Differences in Factor Endowments: The Brits have Royalty and Castles

This has been a busy month--with travels and actually having to be a student again.

I'll begin with an update from last time: HRH, the Queen. Not only did LSE get Her Majesty but also HRH The Duke and I believe a Princess, though I did not recognise her. But the most important part: they came to a lecture about Climate Change Affecting Africa and one of my professors (my favourite prof, actually, a German who, without meaning to, makes us laugh all the time) was on the panel. So I attended the lecture and got the best seat in the house. I was in the row directly behind the Queen! I could have reached out my arm and patted her on the shoulder! Of course, the man with the sword standing to the side probably would have chopped it off, but still! Anyway, I'm still excited about that, and it gives me great street cred. with Brits. Their Queen and I are basically buds, now.

This meeting took place during one of the busiest, and best, weeks ever. We stayed up all night on Tuesday, the 4th of November to watch the election, which I must say I hope I remember forever. About a hundred of us, a mix of Europeans, Brits, and Americans, sat around the TV cheering on every electoral vote. I slept about 2 hourse before racing to campus to see the Queen. Meaning, of course, that her visit took place on the 5th of November--a date important to British Historians as well as V for Vendetta enthusiasts: Bonfire Night (aka Guy Fawkes Night--when, in the 1600s, a man tried to blow up Parliament and was stopped). Actually, I think this was a highly ironic day on which to see the Queen, but such is fate and the LSE. Also, it meant no sleep that night as we had to take part in English culture--partying all night. So by the time Thursday rolled around, I was fairly spent. But very, very happy.

And travels! I've been taking advantage of family and weekend busses to see as much of the island as possible. I spent a long weekend with the Groebners in Wales--it's a beautiful part of the country, but the beauty is rather buried underneath ever-prevalent rain and clouds. Still, I had a great time. We climbed around the Castle in Cardiff, which dates back to the Romans. And went out into the major nature reserve and hiked about a bit, not too much as the mud would have eaten our shoes. And Michael gave me a tour of his...well now, former...factory. Which I must admit was really cool. I've always been interested by huge machines and he uses massive machines to build other massive machines. I will certainly miss them when they move back to the Continent, but I'm sure to visit quite a bit, haha.

My programme (really, my computer has forgoteen it's American) organised a bus trip to Bath. We left early on a Saturday morning and got back that night, so just a perfect amount of time to spend out in the oh-so-princial Bath. This was the day we (my American friends and I) realised we had become rather snotty Londoners. The rest of the country is very pretty. And good for short trips before a return to London, the centre of the Known Universe. The Roman baths are great to see, but in my opinion ruined by a massive interpretation centre built on top of them. Though, seeing Jane Austen's house and the Assembly Halls where so many of her stories are set--and indeed where most of the British aristocracy was married off--was particularly satisfying. A side note, I took lots of pictures of Wales and Bath--on other people's cameras. When I get the files, I'll post a few on here.

An academic update: I'm pushing along. No major problems yet. Economic Analysis of the Environment is my favourite class, and also my smallest. Only 35 people in lecture, with a professor who is both pragmatic and engaging. Incidentally, anyone who has heard of the much attacked(back home) and respected (here)'Stern Report' on global warming and its economic costs will be interested to know that Lord Stern is a professor here, and is the head our Institute for Global Climate Change or something like that. My lecturer works with him, but is not a Lord...haha.

I really like Finance--though it's rather a poor time to discover it. 20,000 bankers were fired in a single week in the City Mile. Less than optimal job market, so I'm happy to still like Economics rather more than Finance. International Economics makes me think, but teaches a whole new and contradictory model every week. So far free trade had been good for all, bad for all, good for either labourers or capitalists, and good for one type of capitalist but not the others, labourers indifferent. The only actual agreement I've found is that everyone is proud of Krugman for winning the Nobel, apparently Internation Trade Theoriests have won in a while. I love history as a subject, but my British History class ended up being only a British Empire since 1780 class. I like seeing the administrative aspects of governing a quarter of the globe, but not as much as I would have liked a Renaissance or Reformation course. So, I keep tying all my essays back to prior historical events. I don't think they mind--as long as I'm careful never to be too critical of the Empire.

I'm off now to work on the Uni Newspaper. I seem fully unable to escape from InDesign. My best to all, and sorry for the greyness of this post. Pictures are coming sometime, I promise.