Random Pictures

below: Tavistock Square 

below: BT Tower (Global telecommunications company - HQ)

above: It's a 20 minute walk from my flat to campus so sometimes I take the bus if I'm feeling lazy or it's too cold 

(King's Cross is the station where Platform 9 3/4 is)

above: Houghton Street (LSE) on a Saturday afternoon. I'm glad it was deserted, people should be having fun instead of heading to the library, which is what I was sadly doing. 

above (Typical Underground sign) 

Week 8: Golf Match & Socialized Medicine

I apologize for not keeping up with my posts, I am three papers away from being free; thus I am trying to get them done as soon as possible. This week was the second golf match I was able to attend. Wednesday's at LSE are sports days, so classes end in the morning and most students participate in one sport or another. LSE is not, by any means, a sports oriented school. The only thing LSE students are good at is the "Game Theory." (Stupid econ joke). Anyway, the match was held at Royal Blackheath Golf Club - the oldest club in the UK, and we faced Kings College of London. To say we got our butts handed to us would be an understatement. Six of our squad members played six of their squad members and only one LSE golfer won (I was not one of them). Regardless, the course was amazing! Sure the dew made the ball slippery and thus having any control over it was hard, but the scenery was excellent and it was good to get out of the city (even though the course is still considered to be part of London). Here are some pictures from the course, hopefully they capture its majesticity and allure:

I've been sick for the past week, so I had the opportunity to experience the UK's infamous socialized medicine. I walked into St. Philips Medical Center, which is conveniently located on LSE's campus, and I told them I was feeling ill. The receptionist asked me to fill-out a few forms and then come back during the emergency "open-house" later that afternoon if I didn't want to wait for an appointment until the next day. I obliged and went in a few hours later not expecting what kind of treatment I would receive. After waiting about 20 minutes to be called, I saw a doctor and she informed me that I had some type of virus (probably) and then prescribed me antibiotics. I was impressed with the overall process. It was nothing like Fox News made it sound like during the healthcare debate in the US (not too surprised about that). Generally, the doctors in the UK are not as thorough as they are in the US, as US doctors ensure that every possible test is conducted so they can cover their own butts. Regardless, the doctor did give me a check-up that was satisfactory and told me to come back if I didn't feel better in a week. It's been about four days and I'm not feeling too much better so I'll probably go experience the socialized medicine with its death panels and all in a few days. Additionally, it should be stated that my check-up was free (I did not have to give a co-pay) and the antibiotics (which are precautionary as virus's don't have cures) only cost be 7 GBP - very cheap! When I go in on Tuesday I'll be sure to take pictures of he office! (They probably won't like that).

Week 7: Freeze the Fees & the Golf Society

Good news, I made the golf squad at LSE! Not sure if I blogged about this or not (I'm too lazy to read over my previous posts) but I'll write about it again just in case. During freshers week (introduction week) I signed up for a whole bunch of clubs (see previous posts) and one of them was the Golf Society. We had our first practice about three weeks ago and I made it. There are two team: the Golf Society which is everyone who wants to play is on and the Golf Squad which consists of members of the Golf Society who are good enough to compete for LSE - I'm on both. After buying clubs, shoes, and a bunch of other unnecessary golf paraphernalia, I practiced with the squad. Both teams practice at Metro Golf, which is an indoor golf range in Central London. It isn't too far from my dorm, which is nice, and it's free (after we pay the initial 15 GBP to join the society). Somehow I got suckered into being the Secretary of the Society, so I run the practices and make sure everyone is having fun, while also seeing who is good enough to play for the squad. About 45 people are in the society and 12-15 have made the squad. I'll talk about matches in next weeks post. Before I move on, here are some pictures from Metro Golf:

On Wednesday, November 10, the Students Union put on a demonstration to protest the raising of fees for university students in the UK. As of now, there is a 3,000 GBP cap of university fees. Due to budget cuts and austerity cuts proposed by the Chancellor of Exchequer, George Osborn (The British Treasury Secretary), the government is no longer funding most universities. Unlike the in the US, most British institutions of higher education are state funded and thus rely on the government for revenue, in addition to student fees. Well, without government funds, most universities will be forced to raise fees in order to cope with higher costs (the new cap is 9,000 GBP). This made a lot of students and parents angry since austerity cuts are not too popular in an uber-liberal society like the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, LSE students union asked Howard Davies, the President of LSE, to freeze student fees at 3,100 GBP instead of raising them to 9000 GBP. Davies has failed to commit in recent weeks, so LSE students joined other students union's from around the UK to protest. I did not get a chance to attend because we had our first golf match, but I did get to see some of the students gather to begin the protest. You all know the end of the story: the demonstration began peacefully and ended up violent as students and anarchists stormed 30 Millbank (the conservative party headquarters) and caused severe damage. While I agree with the protests, I definitely do not condone the destruction and especially the violent actions taken against defenseless police officers (they don't carry guns in London - don't ask me why?). Here are some pictures from the British press for those who did not get to see them:

Week 6: Papers Galore

My life is consumed with work. I had one paper due November 3 and another due November 10. Apparently the Brits love making their students write papers (called formative essays) that don't count for anything. Therefore, motivation to try hard is minimal. With all the papers came many hours in the library. The library is very huge and I finally conquered my fear of heights and walked up the stairs, rather than taking the elevator. Here is another picture to remind you of the brave feat I accomplished:

Yes, I am a huge girl. Not really much else going on. I made the LSE Golf Team (which makes me a bigger nerd than I already was). Pictures and details will come in the next post later this weekend. Sorry for not being on top of my blogging, I have been extremely busy. I promise to do more COOL stuff so I can write about it. The last two weeks have been a bit boring as my life is/was consumed with work. More to come!

Week 5: Cowboys & Indians

Sorry for not writing. Here is a quick update. In reality, I wanted to wait until something excited happened before I posted, assuming that an entry about how I gathered research and subsequently wrote a paper for my International History class would not be sufficiently exciting.
My week started with training for LSE's mentoring scheme. The week before I applied and was subsequently accepted into the program which aims to help London students enhance their study skills, revise material for their A level tests, and sharpen their interview techniques. London schools are very different from the ones back home, as a secondary education is more focused on subjects that interest you, rather than a general curriculum. In America, secondary education ends at 12th grade and then students move on to college. Here, basic education ends at 16 (students can leave school then) and then students move on to college (term is not the same as it is in the US). Between the ages of 16-18, students pick four subjects that interest them (ex: Politics, Physics, Philosophy, and Spanish) and then take a test at the end of the year. If they pass, they move on to the next year which is their final year. In their final year, they eliminate one subject (ex: Phyics) and focus their attention on the other three. Their schedule is very flexible and makes them independent. Classes are not as time consuming and the results of the test they take in their last year of formal schooling demonstrate their apptitude and level of knowledge; this is what gets them into university.
The students I will be mentoring are between the ages of 16-19, plan on attending university, and are already aware of what they want to do. So what's the point? The aim is to help these students hone in on their weaknesses and eventually turn those weaknesses into strengths. That is what training taught us. It was six grueling hours, which could have easily been cut down to 1-2 hours, led by an individual who demonstrates very little enthusiasm for someone who is the "volunteering" field.
As I mentioned, the rest of my week was spent researching and writing a paper for int'l history. The thesis of my paper is that the Schuman Plan (plan to unite German and French coal-steel industries after WWII) was the Federal Republic of Germany's first step toward an independent foreign policy. Exciting, right? I don't want to spend much time talking about this, but I will mention a few key differences between the US writing style and the UK writing style:
1) UK is more formal (all in third person)
2. UK focuses more on the theories of historians (revisionist v. post-revisionist: originalist v. new-age)
3. UK spends more time on the counter argument to prove the argument
Other than that, all my classes are good so far. I am not enjoying my law lecture (the lecturer and class teacher are super pro-human rights, which is fine but they are way too liberal for my tastes) but I am enjoying my economic history of Latin America class and the int'l history class on European integration and the  Cold War.
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Fun Stuff:  Halloween Weekend:
So much fun. The British are not so big on Halloween but they do know how to party. The ones who are, are into the gore, blood, and traditional costumes, rather than dressing up like people. Most Brits had blood coming out of somewhere and make-up on. I did not follow - I was a Cowboy. My General Course friends and I went to a costume shop on Sunday to find things to wear for that night. Since I owned a very hick looking dress shirt I thought I wouldn't spend too much getting something else. Thus, I rented Cowboy boots (huge mistake) and bought a cheap hat. The store was ridiculous. It had every costume imaginable to buy or rent; I had a lot of fun looking around and trying stuff on.

That night we went to a club called the Ministry of Sound (see previous post about this club). Luckily one of the students in my hall highlights as a promoter and was able to set up a private room for us (VIP, VIP,VIP!!) We got to cut the line, go upstairs, and have the entire place to ourselves (about 80 or so people, rather than the club having 500+).

 Two rappers were also performing in another room. I went to go watch them but they were horrible and the speakers were unnecessarily loud (still have ringing in my ears). I'll end with pictures from the club and our outfits. The other guys in the pictures are my friends who are also doing their junior year abroad.