Walpole Hops the Pond...

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

So Long till October, London!

Well friends, today, I am headed home to the USA for the summer!

It's a long day of travel with an extra long layover in Newark. But, I will be home soon enough!

Stay tuned for some posts this week about end of term celebrations!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

I have completed my first year of grad school at the LSE. It was the hardest academic year of my life. I lost track of the number of hours that I cried over assignments, the number of pages I read, the nights that I stayed up doing work, and the gray hairs that I found. I grew a lot this year. I have no official word on how I did this year. I'm missing a bunch of grades as well as my exam grades. Those will come.

This coming Tuesday, I'm going home for the summer. It's a big change in the summer plans. I'm in desperate need of a break. I'm going to be working remotely for my two internships with the one wrapping up in July. I'll be starting a brand new internship this fall in London when I return. For the most part, I plan on trying to take it easy this summer. I'm emotionally and physically drained. I have some plans to visit friends and for them to visit me as well.

See you Tuesday, America!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Destress

After finishing my three exams back to back last Wednesday, I took Thursday off to refresh. I organized my computer files, backed up photos, and even watched a movie. I know- the movie thing is big. Sitting there for two hours and not doing anything was huge for me.

Thursday evening, I finally crossed something off my London bucket list! I got dinner in Brick Lane with some friends. Brick Lane is famous for Indian food, and I never have made it over there! It was well worth the experience. We grabbed curry at a restaurant called Aladdin that had been named one of the best curry places by the BBC.

After dinner, we grabbed some drinks to celebrate being 75% done with finals.

I'm off to go study for my last test on Wednesday!

Arm Wrestling

These girls got me through this year!

Brett and me

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Three Exams Down, One to Go!

This week has been crazy so far. I took three exams on back to back days. Economics on Monday, government and game theory on Tuesday, and management yesterday. To say that I was tired would be an understatement. They were some of the hardest tests that I ever taken in my entire life. But, they are over! Today, I start studying for my last exam which is next Wednesday. It's hard to believe that next Wednesday at 6pm, I will be done with my first year of grad school. As I return to the textbooks, I'll leave you with some photos on how a lot of us celebrated yesterday!

Monday, June 3, 2013

It's June!

My exams finally start today. And by finally, I do mean that by the time most of you are reading this, I will be wrapping up my economics final exam. It's worth 100% of my grade.

May the odds be ever in my favor.

Tomorrow and Wednesday, I have my government and management exams. And, then one week later, I will take my last one- econometrics.

Thus, studying is what has caused a lack of blog posts. I've been doing a lot of fun things to try to balance out the studying. (See my post yesterday about the Sound of Change Concert)!

Once my exams are over, I'll officially be on break till October. Hell of a vacation, huh? My internship that is based in London will wrap up mid-July. I'm escaping to the US then! Get prepared, America!

For now, I'll leave you with some photos for what I have been up to besides studying!

Celebrated a 'Bon Voyage' evening with my friend John- he's headed to Burma!

Hung out at Portobello Road and ate this delicious sandwich!

And, yes...continued my way to eat every macaroon ever.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

The Sound of Change: Live!

Yesterday, I went to the Sound of Change Live concert sponsored by the Chime for Change organization. Nicole and I bought tickets when we first saw the concert advertised, and we are so happy we got to be there to experience the amazing concert that is designed to help every girl, every woman, everywhere.

The concert took place at Twickenham Stadium- normally a rugby stadium. But, it was perfect to have 50,000 people present for the movement. The concert started at 6pm and was/is being broadcasted to 155 countries. The US is getting encore performances on channels today.

The concert started with a zumba performance and a surprise appearance by Jessie J! From there, the concert never stopped. Numerous guest appearances by actors and actresses, activists, videos highlighting projects, and performances happened in addition to the ones that had been announced for weeks! Take a look at the photos below!