Issues to Ponder

So, a couple of weeks back, I got a welcome letter from the International Relations people at LSE. It gave me some dates that are good to know, like when the programme starts, what courses I am going to have to take, a link to the course catalogue (which didn't work) and a link to the registration website (which also didn't work). I have to say, that I am not surprised about the whole not working website, because, quite frankly, the London School of Economics's website is the most labyrinthine, indecipherable thing on the face of the planet. Seriously. Siodhbhra and I are convinced that the step in the admissions screening process is seeing if you can navigate the website. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they keep creating new pages, and don't get rid of the old ones or forget to change all of their links.

The sunglasses are there for scale.

But I digress. In the letter, they suggested we study one of three books to prepare for our international politics course in addition, they said we should read a "selection"  of six other books. I don't really know what "selection" really means. I think it will mean, however many I have time for, probably one or two. And there would be a test in October to asses our knowledge of International Relations.

So I ordered two of the books on Amazon, and one of them, World Politics Since 1945, arrived yesterday. To use one of my favourite phrases, I was a bit disconcerted. It's bloody huge. And not only is it enormous, it is just straight text, with really long paragraphs, and almost no maps or figures or anything. I think the best way I can describe it is "dense." In every sense of the word. Now. I like to think that I am a hard working student. But I have to wonder what I am getting myself into, if this is the summer reading. 

A page, chosen at random. Note all of the black lines of words. All the pages are like this.

Adding to my consternation is the fact that the British University system is one that relies heavily on reading, rather than the more lecture/ seminar based system in the US. And that is not my strong suit. Maybe I should have thought about that before I decided to go there. Whoops. Too late now. In reality, I wasn't coming in completely blind to that information, it's just starting to hit home that I am going to have to work hard this year.

Also, the workers and the major airports in the UK (including, of course, Heathrow) are talking about striking. Oh goody. 

Kathryn