I should be studying for exams....

So I should be studying for exams. The British school system works a bit differently, in that you have all exams in one period, regardless of when you took the class. So even if I took a class that only lasted for one term in the fall, I have to take the exam on it now in the summer. There is a summer class term that lasts for 4 weeks and in it everyone has some revision (studying) classes and lectures, but we spend most of our time studying (or, revising, as the English say) for exams which take place in June. I am quite lucky to have 4 exams spread out over 3 weeks. The library is absolutely insane...even if I go in at 9:00 AM, I can hardly find a seat and a plug for my laptop!
But life if not all work and no play. We had a flat celebration dinner for Chris and Kevin's birthdays (they are 5 years and 1 day apart). And Jessica came for another visit (this time for over a week!). About that to come later, when I have some pictures.

Sonali helping to cook the birthday dinner. I think she got a bit tired to chopping!

We made this fantastic crepe cake. You basically make 20-30 crepes and put this vanilla custard creme between each layer. Sound easy, but it took several days! (making the batter, crepes, custard filling, assembling....) But came out splendidly!

Serious, you have to try making this cake. It just looks cool and it's fun to cut through the layers like butter

Our present to Kevin--Elvis sunglasses!

I think we were getting a bit punchy from the sangria.

Gorgeous house in Hampstead Heath

Just after a rain

And now back to famines and genocides and war, oh my!

Spring Break

Believe it or not, at LSE we got a SIX week spring break! Yes, the hard life of a student. I had some grand plans of travelling and getting a ton of my thesis ready, but alas that was not to work out =) However, I did come up with a topic and title for my thesis. I know I don't talk much of schoolwork here, but I'll give it a little plug. It's going to be called something like: "Transnational Criminal Networks and Terrorism in Chechnya from a New Wars Perspective". In contemporary conflicts, threats to the stability and security states seem to come more often from rogue non-state actors like transnational organized crime or terrorism. The driving factor behind the New Wars thesis, globalization, can also be used to look at the connection between TCOs and terrorism. I will be looking at the role of TCOs in contemporary conflicts, as promoting state disorder instead of using the state apparatus, as traditional organized crime groups do. Finally, I will examine the interaction between TCOs and terrorism in the Chechen conflict, arguing that they feed off of each other--both thriving on state disorder, the promotion of fear, and a regressive form of globalization.
Ha, ok so I guess that is enough school talk. But I'm actually quite excited about the topic. Which is a good thing, since I will be spending my summer researching and writing it!
So I decided to go home to Falls Church for the last week of my break. It was wonderful to see so many people and just chill in the beautiful sunny weather. A week of not thinking about schoolwork and studying!

Jess and I at Great Falls park, woohoo for nature hikes!

Chilling by the Potomac River in DC

Beautiful spring--looking out into the Michaelsen's backyard

Crazy Greta!!!