Pretty dull week. I have a trip planned to Amsterdam in early March so I have been trying to get my work done before that. Admittedly, I haven't been able to leave my room or the library b/c of this and therefore I don't have anything fun to report. More visits to The Court (always a fun place to wind-down, however).
I've begun to accept the British style of teaching/writing/reading/studying and this has been exemplified in my papers. I know when I read the over again a year from now (for whatever reason) I'll question why I spelled "labor" as "labour."
Finally, my job as a student mentor ended. My two mentee's were great and I learned a lot from the process. As I mentioned in previous posts, the program was designed to help high school students expand their potentials and plan their future. A lot of what I did revolved around preparatory work for college and communication skills exercises. For example, one of my mentee's was very enthusiastic about America and wanted to know everything about it, but it was out of the realm of my duties to sit there ans talk to him about America. So I asked what interested him about the greatest country in the world and he replied, "the Illuminati." After shaking my head in disapproval and laughing a bit I took the discussion further and probed deeper. Eventually I found a project that interested him and increased his communication skills at the same time. I had him debate in on the merits of the Illuminati conspiracy theories and how certain secret societies may or may not run the world; he took the affirmative and I took the negative (naturally).
In the end, the experience was great and I hope I was able to make an impact on their lives, improve their study skills, and help them realize their potential.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Week 15: The sun came out
Work work work, nothing else. Probably should have studied abroad in Spain. The sun did come out, however. It was nice.
Week 14: Culture
This past week I had the opportunity to experience a lot more culture. The first event was a showing of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) at the National Opera House in Central London. As much as I would love to say I am a man of culture and high-class entertainment, I am not. Opera's bore me and I cannot enjoy them. This is in no respect an insult to those who do, I personally envy you, but for me, they are either too long or too dramatic. Perhaps it has something to do with reading the sure-titles. Anyway, this is the story. GW paid for this "wonderful" event Tuesday and a bunch of other GW students were there. The show started around 7:30 and I was fast asleep by 8:00 - very sad. I missed half of the first act so by intermission I decided not to stay - also very sad. Thus, my Opera experience began and ended very quickly.
The second event was a LSE production. The play/musical was called "Timeless!" and it featured two of my General Course friends. The plot of the play/musical was the traditional good vs. evil narrative. It featured Indian dancing, swing-dance, jazz performances, hip-hop, and a slew of other performances. Overall it was very good but it lacked the professionalism of most performances. In fairness, however, it was put together by students and for that I did appreciate it.
That was about it. A lot of time has been dedicated to school work, unfortunately.
The second event was a LSE production. The play/musical was called "Timeless!" and it featured two of my General Course friends. The plot of the play/musical was the traditional good vs. evil narrative. It featured Indian dancing, swing-dance, jazz performances, hip-hop, and a slew of other performances. Overall it was very good but it lacked the professionalism of most performances. In fairness, however, it was put together by students and for that I did appreciate it.
That was about it. A lot of time has been dedicated to school work, unfortunately.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Week 13: The Big Picture (Mid-Year Review)
I have spent the last week thinking about what it means to be a student at LSE and what, if anything, I have learned so far. Has this been a worthwhile experience? Was coming here a mistake? Could I have gained similar experiences elsewhere? I asked myself these questions in the past week.
I am not having a mid-year crisis, I am simply self-reflecting on my time at the London School of Economics. School work and other outside activities have kept me busy, so I felt it was important to ask myself if it was worth staying in doors and reading about the Cultural Revolution in China or the Mexican Revolution. After a long time thinking I have decided yes, it was more than worth it. LSE has taught me so much about myself, my personality, my habits, and my future aspirations. Most importantly, LSE has taught me to think in a different way; to examine the big picture when not all the information is provided. This was probably my greatest weakness coming here and I have yet to perfect the art of looking at the "Big Picture," but I have certainly come a long way.
I hope the lessons I have learned in the classroom will carry over to my personal and professional life, but that is a question I should ask myself after I graduate from college.
As for the rest of the week, not too much went on. On Saturday I went to the pub we always go to on the weekend, "The Court" and I saw my first pub-brawl. Someone apparently was too drunk and decided to hit someone else to the point where half of the bar joined. When the police and the bar security broke it up, the two originators said it was over "football" as if that was a valid excuse. Nonetheless, it was entertaining.
Furthermore, one of the students I mentor (if you don't remember, I am a part of the LSE Mentoring Program and my job is to go to schools in London and provide support to secondary school students in their professional or academic lives) got into his top university. I congratulated him and told him he did it on his own, but he was nice to say that I certainly helped (which is definitely not true, he did 98% of the work). That was a rewarding experience and I am certainly happy for him.
Until next week!
I am not having a mid-year crisis, I am simply self-reflecting on my time at the London School of Economics. School work and other outside activities have kept me busy, so I felt it was important to ask myself if it was worth staying in doors and reading about the Cultural Revolution in China or the Mexican Revolution. After a long time thinking I have decided yes, it was more than worth it. LSE has taught me so much about myself, my personality, my habits, and my future aspirations. Most importantly, LSE has taught me to think in a different way; to examine the big picture when not all the information is provided. This was probably my greatest weakness coming here and I have yet to perfect the art of looking at the "Big Picture," but I have certainly come a long way.
I hope the lessons I have learned in the classroom will carry over to my personal and professional life, but that is a question I should ask myself after I graduate from college.
As for the rest of the week, not too much went on. On Saturday I went to the pub we always go to on the weekend, "The Court" and I saw my first pub-brawl. Someone apparently was too drunk and decided to hit someone else to the point where half of the bar joined. When the police and the bar security broke it up, the two originators said it was over "football" as if that was a valid excuse. Nonetheless, it was entertaining.
Furthermore, one of the students I mentor (if you don't remember, I am a part of the LSE Mentoring Program and my job is to go to schools in London and provide support to secondary school students in their professional or academic lives) got into his top university. I congratulated him and told him he did it on his own, but he was nice to say that I certainly helped (which is definitely not true, he did 98% of the work). That was a rewarding experience and I am certainly happy for him.
Until next week!
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