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Reality Never Bites

By maxikaplan

I must admit that I did not think there would be anywhere close to enough variability in my life here in London that would keep my blog interesting for 9 months. Fortunately, it turns out that there’s a lot to do and a lot left to be done after my first 5, but studying at LSE makes it all a bit more challenging. With exams around the corner—by which I mean in four months—most students begin studying at the end of March for their exams in June considering the amount of material we absorb during the year. I think the intensity of the schoolwork here is fairly different from the typical study abroad experience, and I’m conflicted in how I feel about this. I do know that the more I dwell on it, the worse I’ll actually perceive it to be, so for now I am trying to maximize work time with everything else there is to be doing, and it’s turning out to be quite an experiment.

In this past week alone I went to see Henry V with Jude Law (Thanks, GW), help move in my friends to London who are just beginning their semester here, attempt to bungee jump, all while trying to finish my pile of readings for my classes as well. The best part? Seeing Henry V, not only for the incredible performance by Jude Law, but also because it was great to see the 30 or so GW students who came in addition to my friends from GW at LSE. It is an unusual feeling to see people’s faces in a theater in London who you are used to seeing only around campus in DC, but it’s oddly comforting too to know that you aren’t really alone wherever you are. It was like an unexpected mini-reunion. The worst part of the week? Bungee jumping. Unfortunately, the rain and wind in London doesn’t exactly make for ideal bungee jumping conditions, so what I paid 50 pounds for was promptly cancelled and rescheduled. On the bright side, we went an hour and a half outside of London and into the countryside, and ended up exploring the city of Maidenhead. If you ever get the chance to come to London, don’t go to Maidenhead. People are always saying places that you must go to when you travel, but luckily Maidenhead is just not one of those places, and likely never will be. But if you do find yourself stuck in Maidenhead, there are plenty of dilapidated pubs that my friends and I went to where you can ease the pain a bit.

If I can remember as far back as a week ago, I mentioned that the structure of my blogs would change a bit from last term. I hope I’m achieving something similar to that idea here by chronicling my experiences a bit more. I will check in next week to see what this beautiful week 3 of Lent Term at LSE has to bring me.