Classes: Week Two

Today I resumed classes after a long weekend break, and getting up at 7 was about as difficult as I planned it was going to be. I did it though, and even made it to breakfast in the dining hall. I need to start going to that more often, the orange juice/tea and cereal combo is a good way to start the day.

I went to the European Union course at 9, and today we discussed the unification of Germany in 1990's affects on the Deutsche Mark. We also talked about the Celtic Tiger and how the Euro has been both a blessing and a curse. It's been good because without the Euro Ireland would have lost a lot of its investments to England (with nearly all of the businesses starting in Ireland from the U.S.). It is bad though because the Euro made them raise corporate taxes, which was the reason they grew so much in the first place. It was a really interesting class, and I am going to try and get started on my essay on Italy in the EU tomorrow.

After class I went to the lecture for the day, which was on the Arab Spring, and was given by Dr. Farhang Jahanpour. He was really cool, and was certainly qualified to talk about the issue. He was head correspondent for the BBC in the Middle East at one point. The talk focused a lot on what the U.S. can do (and stop doing) in the Middle East, as well as how the societies there can empower themselves.

I went to lunch with Blake from the lecture, and from there I headed to The Missing Bean coffee shop to get a chai tea latte before my next class started. In British Politics, we discussed the coalition government of the 1920's, the uncertainty of the country and the decline of Lloyd George politically. This was also the time Labour really developed as the third major party, eventually to steal the Liberal party's spot as one of the big two.

Classes were both really interesting today, and I headed back to my room to work on my British Politics paper some more. Unfortunately a large part of my paper dealt with Ireland pre-1900. With this being a class on 1900-1945, I decided not to press my luck and actually write about what the Professor wants me to. I got some good work done in correcting my paper, and then headed down to meet with Dr. Buchanan and some of the other students for 'Directors Drinks.' I went to one of these meetings (where students gather and are able to chat with the program director) last week but realized today that I was supposed to go to this one. Luckily I passed Dr.  Buchanan earlier in the day and asked if I could still come to this one, "The more the merrier." was his welcome response.

I went down from there to dinner, and then back to my room to finish up this essay once and for all. So far tonight I have also done laundry, talked with friends and family and my lovely girlfriend, and gone on a nice nighttime walk. On the stroll, I was passed by a big group of kids about my age who were less than sober and letting everyone on that side of the city know they were present. An older man passed me after they did and joked that you'd expect better in Oxford. I asked him if he thought Cambridge had these kinds of problems ad he said "I'm sure they do." Then he said "cheers" and  went on his way. I don't care how many times I hear people say that, it still sounds so cool.