Week 6 and the beginning of week 7

I last wrote about 10 days ago... right before I chopped about 10 inches off my hair.  It still is quite long and it looks healthy.  I'm happy with it, though next time I may go closer to shoulder length.

That whole weekend was quiet and kind of a detox and catch up weekend.  I did lots of reading on Saturday and then went over to Brittany's to cook dinner.  We made a curried red lentil stew with homemade cornbread and a big green salad and I think everything turned out well.  I stayed over there pretty late Saturday night and then walked home and crashed.  Sunday, it was more reading and several skype sessions, including catching up with an old Penn friend who I have not talked to in at least 2 years.  

Last week itself was relatively quiet.  Early in the week I'm pretty sure I did things, fun things.... but unfortunately they didn't make my google calendar so now I don't remember most of them... my brain stays pretty constantly fried here.  On Thursday I went to class and then to a branding lunch (as part of a focus group to help with the branding of Oxford's new environmental/sustainability group).  I got a free lunch (kind of... kind of wimpy for a lunch) but a free goody bag including a tote and a notebook AND I got to hopefully help brand a cool organization, so that was all good.  

From the lunch I rushed over to Green Templeton College to meet my International Environmental Law professor to get my long essay topic approved.  I came with 2 ideas for a topic, and Catherine (the professor) much preferred one to the other so I'll be writing on the 1996 Nuclear Weapons Advisory Opinion (which stated that it is actually NOT illegal to use or test nuclear weapons... but left the ICJ lots of wiggle room to change their minds on this in the future).  Fascinating stuff, though it's been awhile since I'm written a long essay and I'm not excited to have to relearn how to cite Blue Book.  My meeting with Catherine also included 2 of my friends/coursemates, Lisa and Louis so from the meeting we headed to get coffee/tea and then an event at the Oxford Martin School entitled: Now for the long term with a lecture entitled "Governance, sustainability and future generations: designing institutions with a long term focus" given by Prof Simon Caney.  It was okay, but I was a bit fidgety/just really distracted.  

After the lecture I headed home to do more work, then re-met up with Lisa for dinner, then we headed to an debate at the Oxford Union (This house believes positive discrimination is a necessary evil) and met up with Brittany and Rob.  It was okay, but not as good as some of the other debates they've had and we ducked out about 3/4 of the way through to meet Sophie, Dennis, Louis (and as it turns out, others too!) for drinks.  We hung out at the Turf Tavern, in the outside area and just sipped hot mulled wine and still froze.  We weren't out too late and had a pretty relaxed time.  

Friday is when it hit that I had 2 papers due on Monday (a short response paper for my international environmental law elective and an outline of the direction I want my thesis to go) so I spent all day reading and writing like crazy.  That evening, I decided to meet up with friends who had tickets to an event at the Oxford Union.  I hadn't snagged a ticket, but they said they may let in Union members on a first come, first serve basis so Brittany and I decided to tag along with everyone and try to get seats.  Beforehand, Brittany, Dennis, Ole and I met up for dinner, but we were worried about being at the front of the line so we ended up going straight to the Union.  The event was the filming of a debate/t.v. show called "Head to Head" that is aired/run by Al Jazeera. This episode was Jimmy Wales, who is the founder of Wikipedia who was being interviewed by/debated with by Mehde Hasan, who is a British political journalist and broadcaster.  There was also a panel including Herman Chinery-Hesse (a Ghanaian software entrepreneur), Isabella Shankey (political director of the non-profit Liberty), Bob Ayers (former US intelligence officer in the army and Defense Intelligence Agency) and Oliver Kamm (journalist for The Times).  The discussion centered around whether or not wikipedia makes us better informed, freer?  Or if the internet more broadly does.  It was really good. 

After the event we all went out for sushi and then went to St. Cross College to play pool and fooseball.  It was an incredibly fun time and I learned quickly that I am really, really terrible at fooseball.  From there, we went to Freuds and hung out until they closed.  All in all, it was a great night out with a large group from NSEP, including a few people who rarely come out with us, so I felt like it was a wonderful Friday night.  

Saturday was another day working away, but I finally took a break around 5PM to go take a stroll around the Oxford Christmas Market with Brittany and Andreas.  It really wasn't so good (nothing on Prague or Munich!) but I'm glad I got to see it.  From there, I went home and made dinner, did some more work, and then went to meet up with NSEPers for a Latin BOP at St. Cross.  A big NSEP group was there and it was fun to dance, though there was very little latin music which was kind of a bummer.  I randomly danced with a guy who looked familiar.... turns out it's b/c we went to Penn together and graduated the same year, so it feels like a small world.   One of the NSEPers, Dennis, had friends visiting from home, 4 guys he grew up with, so it was also fun to get good stories for teasing/blackmail and hang out with them as well.  After the BOP a few of us (Louis, Katherine, Sophie, Brittany, me, Dennis and the 4 dutchmen friends) decided we weren't tired, so we headed to Maxwell's.... but it seemed that everyone had a similar idea and it was too crowded to get in.  After standing in line for an insanely long time, the boys all ate at a foodtruck and we all headed back.  

Sunday it was even more work... had to really crank those papers out.  The only break I took was about an hour in the evening to go hang out with the dutch guys again before they left.  

This week has also been busy (I sound like a broken record... but it's the truth every time I write it!) Mondays I'm in class from 9 until 5 and after class I went to the library and read for several more hours to prepare for my dissertation meeting on Tuesday.  Tuesday I had class and then met with who I think will advise my dissertation, Jamie Lorimer, to discuss my topic.  The meeting didn't go quite as well as I had hoped.  I'd read a great deal of what he'd recommended, but unfortunately that broadened rather than narrowed my interests and I think I may have come across as scattered and unprepared.  Regardless, Jamie didn't seem too concerned and is supposed to be sending me another mountain of reading to move forward.  

From there, I headed to a cafe to do some work, and then to my friend Ben's to check out the space fro Thanksgiving.  Ben offered to host thanksgiving for NSEP which has turned into me and Brittany heading up all the food/cooking/prep (with the exception of desserts!).  We wanted to check out the kitchen and figure out where to serve and seat the THIRTY (yes, thirty) people who are coming.  Needless to say, this week has also included lots of menu planning, gathering resources, grocery list making, etc.  After checking out Ben's, the 3 of us (me, Brittany and Ben) walked to buy a few necessary items for cooking that none of us had... things like: a meat thermometer, a turkey roasting pan (really just a giant pan big enough for a turkey), and heavy duty oven mitts (I normally just use tea towels... but I'm not normally handling a 15lb turkey).  After that, Ben split off and Brittany and I walked to Summertown (a small town a few miles from Oxford's city centre) to the mark's and spencer's grocery store where we picked up a few hard to locate spices and ingredients.  

Today has also been busy, lots of class and a lecture by Prof Susan Jebb (Prof of Diet and Population Health) entitled "Diet, Health and the Environment: Towards a More Sustainable Diet."  

Tomorrow I have class and a meeting with the course director on my progress (a requirement each term) and then Brittany and I will be doing shopping and prep work for the afternoon before heading to watch some Thanksgiving football at a place we found the airs American football!  I think we're going to watch the Detroit Lions play the Green Bay Packer.... naturally I am pulling for Matthew Stafford and megatron (though I never watch NFL... sorry if that's an unpopular decision? It's also a pretty arbitrary one).

Friday is the day we are celebrating Thanksgiving so that we have all day to cook... due to dietary restrictions (both allergies and some vegetarian/vegans) most of our menu will be dairy, gluten and soy free (impressive, no?)  What's on the menu? Turkey for the meat eaters (not very many of them, actually... a guess unsurprising on an environmental course), regular stuffing, cornbread stuffing, brussels sprouts, sweet potato souffle, rosemary garlic mashed potatoes, green salad with veggies and homemade dressing, deviled eggs, fruit salad with an improvised dressing of honey/lime/coconut cream, roasted butternut squash stuffed with wild rice stuffing, peach cobbler, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and homemade mulled wine.  Should be a busy and crazy 2 days prepping and cooking with Brittany but I'm so excited that she has done this before and I think we are going to make a great team in pulling this off! 

More updates post Thanksgiving!  

Weeks 4 and 5: Busy, Busy!

It's been a busy 2 weeks (well, week and a 1/2) since I last posted!  This post will be long, and the photos are sometimes mine, sometimes Andie's and one is from a friend!

Tuesday, November 5th and Wednesday, November 6th, I stayed busy with class, reading, and yoga.  I was trying hard to work ahead so that I could be pretty much done with work for the following week and have the weekend free.  I did a decent job of getting ahead and decided that Thursday night I would reward myself and go to an Oxford Union debate on whether or not religion causes harm to society.  Unfortunately, my friends and I didn't get in b/c it was so crowded so we decided to hang out in the union bar and wait on some other friends to meet up.
After a bunch of us were there, we decided to migrate to Raul's- a cocktail bar in Jericho, not far from where I live.  There was a huge crowd of NSEPers out and it was a really fun night.  After Raul's, a few more of us went to check out Freud's, a bigger place with a piano and more room, but we didn't stay long.  Unfortunately, I was out too late, so getting up the next morning for Andie's arrival was a bit hard, but I was up and showered by 8AM and off to pick her up at the bus station.

Friday morning Andie was supposed to email me when she got on a bus from Heathrow to Oxford so I had an idea of when to pick her up (the buses have wi-fi).  For whatever reason, the wi-fi on her bus wasn't working, so I had no idea what time to be there.  I hung out at the bus station for what seemed like forever just so I didn't miss her and finally she arrived.  We headed back to my apartment to drop off bags and so Andie could shower, and then we headed to Bill's, a cafe/brunch spot, for brunch.  We both had the vegetarian breakfast which was delicious.  While in Bill's it started to drizzle and by the time we left, it was really raining.

We headed across the street to the Oxford Union, the debating society on campus.  I'm a member, which really just means I get to go to debates, speaking events, use the library, the bar, etc.  The library is quite pretty with big, cushy armchairs, so I showed that off and then we headed to Christ Church College.  Oxford is divided into colleges which are somewhat similar to the "houses" in Harry Potter.  Colleges are where you live, who you play sports with (against other colleges), and the hub of your social life on campus (unless your weird like me and hang out more with kids in your department).  Your department is different than your college.  Colleges are different ages and have different campuses, and Christ Church is one of the oldest (founded in 1546), the largest, and the most beautiful colleges at Oxford.  It has produced 13 British Prime Ministers, and can be seen in films like Harry Potter and The Golden Compass.  We wandered around there a bit, and then headed to the Sheldonian and the Bodleian Library.  Unfortunately, it was graduation weekend so everything was booked or closed off and we didn't get to see either of those things except from the outside.

From there, we headed to my department so I could show off where I have class and we could warm up a bit.  Then, it was a walk through the park and back to my apartment to dry off and warm up before heading to Turf Tavern where Bill Clinton "did not inhale"... sure.  At Turf Tavern we ordered beers (I hate British beer... note my tiny 1/2 pint... take me back to the Czech Republic, please!) and some appetizers and hung out.  I was hoping friends would stop by but only Brittany made it out, though Andreas tried but somehow we missed him.  After snacks and 1 beer, I thought Andie was going to fall asleep on the table so we headed back to my apartment and I let her go to sleep while I finished up a response paper that I had due on Monday.

Oxford: Education in Intoxication.  I promise there is more to it than this!

The next morning Andie and I headed off to London.  We took a bus from Oxford to Victoria Station in London and then headed to our hotel to drop our things off.  I never really think about just how BIG London is but it's enormous.  It took us about an hour to get to our hotel, which was still in a pretty central area of London.  It's nuts... and a bit hard to navigate... Andie and I are a great example of the blind leading the blind.  We headed from our hotel to the British Museum which is such a cool place.  We saw the Rosetta Stone, all sorts of cool things from Egypt (mummies and the likes), artifacts from China, Korea, the America's... the list goes on and on.  I'm a museum lover and since it was cold and rainy it made for a really fantastic afternoon.

After an afternoon in the museum, we took the tube over to see the London Eye.  We got off the tube across the river and walked across one of the bridges so that we could see Big Ben and the London Eye from the same view.  It was gorgeous.  We then got tickets to ride the London Eye and as we got to the top of the Eye, fireworks started going off.  It might have been my favorite moment of the trip as I love fireworks and the view was gorgeous.  I took about 50 pictures but it's really hard to see on film... I'll post 1 anyway.  

After fireworks and a trip around the Eye, we headed to a pub where I finally found a Czech beer(!) and Andie drank something else terrible and British (ha!).  We warmed up and lingered over our drinks and then decided to go hunt down some Indian food (London is known for having some of the best in the world).  We scoured reviews and settled on a place not too far from the pub we were in.  With Andie leading the way, and me protesting that we were headed in the wrong direction, it only took us a little over an hour of wandering and some nice British boys to find a destination that should have been a ten minute walk.  That said, Andie bought me a fantastic meal and she enjoyed chicken korma while I had some sort of tangine veggies and we split garlic naan.  After stuffing ourselves, it was back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.  

The next morning we got breakfast at the hotel (included in our room rate and not bad for hotel breakfast) and then we headed into the city to drop our bags off at the baggage storage at Victoria Station (just to save ourselves a trip back out to the hotel).  After getting our bags secured, we walked to Buckingham Palace.  I had forgotten that November 11 is Remembrance/Armistice Day, which is a memorial day observed since WWI honoring members of the commonwealth who have died in the line of duty.  The symbol for the day is the poppy (because of the poem, In Flanders Fields) and there was a huge ceremony going on for the day that the queen attended... which meant the palace was packed as people hoped to see her motorcade return.  It was Andie's dream come true to watch the parade and the Queen's motorcade, but I could have done without that part of the morning... plus, we accidentally were standing in the wrong place for the actual parade of soldiers and kind of missed that main event.  Despite being less impressed with the royals/standing in packed crowds outside Buckingham Palace, being in the city for Remembrance Day was really cool, though more on that later.  

After Buckingham Palace, we went to see Tower Bridge and Tower of London.  The area is different than I expected the the Tower of London charges about $30 to see inside, so we decided to save our money and instead settled for a smoked salmon salad and jacket potatoes for lunch. 

From there, we wandered to see Big Ben and Westminster up close, and then to Westminster Abby where there was a huge display for Remembrance Day.  Pictures don't do the scene justice. 

After this, we wandered back towards Victoria where we drank peppermint tea and then met up with a friend of Andie's.  Once we had located Ben (her friend), I got my bag and headed back to Oxford so do more reading/work and get ready for the week ahead.  

Monday I was in class from 9am until 5pm with a short break for lunch.  After class, I was feeling exhausted, but I'd noticed that some black skinny pants I've been really wanting at Gap were on sale, so I swung by and picked up a pair and then headed home to do some much needed laundry. Tuesday I only had one class, normally my favorite, but we had a guest lecturer who I felt didn't really answer questions/make things very clear.  I also had a headache that morning and by about 2PM it was a full blown migraine.  When those hit, there is not much I can do, so by 3PM I was in bed napping.  I slept several hours hoping to kick it, but no such luck.  That meant that I was feeling too bad to attend the lecture on the African bushmeat trade, which I had really been looking forward to so I was really disappointed.  

Wednesday I had class (Decision Making Processes) and for the second 1/2 we had a guest speaker from Macquerie, who works on high risk, alternative energy investments.  I didn't expect for it to be so interesting, but I can't deny that there ARE parts of finance I find interesting, and alternative energy investing is one of those areas.  I spoke with the guy about recruitment after class and while I don't think I'll suddenly ditch academia for investing or consulting, I'm also open to wherever life takes me and whatever interests me.  I also had economics Wednesday afternoon, but I only stayed for the first hour and then I slipped out to run home and change clothes and grab a bus to London for UPenn's "Time to Shine" event (an alum event to show the University's achievements and fundraise).  

Greg was also going so we met at Victoria Station and then headed over together.  Once there, we met up with some other friend/acquaintances and hung out until the presentation.  Amy Guttman, the president of UPenn, and someone I really admire gave the presentation.  She is a political theorist and I particularly like her work on deliberative democracy.  She has written 16 books, spearheaded need based financial aid at Penn, headed up the expansion of green space at Penn/in West Philly, and serves both as the chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues and with select other presidents of research universities to advise the UN Sec-Gen on things like academic freedom, mass migration, international development and the social responsibility of universities.  Needless to say, she is pretty impressive.  The presentation she gave was a little cheesy, but I love Penn and admire A-Gut so much that I was grinning the whole time anyway.  After the presentation we all stayed pretty late networking, hanging out, and enjoying the free nibbles and drinks.  

Needless to say, I was exhausted yesterday (Thursday) but there was no time to rest!  I had class, grabbed lunch, and then headed to a talk and performance by one of my all time favorite musicians, Ludovico Einaudi.  He is an Italian pianist and one of the most prominent contemporary/avant garde composers in the world.  I first got hooked on him when I was a senior in college and his music became the soundtrack for my writing.  To this day, when I need to write a paper, and I am sure as I start my dissertation, his music will be played over and over and over as I type to it.  For those of you interested, here are links to 2 of my favorite pieces: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcihcYEOeic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfz-XDWPt-M

After his performance, I headed back to my apartment to warm up and was planning to get work done... I cleaned my room instead... ooops.  Then I headed to our unofficial weekly NSEP dinner where Kanako, the only Japanese girl in our program, was heading up a Japanese themed dinner.  She made miso soup and we had all sorts of amazing sushi rolls: smoked salmon with cream cheese, avocado with egg and cucumber, salmon and avocado, tuna and cucumber, etc. etc.  There is a picture of some of the goodness below.  

Today I slept in and then ran some errands to buy things like a roasting pan and a bigger skillet that I've been really needing/wanting for the apartment.  Then I made lunch (sauteed peppers and onions on a roll with hummus, a small salad and a clementine).  Since then I've been alternating doing reading for next week (my migraine and the Penn event in London meant I got behind last week so I want to go into this week feeling really focused and prepared) and tonight my friend Brittany is cutting my hair (never fear, she is a hairdresser!).  I think I'm in the mood for a big change so expect before and after photos of my waist length hair disappearing!  

Hope things are just as busy and fun for everyone back home!  

Week 3: The pace picks up

Last week was so busy, but particularly the weekend was just nuts.

Our electives started last week which means I have class from 9-4, and a class meeting from 4-5 with a 1 hour lunch break from 1-2 on Mondays.  I woke expecting that terrible storm, but other than a bit of wind and rain, it was fine.  By the time I left for class it was COLD but the sun was shining.  So much for the worst storm in 25 years.  Anyway, class was good, but exhausting. I listened to a history of international environmental law from the 1600s until modern day for the first two hours and then rushed straight into my Governance, Policy, and Politics class where we talked about scales of environmental governance. After 2 hours of that, it was an hour lunch break (spent in the graduate geography lounge with other NSEPers) and then had a 2 hour lecture on data and mixed research methods in my research design class.  Finally, we had our weekly class meeting which is when the head of NSEP comes to chat with us about administrative issues, grading rubrics, and just important info that we need to know but doesn't fit into a class.  By the end of the day, I was brain dead.  I think I did something that evening... but maybe not.

Tuesday I did a good deal of reading/work and then went to my Nature and Society course, which was being taught by the professor who I was planning to ask to supervise my research.  I stayed after class to introduce myself and then went to have lunch with a friend.  After lunch I did more work and then headed to an interview for a nanny position.  I really liked the mom (didn't meet the daughter) but I think the job would involve a lot of time getting to and from their house and would also take away my morning reading time, which I am using more and more (the time between when I get up around 7:30 or 8 and the start of class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 11).  On my way home from the interview, I finally bought a bike helmet so that I am more inclined to use the bike I've borrowed (which I'm still finding I don't use that much... still debating on whether or not I'll purchase my own) and stopped at Marks and Spencers to splurge on tangelos and fresh bread.  I also ended up buying one of their pre-made but unbaked pizzas with low fat mozzarella, balsamic onions, spinach, and butternut squash.  It turned out to be an excellent decision for dinner.

That night I did more reading, and then Wednesday was another full day of class followed by a really great yoga session that evening and then more work because I knew the weekend would be particularly busy.  On Thursday I had my reading group and then headed to do more reading (so so much reading).  I also got fantastic news that the professor I want to work with for my dissertation is interested in my project and thinks it's feasible.  I'm so excited because rather than food policy or security or anything, I just got approved to write my thesis on the commodification of horses as sport and pleasure/pet animals rather than as work animals or food animals (just look to last year's horse meat scandal in Europe to see how much our perception of the animal has changed!) and how that re-labeling/re-conceptualization process has had a large, positive economic impact as  horses become transboundary actors.  Basically I get to study horse importation at Oxford.  This is definitely the life.

Finally Thursday evening I let my weekend officially begin.  I headed over to my friend Cato's place for dinner with the rest of the NSEP crowd.  I think there were about 15 of us total and we made a huge pot of vegetarian thai curry and rice which was delicious.  We hung out and helped get the boys ready for a Halloween party that night (mostly just spraying them with fake blood) and around 10:30 or 11 I headed home while most people headed to the Halloween party.

Friday I had my very first riding lesson while here in England.  The upside was I got to ride a decent horse and it was great to be on a horse and also I think I was by far the most experienced rider in the group and got the least number of critiques, though I did get told that while not wrong, I ride entirely too "American"... which to be fair, is very, very different than the European style.  The down side was that the barn is nearly impossible to get to- I walk or bike to train station, take train, then have to take a ten quid ($16) cab ride.  The barn requires that we wear protective vests while riding and I got fussed at for not wearing one correctly (I've never worn one and had no idea how it should fit).  They are incredibly uncomfortable, particularly through the chest, and make it exceptionally difficult to get shoulders back.  I think the guy teaching us was nice, but a bit misguided... he kept complimenting me for having my horse "on the bit" but I could feel that he was NOT on the bit some of the time... it would come and go but sometimes he had his nose in but didn't actually have engagement with his hind end.  Also, the instructor told us that to find distances we need to look at the jump... so he kept telling me to look down (not directly but just by nature of the size jumps were doing) since we were jumping a mix of crossrails and 2'-2'3.  Final downside... we don't tack or untack... handed the reins to mount and hand them off as we dismount... which is nuts to me.  It might be nice on occasion, but I miss interacting with horses so it's not something I want regularly at all!

Still, even if I didnt agree with all of his teachings, he let the lesson run long (apparently unheard of at these types of riding schools) and by the time I got off my legs were shaking and felt like jello (I am STILL a tiny bit sore).  Because our lesson ran late (which I was grateful for so not complaining!) our cab got tired of waiting on us and left so we had to call another one and wait for it.  Because of this, we missed our train back and had to wait for the next one.  Because of all this I was late for my friend Brittany's birthday dinner and by the time I got there (still in riding clothes), I was exhausted.  I ate pretty quickly and didnt stay long, which I felt kind of bad about b/c I love birthdays and Brittany is awesome and one of the people I feel closer to in the program so I wanted her to have a fun night even though it probably didn't seem like it.

Saturday I got up and headed into London to see my friend Carrie, who I worked with in Prague, and her friend Marta.  We met up at Victoria Station and then headed towards Buckingham Palace, then over to Big Ben and Westminster and then to ride the London Eye.  I expected to be terrified since I am not a fan of heights, but the little pod things are totally enclosed and it was only a tiny bit scary but mostly just really cool.  When we got off the Eye we wanted food and luckily, there was an awesome street food/food truck festival happening right there on the South Bank by the London Eye.  While we were eating it started misting but it was pretty typical British weather... and then the wind started howling and it started POURING.  We rushed under cover and I decided to grab the metro rather than walk back to Victoria Station to catch my bus back to Oxford. It was an easy metro ride, but at $7 (4.5 pounds) for a single, one way ride on the tube is just nuts.

I got back to Oxford, grabbed dinner and cleaned up my room and showered.  Around 7:30, people started showing up for the pre-game for Halloqueen, which is a huge party that my college, St. Antony's, throws every year for Halloween and is normally one of the largest graduate parties on campus.  I'd say 20-25 people came and my apartment in just not that big, so it was crowded, but so much fun helping the guys get make up on, get bras stuffed, and try to get "beards" made of eye shadow on the girls (we went too light with mine and it looks like bad bronzer!)  After lots of getting ready, we headed over to the already packed party right around 9pm.  Overall, the night was fantastic.  There was lots and lots of dancing (including ridiculous dancing where girls and guys swapped stereotypical club dancing roles) and just fun to see everyone dressed so crazy.  There was one incident where one of my friends got literally thrown out (I mean man-handled and all) because some girl complained that he was in the women's bathroom (which is labelled as a unisex bathroom so he wasn't doing anything wrong).  I had to help hunt down some people to deal with that, but he got let back in and all was well.

Most of the group stuck together, but by the end of the night, people had trickled away to head home or to various after parties.  A few of us (Brittany, katherine, Louis, Dennis, Lisa, Sophie, me and a guy named Andrew who is not in our department but I know from St. Antony's) came back to my place for an after party.  We mostly played electronic music and danced and talked and just had a look time.  Andrew left because the afterparty was "too euro" by which I think he meant too much electronic music and weird dancing.  Everyone finally headed home around 3:30 or 4 but it was a fantastically fun night and I still can't get over how much fun the NSEP group has when we all get together.

Sunday (yesterday) was literally a day full of nothing but reading for classes today.

Today (Monday) was a crazy full day of classes and during my hour lunch break I had to run to the student run co-op to pick up my weekly vegetable and fruit box full of local/organic produce.  After our class meeting a group of us headed out for tea/coffee at the Greens Cafe (a favorite of ours) and hung out and talked until it was time to head to a lecture on how and why businesses must change to be more environmentally sustainable.  The lecture was less of a lecture and more of a panel with lots of audience participation, but it was still pretty good, if not what I expected.  From there, we all headed our separate ways home.  I got home and cooked dinner (using almost exclusively the produce I got today...  i made a baked sweet potato topped with sauteed zucchini, onion, and mushrooms done with balsamic vinegar and then a dollop of hummus and I also roasted some carrots).  Since then I've been reading for class tomorrow and writing this insanely long blog post!

This week will include lots more reading and class, yoga, a reception with the head of the geography department, another Thursday night NSEP dinner, and then Andie will be here visiting over the weekend!

Hope things are well back home!