Momo- “Besides their horns, can unicorns do anything else?”

First week of classes: Check. Week one into my 12 week semester has ended and so far I absolutely love it. Not to sound like a total nerd, but I love foreign policy, so the fact that most of my classes revolve around policy and trade relations thrills me. After Wednesday’s European Economics and Policies lecture, I attended the subsequent seminar on Thursday in addition to the International Security Studies lecture and seminar, and Friday’s European Foreign Policy lecture and seminar, and the Rise of the Novel.

I knew I was in for a bit of a shock when I walked into my first ‘lecture hall’. Seating was for near eighty students, although there were only about forty of us. However the professor still apologized for the high number of students in the class. Thinking back to economics classes of +600 students in Thomas Building amused me, and I think I could easily get used to the comfortable arm chairs in each of my classes. The seminars are really great because there are only about ten students to a professor so we get to have actual discussions. The one downside is that each class is based on only one or two grades throughout the semester. This means I am now trying to set a record for consecutive hours catching up on the history, formation, policies and leaders of the European Union.

On the non-academic side of things, I now have these wonderful friends in my dorm who teach me how to do things like cook, and in return, I demonstrate how to dance awkwardly in public places. They’ve also taught me that cover charges are really only a suggestion that we whole-heartedly veto. Furthermore, one of my new friends brought me to an audition for the movie version of the UK show The Inbetweeners. Though I’ve never technically seen the show, I studied up the morning before, and could adequately describe my favorite characters and the like. I was informed that I was the first American that had ever auditioned, which in my mind, puts me at the head of the queue of extras.

The day ended quite wonderfully with a Liverpool victory, and a mass consumption of all things delicious. Momo and I had a wonderful girl’s day/night that led us to consume our weight in pizza, fudge, cookies and wine, while avoiding physical activity. This was accomplished by watching Stardust, where we concluded that all unicorns must be magical, or at least have basic magical properties.

Location: Tooting, London