"In These Bodies, We Live.."

I can officially cross seeing Mumford and Sons live off my bucket list. 

An avid fan, lover of Mumford and Sons, the concert was truly amazing. 

Even if I was not a huge fan, it was most likely the best concert I've ever been to.  

And, I mean seeing Marcus Mumford sing the ballads and songs was truly a sight itself. 

The concert evening started off with drinks and some Mexican food with Nicole, Arielle, and Jenny. The drinks were needed as Jenny, Nicole, and myself finished our government group presentations that day. I had lost a good two days of sleep working on that project.  

There were two opening acts for the evening. We missed the Post-War Kids, but were able to catch Dawes. I had only ever had one song by them before, but they were great live. Defiantly worth checking into them!

Dawes

And, then, Mumford and Sons came on. Honestly, I couldn't stop singing along, stomping my feet, and clapping my hands the entire time.  All of my favorite songs were played (Holland Road, Hopeless Wanderer, Below My Feat, Winter Winds...). I found myself several times closing my eyes and listening to the lyrics. There have been many days these past several years where I used the songs by the band to enjoy happy moments and get through those tough days. 

Marcus Mumford

I'm a Hopeless Wanderer 

Light Show for "Lover of the Lights" 

How Fickle my Heart, How Woozy my Eyes

The end of the concert included an acoustic performance of the band as well as a remake of "With a Little Help of My Friends" with Dawes. 

Acoustic Performances

I get by with a little help from my friends...

If you cannot tell from this post so far, I'm still on cloud nine from attending. Well worth the pounds spent and the time taken out from studying. Excellent way to end the first term of grad school.

Here's a link to the article about the concert: 

Caught Live: Mumford and Sons.

Final Week of Michaelmas Term

Time flies when you are in grad school. 

I always thought that phrase was true for my four years at Syracuse, but I find myself wishing time would slow down even more now, that I'm at LSE.  I landed in London on September 17th, and next week, December 17th, I'm flying home for winter break. It literally feels like that I just moved in the other day- with lugging my numerous bags full of purchases to make my flat "me." Yet, here we are. The final week of the first term of grad school under my belt, well almost. 

I've been going to school for 12 weeks straight now. Most other programs have been only going for 10 weeks, but since we had our pre-semester math camp, life hasn't slowed down since September 24th. Hard work pays off. I find myself much more confident approaching math related solutions in my courses, econometrics has become my favorite course, and I'm not as stressed as I was at the beginning. Friendships have been solidified, the main bartender at the George knows me, and I have my usual daily routine worked out.  

But, I've got to say, I need a break. 

Over break, I plan on doing a lot of review for all four of the courses as well as begin to work ahead and look at past final exams. Without taking finals this semester, I've only had some work graded with much it being formative. STATA problem sets have helped me wrap my head around concepts of heteroskedasticity, collinerarity, B subscript zero, and omitted variable bias, but mastering still has to come. Break will also be good as I can see my family, attend a basketball game as an alumni, sleep, and just relax. 

Yet, before my head and body officially agree that it is break time, I've got to get through this week. Here's the schedule for the final week:

Looks fairly tame? Huh?

I've got two group projects due this week. One that is presented in class and graded on the spot. The other, we present, receive feedback, and submit the final project after making changes. I'm going to see Mumford and Sons this week, juggle a group dinner, attend two holiday parties, and get to one birthday bash. All of that is in addition to STATA, weekly economics homework, meetings and sleep. 

But, you know what? Why not finish with a bang?

Below My Feet

I've been writing this post for several days in my head, but today was the first day that I've had time to actually write it. I've thought about theme of this post for a lot longer. 

The theme that you maybe wondering is about the notion of grad school and how it changes who you are.  The chosen title of this blog is actually a song by Mumford and Sons, and I think it fits perfectly. So, often these past few months, I've found myself questioning a lot of things in my life and the future. Likewise, my friends here have had similar moments where we questioned our decision to be here, the program, the future in terms of internships and job, and how we have changed. 

I'm not going to lie. There have been times this semester where I wondered what it could have been liked if I accepted a few of the job offers I received or applied to some of the other ones that I had received. Instead of taking out a massive amount of money for two years, I could have been making a relative amount, enjoying a job, and being able to travel and experience life on the side. But then, I stop myself. That is nonsense speaking. I wanted to go to grad school. I still want to be in grad school. And, I don't think I would have been happy working straight out of college. Maturity wise and prior experience from internships yes, but overall readiness, I don't think I was that person in May. 

And, yes, if you are wondering if I ever wondered what it would be like if I had gone to law school, I have never regretted that decision. Talking to friends currently in law school as well as several close friends who recently graduated in May, I knew I would be miserable. 

Since graduation, I believe I have really changed. I've become mature. I've changed my outlook on life, working post this program/additional years of school, and just the general feeling of how a day will go. LSE has given me plenty of stressful periods, but the truth is I love it. I love having that feeling when I wake up in the morning and actually look forward to classes. Sometimes at Syracuse, as much as I love my alma mater, I didn't enjoy going to classes. When I started grad school, I dreaded econometrics. Now, I look forward to it, and am reading a political campaign book that involves the use of those ideas. And, you know what, I love it. (And yes, I know I've now said the word "love it" many times in one paragraph).

The title of this post involves the title "beneath my feet" because I think its important to remember that even if you feel a moment of confusion or sometimes wonder if this is the right decision, it is. I think I'm an example of sometimes questioning future decisions as I'm a planner. In the end, though, I know I made the right decision, and in the future, I know whatever decision I make, I will be happy with it. 

Marcus Mumford

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or are friends with me on Facebook, you know I had quite the excitement two weekends ago.  With all of the craziness of school, I haven't had a chance to actually post what happened.

Two weekends ago, as you may remember, I spent the majority of my Saturday at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. On my way there as I had quite the trouble with busses that day, I had to change three times on the tube.

Starting off in Notting Hill, I casually boarded the train, Starbucks in hand, and sat down listening to Mumford and Sons.  Suddenly, I noticed the woman next to me and across from me were looking at this man sitting down across from me as well. There was a woman with him who was talking to him. Then, I noticed others looking around at him as well. Deciding to look directly at him, I'm glad I did.

It was MARCUS MUMFORD!

This was the girl he was talking to. 

 I was that person. I took a photo. I also took off my headphones and verified the voice. It was him! Did not be that fan girl though and tell him that I'm going to his concert in a few weeks. Oh yes, I did end up buying tickets for the concert with Nicole!

It was my first celebrity spotting not at a planned event (yay Queen!)!