Exams Over!

Finished my second of two exams this morning. Both of them went fairly well.

I'm currently taking a 5 minute break from my dissertation. Currently my word count is 4,902. It needs to be at least 8,000. I'll be researching/typing all night tonight, most of the day tomorrow, and hopefully I can finish up Thursday...

Lot of Writing

The last couple days haven't been exciting at all. I've just been writing my dissertation basically, taking breaks occassionally. I've written 4,000 words out of 8-10,000.

Exam on Monday, exam on Tuesday, dissertation due Friday, Rob comes Sunday!, Ireland Tuesday!....

House of Lords

On my last day of work I went to see the House of Lords debate. Most of the power in Parliament lies in the House of Commons and so that is the most important chamber, but I wanted to see the Lords at some point. It was a little more tame than the Commons, but still worthwhile.

Here are two articles from The Guardian and The Times that highlight the committee hearing with Jesse Jackson that I went to yesterday:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/26/simon-hoggarts-sketch
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5976582.ece

Last Day with the MP

My MP Mark and I said our goodbyes and thank yous today. He really kind and gave me a going away present, London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd. The book is nearly 800 pages and is supposed to be fantastic. My friend John is read Thames by Ackroyd and he really enjoys it.

I actually owe John a big thank you. He sent me a text today saying that Rev. Jesse Jackson was being interviewed at the Home Affairs sub-committee meeting. I ran over and saw him answer questions from MPs on violent crime and drugs for a little over an hour. Basically, Jackson believed that in order to limit drug related crimes we need to focus on cutting the supply of the drug and less on halting the demand for it. He also spoke about reforming the prison system so that young convicts can be educated ("We need to raise them up, not lock them up"). At the end of the session the MPs asked a couple questions about Obama, the Civil Rights Movement, and MLK to which he gave the most intriguing answers.

By the way yesterday on my tour of Big Ben. I climbed over 300 steps to the top of the clock tower, walked behind the faces of the clock, saw how the giant mechanical clock works, and witnessed the chimes and Big Ben sing at 10am. It was so freakin' cool.

Last Day of Classes

Today was a sad day. I had to say goodbye to Cameron early, early in the morning. Then I had my last two classes of the semester. Now the real work begins. I have an exam Monday, an exam Tuesday, and my dissertation due at 2pm on Friday the 3rd.

Tomorrow morning I'm getting an exclusive tour of Big Ben and the clock tower, which is not available to the general public. Then after work at my internship I'm going to see an Animal Collective concert. Unfortunately, that may be the last fun thing I do until my program ends on the 4th.

Great Week With Cameron...Extended

So it's been an incredible week with Cameron--Portabello Road, Windsor Castle, various pubs, Indian food on Brick Lane, Girl Talk concert, St. Patty's Day, Jack the Ripper, Harrods, etc, etc.--and luckily/unfortunately Cameron missed his plane because the Tube basically broke down and took 3 times as long to get to Heathrow as it normally would. So Cameron is flying out first thing Monday morning, so we're going to make the most of his bonus time here.

A couple pictures from the last week:

Windsor Castle

Cam in front of the cathedral inside the castle

Girl Talk mixing on his computer right next to us

Kait, Cam, me, and Jill--My Newtown friends reunited in London

Girl Talk Show

Cameron, Jill, and all my friends went to a Girl Talk concert last night. Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis) is a mash-up DJ and one of the most original and fun artists out there. He uses bits from dozens of popular songs (new and old) and melds them together in a single track. So his concerts are just continuous music and a nonstop dance party. Not only that but he lets his audience on stage with him during his shows.

We got to the show a little early so we could be right up next to the stage and once Girl Talk came on we were the first people on stage. The entire show we were literally right behind the Gillis as he was mixing on his computer and dancing around. It was absolutely incredible! My body is still sore from dancing so much. The whole experience is hard to put into words, but pictures should help.

(published a little late)

Happy St. Patty's Day

Went on a Jack the Ripper walk of London with Cameron last night. Walking by the spot of each of his murders, we learned about probably the most infamous serial killer of all time. The tour was rather fascinating and led to us wasting about a half hour reading the Wikipedia entry on Jack the Ripper.

Later today, we'll be celebrating the great Irish holiday, St. Patrick's Day, with some dignified Parliamentarians.

Cameron's Visit

So Cameron arrived Saturday evening and the past 2 days have been a whirlwind. Kaitlin Files was also making a pitstop in London on her way home from spring break in Greece. So Saturday included a trip to Portobello Road with Cameron, Jill, and Kaitlin (three of my best friends from Newtown). It was a little surreal to be in a foreign country with such close friends. 

Today Cam and I visited the Tate Modern then took a river ferry along the Thames. I showed him some of the more touristy spot is London--St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, etc. Then we met up with Mr. Piacentino, a good family friend, for dinner on Brick Lane where all the great "curry houses" (Indian restaurants) are. A great time was had by all. 

Football Fotos

The stadium where we saw the Fulham vs. Blackburn game was built around this historic building (pictured below), so there is literally stand surrounding this building. It's rather unique. 

4th row seats

a shot after the fans cleared out

European Football

I had the greatest time at my first professional football (soccer) match last night. It was very much like a college sports game with the cheers, the passion of the fans, and even the location of the stadium in the middle of a regular neighborhood. Photos to come later...

Off to see Billy Elliot (for free).

Debt and Personal Finance Breakfast

Mark is the head of an inter-party Parliamentary group on debt and personal finance. This morning I went into work two hours early to attend. The topic of the meeting was the public perception of the credit crunch and speakers included the likes of Vince Cable MP, who is quite a big-wig in economics and former leader of the Liberal Democrats (the third biggest party in Parliament).

The conversation was pretty engaging and I got some insight into how the Brits understand the credit crunch and how they plan to deal with combating low public confidence. Many of the MPs actually blamed the media in Britain for making the situation appear worse than it actually is.

After work it's off to the LSE for more dissertation work.

Tomorrow me and some of my friends are going to see a Premier League football match (soccer game) which we're all pumped about. Then on Thursday through my program we're all going to see the musical Billy Elliot.

The Magical Mystery Tour

This morning I got up extra early to go on a Beatles walking tour in London. There are hundreds of walking tours throughout London and I plan on taking advantage of a couple more before I leave. I've already gone one tour of the neighborhood I live in, which is surprisingly full of quite a lot of history. 

Our tour guide was a walking Beatles encyclopedia and I definitely plan on reading some literature on the Fab Four when I have some free time back in the states. 

Pictured above, we walked by the original home of Apple Records, the record label that the Beatles created. On top of the building is where The Beatles performed their famous rooftop concert, which turned out to be their last ever live performance.

We also went to the infamous Abbey Road Studios where they recorded nearly all of their songs. Also the same studio where Radiohead recorded OK Computer and The Bends -- two of my absolute favorites.

Any Beatles walk would not be complete without crossing Abbey Road where Paul, John, George, and Ringo did so famously on the cover of my personal favorite Beatles album, Abbey Road.

Now back to homework...

Just for you Mom

me and my mother's boyfriend

Work, Work, Work

Don't expect any exciting posts for a little while. I've been trying to crank out pages of my dissertation for the last two days after work. I'll be doing more of the same this weekend.

Not the best of days

Today my friend John got me a ticket to Prime Minister's Questions (PMQ's) in the public gallery of the Commons. Unfortunately Gordon Brown is visiting Obama this week, so it wasn't quite the same, but still rather lively and exciting. The way that the British debate is much more in-your-face than the American style.

If it hadn't been for PMQ's today would have been the most boring day here. Rather than researching or drafting letters for constituents today I did real mundane "intern work"--stuffing envelopes and counting surveys. It was pretty awful.

Oh well.

The rest of my week shouldn't be any more exciting. My 15,000 dissertation is due in exactly one month and Cameron is coming to visit for a week beginning next Saturday. I want to get as much writing done before he comes, so that I can relax, enjoy his company, and visit some more tourist sites that I've missed.

Back from Oxford

Had a program day-trip to Oxford today...Unfortunately I forgot my camera. 

Oxford University made me wish that I was a brilliant British student. That is what a place of higher education should look like. 

Here's a couple pictures from Chelsea and my trip to Bath and to the Tower of London this weekend:

not quite as pretty as the Edinburgh castle, but still pretty cool

view from inside the castle towards Tower Bridge

a real, live ancient Roman bath

Chelsea walking around the top of the baths next to Bath Abbey

One of the many pretty public parks we explored in Bath