Things I've learned

Hello all. I woke up this morning at 4:30 am with a migraine. Suffice it to say, it was a less than enjoyable way to wake up. Luckily I’m feeling better now, but as always, I still feel a bit weak and tender. Anyway, for obvious reasons, I wasn’t able to make it to class today (which was sad because I was looking forward to discussing why partisanship is good in my Partisanship in Europe class—Professor Medvic, you’ll know what I mean, although your class was better, for the record). I also, for obvious reasons, have not done all the work I was planning to do today. On the upside, I am taking a day of rest and decided it was time to write this post. I’ve been planning to update you all on things that have happened since break, but somehow the idea for this post just popped into my head. In and of itself, that is not that unusual—I often think about what to write on my blog. The unusual part is that I am getting around to writing the post before I forgot the great idea! So this update (which will fill you in on the important things that have been going on so far this term) will take the form of a list of things I have learned. In general, it is stuff I have learned this term or this year in London, with some exceptions. This is in no particular order. Enjoy!

1. I seriously dislike (I’m trying not to use the word hate too much, but this might be an appropriate moment) migraines. This is one of those exceptions—I’ve known this for years. Regardless, it is still true.

2. I will NOT be basing my career on the study of/theorizing on European integration as such. I like the EU and I like studying it, but I have no desire to spend my life studying theories of integration. I’m glad I studied it last term, but I’m good now.

3. On the other hand, I can very easily envision spending my life studying electoral reform, party competition, and coalitions. Again, this is something I started to figure out last year or even the year before, but as time goes on, it just gets clearer.

4. I can’t wait to have my own place! It doesn’t have to be big or fancy, but I’m picturing a bed, a small kitchen (which I won’t have to share with a dozen other people), a desk, and plenty of shelves for all my books.

5. Related to the previous entry, I can’t wait until I have an office to put all my political science books in, a great desk to spread out papers, and a nice big white board for brainstorming! By the way, this could be a home or work office.

6.  I’m a geek. Yeah, I know we’ve all known this for years! But I like it! I’ve been a band geek since 5^th grade, but now I’m also a poli sci geek (or is it poly?). This is one reason I think I should get a doctorate/be a professor—professors are the only people who think this stuff is as fun as I do!

7. On a related note, the spatial model and NOMINATE are fun! Most of you won’t understand this, but some might (and those that do will probably think I’m crazy for thinking they are fun). The spatial model is a really important model in political science that allows us to represent the preferences of political actors (such as parties or legislators) as points in a policy space. NOMINATE on the other hand is a computer program that lets us put in the voting records of legislators and then we can estimate their locations in a policy space (you can see how it’s related to the spatial model).

     7.b.     I’ve learned about NOMINATE in my class on legislative politics in the European Parliament, which I really like.

8. I’ve made my peace with snow and I really like it again! I used to love snow as a kid and then it ruined my plans several times in college so I wasn’t as excited about it anymore. But then, it snowed here in London!!! On several occasions, no less! It was so incredibly beautiful! I had a wonderful time just walking around the city and taking pictures. I’ve never had so much fun just walking through the snow. I’ll put some of my favorite pictures here.

9. I still enjoy meeting MPs and MEPs (the first being Members of Parliament, the second, Members of the European Parliament)! So far this term, I have met or at least listened to a talk by, Dr. Liam Fox (Conservative MP and former Secretary of State for Defense), Baroness Sarah Ludford (Liberal Democrat MEP for London and Member of the House of Lords—although she can’t sit in the Lords while she is an MEP), and Chris Greyling (Conservative MP and Justice Minister).

     9.b.     For the record, I had the most fun with Sarah Ludford and have chosen to follow her for my Legislative politics class (we were assigned to “adopt” an MEP and follow their voting record).

10.  F&M prepared me really well for grad school! Granted, I haven’t had any assignments that actually counted towards my final grade, but all in all, I feel well prepared in terms of handling the amount of work, my writing skills, and my communication/presentation skills. So thank you to all my F&M professors!!

11. On a related note, I miss F&M! The Professors I had were uniformly good teachers as well as researchers; I learned so much from them! I also felt like they and the administrative staff were there to help us! It was a great feeling. Don’t get me wrong, LSE is great, but I just had such a wonderful experience at F&M that, let’s face it, anywhere else will suffer in comparison. I met so many people there, students, professors, and administrators that I hope to keep in touch with for years to come!

12. I don’t like crowds (in that respect, London was not the best choice, but oh well). So in general, I prefer to be on my own, but then again, I have learned that can be rather lonely (which usually results in me talking my parents’ ears off when we chat on skype—thanks for listening Mom and Dad!).

13. I almost forgot, I have learned that I do not like duvets! I have spent 4 months of being too hot with it and too cold without it! I want my blankets back!

14.  Finally, I’m braver than I thought I was. I never thought I would be here, but I’m so glad I am. Considering, I was the kid who had trouble spending the night at a friend’s house without getting homesick, I’m fairly proud of how far I’ve come.

So, I hope you enjoyed the update. I’m sure I’ve learned a lot of other things as well! But if I started telling you even more about what I’ve learned about the EU, a lot of you would probably stop reading… and I love that you guys read my blog so I don’t want to bore you too much!

St. Martin in the Fields with Trafalgar Square in the foreground.

One of the lions in Trafalagar Square.

Icy fountain in Trafalagar.

Trafalgar Square.

Snowy mailbox.

Snowy phone booth! Right after we took this, someone tried to hand us a tour bus brochure. Apparently, we looked like tourists...

My walk in the snow along the Mall to...

Buckingham Palace.

Westminster Abbey (side entrance) in the snow.

Big Ben!

My favorite place!