21

This past Monday, I finally turned 21! In the states this would have been a much bigger deal, but since I was in London where the drinking age is....honestly, they don't seem to concerned about the drinking age here. I've seen kids that look younger than 18 at pubs drinking beer. Anyway instead of the huge drinking bash that would have happened if I had been at Clark, I went out to a nice dinner with some friends. We went to a place called the Mango Tree, apparently its a chain, but with delicious Thai food. It was the first time that I had ordered a bottle of wine without someone at least 25 present. In fact I was one of the oldest people of the group. I really enjoyed it. Anyway I just wanted to say thank you for making my birthday special!

continuing in what I consider to be my birthday week celebrations, last night I went with two friends to my first futball game. It wasn't a premier league game; I've heard those are incredibly expensive, but it was still lots of fun. The two teams playing were the Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace. While the game was interesting, both teams did kick some truly horrible shots towards the goals, the fans were absolutely fascinating! I love them fans! They are rowdy and rude use horrible language and SO passionate. I mean these men and a few women love these teams to such an extreme. I can see equivalents to fans obsessions in the US, but the language they use here just makes it that much better! hahaha I usually am not a huge fan of people who are constantly swearing, I find it annoying. But surrounded by 14,000 screaming and swearing British futball fans, I couldn't help but really enjoy myself. In fact (without the use of too much profanity) I found myself yelling at the 10th horrible shot at the goal alongside the other fans. I think in another life I might have been a British man who rooted for the Queens Park Rangers.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November. Some people might think I am quoting the movie V for Vendetta. You are sort of right. This Thursday, the 5th, is remembrance of Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up Parliament. It is a big celebration throughout the UK, where fireworks and bomb fires happen everywhere. I can't wait. I'm not sure what I will be doing exactly but I know its going to be a lot of fun! I will post later this week and tell what else is happening this great first week of November.

(a little note, I would post pictures but I realized recently that I stupidly forgot my camera cord. So now I have lots of pictures but no way to upload them onto my computer.)

london life

I haven't written a blog in awhile and I know I should be better at writing these but (and im going to use a pathetic excuse now) I've been really busy. I am now just ending my third week of classes at LSE and they are very time consuming. The classes are wonderful however so I can't really complain. Actually they aren't called classes here there called lectures. Classes are the equivilant of discussion sessions where the point is to go into great detail and clarify any information that was in the lecture. Every week (except from my law class) I have a one hour lecture and a one hour class per course. and then there is the reading....the professors expect you to do A LOT of reading outside of class. Each professor has a list of required reading for the week which usually has a couple of journal articles and maybe a couple of chapeters in a book. Then they have a list of further reading for each week. From this list it is recommended that you pick one or two per week and read them in additon. This will apparently help later when studying for exams. Take that reading multiply it by 4, and thats how much work I have to do. Not to mention that in some of my classes I now am starting to get essays assigned. Lets just say that I have a lot of work. What I'm learning however is (for the most part) facinating and the professors I have are wonderful. They are all obviously quite brilliant and its so interesting listening to them talk.

and then there are the weekends....when taking a break from the work one has to do over the weekend the nightlife here in London is great. There is so much to do, whether its going to a pub, club, theatre show, dinner, or just walking around Leciester or Trafalgar Square it is honestly a wonderful place to spend a Friday or Saturday night. The only slight problem is how early the tube closes. I love the tube, don't get me wrong....coming from a place where public transportation basically doesn't exist having a transportation system that works relatively well wonderful. I just wish that it ran a little bit later. Every night the tube starts to shut down around 11:30 depending on how far away one is from the center of London. By 12:30 am the entire sytem is closed. On most nights this isnt a problem...I'm usually in my dorm doing my hw or whatever, but on the weekends 12:30 is still pretty early. And while I could take a taxi (which is expensive) or take a night bus (which is really confusing) or walking (which isn't always the best idea, especially if your going someplace by yourself) having the tube running would be wonderful. I honestly wouldn't even mind if they charged me more after a certain point....lets say after 1:00 they charge you another pound or two, the conveience would be great! anyway I should probably get off this rant before I really get going and keep on talking for another 300 words.

actually I don't have much more to say besides the fact that I'm really excited...I'm going to Paris in a couple of weeks with Allie! We aren't staying that long which is too bad but its still going to be a great time! can't wait!
I will try to write more often but I'm not promising anything

Its been almost a week since I've written but like anytime you go to a new place it takes some time to get settled and create some form of routine. People are creatures of habit to some degree( or at least I am). I personally like having a bit of structure, I'm not saying planning out every bit of every day, but its nice to know that when I wake up I'm going to get a cup of coffee. I am starting to understand what my life is going to be like for the next year. I've never lived on my own in the middle of a major city before so it required a bit of adjustment. For example, coming from Los Angeles where everyone drives, the idea of walking 25 minutes to campus sounded, and felt at first, like hell. However I've discovered I actually like the walk to campus. I like walking quickly through the streets watching as other people go to work or the store or wherever else they are going. I know that as the weather get colder and it starts to rain more often I might begin to feel differently but at this moment in time....I'm enjoying the walks.
But getting off that tangent, I am truly enjoying London as well as LSE. Its a great city full of amazing sites and people and LSE, though I know its going to be a challenge, is going to turn into such a rewarding expereince. This first week has been a little bit odd though. Since classes don't start until this upcoming Monday, I haven't met many people in the same year as me. Like all LSE dorms, only freshman (or freshers as they are called here) as well as graduate students (or post grads) live in my hall. The freshers and post grads are all very nice and I know that I'm going to have good friends from both years-but its strange to think that I still haven't met one person in their second or third year at the LSE. I know that once classes start thats going to change but right now it is slightly odd.
I had the study abroad orientation yesterday where we learned all about LSE and what it has to offer, what its like living here, going to school here etc. What I learned about LSE that made me the most nervous was the fact that not only is your entire grade in the class based upon your final test at the end of the year (which I actually already knew) BUT only 14% of the class gets the equivilant of an A! This means I'm going to have to study really dilligently in order to make sure that I do as well as I possibly can on the exam. This could prove to be difficult cause I often have a tendency to procrastinate and really can't afford to do it this year.
wow I just read this post and didnt mean to write about all my mundane fears about living here. I guess theyu are just subconsiously in the back of my mind. I also signed up for a lot of clubs ( or societies) yesterday. Its different thatn in the states where you can just sign up for anything you want to take. Here you have to pay at least one pound per society. I ended up picking a few which im very excited about, including Mondel UN. I think that this is going to be great becasue hopefully I will be involved in more of the conferences.
So far I have had a wonderful time and I acutally cant wait until classes start on Monday! I'll do my best to write regularly as possible my goal is every othe day but well see how that goes :)

going to London! FINALLY!

I'm actually leaving today! wow! after all this waiting I'm finally going! I'm almost entirely packed, yep like most things I do, I won't be completely packed until the last second. While I am super excited I'm also really really nervous! I don't think it truly hit that I'm leaving until last night when I realized that I'm basically going to be going through freshman year all over again...my first thought was "what the hell is wrong with me, why am I going through this again"! Don't get me wrong, I did love freshman year, it was wonderful- but the first three weeks I don't really remember at all. It was all about finding your "best" friends....or just people to eat lunch with and trying to remember what classes you were taking and where on campus they were. That part of freshman year I don't have complete fondness for. Then I realized that it's NOT freshman year all over again. For one thing, I do know people...studying at LSE, on the Internship program as well as on other programs. For another, I know that I can do this! Freshman year at Clark was completely new...like nothing I had EVER done before. In this situation however,I've gone through it once very successfully and I know that I will be able to do it again.

So I finally came to the conclusion at 3 am while I was lying in bed unable to fall asleep, that while it's good to be a little nervous, I shouldn't be stressing so much- yeah the classes are going to be hard, yeah I'm living in a freshman dorm again (yuck), yeah I don't know that many people or the campus....but I'll figure it out and I'll be ok!

not much going on....except some dinner

so i dont have much to report besides the fact that i leave for london in less than a week. this is what my life has been reduced to....counting down the days until i leave. Its not that i dont love being home (cause i totally do) but i cant wait to be doing something completely different and new.

Last night i became inspired because i was looking at different cookbooks trying to figure out some easy recipes i can make for this upcoming year in a dorm kitchen cause i dont have a meal plan and I decided that i was going to make dinner tonight. I asked my mom if she wanted to cook dinner with me which luckily she did cause i was really ambitious. Needless to say this is a dinner i WON'T be making at LSE, though it was still a lot of fun. I ended up making a mushroom tarte and though it sounds sorta nasty--trust me its not! We then made this really delicious chicken friccassee which basically is chicken in an amazing and super flavorful sauce. YUM! the low point of the meal turned out to be the dessert. For some reason my mom and i decided that lemon mousse was a good idea. We were in the process of making it when we realized we would be eating A LOT of raw eggs. not so good, you know with salmonella poisoning and everything but we made it anyway cause we were already half way done. VERY IMPORTANT: read the entire recipe so you dont make something with raw eggs too! When it was finally done and after three hours of chilling in the fridge we took a bite. for some reason the mousse had separated in two. I dont know what separated but it was disgusting! so we threw it out and ate ice cream drumsticks instead. haha.

but cooking this dinner gave me a great appreciation for how much work it is to make a good meal...and i had my moms help! Its not that i haven't made dinner before cause i have many times, but mostly ive made things like pasta or salads. While those meals are totally delicious and i know i will be making myself plenty of those dishes, its also nice to know that i can follow a recipe and have the food come out tasting good. I know that my meals this upcoming year aren't going to be this elaborate; but i now know that i can manage (with maybe one or two mishaps) and that makes me feel that much more confident that i can handle this year.

Can't Wait for London!

Today Allie, Sarah and Dane as well as others on the London Internship Program leave today. I am really really jealous. While I love summer and feel incredibly lucky that I've had such a long vacation with lots of travel and sunshine (and fires? that's a whole other story on just one part of how screwed up California is) I want to be going to London with everyone else. I leave the 24th and that seems so far away. I know it isn't really but I'm ready...i think. Maybe its because Clark's school year has started and I'm not there or maybe its because almost all of my friends at home have left for their own schools or their own study abroad trips. In truth I'm not physically ready at all to leave for London. While I do have two important aspects of the trip done mainly my visa (boy was that process stressful) and my flight to London, I dont have anything else. I dont have anything for my dorm, haven't thought about the clothes I should bring, I dont even have an email account at LSE! I guess what I'm ready for is the excitement of living and studying at such a world renowned university as well as such a vibrant city. I know its going to be an amazing experience and i guess im just a little too eager to start it, but having that intense desire is a good thing right?

First Blog

Since I don't leave for England until late September for the first month, I don't think Ill be writing a lot here. Unless you all want to here about my internship....oh I could write about my trip to South America this summer. Therefore everyone can read it here!
thats what I'll do until I go to LSE and after that it will be about london,classes, friends, etc.

alright thats all for now just wanted to write my first blog actually.