor.

I have two ten week terms.  The one I am currently in and one after the holidays and one in the summer, during which I have to write my dissertation.  I have a feeling it will be an enormous amount of work.  Reading is on average 500-600 pages a week.  The one thing that is very different about universities in the UK (and maybe outside of the US in general) is that all exams are done during June, even if I had the class in the fall.  And 100% of our grades in the classes depend on the 2-3 hour exam.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.

On that note...I should get back to all of my reading.