First Week Back

Last Saturday, I got back into Londontown in the evening. 

One week later, I've survived one of the hardest weeks of graduate school, yet. 

This week has been crazy with academic assignments, meetings, and trying to fit in a social life! 

On Sunday, jet-lagged and all, I headed over to my friend, Maryann's house to celebrate Founder's Day for Pi Beta Phi with some of my fellow sisters! It's one of the last few events I'll help plan and attend with the UK alumnae club! 

Monday was my last first day of school, ever. It's been a long-time coming! We also got access to the new MPA Lounge, finally. It will definitely be a great study space for the last months.

Unfortunately, on Tuesday, a 48 hour tube strike started. It's a struggle to get anywhere when the tube strikes happen. I walked home one day due to traffic jams. Thankfully, my walk home was fairly scenic...

Buckingham Palace

Italian Gardens

Suffering through the tube strike, I managed to complete two final papers. The first was my policy paper that was about MOOCs and public diplomacy. The second dealt with polarization in Congress. It was a week of late nights, coffee, and good iTunes playlists.

And, yesterday to cap off the week, I spent the evening with some of my friends catching up about breaks, talking about summer plans/post-graduation plans, and just relaxing! 

How was your week?

A Look Back

Hello all! I must apologize for the lack of a weekend post and a Thanksgiving post that was almost posted a week later. Times have gotten more stressful than usual because of the approaching end of Michaelmas term. Nevertheless, here's the weekly weekend recap...just now taking place on a Thursday.

Last Friday night was a mild one. First, the MPA Student Association (MPASA) has a careers committee which I am apart of. Myself along with my friend Yiling and the chair, Madeline organized a management consulting panel for our fellow students. It was this past Friday night. I'm glad that I got to help organize it as well as attend as I can safely say that management consulting and I do not match. It's an interesting field, and the practice case was a lively discussion, but it didn't feel like I could commit myself to something like this for the next 40 years.  Post the event, several of us went over to the George for some end of the week drinks followed by dinner.

On Saturday, I met up with Elena and Jenny for a late lunch at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.  If you have never been, I suggest that you get yourself to London and more specifically, Winter Wonderland as fast as you can. Think Bavarian Village, the North Pole, and the culture of London combined into one. It takes over a large part of Hyde Park with tons of mulled wine stations, stalls selling candies and crafts, and rides for kids.  It was raining all day Saturday, but it will was still fun.

Jenny and me

Elena, Jenny, and me 

After Hyde Park, Jenny and I ventured down to Harrods for some window shopping. Harrods was busier than usual on a Saturday due to the holiday season. Jenny had never been, so we took our time walking through the various departments such as the animals, toys, and the Christmas sections.

And, for the rest of the day, I finally got to see Nicole for the first time in several weeks. It's hard because she's just as busy with her grad school program. And, her going to another university makes it even more difficult. Nevertheless, our evening was spent grabbing hot chocolate and croque madames at Patrissee Valerie (yum!), going to Winter Wonderland (again!), and catching a movie.  If you can't tell, I was extra good this year, so Santa let me attend Winter Wonderland twice in one day!