London So Far

My stay here has been very interesting so far. It has not quite hit me quite where I am at and what I am doing exactly. It all feels surreal.

First of all, I got to the apartment after getting lost trying to find the tube station. Where my apartment is is north of the Tower of London about two miles. It is in the burrough of Islington, just north of the City of London.

Upon arrival I was exceptionally nervous. I was really nervous since the entire situation was weird. I took a train in from Heathrow and arrived at Paddington station. I had to walk to another station right across from Belgravia, a posh neighborhood where most of the embassies are. It is firmly in the burrough of Westminsters. Hyde Park is directly West of Green Park, where Buckingham Palace is. I got on a train and eventually made it to the station closest to my apartment.

The nearest station, Angel, reminded me a lot of the neighborhood that streches between I-5 and Golden Gables park in Seattle near UW. Very residential, young, slightly upscale, and yet feels very reachable, or friendly.

I met up with a nice young gent from Colorado State named Jake. He is a really nice clean cut kid from Colorado who really knows his stuff. My aparment is bigger then I imagined; it as two bedrooms, two baths, and a rather large family room and kitchen. I did not meet the rest of my roommates till the next day, of which there are two.

Jake and another girl in the program named Amber made our way down to the area right across from the Tower of London and the City of London on the Thames, formely where the docks are. The entire waterfront has been changed since the last time I was here. I was still getting used to the unique idea of being in one of the most important capital city's in the world.

That night I went to a pub and had a very vibrant cultural experience. We had a good time, and I can not understand the London accent at all.

The next day we had a tour of london on a bus starting at Lincoln Inn field, the main courtyard area for the LSE. It does not feel like a campus at all, and coincidentally enough, the campus is right next to the main legal area for all of Britain. The LSE is located right across from the border between Westminister and the City.  It was a unique campus and I could not really understand it was one of the most prestigious social science universities yet. It was all sinking in.

The bus tour was really cool, I definitely got a better understanding of London and the tour guide was amazing. There are plenty of pictures that will be arriving soon. I met a lot of the graduate students that are here and will be here in conjunction with the undergraduate program. They are from Egypt, Poland, Georgia, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Bangladesh. Almost all are serving in academia or for foreign ministeries for their home countries and the range from ages 25-35. Tomas from Argentina is my best friend from among them.

We have had both classes so far here at the LSE, and they are very good. I feel like I have a good idea of the material, and yet have learned a lot. We have also had lectures from Lord Norton from the House of Lords, and a policy wonk from the Hansard Society at their offices. Both have provided a deeper illustration of how the system works in its entirety, also varying viewpoints on the actual system. I know I have hit another level when I can detect biases in perceptions of how a certain system works.

I have been running along regents canal and I have been playing pickup basketball with a local team that plays in the London City Leaugue, essentially a city wide league for adults. I also play down at a park between russell square and the University of London.

We are heading to Edinburgh next week for five days to more fully understand Scottish politics. It is very hard to understand this relationship with Westminster, so I will not event try to explain it. I have finally gotten used to using the public transportation, saw my first LSE lecture live (a personal dream of mine) and have finally been in the mix of a intellectual environment where I feel really at home. It makes me wonder if I should have come here from the start, yet at the same time it makes me understand the benefits of going to Gonzaga.

I am visiting Niels in June, as well as my friend Scott and some GU friends in Florence next week. Scott is visiting London this weekend. Most importantly, I have a firm idea for my dissertation and received my internship. It is with an MP from Central Bedfordshire named Nadine Dorries. She is a conservative and has been very active recently in headlines. I am very excited for this development.

We also just saw Billy Elliot as a group here. There is an intern here from Hansard named Luke that shows us around who is 24, so he is a convienent age for all parties. Really cool guy. I already kind of have a click. A really cool group of people here and definitely dyanmics I did not expect, but in a really good way.

This experience is exactly advertised so far. It is amazing, places me in a fantasic scenario, and is nothing less then what I could have dreamed up for it. At this point I am trying to comprehend exactly how in the middle of things I am. Whenever you have those experiences in life, you can't really believe it is happening, it is a sort of dream and then after a while it becomes routine. I hope this experience does not become routine. I love all you guys and I am keeping you in my prayers. I am blessed to have all this support.