When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.

What have I done?!? Does the graph to the left look like maths to you?!? It certainly does to me. Goodness gracious. Yes, I have actually enrolled for an intercollegiate course on "Contemporary Europe" at the London School of Economics (LSE), when one looks at the name of said university it might seem that economics plays a part. Does anyone remember how I failed my Mathe-Abitur a mere five months ago? Understandably an economics course at one of the "Brain-of-Britain"-universities is very daunting...but no, it's not about the numbers, you just have to understand the principle. Yeah, right.

Haven't written in absolute ages, sorry about the utter and complete neglect. And really I have no excuse whatsoever, because I am writing this on my brand new partner-in-crime, Hector - a Toshiba laptop...confidant, soul-mate,bosom buddy...Yes, my relationship to an inanimate object may be a little unhealthy, but it's just so lovely being in contact with the "outside world" again. (apropos, do download skype, would be marvelous to talk to you!)

So, an array of odds and ends (in no particular order). What has Kathleen been up to?

• Went to the most fantastic blues bar just off Oxford Street in Soho. "Ain't nothing but the blues"-bar hosts a jam session on Monday nights (incidentally also free!), musicians from all walks of life get together and improvise. The bar is tiny, which means you end up chatting to everyone (and as we all know, I am the "Small-Talk-Queen")...ended up singing and dancing, just great.



• Job interview to work as a Student Ambassador for KCL (£ 8 an hour!), must have gone quite well, as I now am a SA. Problem being, I'm not quite sure what the job description actually entails. I assume I go to fairs in order to represent King's, give Campus tours and presentations and quite simply delude future students about the cost of living in London. ("Oh, living costs? No problem at all. Everyone receives scholarships. And housing is so cheap")



• Joined a gym down the road. Go swimming quite often and have started to enjoy their wacky dance aerobics classes (though, of course, incomparable to Irish dance ;-))



• Auditioned for the King's Players project "Our Country's Good"...very strange audition peace: "Hello Mother Moon", felt like I was playing a ten-year-old, but who knows? "Don't call us, we'll call you."



• Went to a pub at Chalk Hill to listen to a live band. As always we missed the live band and ended up talking to VERY boring Germans, they are everywhere. If you feel as though you must complain about London to me that much, then why are you here?!?



• Watched the Rugby semi-final (the match England won) at the Camden tup - exhilarating atmosphere. Testosterone overload.



• Coffee at the Camden Arts Centre. Yummy rhubarb pie.



• Lots of time spent at the library in gorgeous round reading room. As the reading room is round, I seem to spend more time people-watching than anything else. Probably not the way to success.



• Watched "Atonement" with Khatereh from Iran. Loved the film.



• Voluntary Geography lecture with some famous guy, but SO boring. Free wine bar resulted in very tipsy singing of the best of "The Sound Of Music".



• Ended up with a cold, felt very sorry for myself. A melodramatic hypochondriac. Maybe I ought to invest in a hairdryer.



• Am taking the Associateship of King's College course on ethics. Very interesting. Poverty and Social exclusion,Common Good,Community,Compassion and Solidarity. Lots of nouns there...



• Seminars on European History since 1800: Why do I grovel through 30 pages of incoherent essays, when a 5 line summary is sufficient? Anscheinend lernt man nicht fuer die Schule/die Universitaet, sondern fuer's Leben. Aha.



• I passed my German grammar test. Hooray! Thank God for that. I am now officially a native speaker ;-) A fellow student only passed as near native speaker...a Bavarian!! My Swabian heart rejoiced with glee.



• Tate Modern exhibitions. Finally saw the crack people have been falling into. Hilarious. Google it.



• Shock! Horror!I have a room-mate. Her name's Henel, first-generation Indian, from Lewisham, London. One wonders why she bothered to move out in the first place...she's now living further away from uni, than she did before. Seems very nice though, time will tell. Didn't really want a roomie, so now it's merely Schadensbegrenzung. You're all still very welcome to come stay, of course. Mi Casa Es Su Casa. How corny.



• Best Hot Chocolate Ever at the coffee shop Liz, my floormate, is working at. That beverage is worth an entire entry of its own.



• Comedy Cafe in Angel/Shoreditch (sounds lovely, doesn't it?) Good night out with friends, live music (my favourite thing), and an Elvis impersonator who goes by the name of Dave-Elvis. "Dave-Elvis has left the building."



• Halloween house party on Saturday. Quite truthfully I think it's the first time I've ever really been drunk, quite an embarrassing admission at 20...but the past times I've thought I was drunk, I've merely been tipsy. Note to parents: I promise, I won't keep it up. Dressed up as cartoon character "Salad fingers"...pictures to be found on Picasa. Yes, I am a little on the strange side.

So, to conclude: It's quite easy to get distracted in London ;-)

Unanswered questions...

1. Who watches all of the CCTV footage?!? It's scary.



2. Where do English bus drivers learn to drive? If the lights are red, don't accelerate and break like a mad-man! Why oh why?

So, am off to bed. Promise to update more regularly. I'll be in Germany in 9 (!) days time.

Oh baby, baby it's a wild world.

Am just trying to recollect my adventures of the past week and am having trouble. I simply can't quite remember; not that I've been in a drunken stupor 24/7, it seems more like sensory overload (Reizueberflutung or stimulus satiation, according to the dictionary.)
Saw the worst movie ever on Sunday with fellow Dublin-born student/musician, it was called "Superbad" and indeed, the name is very fitting. Atleast he payed for the tickets. ;-)
No classes on Monday, but finally managed to open ...drum roll...a bank account. Eureka!
First lectures on Tuesday. European history since 1800 (fairly boring, Napoleonic Conscription, but am sure it will get better), then Causes of War (very good, except the introduction to Theory and Methodology). We started the lecture with 15 minutes of current affairs - I am apparently a total half-wit. I know nothing. I actually thought I could form a half-intelligent opinion about the going-ons in Burma and the like, but really I ought to just listen to the others in awe. What exactly have I been doing with my life? Oh yes, I remember it was all of those "Friends" reruns. Must read papers and memorise them.
Lecture on Milestones of German History (The German Question) was very good. "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" by Goethe was described as an 18th century Kurt Cobain. Classic.
For some reason I seem to have morphed into the silent girl at seminars; where has all of my confidence gone? I'll just have to start working on my acting skills in order to pretend that I'm not totally clueless. (Any tips?)
Spent all of Thursday at the library and actually managed to find some books on my reading list, solely by playing the dumb blonde/brunette. Another miraculous happening.
Early start on Friday with translation classes. Then the University of London Fresher's Fair with Dana (who has complained that I mention none of my friends by name). An array of free mugs, key rings, condoms, pencils, posters and frisbees. After that 100 Years of German Cinema lecture. Yes, I know: The university for Dummies option, but it really is very interesting. We don't JUST sit there watching movies!
Went to Hampstead Heath with (here come the names again) Valentina, Jess and Dana, was a really beautiful afternoon in the sun. It was nice to get away from the rat race of the city. Listen to me, I've only been here two weeks, but central London can seem quite ruthless at times.
Spent Saturday looking for a laptop in Tottenham Court Road. It was manic. People were queueing (again ;-)) all the way up the stairs at the tube station. Quite scary and not too good for my inner claustrophobiac. Then went to "Tutu's" the Student Union bar on the riverbank, had a good night out with David, Pauline and a Bavarian that drinks too much (Ach yes, the names: Daniel)
Woke up surprisingly early today and went to mass at St. Paul's Cathedral. Magnificent. I was seated directly underneath the dome, light shining through the stained glass windows, the choir (Knabenchor?) singing seraphically - was a teeny tiny bit emotional, but that won't come as a surprise.
Hmm, am (finally) coming to an end. Sorry, if I'm boring you...but life isn't all beer and skittles, you know. (Learnt that expression from an American, love it.) My days are spent reading (A LOT),doing commonplace things and really just coming to terms with living alone (well apart, from the kitchen parties, Uno-playing delights, Iranian Birthday celebrations and the laundry room spectaculars).

Hope you're all well, keep in touch, come visit!

Oh, before I forget. Guess who managed to get £ 5 tickets to see the RSC's King Lear with Ian McKellen. Ha!

P.S. The British taps are driving me insane. What exactly is the point? Hot-Cold-Burning-Freezing-Scalding-Arctic. Where is it all going?