LONDON

Last update of Michaelmas Term.

2008-12-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

First question: what does Michaelmas even mean? It means "Fall" in stuffy, academic English.

Second question: why haven't you updated your blog in forever? Answer: I've been way too busy. Work, school, life. It happens. I assure you that next term, the name of which escapes me at this moment, will lend to more free time, more London sight-seeing (I hope), and more blogging in between writing my dissertation, which I am determined to finish by the expiry date on my London life on 5 July 2008 (note: format of date).

I will be jet-setting to Madrid tomorrow, and Lisbon on Monday, and I will be back in London for a few days, before I go back home to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. I will be back in London in mid-January.

My term analysis:

I am beyond happy that this term is finally done. I have worked way too much and not lived nearly enough. I have fallen terribly short on walks around London, museums, night life, and exploring neighborhoods. I have also failed to do weekend trips to Europe. After all, such trips are requisite at LSE (Let's See Europe).

In terms of accomplishing things, I have made great friends, went out a few times (though not nearly enough), added something to my CV, became comfortable with London, heard back from some law schools (thus relieving a great deal of anxiety), and readjusted my expectations, that terrible thing that lets you down so often.

I don't know quite what to write at this point. Let's end it with promises of picture posts really soon.

Twitter.

2008-12-06T03:52:00.000-08:00

Dear readers,

My apologies for not updating. Watch this page post January 12, 2009 and it will get much more exciting as I do London full force.

In the mean time, be amused by my Twitter site. Since I have unlimited texts, I am going to have lots of fun with it. Note: it will only be updated with all due speed while I am in London.

Enjoy!

Twitter

Person under train.

2008-11-05T08:51:00.001-08:00

I went to sleep last night. That might seem like a no-brainer, but think about it, friends: time difference + historic election = stay up until 5am waiting for results. Being emotionally frail and not able to handle disappointment, I thought it best to just wake up and see the results. Lo and behold, great news awaited me and really made my day. Obama's victory speech was really quite emotional and made me unapologetically and legitimately proud to be American.

Okay, we have all heard or experienced that so far. Moving on with my day: I go to work, have a short, uneventful day, allowing me time to do some uni reading. I talk to employers about Obama and I leave work with a spring in my step. What could ruin this day? Absolutely nothing.

I go to the Central Line station at Marble Arch, and then the downer kicked in: "Eastbound Central Line closed. Person under train at Liverpool Street." So I have to take the bus. Insert expletive here.

Dearest readers, are you wondering what exactly "Person under train" means? Well, this means that fate has conspired to oblige me to spend an hour getting home via bus, as opposed to the 15 minute Tube ride, for one of three reasons:

1. A depressed human being throwing himself/herself in front of a train.

2. A psychotic human being throwing himself/herself or someone else in front of a train.

3. A terribly clumsy human being with terrible luck.

A reader of this blog had previously mentioned that people "go under trains" (as London transport calls it), but I didn't believe it would happen too often. Today's incident has been the second time on the Central Line since Monday. Epidemic.

Transport.

2008-11-01T14:10:00.001-07:00

In my country there is problem, and that problem's called "transport." Good thing London has good transport.

My (lack of) time in London.

2008-10-21T03:05:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

My apologies for the far and few updates. I must first credit a devoted reader from Australia for the title of this entry. Well done.

Also, this entry will take on that "Seinfeld" tone where you observe the small things in life.

Last week, I was quite overwhelmed with life. I had about 20 hours of working, and on top of that, there is school. Oh, and to spice it up, British bureaucracy bites back (alliteration, anyone? oh, and assonance). Barclays had failed to send my debit card, and I outwardly exhibited my anger and frustration to them. Congratulations, Barclays. You have accomplished something few customer service representatives have achieved to date: my throwing aside my own self-interest and my "pity me and help me out" tone, and displaying my "I hate you, and I don't care if you hate me; we are through" tone.

Don't worry. America came to the rescue. Citibank (an American bank) has swiftly responded in kind with my debit card, a free account, 6.25% interest on my savings, some sense of normalcy, and finally, my dignity and respect as a debit-card and monthy-mobile-phone-plan posessing human being.

Right. As for university (I am hereby barred from using the word "school" since it alludes to that of the primary or secondary variety), it's going well and I am getting to know more people in the International Relations program. However, I really am enjoying my law class. It's great to finally delve into a subject that I have aspired to learn about and that has essentially been off-limits until law school (next year). So far, Wikipedia has been my saviour in understanding Latin terms, but aside from that, concepts in the class are not completely out of my grasp.

And to close, it properly rained last night. Being inside in the rain and drinking tea: very London.

Picture post, Volume 2: people, part 1.

2008-10-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

So, here are some of the people in my London life. People are pretty important, so they deserve some attention in said blog. If you have not made the cut in these pictures, it's not that I don't love you (and I can think of a few of you who should be here). Rather, it's because I don't have pictures with you! Get to it, people. You can make part 2.

Some of my flatmates; we just had a nice dinner together. They are so international and hailing from everywhere. Exotic homelands included: Portugal, Indonesia, Turkey, Greece, and New Mexico.

My dear Sally and I. Aw shucks.

Sally and her roommate, Keri. Love.

Neema and Jenny: my Holborn mum and dad. They are divorced. They fight too much.

Jenny and Uncle Mike. Canadian and cool.

Anyssa: actually lived with my cousin in Haifa. Drinking my coffee. It was terrible.

Also, future picture posts: Transport, School, and My Barrio.

Picture Post, Volume 1: life.

2008-10-11T09:09:00.001-07:00

Outside my window - day.

Outside kitchen window - night.

The room.

The kitchen.

"Notes from The Underground."

2008-10-09T09:48:00.001-07:00

Anyone correctly guessing the reference made by the title of this blog entry will recieve one negative demerit.* Really, nothing important happened on the Underground. No, that was the other day when my free mug came crashing to the platform floor. Devastating. I just thought the title of today's entry was erudite and pompous and therefore entirely applicable to this blog. Right.

I just came home from my first day of work and my Northwestern Law interview. Big day for Aria in the big city. Well, London, at least. First day of work was fine. I am kind of always worried about messing up so I ask lots of questions. Overall, it went well. I learned important facts of life, like in the UK, you place the return address on the back of envelopes. The area where I work is fantastic: right by Hyde Park, a five minute walk from the American and Canadian embassies (for whenever I get home sick), and lots of really typical high-class English shops.

My interview was amazing. Best interviewer ever. She bought me coffee and was just extremely friendly and helpful. She loved Northwestern Law and said she had a blast. Sign me up.

Following my oh-so-important day of events, involving dressing all-professional like and looking like a banker (except I really don't have a suit jacket; I cover up my shame with a peacoat), I went to Marks & Spencer and bought Indian sauces and foods because, well, it's cheaper than Brick Lane, and probably healthier. The taste: I will keep you updated. Stay tuned, loyal readers.

*One negative demerit = one positive point. Only applicable to temporary impressions of admiration, awe, and intellectual prowess. No cash value.

Good thing I am thrifty, or else I would be more rotund.

2008-10-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here comes my second post. Basically, I am, generally speaking, hungry in Europe. Portions are small, eating comes secondary to your fast-paced life in the city, and things are kind of really expensive. I am not malnourished by any means. In fact I go out of my way to ensure that I eat lots of fruit and veg (that means vegetables for my North American readers; in this country, it's just pronounced "vej").

Aside from my food issues, the reading lists provided for courses here are just confusing and daunting. They give you about 10 "essential" readings every week, with the idea being that you should read at least one of those books. Oh, and then there are the "recommended" readings, which are not essential, but comprise a list of 10 other reads. "Why don't you just tell me one good book to read?," I ask the metaphorical Professor with whom I have no contact. Well, this is England, I'm afraid. That's why. So, I will attempt to read a book each week for each class and just hope for the best. I hope I read the right one. And I will stress out.

Right, and then with these ten different books, does that mean I have to buy them? Well, I am trying to be minimalist and I do not have all the money or space in the world to accumulate the next Great Library of Alexandria/Westlake Village, so I am trying to check them out from the library. The duodecimal system causes me anxiety in the United States, and it does just the same in England.

Just the sheer logistics of many things in this country/school are frightening. Good thing I am not an overachiever or anything (I use that phrase with self-loathing; don't worry: I am not patting myself on the back).

Continuing and ending on a positive note: I opened up my bank account with Citibank and it was the most pleasant experience of my life. A funny and chatty banker whose grandmother was Persian. Instant friendship. Great guy. 6.25% interest in my savings account! (at least before everybody cut their rates).

London: part one.

2008-10-08T04:58:00.000-07:00

Let's start from today. I will backtrack my time in London. Being the organized creature that I am, I am structuring my life into three categories: 1) academics and academic bureaucracy, 2) London life and British/European bureaucracy, and 3) Miscellaneous.

Section 1: Today, I had my first day of class in my International and European Environmental Law, as well as a class on Global Enviromental Governance. Both were fantastic. I was always environmentally inclined (I mean it's just so efficient!), but now I am just really going with it. Yesterday, I attended my International Politics course and it was good. Entertaining, to the point, and comfortably familiar. Brilliant. I am also taking a course on EU Policymaking in a Global Context. Fascinating, I know. That will start during the Lent term (that would be turned-up nose Academic English for "Winter" term).

It seems that I will be able to have Fridays off from school, so I hope to make lots of trips all over.

Section 2: I made an appointment to establish my Citibank account. After having to deal with Barclays (they wanted me to put £1000 in my account before giving me a debit card; granted I acquiesced, but I will not pay £5 a month for nothing), I am dumping them. Why would I need a bank account when good ol' Bank of America (or BofA, pronounced "Bow-Fa" by European financiers in the know) will allow me to withdraw money from Barclay's ATMs without any transaction fee and at a competitve exchange rate? Well, I need a bank account and debit card in order to get a monthly contract with any cell phone provider. Absurd. Cleary, credit card companies much check your line of credit to pay £15 monthly for 200 minutes and unlimited texts (the last part excites me so much that I am accepting their tyrannical demands).

I must say, that I really enjoy my living accomodations. They are dorms, but they are much better than what I experienced at UCLA. They are clean and new. I have my own bathroom and a decent-sized room. I also share a kitchen with seven other "flat mates" for lack of a better word (we really only share the kitchen). They are all quite nice and hail from all over, though largely from Eastern Europe/Portugal (I don't really know how to lump in Portugal; Southern Europe?), as well as one American and one Indonesian. I feel like I am in "L'Auberge Espagnol", just with less drama and someone who cleans our kitchen once a week (spoiled rotten). As soon as I have found the time to tidy up my room, I will post pictures of everything.

Even better than my accomodations is the location. I am near the Liverpool Street Underground Station. That would place me right on the edge of "The City," which is the financial district (if it survives these rough times). From the Liverpool Street Station and my own room's window you can see tall, brand-new glass buildings and also old and very Old London buildings. It's a fantastic mix of old and new. I will attempt to take and post pictures soon. It's hard to capture it all, but I'll do what I can.

Oh, and Jack the Ripper killed some people right outside my building.

I have been semi-surviving the food of London. Indian (okay the Indian subcontinent; Bengali and Pakistani food represented, as well) is really my only source of overeating. Everything else: sandwiches and breakfast foods like cereal and eggs. However, the most important thing of all, fruit, is plentiful, thankfully. That said, there is indeed a void left by Trader Joes that I cannot forsee being filled by anything else. I miss your Spicy Spinach Pizzas and Kashi Go Lean Crunch dearly, Trader Joe's.

Section 3: I have my interview with a Northwestern Law alumnus this Thursday. That will offically close this year's chapter of law school applications. Well, at least the sending applications part. There is that whole "Getting rejections from law schools" thing that will be happening. I will keep my loyal readers (I have loyal readers, right?) posted.

Also, I am looking into my first trip abroad. Priority zones: Madrid, Amsterdam, Paris.

Stay tuned for my next post. I plan on being more regular with my posting. I promise. Sort of.

October 8, 2008