Now 1 Month In? All Hallows Even

Is it now a month in? Damn the 30/31 day month deal and the fact it is November. Damn.

Also, I finally walked to Battersea Station and Chelsea and walked around the Tower of London for Hallowe'en. As I knew and have been finding out, this holiday isn't so big over here. I took the bus back from the Tower of London and it was pretty cool and here's why. All the public bus routes are farmed out to the lowest bidder among competing private companies (and they say Britain is more socialist than the US!) so they run it however they want as long as the provide the service requested. So I am waiting for the bus and sure enough this ancient double decker bus rolls up and I felt like I was back in the 1940s or something. It was really cool: I wish I had snagged a picture. Also it was so old, I was looking where to swipe my Oyster card and this transit worker chuckled told me to sit down and touch it to his reader. That was pretty funny. In other news, I am going to see a performance of Holst's "The Planets" tomorrow at the Royal Albert Hall. Also I should get some sleep

1 Month In

1 Month since I arrived here. I can't believe it. It seemed like yesterday that I was the stupid American foreign exchange student who didn't know anything about London--oh wait.

hehe, no but in all honesty, it seems like no time has gone by yet like I have been here for some time and settled into the groove. I guess that is a good thing. This week, if after this I am good and get schoolwork done, I'll continue to see the last few remaining parts of central London that I didn't walk the first time. Also I think definitely tomorrow or the next day I will go see Battersea Power Station of Pink Floyd fame. For all you trivia people out there it also showed up in Children of Men and the new incarnation of Doctor Who. Also Bankside Power Station (now Tate Modern) was designed by the same architect. They are trying to preserve it but it's very dilapidated, so I want to get there before they knock it down.

Back to my rant about British food. Again what do they have against calling yogurt, "yogurt"? Instead you see the very helpfully descriptive substantive "Digestive". Yeah it really helps me digest...Also they don't seem to use artificial preservatives for anything: pasta sauce, salsa, you name it. A bit of a pain as everything is perishable or if it is canned you have to eat it pretty quickly. Does it taste better without all those "bad" artificial "chemicals"? If it does, I can't tell the difference in taste. So much for green food. On an upside, I got my nectar card in the post (Britishisms woohoo!) and with it, the joys of getting free stuff once I collect enough points. I recommend getting one. They're free at www.nectar.com and you can get some cool computer games or books or discounts. Really worth it. And I made 2 points for each pound I spent. Not bad at all.

So yes, revel in the month I have spent. So I'll leave you now as Latin American economic backwardness beckons...

King Harvest Has Surely Come

Daylight savings time all of sudden descended upon us. I didn't expect that it was happening so soon. They sort of switched it around back in the States so all the Trick-or-Treaters wouldn't be roaming through the dark. Didn't know what the deal was here either. So now we can come ever closer to 3:30PM sunsets! Fun!

Edit: Actually, according to my desk calendar which has all these weird terms and archaic words in English says that today is the End of Summer Time in the UK. In the US daylight savings time ends November 4th, so now I am only 4 hours ahead of the states. At least for the next week.

Walked Hyde Park yesterday and went to Paddington Station. Hyde Park was nice, we got to see the Prince Albert monument and Royal Albert Hall. (In case you didn't know Victoria really had the hots for this guy). The foliage was a bit disappointing: I was hoping it would be more colourful. Perhaps the best is yet to come or maybe the foliage is never good over here. Since Fall into biting-cold Winter is my favorite season, I miss how in the States it really hit you and took hold of you. In fact, I really missed it at Georgetown because in New Jersey, since it was farther north, you would actually have it happen sooner and colder. Yeah so Fall and foliage in New Jersey: I've been missing it for 3 years so far.

At Marble Arch, we met a Georgetown friend who had come down Oxford for a 2 day stint in London. Yesterday we ate at a Lebanese restaurant on Edgeware Road. Unfortunately it was a little underwhelming (maybe the real Middle Eastern hub is right off the road?) Tonight we go again to the glorious living textbook example of perfectly competitive markets--Brick Lane.

Addendum: that same night, we decided to meet some people at a bar, fatefully named G-A-Y. So of course it turns out to be a gay bar (no! really?) So we walk in, no cover fee. So as I walk in about 4 different guys eye me. OK, this is a new experience. Then I am walking along with my friends and I feel a tugging at the sleeve of my jacket and I look and some guy smiles and winks at me. God only knows what my face looked like at that moment. So we continue wading through the throng of people and stop. We start talking and then all of a sudden, I feel someone's hand going through the hair on the back of my head and their fingers combing through my hair. Sure enough, I turn around and a guy with a red cap on is eying me and I think even beckoning me over with his hand. A really bizarre experience but a pretty funny one at that. I think they stopped because the crowd of guys figured out I didn't swing that way; besides we left after a few minutes to look for a pub. In spite of what happened, I did like the ambiance of the place and maybe I will return there another time. A friend said in retrospect I should have hit those guys up for drinks: damn, I missed out on free drinks. Maybe I will bring some friends over there and not tell them what it is mwahaha. Anyway, for the record, I'm not gay (not that that should make a difference?)

Travel and Class

I've been here for a bit, but haven't gotten outside of London yet. Not like I really need to because London really is a swinging city and there is plenty to do and see here that is worthwhile. It would be a crime if I didn't take advantage of my time here and see stuff. But I am so no worries.

I am one step closer to getting out of the city. Besides some day trips to Bath, Oxford, and Canterbury, I'm in the midst of planning to go to Praha in early December. Hopefully it will be all snowy and wintry and quaint looking. I hear the beer is cheap too.

I could mention what I have calculated is my total workload for the year: 4 problem sets each week, 2 papers total, 2 presentations total (5 minutes each, pretty much recite 2 assignments I would have done already for the class anyway) and then 4 finals. That's it. I guess finals are going to be brutal then

This was always sort of unsettling when I was learning about it at Georgetown, but is now moreso since I have been taking Econometrics and Development economics. Statistics can calculate what the expected value will be of something and how the random values will be distributed and what the probabilities are for the random values. But these statistical methods are applied ot human actions and demographics, and it seems we can predict by taking into account residuals and plotting accurate regressions, what is the primary motive or cause behind any statistical relationship. Scary thought. Really then, do we have free will? Are humans and their attributes really just mathematical formulae? Statistics seems to say we can map all of this out. Ah too bad I can't have debate with my friends from Regis on this like old times!

"I Would Walk 500 Miles..."

Does anyone else love that song by The Proclaimers? You know you love it hehe. here's a link to a late-80s guilty pleasure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZojpl-p_5A

Yeah so I got up yesterday and decided to take a walk alone. Enjoy the scene and people-watching. Also there German soccer fans in town for a game against Chelsea: by mid-afternoon they were all drunk.

So yes the walk, an epic journey. Started at High Holborn; walked down Kingsway and Aldwych to The Strand; walked down to Trafalgar Square, saw Admiralty Gate, and looked down The Mall to Buckingham palace; continued down Whitehall passing a lot of memorials, government buildings, and Downing Street; finished walking Whitehall and ended at Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster (Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Victoria Tower) quickly saw the monument to Boadicea, a British Celt Queen who led an uprising against the Roman Occupation; Walked back up to The Mall and walked through St James's Park; stopped at Buckingham Palace just as they were changing the guard and continued up through Green Park; walked through Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square; passed through Soho, went up to Goodge Street, passed by the British Museum, and finished at my dorm a little over 5 hours later.

So yeah quite the walk. It was a lot of fun, just walking around myself taking in the surroundings and watching everything. Jess is really right, you get a much better feel for the city when you walk it and I have walked many of the important places. Who knows: I might know London better than DC when I come back to the states next year!

Oh, in case anyone wanted to see what I have seen, here are some Facebook albums. Knock yourself out.

http://georgetown.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084891&l=21395&id=1409498
http://georgetown.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2087376&l=768b8&id=1409498
http://georgetown.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2087385&l=b6089&id=1409498

Returning in Disgrace

I was going to write a really downtrodden sort of post, but not too downtrodden because things are great here. But isn't it wonderful when something fun and exciting happens and then you can just brush over the past? hehe I'll recap slightly only because you can get more tangential information from my friends/their blogs...if you bribe them enough...

So we went to see England lose the Rugby World Cup Saturday nigtht. To make a long story shorter, the three of us, we thought getting a 3rd pitcher might help their odds (we were already drinking two for the show). Instead, the second half of the game is a blur and I decide to help one of my friends make her way back to her dorm. We somehow manage to navigate a tube line being shut down and manage to make the detour. We eventually make it to Sidney-Webb but I am in no condition to go anywhere and so I crash for a night. As I said many times, you were too kind to let me be a vagrant. So the next day I sauntered out of the dorm, squinting as I roamed the streets for the bus stop. I can tell now Fall is coming along as the Sun was in that weird state where it is low in the sky and the shadows are long and the light is weak, yet it doesn't look like it is rising or setting or midday. So I found the bus and returned in disgrace back to High Holborn.

In better news, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonnen managed by all odds to defeat McLaren's Lewis Hamilton (sorry Britain!) and Fernando Alonso to win the Driver's Championship. Wow what a race, one to remember for the ages indeed.

So thus ends a tragic story, reported 4 days too late. Oh yeah, I felt all tense and anxious last night for no reason. Now I guess you can say that's the end to the tragi-comedy (with details edited out because, who would expect me to do that?)

Next up, funnery in Londontown!

The Plague Returns and An Unsettling Feeling...

I thought my chance encounter with sickness was singular: no, it has returned. I feel fine, it's just this little tickling cough that as you go to sleep and are just about to pass into unconsciousness gives you the tiniest cough ever, but destroys all the progress you made and makes you have to start all over again. Try that for three nights in a row until past 3AM. Ouch

I've been in all my classes and lectures and things are a little daunting. I didn't realize how much econometrics plays into 3 of my 4 courses. And in the course it doesn't I need to waste half my time, not working on my assignments, but tracking down relevant, obscure, out-of-print books from the library in order to write my little summary. Thanks professor! However, even though Development Economics requires econometrics, which I didn't realize, I really like the TA for my class. Same for Latin American Economics. Ronny (Prof Razin) leads the classes for PECO and he seems good. Dougherty is the only enigma left. Had to miss 9AM lecture because I was too tired and under the weather. At least he posts recordings of his lectures online. Can you believe it?

On an unrelated note, the quality of Subway here is significantly worse than in the States. They have a deal, where if you get the 6 inch sub of the day, it is only 2 quid. Sounds like a deal, right? Except it tastes pretty pale in comparison to the American subway, specifically the one at Georgetown. And supermarket selection is significantly worse than back home too. What do they have against easily identifying yogurt as "yogurt"? I guess there was something to be said about bad British food heh

Longest Time Outside the Country!

Since yesterday, I have been out of the US for the longest continuous stretch. Things are going well, I don't think I've lost too much of my sanity yet.

Also sorry to all you Hoyas, but I still have yet to start doing school work. Sorry guys! Hope my parents don't read this and wonder where their money is going to...

Good news for when the D6 crew heads out in the Spring to see Reed in Paris. The St Pancras International Rail Station opens in November, shaving 20 minutes off the trip to Paris and only two Tube stops from High Holborn. The more I look at London, the more I see that New York City is getting behind the Eight Ball here. NYC has 6 different financial regulatory bodies; London only 1. NYC missed out on getting the Olympics in 2012 (to London!) and I think has given up for a while since the West Side railyard Stadium has been put on the back burner; London is now revved up and just got the OK for a--get this--£15 billion transit train system upgrade called Crossrail. The best NYC can muster up is finishing the 2nd Ave subway that has been under development since the 1920s and is necessary so the Lex Ave Line isn't running dangerously above safety capacity limits. Great.

Ah so me and London. Went to Soho, it was eerie how much it reminded me of the NYC Soho and East Village. Pretty hopping, but alas it has been Yuppied with its prices. Seems like wherever I go around LSE I cannot escape the price gouging racket better known as the Theatre District and the West End. I need to figure out fun things to do that don't involve needlessly wasting money. I guess hop on the tube or a bus (even cheaper and you get to see the city!) and go to Hyde Park's Speaker's Corner and watch the crazies talk. Or maybe go to Battersea Power Station and feel like I am Pink Floyd.

Suggestions welcome for the economical tour of London, while remaining fun

Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

So the First Week of Lectures is over. I started with Political Economy on Monday, Introduction to Econometrics at 9AM on Tuesday and Thursday (oh yeah!) Development Economics Tuesday as well. Nothing on Wednesday (nice!) and Latin America & the International Economy on Friday. The professors seem good for the most part and looking more and more at the campus, I wish sometimes Georgetown would man-up and step up to the plate and get with the program. Some of the facilities are really good here and put Gtown to shame. On the other hand some of the bureaucratic efficiency just is a pain. I guess you can't have it both ways.

Oh yes so biting off more than you can chew...I got sick, woke up shivering violently in the middle of the night, I have a few hypotheses as to why...besides those secret hypotheses, I think I'm pushing to hard and running a mile a minute all the time. I have barely been here at all and I have been tying to do everything, every moment and take advantage of London and speed learn the city. Maybe I knew DC and NYC, so I want to get up to speed here. Maybe I should slow it down before I tear myself to pieces. Maybe other things are getting me worn down too: who knows.

In other news, LSE's mascot is the beaver (with all the sexual innuendo jokes that go along with it). Also I tried to hawk to Pulse! Radio (LSE's radio station) the idea of my classic rock/rare tracks/ musicology show. I also threw in I was tech director and a DJ for a while back on the Hilltop and that I would help out with tech stuff. hehe doesn't hurt to brown nose a bit. We'll see if I get a slot.

Rumble on the Hilltop

Oh yeah in other news, seems like the shit has hit the fan at Georgetown! The Hilltop was unlucky enough to get hit with 3 things in a row: first the new alcohol policies rolled in. Since no one was getting their alkie fix and understandable getting antsy, then people get pissy that our campus newspaper did not cover the Jena 6 enough and complaining that there was more outrage over the new alcohol policies. The final nail in the proverbial coffin so to speak was to find out that now there is a whole entire hate crime scandal that hit the national media. A homosexual gets beat up for being homosexual at our front gates and it does not break any news for three weeks. Ouch.

Seems like everyone is wound up tighter than kite and is ready just to be bitchy to everyone else and lash out. Also to add to the bitchiness factor, some whiny radical leftists are now claiming the campus hates minorities/gays because we want to focus more on the new alcohol policy protests and people primarily behind that are affluent white males. What the fuck people?

Is shit really that bad on campus? Please somebody tell me I am just reading Hoya editors and staff writers who are PMSing and tying to get their _____ out on the table and that this "controversy" is a media fabrication.

If things are that bad, I am sort of torn about how to react. I wish I was there to agitate riots, throw tear gas back a riot police, and reverse the alcohol policy. But at the same tie I am glad I am away from that shit and don't have to deal with all the bitching and whining on campus.But then I can't try to effect change and help get things righted on campus. Ah the moral quandaries!

More Britishness

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention more British things. You must have a BBC TV licence in order to watch your TV or else bad things happen. Like they track you down with a radar van and arrest you. Actually it is more like they check their records and come knock on your door.

Also the prices of goods are...expensive. Something that costs $10 in the States costs--you guessed it--£10 here. So everything is twice as expensive. While getting my crockery and other cooking supplies together, I have been trying to spend less than £6 a meal, which has almost been working. Also a pint of ale costs £2.60--ouch! I have been trying to be frugal and costs are spiraling out of control. Anyone want to help contribute emergency relief funds?

Also they charge you 20p to use "public" restrooms. Public my ass. It's stuff like this that makes me think the states are so great. Also one of my Georgetown friends who is spending the year at the City University here got a really bad ear infection, so bad she was almost falling down and very nauseated. She went to the NHS and her application for a number had not been processed so they refused to give her care. I don't know what she ended up doing. Hooray for socialized healthcare!!!

I am drawing up a list of stuff to see in London. Besides some of the obvious ones, I want to hit the Tate Modern, Imperial War Museum, and the British Museum soon. And of course St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Parliament/Big Ben, and the Tower of London. Also Patrick Stewart is starring in a limited run of Macbeth. Unfortunately, I think it is sold our or really expensive. Funnily enough I have heard he has said his years in Star Trek did nothing to help his acting improve!!

Britishness

Just a little FYI tidbit: In the UK there is one security camera for every 12 people, the highest rate in the world. Everyday 190 different cameras watch you and most of your day spent on CCTV.

I bet George Orwell is rolling over in his grave.

I went to Society Fair, which is like SAC Fair and joined up for the Hayek and Italian Societies, and Pulse Radio, which is LSE's radio station. I might be able to do tech work and DJ again which would be fun. It was really sad to see that at LSE all the extracurriculars are run independent of LSE (the Student Union here is actually a separate legal entity) and they collect dues and fund themselves. It's really too bad Georgetown keeps such a tightfisted and stifling control over its clubs. I think I will find out more info and write an editorial to The Hoya, little good that may do.

The last group I joined was, The Isle of Wight Society. A interesting lad by the name of Ben, a native of that nice Isle, really convinced me to sign up, despite my reluctance to join a group of such dubious nature and purpose. Especially if one of your biggest members is a Canadian from outside Toronto. After signing up, I realized this was a man club with a bunch of fun hooligans (sorry Isle of Wight people if you are reading this!) but a good excuse to meet British people and other nationals like Czechs, get around London, learn the roads, and go to pubs to get sloshed on red bull and bourbon, or just pints. Either way, it's going to be fun.

"Don't look back in anger I hear you say"

After a good night's sleep, things are getting better all the time. Met some more Brits, met even more ex-pat Americans. I feel like the Lost Generation living in Paris in the 1920s! People seem really nice and friendly around here. Just hope I didn't superficially and fleetingly meet them.

Note: when you have 18 people drinking in a single and the Brits get buzzed, they start singing along to Oasis!

New York State of Mind

I feel much better today with everything. Also the last post was also a long time coming and was slightly backdated in what it was talking about. Regardless, here I am putting around London. Before I head off and do some more errands, I'll tell a story.

I was walking down the street and I guy spoke out to me who looked a little scruffy and so I didn't really pay him much attention even though I sort of looked in his direction. I immediately thought, a pan handler or some crazy guy or some other city nuisance and didn't acknowledge him. Turns out he was just asked for directions for a street as I breezed by and he cursed under his breath. Oops! I guess I am in New Yorker mode too much in the city and with nuisances that cross my way. Homeless people, crazy people, ghetto looking people, I give the cold shoulder. That's how we roll in New York City.

I've noticed that with people soliciting I do this too and this has thrown a lot of people off. Sorry if I offended anyone, I'll try to be better in the future because the people who "accosted" were actualy very pleasant and were saying reasonable things, not trying to rob me, or hawk a product at me, or beg. I guess NYC has made me hard in that way: Brit/American cultural contrast for you. Then again, what if the one time I stop and act polite is the time I get robbed or knifed?