London Week 1

Since the last post I've had the chance to explore both the LSE campus and my own surrounding area a bit.

If this first week is any indication, it's going to be one heck of a year both socially and academically (at least in inspiration, I've yet to see what challenges scholastically, lie ahead).

The first few days were extremely active socially at my residence. There were tons of organized events and everyone here is extremely friendly as we are all from all over the world and in a new place.

I feel as though I belong here

The first day I went to the LSE campus I ran into 4 people that I knew, 2 whom I didn't even know were here. It helps that the campus is small certainly. But every time I am down there I run into different people that I know.

Today, my friend Mark Kersten whom I worked with during the last federal election in Ottawa just arrived (he's doing his MSc in International Relations), so I showed him around campus and helped him get a cellphone.

Afterwards he convinced me to go to one of the many campus pub's for a drink. (After 5 days in a row of non-stop partying I was, momentarily, hesitant). I would not regret it though.

We took our beers and stood on the street (as is common practice here, to drink and stand on the street outside the bar), and my old roommate from my second year at McGill, Zak Banks was walking by from the library, and joined us for a beer.

Then this blonde guy walked by and we both looked at each other in recognition. I asked him where I knew him and he said "I know you, you're Chris MacLean. You're the ex-bf of Maja, you lived in Moscow right?".

So, Hanes, from Stockholm, as I was to find out his name, attended the Anglo-American School of Moscow just after I left, although a couple grades lower. He's here studying Information Technology. This officially completes the circle of people that I know here. I now have seen people from Ottawa, Montreal, Budapest and Moscow (each of the places that I've lived in the last 12 years) here (I certainly wouldn't be surprised if there was someone from Ecuador and someone from Singapore here (although the latter, I likely wounldn't know them)). There are a particularly high number of people from McGill who have come here, and the representation from Canada is much higher than our size and significance on the international scene might warrant.

There are still plenty of people, particularly from Budapest but also from Moscow, that I've yet to be able to see but apparently reunion planning is in the works.

All in all though, I feel as though this is really where I am meant to be. I feel incredibly comfortable, and it is quite amazing how many of us are here.


The area where I live

I've been given an informal tour of my residence during which I took photos, but I haven't as yet had time to put them up. I've mostly just been in my room to sleep, the rest of the time I've been out. Here's a few interesting tidbits I have learned about the area surrounding my residence/college.

-Charles Dicken's lived across the street from where I am currently living.

-Next to my residence lies a large park, called "Coram's Field" which is only for children to us (they don't let you in unless you have young children with you), and also nearby is an orphanage. A long time ago (before Dicken's), a wealthy person (I'm not sure who, perhaps Coram?), dedicated his large plot of land to helping vulnerable children.

-Dicken's wrote the novel "Oliver Twist" while living across the street, and it's probably (although still speculative) that the countless orphaned children he would have seen in this area would have served as inspiration for the novel.

I'll put up photos soon.

Surprises

1) The city of London, as many old cities, is organized in a sort of chaotic, decentralized, ad-hoc way. The streets are never straight and they always change names after a couple km's.

The reason for this is pretty simple, unlike North American cities, London was around way before urban planning even existed as an enterprise. Secondly, this is really just a series of villages and towns that after a while just grew into each other. For example, I actually live in Bloomsbury.

2) Surprisingly enough however, I've found that the institutional organizations also feel as though they are thoroughly decentralized and ad-hoc as well.

a) For example the gym of the LSE (let's face it, athletics aren't really a priority for them), is located above a cafe and accessible only by weaving through a maze of stairwells. To access the men's locker room is equally tricky as it is located on the otherside of the gym down a narrow hallway and then staircase.

They really just put the gym in the most random room that suddenly was available space for them. Needless to say I think I'll be joining the gym below my residence, which has a pool and decent rates for the residents.

b) Opening a bank account here has been outrageously difficult. Each bank branch, even if they are the same bank, requires different documentation in order to open an account. So I have to be very careful about the location of which branch I pick, because I feel that I will need to be able to get to it fairly regularly.

All in all

My first week here has been pretty non-stop. I certainly need to restore some balance (with exercise, rest and a re-focus on academia) to my day-to-day activities but in the big picture I think that will happen.

A blog entry on an alumni lecture by Lord Saatchi that I attended today will go up soon. Until then, may you live strong and properous!