The Traveling Scholar

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this many times before, but I love getting mail. Not bills/junk mail, but real, honest-to-goodness-I-hand-wrote-you-a-letter-type mail. Now, you can imagine how disillusioned I get when I pick up a good three to five packages a week for my flatmate and none for myself. She’s clearly more popular/international/generally loved than I am. Today, however, I came home to — surprise! — two pieces of mail! This is definitely a record for me this year. I’ve received 8 pieces of mail (from family and friends) max this entire year so you can imagine how shocked I was to find out that the mail I had received wasn’t just the product of misdirected Stanford Alumni magazines or flyers about an Oxford Street sale.

One piece of mail was from my oh-so-thoughtful grandma, just in time for Valentine’s Day! So sweet — maybe she can be my Valentine? Second piece of mail was a package. Now, if letters make my heart jump for joy, you can just imagine how excited packages make me… there are no words. This is exponentially more amazing when it’s a package that is not the result of something I ordered on Overstock or eBay. So, I opened this surprise package to find the following little gem:

My ex-roommate, B., had it sent over to my flat so I could enjoy an enlightening non-academic read… so sweet! B., if you’re reading this — thank you! Seriously made my day!

With the way things are going on the mail front it might not be too far-fetched to expect something exciting in the mail tomorrow. Perhaps the likes of a PETA magnet or a WWF key chain. Oh sheesh. There goes overzealous Shannon, high on life… And mail.

Once upon a time, I was a 5-year-old and an aspiring doctor/scientist. I remember running around the house with a little doctor’s bag that I had gotten for Christmas, tapping people’s knees looking for reflexes and putting my fake stethoscope to their chest in search for heartbeats. Of course, I didn’t fully understand what being a doctor entailed, but I knew that it meant being a healer of sorts and I liked that. Even as a 5-year-old. (I have pictures of this somewhere… I’ll have to ask my parents to dig them up for photo evidence.) As a high school student, after taking classes in biology and genetics, I knew that I wanted to work in the medical field in some capacity – as a doctor or a research scientist. Somewhere along the way, however, sometime between my first day of undergrad at UC Davis and switching to business courses, I faced the harsh reality that becoming a doctor involved a long, long road after undergrad. Medical school which was a cut-throat process, to be sure. Then residency. Then time to specialize if I wanted to pursue a career as a pediatrician. I suppose I became disillusioned when I realized how much money and time that would cost; money that I surely didn’t have. So, I somewhat reluctantly switched majors and graduated with a degree in Business Administration with concentrations in International Business and Marketing. A far cry from medicine to say the least.

Well, fast-forward a few years and modern-day Shannon is now sitting in class working on a Masters in Social Policy and Development… pretty much the antithesis of business. Instead of looking at financial returns, we look at social returns; instead of making profits, it’s about making people’s lives worth living. Though the potential financial returns are less than what’s available in business, it’s much more up my alley. Afterall, I had been interested in medicine because I wanted to help people. This is helping people on a much larger scale, I suppose. In any case, I was recently sitting in my room looking for jobs when I came to a realization. I know exactly what I want to do in life. In fact, I think I have known forever, but I finally took a moment out to step back and digest my realization: I find myself sitting in on HIV/AIDS classes for ‘fun’ because it’s something that I want to learn more about, reading articles on HIV transmission because it’s interesting and downloading podcasts from lectures on HIV to listen to at the gym. Light bulb!

I want to work in HIV/AIDS research. No doubt.

Plus, the greatest part for me is the fact that I have discovered this little space that exists for me to do exactly what I want to do. I can fulfill that endless desire to be a part of the medical/science field  through HIV/AIDS research, plus there’s potential to make a difference in a number of people’s lives. Such a great feeling to know what direction I want to be going in. I have been looking for jobs all over the world where I can gain experience in the field to add to my current foundation and I’m so ridiculously excited at the prospect.

I guess it’s all finally coming together. We’re officially half way through Lent Term and everything seems to be making sense on a grander scale — I can better see how all of my classes feed into each other and off of each other and I’ve realized how much I’ve actually learned this year… a LOT. Actually getting a bit sad at the prospect of this year being over so soon… hopefully a good job will help replace the stimulation that I get at school. Crossing my fingers.

Lots of love,

So, I hit up the Love-A-Fayre in Bethnal Green and came to a few conclusions. One, Bethnal Green is a tad on the dodgy side. It was probably the first time I felt a bit sketched out since getting to London. Second, nipple tassels and hair clips are so much cooler when you buy them from the source. I wanted to nab some pictures, but was afraid that that would be seen as trying to steal designs… instead I stealthily used my iPhone to capture a few things.

How cute are these?

So, the event was pretty tiny, with about 20 small vendors (max) within a teensy tiny room, but the wares were primarily handmade and were being sold by the artists directly. There were awesome hair clips (I bought a feather clip from a Scottish girl), handmade jewelery, homemade chocolates and cookies, handmade cards and the winner for most creative: handmade nipple tassels! Rae Jenkin makes nipple tassels and adorable pasties (for GBP 8 – 15) and they are soooo darling! I almost bought a pair just because they were so pretty! Check out her website to take a peek. You can email her directly to order, too! Doesn’t every girl need a good pair of nipple tassels in her closet?

There were loads of handmade cards, hairclips & cute brooches, too.

Brooches & Hair Clips, oh my!

There was also this darling vendor (and when I say darling, I mean gorgeous), Zeena Shah, who’s a ‘printed textile designer’ (according to her business card); she makes the cutest pillows and heart-shaped lavender sachets. Her stuff is totally affordable and oh-so-cute. You can purchase her goodies here!

There’s always something fun about getting the goods directly from the designer — you know who’s making them and you know where the money’s going. The same thing goes for farmer’s markets, which is why Borough Market is a thousand times more fun than hitting up the local Sainsbury’s.

Back to studying & planning for my Prague-Paris-Amsterdam adventure! Can’t believe Week 5 is upon us already!

Ahhh… February again and V-Day is closing in on us once more. I know women are supposed to like Valentine’s Day, but it really has got to be the worst incarnation of a ‘holiday’ ever. One day during the year when you’re supposed to recognize the person that you’re with by showering them with tokens of your affection? I don’t really consider myself a cynic, but the sight of aisles upon aisles of Valentine’s day inspired candles, cookies, chocolates, tablecloths, lingerie, wine, etc. makes me want to die/commend the marketer who thought this up.

The state of Marks & Spencer:

V-Day at M&S

You might be thinking that this is because I don’t have anyone to celebrate with, but you’re totally 100% wrong. Even when CMac & I were together and living in the same house, Valentine’s Day was just another day. Mind you, we usually exchanged cards but (if I can remember correctly), the last V-Day we celebrated involved us sitting in bed in our pajamas working on our respective projects; him on some new techy stuff he was adopting at work and me on my capstone project for a management class. Verrrrry romantic. In my defense, I think I did make a vegetarian enchilada casserole for dinner as a token of my appreciation. (If CMac is reading this, I’m going to get in trouble… in his defense, he did get my a gorgeous pair of earrings last year!)

In honor of Valentine’s Day this year, since I don’t have anyone for whom to make a delightful veggie dinner, I’m heading over the Valentine’s Love-A-Fayre at the Bethnal Green Working Mens Club. It looks like a pretty quirky arts & crafts fair, so it should make for a fun few hours. Since Valentine’s Day is about showing love, I’m gonna stock up on some goodies for my grandma (my most favoritest person in the world; sad that I can’t be in California to drop roses off at her house) and for my flatmates.

Now, off to the races! For anyone that’s interested, this ‘Fayre’ is going on from 12 – 6P today only and it looks pretty cool!

Lots of love,

I should preface this with the fact that this post is slightly drunken… it’s 130A and I probably could be a bit more sober than I am at this point. Excuse spelling & general grammar errors; I apologize in advance. I just have to say that I’ve officially decided that flatmates make life amazing! If I had shitty flatmates, it might very well ruin my experience at LSE, but I was fortunate enough to end up with the best flatmates of life!

Love you girls! <3.

Flatmates!

Rome with L.!

Keti & I at New Year's!

Keti & I at Holborn :)

Pitcher & Piano with Linds.

Gonna miss these girls when the year’s over!

I have the worst time getting myself to focus. Well, that’s not entirely true. I have the worst time getting myself to focus on readings. It’s really amazing how many things you can find to occupy your time when you don’t want to read about the convergence of human rights and development. Not that it’s not interesting, but somehow these academics find a way to make it as humdrum as humanly possible.

That being said, this is my promise to humanity and the future academic world: if (one glorious day) I publish papers that grad students are forced to read, they will be interesting. They won’t repeat the same thing five times in different language. They won’t be more than 20 pages (because people want to slit their wrists and paint with their blood after that point). They won’t use words that I make up by amalgamating two or more other words in an attempt to solidify myself as a hoity toity academic.

So, now that I’m literally three pages into one of my readings and have organized my cabinets, cleaned my sink, organized my shoes and arranged my eyeshadow by color, I’m officially out of productive things to do. I’m at the point where I have resorted to looking for things to do this weekend so I can justify putting my readings to the side for the moment. On Sunday, there’s the Valentine’s Love-A-Fayre taking place near Bethnal Green that I think I’m gonna check out (I have a secret love for arts&crafts).

Maybe a museum tomorrow? We’ll see. Stay tuned for some pretty pictures from tonight (hopefully). I think I’m gonna jet down to Waterloo Bridge and snap some night shots of London. Also, despite getting no sleep last night, I’m in a spectacular mood today! Probably because the sun decided to show its face in London for the first time in a while — much needed. Big time shortage of Vitamin D. Also, byproduct of Vitamin D shortage: I look a bit like a leper in the neck region… sunless tanner gone awry. If you run into me and notice, try not to point it out. I’m sensitive.

Lots of love,

A. & some rando across from Casa Blue!

You may remember my first encounter with the Shoreditch/Brick Lane area from earlier this year — my flatmate indoctrinated me into the amazingness of weekend markets in London (Borough, Spitalfields, Camden… they’re all definitely cool in their own right). In any case, I decided to venture out of the Covent Garden area last night in search of a hookah bar! If I would have thought about it more thoroughly, we would have (wisely) headed to Edgware Road where hookah bars decorate the streets ( Cafe du Liban looks particularly enticing). Instead, I remembered the edginess of Shoreditch and looked for places near Brick Lane for inspiration. Thanks to the awe-inspiring power of the internet/Google, I found Casa Blue – a Spanish/Moroccan-style lounge with eats, (delicious) drinks & hookah.

Casa Blue, Brick Lane

Sadly, there was no hookah to be had; the manager mentioned that hookah’s more of a summertime wonder in the area (since you have to sit outside & outside isn’t always so enticing during London winters). Despite the fact that I had to abort my hookah-finding mission, A. and I ended up staying for a few drinks. The lounge is so fun — colorful and relaxed with friendly staff and pretty good drinks. The drinks aren’t the cheapest though, so pace yourself. They do have a fishbowl (for £25) that feeds (I’m sure ‘feeds’ isn’t the right world… ‘nourishes’, perhaps?) up to four. After grabbing three drinks there, the fishbowl may have been the better option! As a side note, the strawberry mojito is delicious! Much better than the strawberry daiquiri and a decent amount better than ‘bunny with a gun’. They also (apparently) have a range of eats: Spanish, Indian and Moroccan alike with tapas for sharing.

Despite the shisha-free night (I’ll be heading to Cafe du Liban to quench my thirst for hookah at some point), getting out of the central London area was kinda nice. It’s nice not running into people that you know constantly and it’s also nice to experience a new side of London (since there are many)!

Anyone have any favorite London-based hookah joints?

In the midst of working on my log frame for my upcoming paper (trying to get a head start on the papers due after break), I was perusing this fantastic email that I received from LSE regarding development events taking place this month. Needless to say, after looking at this extensive list, I’ve become incredibly excited for the lectures in the coming weeks! For anyone that hasn’t seen this yet, check it out! I’ll definitely be at 70%+ of these:

This is one of the many reasons that I love LSE — maybe I actually will find a job after I graduate! Side note, I’ve been leaning towards finding a job in Europe! If not, I think I’ve decided that I want to be in NY, DC or San Francisco! I realize that’s still pretty broad, but I am narrowing it down <3.

Also, my sister sent me this song and I love, LOVE, LOVE it! Listen if you’re looking for some soul-boosting sounds:

Fast Tube by Casper

For those of you on facebook (who isn’t these days?), you’ve probably noticed that it’s Doppelgänger Week! Thus, everyone has changed their profile pictures to reflect their celeb lookalikes. I’ve seen Matt Damon (pretty spot-on, actually), Scarlett Johansen, Kourtney Kardashian and so many other random celebs! I was trying to nail down my celeb lookalike and there’s only one that I can think of that I get fairly often:

Kristin Cavallari

Does Kristin Cavallari even count as a celeb?

With my cousins... I'm trying to think of their celeb lookalikes!

Maybe it’s just the hair color & skin tone, because I only see a little of it! Unfortunately, I can’t think of anyone else that comes closer than Kristin… I’ve gotten Jennifer Esposito a couple of times (a young Jennifer Esposito, I think?), but that one I definitely don’t see!

Who are your celeb lookalikes?

My Tuesday class was cancelled yesterday, leaving an entire day for me to be left to my own devices. Mind you, my classes are only on Monday through Wednesday, so I really have Thursday through Sunday to get out and explore London, but I rarely do. With this heaven-sent day off, I felt as though I should actually put it to good use and explore the city a bit. After hitting the gym this morning for a much-needed workout, I made my way over to St. Paul’s for the first time this year! I really can’t believe it took me this long to get over there, but at least I finally made it!

St. Paul's!

St. Paul's Churchyard

St. Paul's from Millennium Bridge

The church and the grounds are seriously breathtaking. I had seen pictures before heading over, but pictures really can’t do this bad boy justice. If you’re visiting London, this is a must-see, even if you don’t go inside! Side note: It’s also where Prince Charles & Princess Di got married <3.

After hitting up St. Paul’s, I crossed the Millennium Bridge to check out the Tate Modern and grab a glimpse of the Globe Theatre (for my Shakespeare-loving sister).

Crossing the Millennium Bridge

Look what I see!

After struggling with rain, wind & an umbrella that kept blowing inside-out, I finally made it to the opposite side of the bridge; to the Bankside area. The Tate Modern and the Globe are right at at the bridge’s end and make for super easy day trips and sightseeing. I must say, I’m a little saddened — the Globe has tours but no shows until mid-to-late April! My sister is a big fan of Shakespeare and really wanted to catch a showing if possible… looks like she’ll just be missing out. (Sorry, T!)

Shakespeare's Globe

Entrance to the Tate Modern

Inside the Tate

Sadly, the Tate is a no-photo zone, so I couldn’t snap any cool photos, but it was a pretty good way to spend a bit of my day. At the very least, it got me out of my room and exploring the city a bit more!

Hope everyone else’s Tuesday was just as eventful!

Lots of love from London,

Want to see more photos? Check out the photos tab to see loads of pictures from places that I’ve been!