The Traveling Scholar

Amsterdam!

Like I mentioned last week, my dad and sister are popping over to Europe for a visit during late March/early April and we’ve decided to make a family Eurotrip out of their two-week stint! During round one of discussions, we decided that Paris and Amsterdam were two cities that were definitely on our agenda. After looking at our timeline, however, we decided that we could easily squeeze in another country and maximize our travels! We threw a number of ideas around: Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Edinburgh (the list goes on and on). We initially settled on Rome as a way of capturing as much culture as possible, but after looking at pricing and our time frame, we finally decided on the unexpected during our second round of discussion: Prague.

Prague

Now, I have always wanted to hop over to Prague for a visit; it seems to have a bit of an old world Eastern European charm that differs from a lot of Western European countries, but I didn’t think that it would actually be the most cost-effective plan of action. Our total transport costs (London to Prague, Prague to Paris, Paris to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to London) definitely proved otherwise! All flights and trains came out to about $265. Total. That’s pretty impressive. Needless to say, after getting all of this handled, I am so incredibly excited for our upcoming excursions!

My sister has never been to Europe and my dad hasn’t seen much more than London and Malta, so this is going to be an amazing experience for all of us! I have a pretty good idea of how to maximize our three-and-a-half days in London, but we’re still working out what sights to see and how to allocate our time in Prague (2-1/2 days), Paris (4 days) and Amsterdam (2-1/2 days).

From anyone that’s been to any of these cities — any suggestions? Any must-sees?

Lots of love,

First, re-capping last night’s society ball (held at a hotel in Trafalgar Square), I must give a shout out to my flatmate Lindsay and all of the other lovely ladies involved in co-hosting the event: it was such a fun time and such a fun idea! For £10, our tickets got us 3 drinks plus a full (deliciously amazing) buffet and a sweet DJ! Plus, we got gifts, courtesy of the accounting society (the hosts of the night): purse-sized calculators! So fitting. Plus, pretty practical.

Now, as for today’s excursion: Staying on top of my New Year’s goal (to branch out and experience or explore a new part of London every week), I joined a fellow LSEer, A.,  for a mid-day getaway to Hampton Court Palace. The Palace is 35ish minutes from London by train and today’s sunshine made it a perfect break from London.

Despite having lived here for five months, this was one of my first times taking the train and venturing outside of central London. I must admit, I’m going to have to push myself to explore a little more often; it was such a beautiful area and it was nice to step outside of the overpopulated city centre. For anyone counting costs, it was £9.50 for a return ticket from Waterloo to Hampton Court!

Palace Entrance

Hampton Court Palace

Music in front of the palace

After running into the palace and snapping some pictures, we decided to forgo the actual palace tour this time around (£15.80 for tickets… eek!); instead we headed down to the Thames to people-watch and soak up the oh-so-rare sunshine.

The Thames

Everything looked pretty amazing with the sun shining on it (I feel like I’d seen London in a new light!), and seeing the families, kiddos and dog walkers running around the area was such a nice change of pace. Getting out into these types of areas occassionally definitely serves as a reminder of how nice it is to enjoy a change of scenery once in a while. With this being a short train ride from London, it was definitely worth the investment!

My goal for this week is to finally head over to St. Paul’s and get a proper look at it from the inside and outside! My friend, Steve (aka HoboDrifter) had some great photos (and a video, for that matter) from his trip over to St. Paul’s and it definitely piqued my interest! Also on the agenda for some time in the near future: Oxford!

Lots of love,

After having a fairly intense first few weeks back in action, one of the girls from our study group decided to host a dinner extravaganza at her London flat last night. Her place is so darling and the area (near Spitalfields) is such a great location. Good food (bruschetta and loads of other delicious appetizers plus veggie fajitas) and great conversation made for a long and fun night; luckily I managed to catch the last tube of the night back home… walking home would have been a lost cause!

Hopefully our newly founded ‘Dinner Club’ will continue throughout the term — I love these ladies!

After all that fun, tonight should make for an equally fun excursion. My flatmate is co-hosting a ball (yes, a ball) for a society on campus tonight at a hotel in Trafalgar Square and I’m so excited to attend! It’s going to be like Prom Part II: the grown-up version (I am dying to insert my old prom picture circa 2002 for laughs, but don’t have one… boo). Fun cocktail dresses, sunless tanner and gobs of jewelry… the only thing missing is the corsage and pointless limo! My date’s even (allegedly) wearing a suit, so this should make for a super fun night with some ahhh-mazing pictures (check back tomorrow)!

As for right now, I’m working on a presentation for next week, trying to get it out of the way so my mind won’t be preoccupied tonight. So happy to finally get this work-life balance thing under control.

Lots of love,

Ugggh. I’m in a pickle.

Scratch that.

I need advice from people who have done some European sightseeing.

The “predicament” that I’m about to express is hardly a predicament. Truth be told, it sounds borderline bratty for me to even attempt to call this a ‘pickle,’ so I’ll refrain from that terminology for the time being.

I had anticipated quite a rough term and had entered week one with the underlying assumption that Social Shannon was going to be overshadowed by Solitary Shannon; that Sight-Seeing Shannon was going to be substituted with Studious Shannon. I actually had come to terms with this and surrendered any semblance of sociability for attending on-campus lectures and catching up on readings. Something interesting happened last week though: I came to the realization that of the three presentations and three formative essays that I thought I would have due, only the presentations were actually to happen. The formative essays, which would normally be due during the last week of February, are actually non-existent for me this term based on the classes that I have chosen… I had no idea! That being said, the presentation dates that I picked allow me to have all of my presentations handled by February 22nd! This is seriously fantastic news because I have decided to treat myself to a getaway during the last weekend of February! Thus, I’m planning a trip from the 25th of February through the 28th — a little four-day getaway to explore a part of Europe (or beyond?) that has gone untouched by me as of yet. So, here’s my predicament:

Where do I go for a four-day weekend?

[For more insight, the pinpoints on the map are clickable.]

I’ve hit up Scotland, Germany, Italy and Malta already and will be going to France and the Netherlands with my dad and sister during their visit. So, if I have a four-day break, I would like to spend it exploring a city I have yet to see. So, if any of you have a moment, I would love, LOVE, LOVE some feedback on this from people that have already done their fair share of exploring! I’ve semi-narrowed it down to Istanbul, Turkey; Barcelona (or Madrid?), Spain; or Marrakesh, Morocco. That being said, I am definitely open to alternatives. I’ve considered Vienna, Geneva & even Prague, but I’m still uncertain!

Any ideas or input? I’d love to hear from you!

Today was definitely a Grade A day. It was packed, to be sure, but definitely eventful. After the delish paella-filled “last supper”with my family at La Tasca yesterday night, I had to say a tearful goodbye to them this morning. Since they departed early, I was up a bit earlier than usual and managed to hit the gym before my morning class. After a much-needed sweat session (did I mention the paella?), I sat through a couple of interesting classes and a seminar meeting before making it to the highlight of my day (or week, for that matter): Dambisa Moyo! Sadly, I somehow forgot my camera at home so I could only sneak a few shots with my iPhone. Thank God for the integration of cameras into phones — what would we ever do without them? (How would we ever tweet without them?!)

Dambisa Moyo at LSE

Watch Moyo discuss her position with Alison Evans of ODI:

Fast Tube by Casper

Dambisa, who inspired a lot of my critical thinking on the topic of aid, joined us on campus at the LSE today to give a lecture/book talk on Dead Aid: Why aid isn’t working and how there is another way for Africa. I found her book to be a great read, partly because it inspired some real challenges to the current aid system and also partially because her passion for the topic clearly comes through in her writing. Her passion was also apparent tonight in her lecture — her points were clear, concise and she was incredibly charming; she definitely kept the crowd interested from the first minute until the last. She is definitely an inspiration of a woman: well-educated, beautiful, well-dressed and wonderfully articulate. I think it would be amazing (and quite a draw) if LSE (or any other nearby institution for that matter: Oxford or Cambridge, perhaps?) could set up a panel for a real discussion/debate on the topic to bring the competing ideologies to the forefront. Perhaps Dambisa Moyo & Bill Easterly vs. Paul Collier & Jeffrey Sachs? I feel as though I am a little biased as of now — I have digested Moyo’s material (quite voraciously, I might add), am half-way through Easterly’s book and have only brushed through Sach’s work (and an MTV Diary version of his travels). I’m familiar with Sach’s point of views, but seeing as how I lean towards Team Easterly, I think I need to be a bit more receptive to hearing both sides of the argument so I can better pick my arguments.

After leaving the Old Theatre on a happy note, I got home to discover that my 500GB portable external hard drive that I ordered on Sunday had already arrived! I could not be more happy with Amazon right now; I was able to order it in five minutes flat, got free standard shipping and still had it delivered within two days! As of this moment, I’m backing up my LSE documents along with my 19,250 pictures that I apparently have on my computer… nearly 20,000. Excessive! I’m a ridiculous picture-taker, but I can’t wean myself off of it! Pictures are all you really have to show people from a trip (since you can’t very well show them your memories), so I snap-snap-snap them everywhere I go.

Also, to top off the night, we finally celebrated Fon’s 24th birthday at our flat with real flatmate time & some cake! Mmm!

Definitely a fun-filled, action-packed day… just another day in Shannonland.

Catch up with you all tomorrow! Tickets for Joseph Stiglitz’s ‘Freefall’ go on offer at 10A!

This may very well give some insight into the amazing ball of fun that I truly am; it definitely serves as a preface to this post:
My iPod full of goodies is a staple at the gym. I find it near impossible to get through 60+ minutes of working out without something to keep me aurally or visually stimulated. Typically, if you see at the gym on the elliptical with earbuds pressed tightly into my head, I’m listening to podcasts. LSE podcasts to be exact. There are so many speaker series that go on at any given point on campus that it’s impossible to make it to (or get tickets to) all of the amazing speakers that one wants to see. For that reason, I subscribe to the LSE podcasts available on iTunes and listen to them while I’m exercising. Like I said: amazing ball of fun. In my defense, it’s actually much more interesting than it sounds. Last week I got to listen to the Superfreakonomics lecture (two thumbs up), followed by the ‘Stuff White People Like’ lecture (hilarious) and a presentation by Professor Cox on Obama (interesting).

Now, the Obama lecture is what’s actually prompting this post because he made a point that I found incredibly hilarious, yet fairly accurate. He referred to what he dubbed, “The Maple Leaf” effect. He basically states in the lecture that one of Obama’s prime achievements is not being George W. (Something that I find both funny and accurate.) Obama’s presence in the White House has, at the very least, made us a country that is more likable to the global community (generally speaking). Moreover, when Bush was president, a number of Americans were actually embarrassed to claim their citizenship. Sad, but actually kind of true. When traveling and being questioned about their nationality, many Americans would say they were (drum roll, please)… Canadian! We basically looked to our neighbors to the North and asked, “Can I borrow your maple leaf as a sign of my non-American, proud-to-be-Canadian-ness?”. This is something that I still see happening to this day in a few areas (France, namely), but I think that the overall prevalence of this “Maple Leaf effect” has waned.

Though it’s a funny concept, I actually see the validity of it! I know that I am much prouder now to say that I’m American than I would have been three years ago. I am, of course, proud of my country and the freedoms that we have therein, but there was something undeniably embarrassing about having a president that was such an easy target; the many Bushism that have flooded the internet along with his overall demeanor and ability to give speeches that left people questioning the validity of a Yale education was unsurpassed. Now, though there are many that disagree with some of Obama’s politics, there is no doubt that he is clearly an articulate, well-educated man who seems to be the polar opposite of Bush. Perhaps that was part of the success of his campaign. After years of embarrassment during Bush’s presidency, people wanted someone to represent them that was nothing like Bush. I think Obama definitely fits the bill. So, now that it’s 2010 — I think we’re ready to return the maple leaves to their rightful owners. Thank you, Canadians, for letting us use your nationality as a fall back. We needed it.

Some quality Bushisms:

“One of the very difficult parts of the decision I made on the financial crisis was to use hardworking people’s money to help prevent there to be a crisis.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009

I’m telling you there’s an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That’s the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009

“In terms of the economy, look, I inherited a recession, I am ending on a recession.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009

“I guess it’s OK to call the secretary of education here ‘buddy.’ That means friend.” –George W. Bush, Philadelphia, Jan. 8, 2009

“So I analyzed that and decided I didn’t want to be the president during a depression greater than the Great Depression, or the beginning of a depression greater than the Great Depression.” –George W. Bush, Washington D.C., Dec. 18, 2008

“I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2008

“You know, I’m the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President.” –George W. Bush, ABC News interview, Dec. 1, 2008

“I’ve been in the Bible every day since I’ve been the president.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2008

“I didn’t grow up in the ocean — as a matter of fact — near the ocean — I grew up in the desert. Therefore, it was a pleasant contrast to see the ocean. And I particularly like it when I’m fishing.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2008

“Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted.” –George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2008

Lots of love,

If you followed my blog at all last month, you probably recall my trip to Malta to visit my long-lost (fantastic) family in December. Well, five short weeks later, they have decided to come and visit  me in London! Despite the fact that I’m in school and have a few papers to work on, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect — I was just starting to feel the pang of homesickness and their visit has definitely helped pull me out of it!

Being that my cousin is quite possible the most thoughtful woman in the world, she came bearing gifts! An entire carry-on worth of gifts, in fact — loads of snacks from Malta to fill my cupboard. So sweet!

They brought a box of easy-to-whip-up cappuccino & a huge container of espresso — clearly they know me very, very well. After they hit up Madame Tussaud’s during their first day here, we all hit up the Westfield shopping centre at Shepherd’s Bush yesterday for a shopping bonanza. I have never ventured out into the likes of Zone 2, but it was actually an awesome experience — the world was very different out there. The shopping centre area is quite unlike central London; it actually reminded me a lot of home!

After hanging out there until 5P (yes, 5P; mind you, they got there at 10A!), we made our way home with bags upon bags of goodies — new jeans and pants, shirts, shoes, cologne, a camera, an umbrella and loads of gifts. They don’t mess around! Some snapshots from our day; they’re seriously one of my most favorite families ever!

Skype sesh!

24 Years of Marriage!

Dora would have been here, but he was in a hurry to explore!

After our rather exhausting day of shopping, Paul & I cleaned up and headed out for drinks & appetizers at Sway in Covent Garden for a mini birthday celebration. After a jug’s worth of cocktails and a free appetizer (courtesy of the lovely ladies sitting next to us), we headed home for a reprise of our oh-so-fun slumber party! Let me just say, for anyone that visits Sway, their profiteroles are better than any birthday cake. Delish!

As for today, they’re off to explore a bit of London and see the Lion King (best musical of life)! I’m going to get as much work done as humanly possible and then meet up with them this evening. More pictures to come!

Hope everyone else’s weekend is great,



I’m anal. Clearly, I’m very, very anal. Fortunately, I’ve known this for quite a while and have decided to leverage this superpower and use it for good. My sister and dad are coming to visit me at the end of March and staying through early April and we’ve decided to make the most of their time here! Instead of spending the entire 13 days in England, we’re going to spend 3 days here and then spend the other 9 or so free days traveling around Western Europe! We had decided to hit up Paris and Amsterdam initially and just added Rome to the list of excursions today! Being that I’m the consummate planner (really… it’s borderline obsessive, but I digress), I put together this handy Excel spreadsheet with dates, flight times and costs, accomodation locations and costs and then translated the costs to US$ based on the exchange rates for the past week or so. Plus, as you can see from the oh-so-beautiful image, it’s color-coded so they can check out the corresponding websites (some are blocked out for privacy reasons). In any case, I’m pretty happy with the new masterpiece and it seems to be a winner! Also, as a side note, I have to admit that this anal, excel spreadsheet-creating deal is actually quite handy. It’s nice to have something tangible, plus I can email it to them for review!

Here’s our tentative agenda (if you can’t read the teensy, tiny print above):

- London from 27 March through 31 Mar
- Rome from 31 Mar to 2 April
-  Paris from 3 April to 6 April
- Amsterdam from 6 April – 7 April
Then back to London!

It’s going to be quite the whirlwind adventure, but I think it’ll satisfy all of our traveling needs! Being that I’ve been to Rome before, we’re only spending a few days there so Tiffany & dad can see the major sites (Colloseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiore, etc., etc.). We want to spend most of our time (outside of England) in Paris to get some serious sight-seeing in!

I am soooo excited to see them! Counting down the days <3.

I have to share the relief I feel at this very moment: I just submitted my dissertation proposals and am soooo happy to have them out of the way! I was having a difficult time finalizing my proposal, so I ended up drawing up two to touch on two of the three topics I was interested in. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to the topic of aid, but did manage to sneak in some of William Easterly’s views into my new proposal.

In any case, it’s 1025A, those are in and now I can get ready to welcome my family! I have to run to Argos and get a blow-up mattress for my cousin who is staying with me for the next few days & then run over to the station to greet the group when they arrive (around noon)! I am just so happy to have gotten through this week; albeit with very little sleep, but made it nonetheless. I only have a few readings to get done at some point this weekend (perhaps when everyone’s asleep?) and I’ll be ready to rock on Monday morning! I’m hoping next week will be a bit more relaxing than this one was.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Also, I’m thinking about investing in this book:

After five hours of typing away at my computer, I’m still only at the beginning of the dent-making process for my dissertation proposal (which needs to be done by tomorrow). I’ve been reading for hours and hours on various social policy-related topics trying to narrow down my dissertation ideas and after much deliberation (and months of ideas circling in my head), I have finally settled on one. Here’s the best part: it was the idea I came to LSE with that I just didn’t want to accept too readily initially. I’ve been wanting to really explore the topics that are of utmost interest to me (aid effectiveness, HIV/AIDS, failed states, etc.), but after doing some research, I found that my ideas were too broad and I was having a difficult time narrowing them down; that there was too much information, or, conversely, that there was too little information to create an effective argument. Thus, I’m back to square one and have come to terms with accepting it. On the bright side, after all of this brain storming/’thought showering’, I have come up with the idea for my project planning assignment that is due in May! At least something productive came out of this.

In any case, after doing all of these readings on the topics of aid and responding to humanitarian crises (another one of my dissertation ideas), in conjunction with my addiction to watching CNN clips, I have found it very interesting and rather hopeful to see the influx of aid for Haiti. After looking at the response during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the preceding Asian Tsunami in 2004, it is interesting to see how the public responds to these crises. Fortunately crises of these magnitude aren’t a frequent happening, but it is clear that there are lessons to be learned from our experiences during all of these natural disasters. During Katrina, the response was heavily criticized — aid wasn’t delivered quickly enough and people lived without housing for long periods of time afterwards (I’m sure there are many still recovering). In the case of the Tsunami, despite the extreme loss of life (230′000+ people), it was interesting to see the global community come together to assist with the crisis. $14 billion (yes, billion) was raised for disaster relief and a great deal of it came from private donors — people and corporations digging into their pockets to help relieve some suffering from afar. One of the interesting things that was noted by Aid Watch’s contributor Laura Freschi was that the $14 billion that was raised was actually about $4 billion more than costs incurred from the storm (around $10 billion).

Despite the sadness that surrounds Haiti at this time, there is surely a sense of hope as we watch the world mobilize to help a nation in need. To see the compassion that human beings can have for one another is actually rather inspiring. Doctors, nurses and medical professionals were on-site as quickly as possible, patching wounds, resetting bones and performing surgeries in low-tech and rather primitive environments in the hope of saving as many lives as possible. First aid kits were disbursed and food and water were delivered as effectively and efficiently as possible. Of course, there are logistical issues that have been encountered: lack of organization on the parts of some, lack of proper tools, getting supplies to the area in time, and harmonization of the number of agencies on the ground in Port-au-Prince. The issues will (hopefully) undoubtedly be lessons learned for the future; when future crises strike, the hope is that we will be better equipped internationally to help support those in need.

With all of the humanitarian aid delivered and with individuals continuing to want to assist, an interesting question arises about donating money and/or products to Haiti. An interesting article I ran across delivered some to-the-point, eye-opening information. The article was entitled ‘Nobody wants your old shoes’ and discusses the impracticality of sending stuff to a country in crisis. In the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch in 1998, Honduras was inundated with goods by people wanting to help. Of course, it seems kind to send clothes, shoes, equipment, medicines, etc. Key word in that sentence: seems. Mind you, it is a kind gesture, but not a practical one. As with Hurricane Mitch, the shipments of goods actually harmed more than helped — the ports couldn’t absorb the incoming shipments and, moreover, many of the items are rather useless for the people in need. As I’m sure is the case with the Haitians right now, they could probably use professional medical attention and a home more than they can use your prescription Motrin or Chuck Taylors. The problem with most people (I fall into this category at times), is that we’re a bit nervous when it comes to giving our hard-earned money to an organization. It seems much more handy (to us) to send them goods. We know that we purchased something that we think is useful and we’re sending it to people directly. There’s no middleman, thus no one (theoretically) to intercept cash and use it for other purposes (like administrative costs and advertising). Well, here’s the reality: cash is more practical. Money donations is what they need. The people on the ground know what’s going on; they see it with their own eyes and understand where the system is most under pressure. They can use your cash to help people with the things that are really of interest at this moment in time; life-saving necessities.

Here’s how I have come to think of it: Find an organization that you know and trust. Check out Charity Navigator so you can evaluate any of the charities and give to an group that you align with. If I don’t trust an organization or dont’ like the way that they allocate funds, I won’t donate to them. There are loads of organizations out there — surely you’ll find one that you appreciate. Here’s the other part of this equation: Haiti is but one tragic disaster. It is without a doubt a horrendous tragedy that continues to touch my heart and the hearts of many others, but we must realize that there are many disasters in the world. This has received a lot of media attention (not undeserving), but what about when the media attention stops? Do we forget about it then? What about the other countries that have seen disasters that haven’t received the same media attention? I’m sure it’s not that we don’t care, it’s just that we don’t know. Also, let’s remember that the Asian Tsunami relief received $4 billion more than necessary to cover the costs of disaster in Asia… when the funding requirements for Haiti are reached, couldn’t your money be better used to help someone else suffering elsewhere in the world? In donating money to an organization that you trust, you can ensure that it’s earmarked for emergency relief, but it doesn’t have to be for Haiti. If it’s a good organization, they’ll be using your money to help people in need all around the world. I know it feels good to give. It especially feels good to give when you’re seeing the people that the money is benefiting, but whether Haiti receives your donation or not, the cash will go to help another human being in need somewhere in the world. It will help in saving lives, rebuilding homes, reconstructing infrastructure, giving people back their livelihoods. Click here to donate to Doctors Without Borders, an organization that I highly respect and one that has done some amazing work in Haiti thus far.

Lots of love and prayers for Haiti,