Oxford and all that Jazz

So another week, and another blog post as a result.  The weekdays are getting pretty standard at this point, so let's skip to the fun part.  This Saturday I went on a day trip to Oxford and the Cotswolds.  I had to get up far too early to catch the coach we took, but I slept a fair amount on the bus to make up for it.  The Cotswolds are a pretty sleepy region west of London where lots of rich people have homes to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.  Post-industrialization it seems to thrive largely off tourism and light industry.

The second stop was none other than Oxford University, home of 39 different colleges that come together to make the oldest university in England.  I got to see the dining room that Hogwarts' is based on, where Lewis Carroll took Alice, and one of the most impressive libraries on Earth. And fudge.

And to wrap it all up I went to a free jazz concert at the equivalent of the Lincoln Center on Sunday for free, because London is awesome like that.

Because I've been neglecting this bit for a while, here they are, from more than a month back: pictures.

Shoreditch and Brick Lane

Welcome to the Bonus Round!  This week there's a second post thanks to a visit by the amazing Rylee from St. Andrews.

So I started the day kind of late, but managed to do some reading before heading out to have a Lumberjack's breakfast at an American diner in Shoreditch, part of the trendy up and coming (in process of gentrification) area in East London.  I then met up with Rylee and a few other friends and we wandered around Brick Lane for a while, although I guess they knew where they were going and I simply followed.

Yeah, that's all the details I'm going to go into on that, but to suffice it to day it was a great day.

The 5th of November

So its been a while since I posted, mostly because I've been very busy, actually because I'm a very good procrastinator.  Again, in the interest of remembering things properly, lets go backwards.

So Friday was a marathon day.  Early class, an information session with the Goldman Sachs, more class, lunch with an Emory alum, and a phone call with another Emory alum.  As you can see, I want a job pretty badly.

Thursday I went to a pub with some friends that had a live jazz band playing. I really miss jazz.

Wednesday I had training for the LSE Ambassador program (helping students who might not otherwise apply to and gain entry into LSE), played pretty poorly in our first basketball win, and arrived late to a webinar with Yale Law School because I forgot the US hasn't ended daylight savings times yet. Stupid Americans.

Tuesday I went to the very bizarre house of one Sir John Sloane, architect of the Bank of England.  We ended up waiting in line, or queuing as they say here, for an absurdly long time, but it was interesting.  And then a free meal on Emory.

The week before is a little fuzzier, so highlights.  I heard a world-famous pianist (the guy from "the Pianist") play in one of the libraries in LSE, and I went to the British Library to see the Magna Carta, and I also went to the Victoria and Albert Museum and a pub in Kensington with some more Emory alums.

Well I have to run to another training, but one day soon I will upload pictures from recent adventures.

Its been a week, right?

So another week of adventures in London, but this time I'll start from today and work my way back.

So this morning after much waiting and agony I finally got my LSAT scores back. 168/180  96%

Basketball is coming along pretty well, we have our first game tomorrow, so there might be an extra post with the results of that.  But only if we win.

Sunday I went to my first Premier League Football match. Fulham v. Everton. Fulham let us down in the last few minutes but overall the game was an amazing experience. Pictures...

Friday I went to an amazing salsa club south of the river. 4 rooms going simultaneously with different styles of dancing. No pictures...

And then there was school, lots and lots of school.  Which is going well. So yeah, that's me. In London.

I've been busy. Sort of.

So its been over a week since I posted, obviously not a good start.  But its been an exciting week full of stories that I shall soon recount. Things I've done since the last post:

Go to a consultancy fair.
Have a picnic in Lincoln Inn Fields
Wander around a cemetery in North London
Eat a bite of sticky toffee pudding
Salsa
Sat in on a law class
Heard a lecture by Bill Bratton (former NYPD and LAPD chief)

And those are just the highlights.  Let's see if I can attach pictures...

Karl Marx was buried in the cemetery we visited

Fancy old British House (near the Jane Austen scene in Notting Hill)

A view of London from Parliament Hill

Mounted patrol near my dorm.

Ninja assassins on my basketball court.  Okay they're just practicing with swords, but you never really know what for.

Okay, I think that's enough for now.  Next week should be even more exciting as my classes get more involved, I'm going to a premier league football game, and I get my LSAT scores.

Failure and Success

So good news first, I made the basketball team at LSE. hooray...  Downside: We may be in a league a bit over our heads.  Sounds like we might be playing teams that actually take this sport a bit seriously, and even recruit for it.  Our only hope is that all the real athletes are out on the football field.

In other news there's been a damning shock to my once perfect schedule.  I'm not allowed to take the Econometrics class I want (subject of a long rant if you're interested) so now I have to find a replacement class.  I can't do any more poli sci courses overseas, so its either a higher level econ class or maybe a law class.  Fairly narrow options, but still a lot of classes to sift through in the next week or so.

That's it for now, hopefully next time I can report on my exploits in the kitchen.

Orientation Week

So this week was really hectic, hence the lack of posts.  It was a much more intense version of orientation at Emory, mostly because of the half hour walk I made to and from campus nearly four times a day.  But its all good, I got a pan and a spatula now so I can cook every now and then and lectures start Monday and they should definitely be interesting.

As an added bonus the teacher for my Political Theory class is also my adviser so we should get to know each other fairly well.  Now Pictures!