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| Dancing at Crush |
Since the first thing that fell out of my LSE summer student welcome package was an invitation to a clubbing event, I'm going to dedicate this post to London nightlife. It's one of the fun aspects of the program if you choose to participate (which most students who live in the LSE residences do). Every Friday, the Three Tuns pub and Garrick cafeteria on the LSE campus are converted into a lounge and dance floor for an event called Crush. It's a night out for students at the LSE Student Union from ten in the evening 'til two in the morning and a convenient place to meet up as it's near the Holborn residence and also close to many London clubs if you plan to go out later. There's also a vibrant nightlife for students on weekdays, as on Mondays there are VIP nights at Tiger Tiger and on Thursdays there's a Full Moon Party (with lots of neon paint!) - though, I must admit that I've never attended the week-day events since I need a full night's rest to be even mildly functional the next day.
One thing that I learned is that when you're living somewhere with a vibrant nightlife is that it's really important to consider your own rhythm (how much sleep you need, how long you take to finish the readings for lectures, whether you will even be able to get up in the morning after a night of dancing, when you need to go home to be fresh for the next day) so that you don't show up unprepared to classes (especially since in the program I'm in, they are very fast-paced and intensive). Normally, I tend to just go out for drinks & debate after dinner at one of the regular haunts, since it's much easier to conserve energy this way. Some good pubs around our area include White Hart (two paces away from our residence) and Prince of Wales (in Covent Garden, about five minutes away by foot) - the latter is quite fun to visit, as the entire bar is covered in neon star post-its with messages from guests all over. It costs one pound to post a star, and this amount goes to charity. Below is a photo of another spot for an easy night out; Roadhouse in Covent Garden is a disco-pub with live rock and pop music every night.
(Left) One of the stars we posted at Prince of Wales (Right) Taking the tube to club Movida.
Do you know what London's most popular dish is? It's not bangers and mash or shepard's pie, but in fact chicken tikka masala! This really represents the diversity of ethnicities and cultures in London; the city is jam-packed with ethnic restaurants and it's very common not to understand the languages being spoken on the streets.
Some easy dining options that you will find all over town include Prêt à Manger, Eat and Costa, which all have a variety of fresh sandwiches, soups, wraps and salads to go. Some ethnic chains include Wasabi (Japanese) and Nero Café (Italian). Then, if you're willing to sacrifice your health, there are always the global comforts that are Starbucks, Burger King and McDonald's (though ironically enough, McDo owns Prêt which prides itself on the freshness of its food). I also eat quite a lot at Café 54, which offers a wonderful hommous and yogurt salad and is conveniently located inside the LSE's New Academic Building (where I have all my lectures and seminars). There's a nice picnic space behind the NAB, so students normally pick up food to eat on the concrete tables or the steps, and it's great to hang about there when you've only got an hour between the lecture and the seminar. Another one of my favourite restaurants near both the residence and the campus is Belgo, which is Belgian and known for "moules, frites, bières" (mussels, fries, beers) - if you go on week days, you can get a lunch special and nab a delicious meal and a decent price.
Dining out does get quite pricey though - especially in London - so my friends and I make use of our resident kitchens to cook and hang about, eating and arguing about whatever strikes our fancy (with lots and lots of hand gestures, since my main gang of friends are Italian). We get all our ingredients from the Sainsbury's down the street so dinner doesn't normally cost us more than two pounds each - a bargain, considering that we normally average out at about fifteen pounds each when dining out. In the photo, we're cooking chicken and vegetable curry with couscous - the specialty of the night's cook, Lodovica (centre photo) and we've also made lots of pasta on previous evenings. This Wednesday, I'll be serving up some Thai dishes for our gang - wish me luck ;)
I’ve been studying abroad for the past three months, so I thought I’d give you a little peek inside my current 3-week program at the London School of Economics. Tomorrow, I'll be starting the final week of my course in “Global Communications, Citizens and Cultural Politics” with professors Shakuntala Banaji and Myria Georgiou (who, by the way, are incredibly passionate and friendly).
This course has been really useful in reaffirming my choice to major in Media Studies, Journalism and Digital Arts at SMC, as well as in helping me decide if I want to pursue my graduate studies at the LSE - but the most valuable thing that I have taken away from this course (since I have encountered a fair deal of opposition to studying media) is the conviction that despite what some critics may say, media is an important field of study that is very much worth researching and discussing. Gabbi Hall, a media major at SMC and one of my blogger role models, also talks about the usefulness and intensity of the major here and here.
But back to the session in London! Most days, I have lectures from 10.00 - 13.00 which consists of introductions to new topics (for example, "Politicians, Politics and the Media in a Time of Global Communication"), guest lecturers and sometimes videos. In the afternoon, we attend a seminar to discuss the day's assigned reading for an hour and engage in practical activities that relate to the lecture. My favorite activity followed a lecture on how young people use the internet to promote social or political campaigns, and the task we were given during the seminar was to choose a real cause to promote, determine our target audience and devise a strategy integrating online and offline tactics in order to achieve our objectives with regards to the cause.
A great aspect of this program is the fantastically diverse range of educational/cultural backgrounds and ages amongst the students - for example, I normally sit between an Italian and an Austrian during my lectures, and though there are some undergraduates, most students have already completed their first degree and are either working on their masters or have established themselves as a professionals. This diversity really adds to the variety of perspectives during our debates.
In my next post, I'll be writing more about the social aspects of my time in London and all of the fun/cultural events I've been able to attend - and I absolutely promise to upload some photos!
I arrived in London yesterday in time to navigate my way through the masses at Westfield during Boxing Day sales. Shopping highlights include finding a camel parka in the treasure trove that is Uniqlo, discovering incredible fabrics at Topshop and coming across a new, stylish cover for Metamorphosis and Other Stories at Foyles. I couldn't find a photo of the cover, but here's a picture inspired by "Metamorphosis" that's rather amusing:
Afterwards, I had dinner with my mom at The Bull on Westfield's terrace. Their dishes are a bit on the small side, but the food is reasonably priced and it's great pub food! Today, I'm going back to Westfield for more shopping (it's possibly the largest shopping center in Europe) and I'll be visiting some museums tomorrow.
