Week 2: "30"

It should be apparent, since I haven't posted in over a week, that classes have started. The last time I actually sat  down in a classroom setting and learned is a distant memory, so bare with me. Before I describe my first class, there were a few "events" that are worth mentioning. During orientation week LSE took the General Course students (those who are studying abroad for a year) on a boat ride around the River Thames (the "h" is silent). The ride was wonderful, as we were able to go up and down the River, see the sites (Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, Millennium Bridge, etc), and meet new people. It didn't take long for me to realize that GW sent a lot of people to LSE (about 30 I believe). Every time I met someone and told that person I am studying at GW he or she would immediately respond with "WOW, I just met five other GW kids, there must be a lot of you?" Apparently so. One of the first ubiquitous aspects of London, besides the rain, is the fact that London is a binge drinking town. This became apparent on the boat ride when GC students were given two "free" drinks. There was not much excitement over that until one of my fellow GC'ers commented that he found it hysterical when he saw me talking to the dean of the GC, Mark Hoffman, with a beer in my hand (he had a beer too). I can safely say that I will never find myself in a situation drinking with a Dean back home.

Enough with the fun, now onto the work part of my time here (just for you mom). About a week ago someone, I forget who, came running up to a group of us playing soccer in the street and mentioned a website called 'LSE Moodle." No one had heard of this so we gave him puzzling looks. He went on to say that the site  is a resource for all classes that has syllabi, lecture notes, reading lists, and course requirements. Without any hesitation we ran to our dorm rooms and went onto the Moodle. I am not sure if we didn't pay attention during orientation or missed some e-mail, but this website had everything we needed to know about our classes. Had we known about it earlier, we could have done some of the work at home. That, however, would have been the easy way out. Unfortunately for us, our Moodle pages had a link called "reading lists." As I saw the link I thought to myself, "oh crap." As the PDF opened I saw the "1 out of ___" get longer and longer until it stopped at 30! The reading list was 30 pages, at which point I said to myself, "of crap" (except the word was worse). I am taking four classes: Public International Law, Economic History of China, Economic History of Latin America, and European Integration & the Cold War. Each class has a reading list of about the same length, which we are expected to complete by exams next summer - great.

Despite the reading lists, classes are very interesting here. My first class - European Integration and the Cold War - is about a relatively new topic: how the Cold War is related to European Integration. The Professor seems very energetic about the subject, which is his specialty, and he is one of the first to research the topic. I thought the reading would focus more on the EU and its member states, but it inevitably mentions how the United States (specifically Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy) pushed for an integrated Europe in order to ward off Soviet expansion. The question of the topic is the German problem: how to integrate Western Germany into the western alliance economically and militarily.
My second class was "Making of the Superpower: economic history of China since 1850." The class was filled (max capacity) yet some people decided to audit the course (see if the like it), however, there weren't enough seats, so some stood in the back and the sides. I guess that's how popular it is.
The third class was "Latin America and the International Economy" which is taught by a Argentinian women who has a PhD (like most professor's here). The core problems we will discuss are how the continent lost is way, even though it lead the world during most of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Should be interesting to find out.
Finally, the last class I am taking is Public International Law. Unlike in the US, the UK does not have a "law school" per se. Students study for three years at the university level and then take a conversion course based on whether they want to practice law (baroness) or simply advise clients (solicitor). Therefore, most of the students in the class are going to be lawyers in some form or another (I find that pretty cool). The thing about international law is that it doesn't really exist. There are sources of international law (treaties, customary law, and norms) but there are loopholes in which States can back out of agreements. For someone who doesn't really believe in the UN to begin with, this course is a bit of stretch - but nonetheless interesting.

As you can imagine with all the reading that I have to complete, I will need somewhere to do it. My room (picture below) is not that big and uncomfortable for reading purposes.

Therefore, I am spending most of the my time in the LSE library (or as they like to call it, "the world's largest social science library")  The problem with the library is that it has a winding staircase and for people who are deathly afraid of heights (like myself) getting to the third or fourth floor is painful. I mostly use of the elevator and try not to look down, but the thought of one day having to walk down the stairs is morbid.

The campus overall is on one street: Houghton Street. There are a plethora of buildings that are centralized along Houghton which provides an easy commute from class-to-class (above). Another picture of the library is here - - - - - - - - >
One of the most ironic things about LSE is a man who hands out lunch free everyday. The man is of the "Hare Ram Hare Krsna" sect of Hinduism (somewhat like what Jehova's Witnesses are to Christianity). Without fail, he is on Houghton Street, handing students, professors, and bystanders warm vegetarian meals - which are sometimes appetizing. The ironic part of it is that it is free. The number one rule of economics is that "there is no such thing as a free lunch." Well, LSE is an exception to that (who would have thunk it).

I know this is a long post, so I'll get to my final mentionable item. Because of all the beer and bad food I am eating, I thought it would be prudent to start working out again. Gym memberships here are outrageously expensive so I opted to run instead. The streets, however, are too crowded to get a good work out in, therefore a park was necessary to find. I stumbled upon Reagant's Park (with the help of a friend I met here who runs track at Georgetown). It is beautiful, to say the least. The government takes care of the parks, unlike the US gov't, so it is well maintained and preserved beautifully. Here are some pictures I took from google - I thought it wise not to run with a camera. I will leave you with those images! Until next time! Cheers!