Retarded

Update

I either do too much or too little because I haven't updated in many weeks. And that's my update.

England 2018 World Cup Bid

Even though London is getting the Olympics in 2 1/2 years, it seems like most people are more exciting by the possibility of getting the World Cup in 2018. Here's a pretty tight video England has made that features a lot of the sites in London. Keep an eye out for BT Tower and the swans in Regent's Park, that's where I live.

Stonehenge and Stuff

I went to Stonehenge and Bath and it was cool. Honestly though, Bath is actually pretty cool because every building is required to be made out of the same Bath sandstone, so the entire city has the exact same architecture. Hearing that, I went in thinking the city would just look ancient, especially with Roman Baths being the city's most famous attraction. Instead, all these ancient buildings are filled with Starbucks and Prets and Subways.

Doesn't Bath look exciting! Actually, these are just a few of the pictures I took there. This is more of what Bath looks like:
To the left of this picture is the new spa that is another of Bath's main tourist attractions now. They decided to reroute the water from the ancient Roman Baths to this new spa. It may the only building that incorporates glass into its design. It was designed by world-famous architects at Grimshaw Architects. Here's a picture of it, notice that it still has the sandstone structure though.
Check out more pictures from my trip to Stonehenge and Bath here.

Classes and Stuff

Lectures and classes have begun. And I'm 4 for 4 on professors teaching directly from Powerpoint. What did professors do before ppt? Writing on the chalkboard and overhead projectors I guess. Anyways, each lecture meets for 1-2 hours per week, and then I have a 1 hour class (basically a discussion section) each week as well. But what infuriates me is that professors are either unaware of what they are doing or are too confusing for their own good. For instance, in my government course, there are 4 assigned readings for next week, but all can only be found in the library. So, I go to the library to find them. For two of them, there is only one copy of the book in question. There are over 40 people in this course. How is this logical? But at least this course is resolute on what the assignment is. In other courses, there are essential and optional readings, but we are required to do the optional readings, and then further reading on top of that. In another course, there are 5 assigned textbooks, but we are told that we don't need them, we only need the course pack. Yet the professor a) doesn't know what the course pack includes and b) doesn't know where you can get it. I go to the library because I heard that's where course packs can be picked up, but not for that course I'm told. It may be electronic, I'm told. But this professor has yet to gain access to the LSE network, so there's no way the course pack is online either. It's floating in the ether.

I broke the bathroom. On Tuesday, a guy was repairing the bathroom (all the pipes in this city are Victorian water manes), so I couldn't use that bathroom, even though it was right outside my room. Then, yesterday, I went into the bathroom and saw this panel on the wall a little shifted and touched it, thinking it was a door. To where, I have no idea, but maybe a secret passage that will get me to school faster. Anyways, the panel comes crashing down and the guy cleaning the bathroom tells me to leave, even though I'm only wearing a towel. Now I'm afraid to go into my own bathroom. On top of that, as I write this, I hear a guy re-repairing the door, but because the bathroom is so close to my door, it sounds like he is actually nailing my door shut. It's so Cask of Amontillado.

They had an American party at the Tuns yesterday, and it was the lamest thing I've ever seen. My friends and I walk in, and there is literally no one on the dance floor, as if we traveled back in time to middle school. There was a shitty rockabilly music blaring over the speakers. And some John Wayne movie on the TVs. Great stereotyping. Thankfully they had beer pong, but on mini tables and you had to pay per pint for the beer, which makes each game a £7 affair.

It's going to rain again today, so I can't even go running.

Happy October

Check out more pictures from my Tour through London.

So, I lied. I didn't join the rugby team. I ended up going to the Party in the Park just to see how the game was played, but I came back with two main observations: Berrylands (the LSE playing fields) is way too far away (you have to take the tube to Waterloo, then take a train out) and the rugby guys are douchebags. Instead of playing a friendly game of rugby, they spent most of their time posing for topless pictures. Not really my thing. So, I wasted ten pounds there...

Check out where I live.

Thankfully the weather hasn't been too cold yet, but I still see people wearing their heavy wool coats. Just walking to school makes me sweat in my hoodie, I don't understand how anyone can possibly feel cold when it's never below 50 degrees.
One day while walking to school, wearing my Wu-Tang shirt, two guys came up to me and asked me if I liked Raekwon. Obviously, I do, so they gave me "free" passes to his concert that Saturday at Matter in the O2. As I walked away, I first checked to see if my wallet was still in my back pocket, then checked these passes. All they said on it was "Matter - Free Pass 3/9/09." Good enough for me, except that Saturday was 3/10/09. At this point, I wondered if he just messed up the date because it was still September or if he intentionally wrote the wrong date just to get me down to the O2. Nonetheless, I didn't go because I'm lazy.
My friend and I also went bar hopping one night and ended up at this bar called the Intrepid Fox, where everyone seemed to be dressed in leather. They also had numerous tattoos and whip scars on their arms and necks. Silver statues of naked women wearing gas masks adorned the walls. And to make the scene complete, metal blared over the speakers. The bar was a novelty, but was a bit on the pricey side. And it's not like I fit in wearing a Hurley hoodie and jeans.

Other stuff happened too since I last posted, like lectures and classes and explorations of the city and boat/booze cruises and other touristy stuff, but that's no fun.

Update

The past few days have been pretty busy with orientations, fairs, and shopping. So far I've been to Freshman Orientation, General Course Orientation, Accounting Orientation, Registration, Fresher's Fayre, and met with my Academic Advisor. Hours of my life lost with no gain.
I joined some clubs, the typical: Finance Club, Student Investment Club. Some new ones: Hummus Club, German Club. And some frightening ones: Rugby. That may be a mistake, but we'll soon see. When I asked the captain if there were any guys my size, he said there were smaller guys and that I'd never run into the big guys on the field. I didn't think the playing field was segregated like that, but what do I know about rugby anyways. I still think he's lying to me, especially because everyone I've seen so far is absolutely humongous. So far I've gotten a couple emails from the captain asking about my level of experience and detailing tryouts on Saturday. I'm not too afraid of getting hit, I mean I did play football for four years. I'm more afraid of not understanding the game and making some terrible mistake like making a forward pass or something. But then again, there are 3 teams for every level of ability and experience. I'm not even trying to move beyond the 3rd team. Though I imagine this will turn out like Bad News Bears, I bet I'm still the smallest guy on this team.
But despite the pain I will likely experience from rugby (I'm expecting to break my first bone!), the pain of trying to get a cellphone is so much worse. Firstly, as a Verizon customer, I couldn't unlock my phone from home because Verizon phones are unlockable. Secondly, when I first checked out a Cellphone Warehouse, they told me I could buy a pay as you go phone (a burner, if you will) or a 2 year contract. Not wanting either, I went next door to a Phones4u, where the guy told me about a monthly rolling plan that can be canceled at any time. 350 minutes and unlimited texts, sounds ideal. But here's where the trouble begins. To buy this sim card, I need a British debit card since they still have chips in them (so outdated). Without the chip, I couldn't buy anything but a pay as you go. So, I went to HSBC to ask if they could switch my US card to a UK card, but they couldn't do anything since my account was registered in California. So to get a new card, the bank in Fremont would have to request the card and send it to me. It's easier to just set up another bank account. So, I went back to HSBC with my passport and set up another account. But first I had to get a signed letter from LSE saying I was a permanent, though temporarily, resident of the UK. Then the bank manager had to email ad get confirmation that I had an HSBC account in the US. Once that was all done, the account was made, but the card won't be mailed to me for another week. Herein lies another problem, I don't know where the mailboxes are in my building or have a key to open them. God only knows what I'll need to get that key. And once I get this card and activate it, I'll have to transfer money into it, and then finally I'll be able to get this sim card. In the meantime, I got a pay as you go phone and simple £10 plan for a total of £15. At least I have a phone, but I'll have to go through the whole process of switching my number to my new plan once I get the new sim card. Why must this place be so complicated and convoluted?

There's more I want to say, but at this particular moment, I have to go back to campus (a 25-30 minute walk) so I can head over to Berrylands, LSE's athletic fields, for Party in the Park, another Orientation Event. More to come...