Happy Halloween!
October 31, 2010
Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, which fits nicely into a wild Halloween weekend. I’m not usually one that’s crazy into fancy dress (this is what British people call costume parties), but around Halloween time, I usually can get talk into putting on some silly outfit and have a good time. I didn’t celebrate Halloween during my time in…
Read More
Why, of course!
October 26, 2010
Half an hour to kill. Do I read a 130-pg document on electoral voting in the UK or write something fun in my blog? Not a tough choice there. On a Saturday morning, I was walking toward the London Bridge tube station along River Thames when I heard someone said, “oh my gawd, there is a camel!”. Tower Bridge is…
Read More
La vie à londres
October 22, 2010
Lagging behind on the blog. Grad school is slowly taking over my life, but I’m fighting it. Unlike my pre-Peace Corps self as an undergrad, I am determined to strike a healthy balance between work and life – getting more sleep and enjoying life for what it is.Heading into week 4 of the Michaelmas term (blog post coming soon detailing…
Read More
50 Years of Service
October 14, 2010
50 years ago today, a speech made by President John F. Kennedy at the University of Michigan inspired the idea of the Peace Corps. Many before me have served and many after will. Maybe because I’ve just returned, but this short two years of experience is now a part of me, and it defines me. I’m never as at eased…
Read More
Baby Steps
October 10, 2010
The first week of real classes came and went. The workload is quite intense already; it took me hours to simply put together the reading list for the term! At the same time, I’m being a complete dork and loving all of my lectures. I went to a few company presentations for consulting firms this past week and noticed a…
Read More
Tower Bridge is Folding Up
October 7, 2010
As a child, one of the first tunes I learned to play on the piano was “London Bridge’s Falling Down”, but we sang it in Chinese, of course. Then later, in English class, we learned to sing London Bridge is Falling Down, in English. Today, after a long day at school, I walked home from the bus stop at Tower…
Read MorePiecing the Puzzle
October 5, 2010
Within the international development stream of the MPA program at the LSE, we are only allowed to have one option unit during the first year. After a quick browsing through the approved option list, I immediately decided upon a course named “Regulations of Financial Markets”. While fellow students were struggling to decide on a course, I was at ease with…
Read MoreFirst Day of Big Kids’ School!
October 5, 2010
The past two weeks have simply been a warm up to the real deal. Today began the first day of graduate school at the LSE. It was, well, exhausting. The LSE is after all a city and an European school. There is not acres of green fields to spread out, and it feels that there are simply students in herds…
Read More
afternoon delight du village
October 1, 2010
Naturally, the day I need to prepare for my first exam in over 2 years was a gorgeous sunny day in London. Luckily, this exam doesn’t actually count for anything, more just an assessment and provide feedback. Yet for some reason, everyone in the program is taking it mighty seriously. I suppose I’ve advanced from the Little League to the…
Read MoreWork Hard, Party Harder.
September 30, 2010
This week is LSE’s orientation week, yet us unfortunate first year MPA bunch still have intensive pre-sessional course in statistics. Last night was the postgraduate party hosted by the student union. Though on a Tuesday and we had class this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see a good bunch of us out there having a great time. I was…
Read More