Michaelmas term down, Christmas on its way

I am so relieved the term is over. I now have to face writing my 2 papers to hand in for 11 January. The term was tiring and intense. But it was really good as well. I think I have learned a lot about how research is done, how to keep up with enormous amounts of reading, and how to make new friends. I have a nice group of friends forming. Today I went to the pub after a meeting with a bunch of them. It feels nice to have people to hang out with.

One thing I love about LSE is that there is *always* something going on to do. There are several public lectures every week, not just academic ones, but also fun ones. For example, the guy who wrote "Stuff White People Like" came to speak about his book. I've gotten exposed to a lot of different people and ideas. I think that while it is no where near as radical as I am used to in academia, I am learning a lot about just how many view points one idea can illicit.

Today I went to a board meeting review of the sociology department. Apparently the Gender Institute is a part of the department. You wouldn't have any idea, we never do anything with sociology or talk about it. The meeting was about whether or not the Gender Institute should have autonomy from sociology. A bunch of the students were asked to come and tell the board their views. A group of us from Gender went in and argued for a break from sociology. And we got it! Its a really big deal, as I learned when all the profs in the Institute were squealing when we found out. They busted out the champagne, and we celebrated.

I'm going ice skating for the first time tomorrow!