Despite my honest and good intentions, it's been four weeks and I haven't yet posted a single update.
For which I can only apologise. In my defence, it's been a totally manic yet incredible few weeks, with very little downtime to even begin to take stock. In amongst the introductions, socialising, drinking, partying, orientation, drinking, form-filling, bureaucracy (lots and lots of bureaucracy), drinking, sleeping, exploring, eating, drinking, drinking, and drinking, there's been very little opportunity for extensive blogging.
Essentially, I've had a great start with an interesting and diverse set of friendly classmates. There are are roughly 60 people on my course, of which about 50 are doing the MA and others are on exchange or Erasmus. The entire cohort comes from something like 25 or 30 different countries, so it's a phenomenally interesting set of backgrounds, cultures, languages, etc., united by a common interest in 1) international politics and 2) alcohol. It's a close-knit and happy group which has already established various in-jokes: "Freedom!", "the bat", "white chutney", "TOMISLAAVVV!" You'll have to visit to be welcomed in to understand any of this. I haven't met too many people from outside the IRES programme yet, but there's plenty of time for that!
I'm living on the 7th floor of a relatively new hotel/apartment complex - a slightly bizarre set-up because it's a student dorm with a transient population of conference guests and individual visitors throughout the year. Most universities in the UK seem to keep those two clientèle relatively separate! But I've been pleasantly surprised by everything about the accommodation. The rooms are a decent size, ensuite, well-furnished, warm, comfortable. We have a weekly maid service who cleans, replaces bedding, hoovers, and there's a kitchen and TV lounge on every floor. There's a swimming pool, gym, study room, several computer suites, sauna, sports pitch, all of which are free to use. There's a bar and cafeteria onsite, along with a little shop that sells 15p espressos and 75p beers. It's a leisurely 30 minute journey into the city, but the metro is clean and swift, and it's an unhindered opportunity to chat or read material for class!
Classes have been running for two weeks, after a bizarrely aggressive sign-up process in which options were posted online at 5pm one evening on a first-come-first-served basis. My page crashed and I began to panic, envisaging three months of purgatory on some impenetrable module entitled "Post-rationalist Structuralism and Microeconomic Financial Policy in the Visegrad States". Or something like that. Nevertheless, there were plenty of spaces for everyone, and I was actually successful with all three of my preferred papers, meaning that in the coming months I will be embroiled in the following topics:
1) Evolution of European Political Order - This class began with a deconstruction of every word in the course title: "we can't really define Evolution, Europe, Political, or even Order, so what are we even doing here?" The professor is an extremely bright and eclectic teacher (despite a heavy twinge of post-modernism), who shoots off at tangents on subjects as diverse as St Paul's letter to the Ephesians via the philological implications of the START/OCB treaties, to Ben Thatcher's elbow-charge on Pedro Mendes via the Concordat of Worms in 1122 AD, and yet somehow makes it perfectly clear why a certain author has questioned the reliance on theoretical paradigms in moment of revolutionary flux. Confused? Yeh, me too. I come out of the lecture understanding everything clear as day, but that soon disappears and I feel a little bit unworthy.
2) International Statebuilding - Essentially my excuse to spout bleeding-heart idealism and liberal internationalism until the West bloody well does something about Rwanda. It's actually a brilliantly interesting class on the underlying principles of international interventionism, R2P, democratisation by force etc. - extremely pertinent set against the ongoing situation Syria.
3) What is Diplomacy? - The history and theory of the practice of "diplomacy". Sounds straightforward, but I have the same professor as #1, so it's actually far more complex and intensive than I expected. This is the course I was least certain about, but it's been fun. I don't really understand it yet though.
Anyway, I need to go. I'm joining some guys for beers in the sauna, so despite having heaps more to say, that can wait for another month. Student life is tough.
