Jason's Daily Notes

GREETINGS FROM NORTH CAROLINA!

If you didn't know, I'm doing my exchange semester at Duke University! I'll be going back to London in May. But I'll see most of you in the next few months, either visiting on the east coast, or when I'm back in LA this March. The house we live in is very nice and spacious, so you're all more than welcome over!

I just wanted to let y'all know how my first few days have been back in the USA - busy but great!

I arrived Monday night, and my flight was pretty easy for 9 hours (there were 3 classmates on the same flight with me so we kept each other from getting bored). It took over an hour for them all to pass through immigration, then we took a taxi to Durham. It's a small city, and there are trees everywhere. Everything is so far apart, there are no corner markets or cafés. Everything closes at 9PM! The buses only run once an hour. So when I saw this, I realized that I NEED to get a car.

My other housemates (Christoph from Germany, and Jonny from New Zealand) arrived that night and we walked 1 mile to eat real American BBQ! Delicious!

The next 2 days, we spent all of our time renting a car, buying things for the house, and trying to find a good car. We did so much shopping (partly because Jonny had won a case competition and had lots of money to blow), and we got some good deals (a used TV for $18), and I got my car! A 1999 Ford Explorer, it only cost $1500. The car is named Wendy (for being bright red), or Dora (the Explorer)... haven't decided yet.

So North Carolina, Durham specifically, is nothing like LA or London. It's more rural than anything, I constantly feel like I'm driving around a forest. There are no sidewalks. Some areas are ghetto like Oakland, others have really huge houses. Things are not as cheap as I remember, and Hardees is horrible compared to Carls Jr.

But wow everyone is really friendly, I'm not used to that! Lots of churches too, and plenty of places serving biscuits... I'm definitely in the South. I've had to explain a lot of things about the US to my housemates, like all of the driving rules and when you'd leave a tip, etc.

On Thursday I had my orientation with the other international students. It was nice, and the business school at Duke is extremely new and gorgeous - how exciting! There are about 25-30 exchange students, from all over the world (Thailand, Finland, New Zealand, Chile, France, Germany, South Africa...) and they're all very smart business people. The director of our program is really friendly and she'll actually join us at parties!

Speaking of which, my housemates and I are having our first party tonight! Only 3 days after moving in (you know that's how I roll). Anyway, it's going to be legen... wait for it...

Whew, I've been on Winter Break for two weeks now. It feels good, I'm really relaxed, but also have reverted back to being really lazy. It's incredible to me how much I can end up putting things off for tomorrow. But I keep telling myself that I deserve some rest, and to an extent I do, but most days I really have nothing to do.
Here are some highlights:

• 2 weeks ago, 9 December: I was taking my final exam for Marketing. Boy, I was so stressed over it, but it turned out to be not so bad. I somehow was able to predict that the company we'd analyze would be Crocs, Inc. So I felt good! Evie was stressed over the trays of sandwiches left in the room, which amused me a bit. After the exam, I said bye to Diana and Khowla, then joined Thibault, Alessio, Liza, Antoine, and David F for a burger at Byron. It was cold.
• 10 December: The night of several house parties. I ended up only going to two: Sophie's, which was packed as before but full of interesting new people to meet and mingle with. Then Swag and I went to Liza's housewarming/goodbye at her (nice) flat, which was a much smaller party and more of a sausage fest. However, incredibly, at that same party was Olivier, Louise's friend whom she introduced to me when I first arrived in London 3 months ago! What an incredible coincidence. Walking back to Tower Bridge, I found a perfectly good beanie.
• The weather was pretty cold, like 2-5 deg C. And the sun doesn't rise until 8:30, and it gets dark at 3:30. Short days really mess with me. I feel so lazy for not getting up and about, then it's 3 o'clock and the day's over so I figure that I might as well just stay at home. It's a reinforcing cycle of inaction.
• Got to meet up with some classmates (Khowla and Yeng) for dinner at Leon last week. Not bad. I learned how to say it's really cold outside in Chinese (Gin tian how long)
• I have been able to catch up with many TV shows, though I still have quite a ways to go. What I've been catching up on: The Office, Community, HIMYM, The Big Bang Theory, The Amazing Race (which I got my flatmates hooked onto last week), Parks and Recreation, The Inbetweeners, Pete v. Life, The Worst Week of My Life, Weeds, Chuck, Breaking Bad, Glee, The Simpsons, and Modern Family.
• Nike had her goodbye party/gift exchange on Monday. There were about 12 of us, and we ended up finishing 18 bottles of wine, whiskey, and vodka. Says something about Nike's friends, eh?
• On Wednesday (21 December) I had my in-person appointment to finally get my student visa for the UK. I woke up at 6am to be ready and to arrive in Croydon by 8. There were some delays with their system, so I had to wait an additional 2 hours. But having waited over 3 months for this, I was persistent that I'd see it through. I had lunch at a really cheap Chinese buffet. And it was successful! I'll have leave to stay in the country until January 2013!
• Last night we finally tried the Raj Tandoori, an Indian Restaurant near our flat in Rotherhithe. With the 3 of us there, we were the biggest crowd they had seen in weeks it seemed like. But the food wasn't bad.
• Today, Maria left at 6am. She's back in Germany for Christmas. She left us yet another small gift, the game "Never Have I Ever". She gave us advent calendars, bowls of chocolate for St. Nicholas day, gingerbread cookies, and sugar-roasted almonds! I feel almost undeserving of all this Christmas love!

Now it's Christmas Eve Eve and I want to go outside, but it's raining. So I'll stay in and watch more shows, maybe even a movie!

As I slept, I dreamt that I was at the Olympics. But it was no big deal, just like a giant furniture store or something. Alessio was there, and so were several girls, whatever. Anyway, they were sitting having nachos or something, and I wandered off and ended up in the room where the women's volleyball was taking place. There were some other random guys on the court, so I joined in too. I ended up playing volleyball for a while, probably because our team (blue) was not very good. They didn't care who served, how many people were playing, or whatever.

Then came reality.

I had class at 11. It was already 10 when I rolled out of bed, so I had to quickly scarf down some cereal and hurriedly wash up before heading out the door. I was bundled up warmly, because for the last 3 days it's been incredibly cold, colder than I ever remember it being in London, like 2ºC. Well, guess what? Today it wasn't that cold, it was like 10º. So I ended up feeling too warm. Not good for my body.

Got to class, it was Marketing. I thought the period would be spent on exam prep, and it was. But there was also a required reading, which I didn't have time to do. Instead, I read it during class. And the teacher was picking on me for most of the period. I had to deliver the response forms to the student services center. Bleh.

So I went back home, stopping by Tesco on the way. And I studied, or at least I tried. I ended up playing some Civ 5, which I had just downloaded. It was fun to get into, though playing games sucks on a mac.

Bad news struck: I skyped home (for like 2 hours) and my uncle told me that my other uncle wouldn't let me borrow his car as originally planned. This means I'll have to buy a car in North Carolina.

More bad news: Maria II, the second girl who was to move in to the apartment, couldn't do it. So now we're going with the asian girl. We seem disappointed by it. Bleh.

And I still have no dissertation topic! FML.

Now it's 11pm and I'm stressing.

I'm just feeling very uninspired today. Almost depressed. I just don't feel like talking to or seeing anyone. I think I've just had too much social interaction since arriving at LSE. It's been non-stop. I don't think I can handle that kind of lifestyle, you know, "work hard play hard" - I'm more of a "work less, chill out" kind of personality... the complete opposite of most of my classmates. Sigh.

I couldn't sleep again last night. Weird - I submitted my marketing essay on Friday, so I should have been much more relaxed and easy. I just don't have energy. I feel like I've gained weight too. I think I have such a slow metabolism.

I went on a random excursion to the Tate Modern. But there, I didn't really feel like browsing art. I just needed to get out of the house. I then took the tube to Canary Wharf, then skyped home to discover that I'm in one of the pictures in the latest Berkeley Study Abroad newsletter.

Now I'm off

I slept early last night, and I set my alarm for 7:30 so that I could work on my Marketing essay which is due tomorrow.
I woke up at 10.

Rushed to eat breakfast and get my things ready. Was about to shower, when I hear the shower turn on.
Swag was taking a shower. So I just rinsed my mouth with mouthwash and washed in the kitchen sink.

I was going to take the bus to the tube station, when I remembered that my travelcard expired yesterday, and I hadn't renewed it yet.
When I got to the station, the ticket stand was closed. The automated machines wouldn't accept any of my credit card.

No time. I had to rush. But I couldn't afford to take my usual tube-bus route to school, so I'd have to take the tube all the way around to Holborn. I had to take the Piccadilly Line, and for some reason at 11am, everybody was arriving from Heathrow, so I couldn't even walk without being blocked by 4 big pieces of luggage.

I ran out of the station, up the really long escalators, and to class, only about 10 minutes late. Everyone could notice that I was panting and sweating.

The class finished not a minute too soon. I had to submit my essay. It was due within 1 hour. I had it printed out, but I had made an important change and needed to re-print one page. I log into the computer lab, and print it out. What happened next was just the universe rubbing it in my face: Instead of one page printing, it had an error and printed out like 20+ pages with nothing but a few random characters on each page. No. Fucking. Way. I tried printing again 3 times, but no luck.

I went to the library to print it out. I log in to a computer there, and I swear it was the slowest computer I've ever encountered at LSE. It took 7 minutes for me to log on, and another couple minutes to open my document, and another couple minutes for the printer to come online. I had to clear a paper jam.

But Hallelujah! It printed out. I rushed back to the NAB and submitted my essay.

Now I have to write another essay, 2500 words, on Starbucks. Here we go...

Another week, another set of deadlines, and another set of problems have cropped up in my life.

It's week 7, which means I'm already most of the way through my term at LSE. Starting next week, I'll start submitting summative coursework (meaning my work will actually count toward my final grade) - the pressure is on!

I have 2 essays that I'm continuing to worry about. I also had to help with a Development Society presentation yesterday, which took up my afternoon and evening.

Monday: I had a full day of classes, during which I was reminded to really get grinding on my essays. My classmates are already ahead of me (how they do it? I don't know - I've been doing reading and taking notes every day)! Sickness abounds and I'm making sure that I keep my hands washed and clean at every opportunity so as not to get sick. Anyway, as I do every Monday, I went to swing dancing class, probably the highlight of my week, and afterwards I come home, exhausted, and hang with the flatmates while having some garlic bread for dinner. A few minutes later, the police arrive at the apartment and knock on our door! They had received a complaint from the woman living upstairs that she had noticed a man standing outside our flat and looking into the windows for over an hour. She found this really suspicious and reported him. Luckily nothing actually happened, they just issued us a warning to be vigilent. The girls found it scary and disconcerting; I was just laughing so much at how much it reminded me of the Bed Intruder that we know so well from that YouTube song.

Tuesday: I recovered slightly from my cold. Bought some things from Tesco. Stayed in the apartment the whole day and tried to make some progress on my essays, but not much resulted. I had one class, 5-6pm, which I quickly went to and went back home. It seemed somewhat useless to go to that class, and the teacher is starting to get on my nerves with his OCD-like tendencies and general assertively nervous personality. I came home and prepared dinner: a tofu stir-fry. I had invited someone over who was looking for a new place to live, Alec from New Zealand. He joined Swag and I for dinner. He seems nice, he's working in marketing for a sort of novelty company in Brixton and simply hates his current living situation. I was more surprised that he had never eated tofu before!

Wednesday: I went to my final presentation skills class at 10am, or at least I tried to, because there was a big traffic jam on Waterloo bridge. The buses were backed up across the entire bridge - so the driver just opened the doors for us right there, and I walked from the bridge to campus. I was 15 minutes late. Great. During the class I got a text from Swag saying that my passport had arrived, so I responded telling him to open it. Later, I got from his voicemail that my visa had been denied. Because they couldn't process my credit card.

Bad news! I have spent so much time dealing with the frustrations of my UK student visa: From driving to the application centre on Fairfax last spring, to getting stopped at the Manchester Airport for nearly 30 minutes in June, to having my loan letters shipped from LA to London and spending a day getting photos and documents together for my submission. I wasn't able to register at LSE because I didn't have my passport on me. I couldn't open a bank account because I didn't have my passport with me. And then the whole problem of my application arriving at my old address, meaning that I had to travel across all of London three times just to find out that they had shipped it back already! I'm conservatively estimating that's 18 hours of my life wasted already. All that effort, and now I find that I have nothing to show for it.

I'm not angry; I'm just building up such a strong resentment toward the UK and it's system right now. I have absolutely no intention of working or living here after I'm done with my studies. I don't even want to do business with UK companies.

So, Thursday: I woke up early to see if I could finally open a bank account, now that I have my passport. (I need a bank account so I could just access the money in my loan cheque!) I walk there, and after being referred to some sort of manager, he looks at my passport and sees that I don't have a proper visa, that my current visa expires next month. So he says he can't do anything.

Fuck.

My options right now are either to stay in the country (illegally) until I fly back to the US, spend an extra $600 or whatever to buy a new flight before my current visa expires in December, or risk another visa application that could take 2 months or more (and cost £400+) and might mean that I wouldn't be allowed to travel to the states for my international term.

I'm still very busy with schoolwork. I tried to accomplish some reading/research yesterday (Sunday) at the library, and I did get some done, but it's frustrating that after 3 hours I could only get partway through 1 book.

Swag and Nike went to Leeds. They hitchhiked Friday night and returned Sunday afternoon.

There were 3 couchsurfers over, who were technically Swag's guests, but they became mine when Swag left for Leeds.

9 November 2011


I’m at the library, working on a paper that will take days of reading. I have so much work to do, it’s unbelievable. Let’s just go down my current to-do list, shall we?

• Research dissertation topic – find professors that fit topic

• Research/work on Business in the Global Environment paper (contrasting trade post-crisis) (2 weeks)

• Work on strategy group presentation (Thursday!)

• Work on strategy hand-in exercise (next week)

• Work on Systems Thinking essay (3 weeks)

• Read case study (Burberry) for Marketing (Thursday)

• Work on presentation skills journal

• Research potential events for development society

• Meet with Azeem

• Meet with Louise (make up for birthday fail)

• Make appointment with career counsellor

• Follow-up with Duke regarding registration

• Catch up with Marketing (watch missed lecture)

• Research career options: Shell, Amex, Novo Nordisk, etc.

• Transfer loan money into main account

• Pay credit card

• Buy food

• Find time to skype

• Go out with IMEX classmates for dinner/drinks

• Go out with M&S classmates for dinner/drinks

• Respond to couchsurfing requests

• Meet with Flora / HB society re: receipts

• Inquire with student office about event reimbursement (DevSoc)

• Swing dancing with Jane (?)

Welcome to my life. Things have been busy since day 1 of term here, and now that I’m in week 6 (day 40 or something), I barely have time for myself. There’s no way I can sustain a blog at this rate, and my former habit of journaling/documenting my daily excursions has fallen by the wayside. I can barely remember the names of all the people I meet each day, though I’m trying my best.

It all sounds horrible and overwhelming, I know. But the fact is that it’s really fun. I’m feeling challenged and I’m becoming more focused than I have ever been. I don’t know how my classmates get by without feeling constantly stressed (I’m sure they do. They just don’t show it.), because they’re ahead of me in applying for jobs, and several already have their own companies that they’re running (impressive, eh?). I am just trying to get through this term with decent grades. I can figure out my career afterwards, although I’m feeling really attracted to doing something entrepreneurial and independent. And my classes are so interesting! I’m really enjoying learning about different marketing strategies, the behaviour of consumers, global competition in various industries, competitive strategies for companies, how to keep an audience’s attention, and what kind of feedback loops occur in everyday life! Did I mention that famous classical pianists and guitarists come every week for a free concert? And that there’s free vegetarian (Hare Krishna) food on campus everyday?

London has been good. Well I’m just saying that because I have been too busy to notice much of the city. I haven’t even had time to see the “Occupy London” protests over at St. Paul’s. However, I have noticed how frustrating it is to live here – queuing everyday for everything, waiting 3 weeks to get the internet set up, trying not to elbow somebody in the face (because it’s so crowded on the tube and bus that you have no choice but to be constantly in other people’s personal space), choosing between the worst kind of food options (either unhealthy, expensive, or tasteless), or simply trying to understand what the hell everyone is saying! At least the weather hasn’t been so bad (seriously – everyone else is bundled up for winter, but it’s only like 12-15 deg C / 52-60 deg F). What has been annoying is that my body hasn’t been as healthy as I’d like it to be – I’ve been sick (ill) several times already. And my bed is not comfortable – my back has been achy for weeks, though it might have been due to me carrying my laptop with me every day because we didn’t have internet at home yet! Ugh.

That’s all for now, I’m trying to finish reading at least two books before getting dinner and going home.