Home away from home

I met a young man from India. I said, "I'm a patriot".
He replied, "I'm a jingoist."
A friendship is forged.

End of a week

Last night officially brought to an end the first week of active LSE life. the only things that continue over the weekend are parties and the library. Otherwise, there aren't any public debates, lectures, classes or society meetings. The initial part of last evening was spent with friends from Bangalore, the later part (which went on until early this morning) was cross national, Pan-European. LSE is defined by interaction, abounded by the opportunities to meet people from all walks of life. The lack of a sprawling campus is sometimes seen as a disadvantage, but the lack of it helps in integrating the 50 odd departments. You are bound to bump into students from different departments everyday. The sharing of lecture halls between the various departments itself creates an idea of unity, students of different departments connect with each other under the LSE umbrella.For an active student, there is a constant dearth of time. For all the activities that a student can engage herself/himself in, there is not enough time. The philosophy of teaching at LSE stresses on students searching for information and being prepared for classes, the concept of "spoon-feeding" is virtually absent. Contact classes are few, and the library is maybe the most important institution of learning. The most wonderful aspect of LSE is that learning happens everywhere, right from the library to the Quad(the students cafe).

A busy day

It started with an hour of anti war activism at Trafalgar square. Leaders of the Stop the War Coalition (http://www.stopwar.org.uk/) gave fiery speeches demanding the British government to bring the troops back home. Later there was a march to the parliament where the agenda was to catch MPs on their way parliament for answers. A quick lunch later I was in a lecture hall listening to a professor discussing the perils of technology. Another 2 hours later I found myself at the Old theatre in LSE attending a public debate on the topic of freedom of the press in Russia. Soon afterwards I attended the first meet of the debate society held at Hong Kong theatre, which then moved to to the more relaxed surroundings of a pub, where the rest of the evening was spent discussing imperial colonisation and the classical Roman civilisation among many other subjects with a beautiful American lady and an Irish man. The night ended with a very informal gathering of Indian brethren outside my hall of residence.
The day couldn't have been more satisfying.

Falls to pieces

"...cos you're born again, until you're worn again."