Sound of silence

Apologies for the blog silence! I have been very busy doing very little. Classes, socializing, broken computers, general lethargy has impeded my efforts to keep all those back at home informed of my every move. Since Edinburgh, which seems like months ago, I have been quite busy eating and drinking and occassionally attending classes.

School news
Sadly, our lovely professor Philip Gould was recently diagnosed with cancer and is not able to take the rest of our campaigning course. However, we have Alistair Campbell as the 'substitute' which I am thrilled about... despite being the Sultan of Spin, I'm happy to have someone who is really at the top of the Communications (rather, perhaps, than exclusively political) field teaching the course. He is not as great of a teacher as Philip, but I think it'll work out in the end.

I just had a meeting with my advisor, Bart, about my dissertation. While he does very little in terms of my subject matter, he is a really nice and personable guy and I think it will be easy to work with him in the following months. He says I am on the right track with my thinking and to keep him posted on the progress I've made. I am doing a content analysis and feminist discourse analysis of the representation of Hillary Clinton in the media. I will likely choose several 'campaign highlights' to focus on (i.e. the crying in NH, the emergence of Bill on the campaign trail). Once I get rolling (soon, I hope), it should prove to be an interesting project.

I am still waiting on my marks from last term's essays. Bart seemed confident that my essays were fine, as he said the one from his class (citizenship) was fine, and that was the weakest (I thought) of the three I wrote. So I'm feeling vaguely more confident, but have trouble moving forward on the new ones without incorporating previous feedback into the substance and style.

Visitors

Lydia flew in from Milan for my birthday weekend. On Friday we went out with a bunch of my friends to Texas Embassy which is the only place to get Mexican (however mediocre) in London. They had some lethal drinks ('Texas Tea' which is LIIT without gin but plus tequila). We were all well on our way. After that we went to a place called Bloomsbury Lanes which was a really fun bowling alley with lots of American music and, yep, more drinks. I have never bowled so poorly!

On Saturday we went to Borough Market and Camden Town (later to be burning down) before having a walk through Regents Park. We met Andy and watched some rugby near Baker Street. We followed up with more drinks in Soho and then crashed. Sunday was also rugby filled, we met Andy and Russell to watch the England-Italy game. Good banter, too much cider...

On Monday we went to St. Paul's and watched the changing of the guard (just as boring the second time around!). All in all it was an indulgent but fabulous weekend.

This past weekend Andy and Robin flew in from Boston for a mini holiday. We had a LOT of fun, and the weekend had a good pace to it. They flew in late on Thursday and we promptly got pizza (despite the pleas for pie) and went to bed. Friday we split up for the morning because I had class. They went to the Tower and I went to class and the gym. We met up at the Tuns at 3. That afternoon we... I wish I remembered what we did on Friday afternoon. Oh! We took a walk through Covent Garden, St. James Park and to Buckingham Palace. We met Ryan at Green Park and then went for a couple of pints (I resisted drinking at this juncture which if you were here for the rest of the weekend was excellent self control). We met Sherry and Andy Williamson and went to Bermondsey Kitchen for dinner - so good! Then we went to the George near London Bridge for yet more alcohol. Good vibes, good times.

Saturday I dragged the jet-lagged out of bed and we went to Borough Market. Despite Andy being a zombie, everyone seemed to enjoy the market. We showed them the crack in the ground at the Tate, climbed to the top of St. Paul's (beautiful views) and then it was nap time. After the nap we went on the London Eye which we remarkably caught RIGHT at sunset and it was pretty phenomenal. We went to Brick Lane for dinner - mmm mmm curry!! Andy was pretty blown away by the whole experience. Everyone was content.

Sunday morning we got up and walked to the Imperial War Museum - I've done the propaganda exhibit three times and I STILL think it's awesome! Then they all (Andy squared, Robin, Ryan and Sherry) all came out to my rugby match to watch us get slaughtered - and me get pretty battered and bruised. We went out to a restaurant called Hugo's which was UNBELIEVABLE - I will definitely return there for dinner. Such good food...

Monday we did the British Museum (yay for stealing from the rest of the world!), Westminster Abbey (when all else fails, put it in the abbey), the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. We were all art-ed out by the end of that day. We went to Wagamama's for dinner and it was yummy. We followed up with drinks at the Nell Gwynne - love that place! They took off this morning, sad to see them go.

Otherwise
Life is an emotional rollercoaster... to say the least.

I walked by the American Embassy this morning and was happy to see the flag. I look forward to coming home again... there is some question as to whether my decision to stay in London town next year will stick. I love it here, but... I think I may start planning a trip home in March...

I want my essay results! I need to feel valid and grades do that for me!!!