I can't believe I missed this!

Lego man on Thames

The Luck of the Irish

[The Liffy River in the center of Dublin]

At the brisk hour of 3:30 a.m. last Tuesday I took off from my apartment in London, met the cab at the gate outside my school and headed to Victoria station to catch a bus to the airport and eventually board my 6:25 am flight. Why was I flying at 6:25am? well the price was right (10 pounds!!) I touched down in Dublin at around 8 am and headed to the city center to drop my bags at Abigail hostel.


[Me and Glotter in front of the clock tower in Trinity College, this historically protestant college still has a policy that condones the killing of a catholic with a bow and arrow from the window of a school building on Tuesdays... of course no one has actually done this in recent years]


After a quick breakfast, my buddy Michael and I headed to Dublin castle (which actually is not much of a castle) for a three hour in-depth free walking tour. Our guide was a sharp witted, fast talking 21 year-old Irish-German who (for lack of a better term) knew his shit on Dublin.

The city was absolutely charming, and has a interesting history. Historically Ireland is consistent with two things, Guinness Beer and revolting against the British (6 attempted revolutions before they finally got it right)

After the tour a nap was certainly in order, followed by a nice dinner at a pizza joint. That night we visited a couple pubs, where I tried my first pint of Guinness Stout and honestly I was not all that impressed. The pub featured live traditional Irish music (think flutes, recorders and guitar). We had a good chat with an American pilot then eventually wound up at a spectacular pub called the porterhouse which brewed their own (delicious) beer.


[Oliver St. John Pub in the TempleBar Neighborhood, great music and bad prices]

We called it an early night and headed back to the hostel.

The following day was spent visiting museums, the St. Stevens Green Park and eventually the Guinness brewery. The brewery was terribly touristy, and the beer only tasted slightly better. The top of the brewery had a magnificent 360 "bar" overlooking all of Dublin, so that was certainly a plus.


[Guinness, BRILLIANT!]

The next day was outstanding. Michael and I signed up for a mini-bus coach tour through the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough. If you ever do book a day trip outside of Dublin, visit Day Tours Unplugged and you're guaranteed a great experience. Our tour guide was a semi-retired former army civil engineer that was as entertaining as he was informative. This was far from your "typical" bus driver. The mountains were breathtaking, but half the time it was too foggy to see much of anything. Before Glendalough we stopped of for lunch, where I had the chance to sample Guinness and Beef Stew, quite tasty! Glendalough was essentially an ancient cemetery and town built around two glacial lakes. Interesting artifacts and some really old monasteries.

[Cute, right?]


[Glacial lake in the Wicklow mountains]



[New Friends!]

On the tour, Michael and I befriended three Americans traveling from Barcelona. That night we met up with them at our hostel and eventually made it over to Porterhouse to listen to some live music and sip their exceptional micro-brew beer.


[Porterhouse bar, live music everynight and four floors with 5 bars!]


[Friends from the States]

The following morning was our last day in Dublin, Glotter and I set out to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. I enjoyed this much more than Guinness, although I would not recommend doing this tour before lunch (or at least make sure you've got a good breakfast in your stomach).

[mmm whiskey in the morning...]

Overall, Dublin was an amazing place to visit. It's big enough to keep you busy for a few days and the people are charming. Great mix of touristy things, genuine irish pubs and if you take a day out of town the natural side of Ireland is breathtaking.

I have to go for now, but my Prague post will be up shortly.

Cheers,

~Sir Ross Leder

Mazel Tov

I thought I would start this post of by extending a Mazel Tov to my cousin Sarah Goldfine and her fiance Blake Baratz, I'm very sorry I couldn't make it down to Naples for the wedding. I wish you both the best, and I will be sure to visit soon in California.

So I wish I could say a lot has happened since my last blog post, but truthfully I don't have much to report. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, there just comes a point in studying abroad when everything "new" eventually develops into what's familiar. In other words, I've adapted and feeling rather comfortable out here.

Nevertheless though, I've committed to keeping this blog both for everyone back home as well as a keepsake for myself years down the line so here's my update.

Classes are going o.k... this isn't an attack on the British education system or even Queen Mary University but I have to say my classes are not quite the challenge I had hoped for. It's not necessarily the lecturers or the facilities, rather many (not all) of the students in my courses don't have the same energy in class as back home. For the first time since high school, I've been in classes where there are literally students having full conversations while the professor is talking, and in a couple of cases I've even spotted paper planes on the floors as I left. Now it's not all negative of course. I will admit my Managerial accounting professor is spectacular and really does a stellar job with his courses (the question is why is wasting his time at Queen Mary!)

As the situation in Israel cooled down so did my campus. The unauthorized "occupation" of Francis Bancroft Lecture Theatre came to an end and the Palestinian flag hanging from the Management building was removed promptly by school administrators. Finally the Gaza Appeal bake sale ended has also ceased.

For my social life things are doing well. I have become closer with my flat mates and have managed to meet a lot of cool people in my courses. Last Sunday I went to "Booze for Jews" which was a club night organized by the London Union of Jewish Students. I left a few pictures courtesy of my friend Chani Unger (I forgot to bring my own camera).



[I just had to add this pic

[Me and the Unger family]


[Youngest Unger, Meni Unger, Michael G, Neilli, Chani, Me and not sure who that is]

[Me, Pauline, and Chani]



Well that's all I have for now, I hope you didn't find the post too boring and if you did then stop reading it! I will certainly have some excitement for you soon, this next week following an evaluation on Monday I have "Spring break" and I am heading to Dublin, Ireland with my friend Michael Glotter and then I'm off too Prague to visit Zander, Michael Kaplan and Danny Kanter.

Again if your down in Naples, have a great weekend I wish I could be down there.

Love,

Ross Leder

Free Palestine?

The conflict in the Middle East is having quite an effect on the Queen Mary campus. Everyday school day since I've been here there is a Gaza Appeal bake sale in the courtyard and flyers calling for the end of Israeli violence in the Middle East. I have yet to witness anyone on my campus start rallying for death to Israel, death to America or any anti-Semitic campaigning(as some of the more aggressive protesters did in Trafalgar Square a few weeks ago), but the political climate is challenging for an American Jew such as myself to be a part of.

This last week, our campus really started to ramp up their Gaza support by organizing daily protests outside the Queen Mary administration building, so that means on my way out of accounting I get greeted by 80 students chanting "free free Palestine!"

I thought I'd post this flyer I found underneath my door last night. The Queen Mary Stop the War Coalition is making a statement by "occupying" a lecture theatre without school consent. They're demands include:

1. Queen Mary University end their investments in Defense companies
2.Queen Mary support the coalitions efforts in raising aid and awareness for those affected by the conflict
3.10 scholarships be provided by Queen Mary to be awarded to Palestinian students.

You can read a full list of their absurd demands at their blog.




I wrote this post just to give a taste of the differences between the American and British school systems. Just as in the states most people who protest are probably just seeking attention and self satisfaction, but what makes it different is how much bullshit the British students get away with... they actually managed to drape a Palestinian flag down the side of the Management school building!

A Minnesota Sprinkle = a London Crisis

The BBC is calling it the worst snow London has seen in 18 years, the Guardian has dubbed it "An Arctic Freeze" and the Minnesotan's I am here with are calling it humorous. Last night I walked out of my flat and nearly 30 students were throwing snowballs, making snowmen or just sliding around... the only problem was there wasn't even an inch of snow on the ground yet!

By 9:00 p.m it was official tomorrow would be a snow day, all school facilities will be closed. I awoke this morning to find my campus blanketed in a whole 2 INCHES OF SNOW!!! YIKES

Cookie's so good, they shoud be illegal

I thought I'd start off this post with a shout out to Ben's Cookies Shops, these are quite possibly the most delicious cookies I have ever had. So if you ever find yourself in London, do yourself a favor and visit the closest Ben's Cookie shop as soon as possible!

Anyway it's been awhile since my last update, so here we go...

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, while I do like the Queen Mary College their organization leaves much to be desired. We're now in week 4 and I have just discovered I have been left off of the class email list. This became apparent on Tuesday morning when I arrived at my international business discussion section ready to discuss the motivating factors and trade conditions that led to the South African Brewery acquisition of Miller Brewing, when low-and-behold according to an email I never received we we're suppose to have read a case regarding the rise of the Indian software industry. I've straightened out the matter and am now receiving the emails.

This past Tuesday I went to a night club for Bethany's (a British friend of mine) 2oth birthday party. Keep in mind, most students go out on the weeknights in London since it's much cheaper than the weekends. The club was called Zoo Bar and it was everything you'd expect from a euro "discotech". Flashing lights, thumping techno music and overpriced drinks. I'm not the biggest fan of nightclubs, but this did turn out to be a great night and the euro club experience is something every young American tourist should have.



Some friends of mine, on my right is Sam she's one of my Minnesotan flatmates and on my right is Ali, also from the University of Minnesota.


Pictured above: Bethany (the birthday girl) and Sean, two British friends of mine.


The next day, I met up with Alexander Abrams, Michael Kaplan, Danny Kanter and Michael Glotter at the National Gallery. Zander, Kaplan and Kanter were in London for two days on their way to Prague. As always it's good to see some folks from home. Zander came along with me to meet my cousin Andrew Gruen for lunch. Andrew treated us to lunch at a fantastic Japanese restaurant not too far from the British Museum.

That night I saw Wicked musical. Aside from Avenue Q, this was my first "real" musical since seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat years ago. I gotta say, I really enjoyed the show and the voices were stunning.

Yesterday I journeyed to the city of Bath. My favorite thing about the city, is that they're honest... it's called Bath and that's about all there is to see. The Roman Baths are astounding works of ancient engineering accomplishment, but after that the city just doesn't have much to offer... especially in the winter.



This is the main pool.





Me and Glotter.

The rest of the day in Bath we spent pretty much wandering the town, trying to find things to do/see. We eventually settle on seeing a movie! So my advice for Bath, go for the summer and you really only need 6 hours at the maximum to enjoy the city.

Well that's all for now. I hope everything is well with those at home.

Love,

~Ross