LLM Party; Day 27

Last night was the second time we had a party for LLM, but this time was different.
1. It was put on by the class for the LLM-IHRL class only (well in theory)
2. We had music
3. Less formal
4. We fit about 30 ppl in a smalllllllllllllllllllllll space.

It was nice and yours truly enjoyed herself to the max with her one pina colada which was really heavy I had it for about an hour. Then a focused on the fizzy drink.s..........sticking to the evil i know.

They had wide variety of music and they played some reggae just for moi and others who knew then songs. Even had some sean paul which everyone danced to.....they made me look like a dancehall queen. hehehe

One thing that was interesting was when i met people and they asked me where i am from; they quickly asked "so u can run" i said no.....then the next question is "ohhh u can dance then" i said no....then they said "ohhh then u can sing" i also said no. This girl said "u not jamaican then" heheheh i laughed and said i have to reconsider that for true as everyone who hear mi speak ask me if i am from the states. STATES!!!!! There is only one guy in my class who said when i first spoke he couldn't figure which country but he knew it was the Caribbean.

Well i hope to post pics of the party soon as well as on facebook.

After went home

communal living is a hell ofa thing; Day24

So that I don't violate any defamation laws what i have to say on the area will be limited.

It had been so weird for the last 4 days on 13.4, i cannot find my bowl, my friend cannot find her drinking glass after using it 1 hour prior and what took the cake is that my other friend bought a bunch of bananas and some left one for her. AH BOI.

Now it is so weird, the weirdness of which I will leave as any assumptions that will be made can be defamatory. All i will say is 2 weeks prior this problem didnt come up. ....But we decided to conduct our own investigation and urs truly is the head of the cease and desist squad. I am also the Judge and the Jury and morever will counsel the guilty if captured.

Anyway i am getting ready for class and then going to LOndon for a seminar on counter-terrorism. Will tell you how that goes later.

Jehovah Nissi

It was timely that I was reminded today that the Lord is my Banner. This reminder was done by Pastor Green at Orchard Baptist today. I went with Christian union for the annual church shopping which allows students to visit a different church each week with a view to finding one that you wish to attend on a regular basis and call home.

Well I decided to go this week to the baptist church. It is small and feels so homely and the Pastor is good. He reminds me somewhat of my own in portmore.

The service is very different however, but the message is the same as that is what is important. So today the message was about jehovah nissi. The story was based on exodus 17 verse 8- about 13 about moses, hur, aaron, and of course battle with israelities and the amalikites (think it is not spelt correctly).

I know this masters for me is going to be a battle field, mentally and physically. I am already trying to calm myself and say 'self, what is important is that you do your best' dont over stress it. Once you put out the work it will show. As the song says the Lord always comes through for you, you may not know how, you may not know when but he will do it again. He has done it for me at LLB and at NMLS so i dont know why i am stressing like this already, but my mother says 'a so u stay, if u nah fret u nuh feel good'

Well for anyone who is reading this blog and you have problems not just school anything, remember jehovah nissi.

I will of course attend Orchard again and hopefully make it my second home church

Reminiscing about JA

Today got off to a good start, i have choosen my courses and went to my int'l child law class. I had read and felt good when i was able to clearly articulate my points across in the problem question. I know i am going to love this course and i know i am going to do my diss in some child related area.

Went to the tollgate place, took two buses to get ink...........again. I bought two and told my self that is it. If it done it done.

Came back and hold a 3 hour sleep, i was up from 6am trying to do an essay and then went to class so i was tired from the two bus ride. I am now in my room trying to do some more work, work on the essay and then read for classes next week. have to it in blocks as the work for these classes i have mon and thur is soo much. I even registered for a seminar on counter-terrorism in London on wed i hope i am able to make it physicallya nd mentally after this weekend.

Looking forward to church sunday will blog about that one of course.

Anyway today i noticed several things and then started thinking about JA.

1. No robot taxi
2. No vendor when u need one.
3. No mad persons, although i have seen persons displaying 'madish' tendencies. But seriously none
4. The roads are soooooooooooo narrow, they need bougie to come make road for them
5. the roundabouts are round not abouts.
6. the buses make 15 mins journey the most in colchester even though the place is small. so like i am in portmore and i can get a bus straight to NK, or HWT or DT. Here i would have to take somthing from braeton to mall and then from mall to HWT or DT. It sucks.

miss darling: is this homesickness already?

I went to my bed about 10pm last night as i was tired and wanted to wake up early to attack the reading. It has hot though and no the heater was not on, maybe is hot flashes teking me already in mi young days.

Anyway, i had a dream about my granny, miss darling. That she came to look for me and see if i was ok, that she even slept beside me and said dont worry everything will be ok. She looked young fresh and green too not sickly as she did before she passed. AH boi i was thinking is what this on me father lord, is this homesickness already and she come to take care of me.....this is nor funny.

Anyway had a good sleep after that though i must say. Got up made some nice breakfast and headed to the bank to sort them out because them mek mi waste 3 pounds trying to explain over the phone to them why mi cannot see the proper balance on my account.

Only to go in the bank to find out that the lady gave me the wrong account numbers as being savings and current and thus i have been using my savings account when i thought it was the current. In uk what they call current account is what we call savings account and savings in uk is just a little way of putting aside any extra.

so when u open an account u get two numbers one for saving one for current. U get a debit card which u can use to buy stuff online as well and a cheque book. so now i have to re-adjust my mind and be careful not to mix them up again. mi just kiss me teeth and walk out because the first impression of the bank is never good, but then again even in JA i always had bad experiences with banks.

Month 1 of 12; lusy british

Well it is official this is my first month in the UK and i feel real british already.....well not really but felt nice to say that somewhat.

My first two weeks were great thanks to dale, keisha, andrew, keliesha and ingrid. I felt as if i know them for years................well except for dale who i have known all my life. From that experience i can say that good friends hard to find and sometime water thicker than blood.

As evidenced from the previous blogs my time was well spent in enfield and i felt like i was on vacation as opposed to preparing to go to school, but i am glad though i relaxed so that when i start to stress i wouldnt feel like i have been stressing from day one.

My new friends followed me to school and that was great as well. Imagine my two car entourage.

The cross cultural experience has been good; My flatmates are lovely. So far we have been out for drinks and movie and shopping. We have so much fun. It is sometimes difficult with the language barrier as they dont speak good english but i am trying to teach them (as if i have any authority to teach anyone english).

Also not having another J'can (keisha too busy wid PHD) to talk to and stuff has gotten to me several times, but i guess i am trying to embrace all cultures and it has forced me to give up ebonics for proper english. ARGHHHHHHHHHH.

School has been interesting so far. Recent interest is for a class i have to prepare submissions along with 4 other persons in which we say that proposing a law to make homosexuality (being the person) illegal is contrary to human rights. Now poor me, i was like what? worse the african guy ...zimbabwe to be exact says that he has more arguments to support the legislations than anything else. It was soo funny as out group is suppose to be against such a legislation yet we are finding alot of reasons to uphold it, while reading all these interesting cases and documents to see how they rationalise the point that discrimnation on the basis of sexual orientation violate IHRL and that it is even argued that this principle is universal and doesnt matter what ones culture is. Will keep you abreast on the final class on the issue.

The professors are the leading experts in the field and the organisation by admin has been quite good so far. Trying to keep up with checking emails everyday so that i dont miss out on the important academic things.

Now i am on the grind to try and keep up with my classes and for my first assignment due nov 21 . I am also trying to think of my research paper topic which is due dec 11. Earlier i start thinking the better. I think maybe i need to brainstorm issues i am interested in and then formulate a thesis statement around one.

anyway. back to the grind. and looking forward to many more blogs

Week 2 of 52

Well so far classes have been interesting, the work to do for them however is alot. I am trying my hardest to keep up and crossing my fingers that i can maintain the pace for the next year.

Came home and cooked some food, and trust me my mother will be proud of me i am getting good at this cooking thing. I made pasta with mince meat. I realise i like cooking and experimenting. I wanted to make meatballs but i did not have some of the major ingredients, anyway i decide to cook the mince lo and behold it turned out to be too salty so yours truly cooked some pasta very fresh to even out the salty mince and it worked........................woiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

While experimenting with the food another person moved into the flat. As such i was trying to show her the ropes and stuff..... so now it is 5 of us, there is one room that is not occupied.

Now i am checking my email and only hear this loud annoying sound. I am frightened and then i only see a lady come to my room and say fire alarm get out now.

People yours truly in her pajama and socks, at 645pm.....so at this rate i either run out in my Pj's and socks or try and fix up i mean is a fire alarm so all the people will be coming out i have to look my darnest best.... just in case. heheheh no offence Omar

The lady adamant that i must come out NOW!!! no fixing up no changeing of clothes nothing. so i slip off the socks in 1 sec slip on my slippers in 2 secs, grab my coat and then set of my keys. Because once the central door to the flat is locked we all up in flat 4 locked out.

While running down the stairs i looked on my feet, oh my lord them ashy i was annoyed no matter how mi lotion them down good good it did ashy in slippers and PJ.

Anyway it was just a drill which annoyed me more because she coulda did give me time fi fix up since she knew it was a mere drill. Which they say happen once a year.....yeah right.

They gave us a lecture on not playing with the alarms and fines they attract of 500 pounds and etc etc. Imagine big UNI people a play wid fire alarm the fine should be 5000 Pounds or them school fee which ever is greater if you ask me.

My poor flatmate all this time is distressed u know the saying think ur situation is bad not until u are confronted with someone in a worse position. Well she ran out in her PJ's too (is a flat thing) and socks no shoes. she said she was frightened she couldnt find her shoes. and then when we came out we were th eonly ones in PJ's everyone dress fi kill or in lounge wear. So we tried to play low key)

Remember the key i had time to take up, good move when we ran back up after the drill i was the only one wid a key, hmmm we would have to wait on other flat mates who not coming back until next hour and half.

well i am off to bed and then getting up to be studious as i possibly can.

p.s. in pic is a apart of the 13.4 clique...mando, val and I

my first offical weekend in essex

Well the past week has been interesting, the induction was eventful, the luncheon went smoothly and my first "class" was like a refreshers course for me. Dont mind as after four years of being out of school it is like i am lost to the schoolers world.

For friday night i went to bed at 9pm as my agenda was to go to bed early wake up and start reading. Surprisingly enough i woke up early and read my book as planned. Later on i went to the freshers fare and signed up for the travel club, jesus alive club and the latin american club......want to brush up on my spanish.

A part of my adjusting exercise includes alot of observation, at the fare i observed a few persons of the african descent on campus, from the accent i gather a majority are english, handful are africans and then me. Additionally, i realise that english youngsters are rude here. One guy was walking on campus another said "hey you gay" and the guy being called gay, dropped his pants and showed the others his penis and bottom. I was shocked, well yea it small as i would expect, that wasnt the shocking part, but shocked at such lewd behaviour especially on campus, a well renounced campus as essex. But u can take the pig outta the sty but u cannot tek the sty mentality outa the pig.

Thereafter i went to return the webcam; bus trip was longer than usual since they had some football match. Again i tell you the behaviour of the youngsters and when i mean youngsters i am talking under 25's. The older folks are polite and very polished but boi, the youngsters' behaviour leaves much to be desired.

Well i am back in my room now waiting on my block mates, we gonna have some coffee and chat and then do some work.

that is it from me. until then.

love peace.

Inducted into the LLM Mafia

The title may sound mind blowing and you may be wondering what on earth is Luciana talking about, but today along with about 15 other students i was formally inducted into the LLM programme at Essex.

As usual ms previous was early for the induction process which began at 905am but i got there at 8 25 am. This was for several reasons, one i was not sure where the place was and also i am just being me. When i got there i was ok, then i saw several persons streaming in, i started thinking about my LLB and the CLE and started feeling overwhelmed. I started to question if i really belong here and whether or not i can manage what is in store for me. I know i like to read but hearing that an LLM is demanding and after going through UWI and NMLS and the work world and i am wondering if i can really undertake this.

I quickly said a prayer and give myself a small box and said luciana get it together, you must have faith and it is too early for this.

I observed then my classmates, i realised i will be the only browning daughta in the class. There are two browning men and another who seem to have a mix of indian in him. I started to smile so that my face would look inviting. Although i came so early i ended up with a back seat because my usual bladder issues arose at the wrong time. Anyway i got a seat beside some nice people with varying backgrounds, apparently the class is not made up of even 70% attorneys. I am the only Caribbean national also. We have Canadians and Americans and some Latin American counterparts.

Now it was time for the welcome. We were given two big folders and a smaller folder with a million and one papers. In addition we were introduced to the course. Now they have changed the programme for the better they say but the work load is there and even more.

1. PIL is compulsory with an essay (2500 words)
2. Research Paper compulsary with an 6000 words essay and an unseen exam
3. You can choose two courses which also have 6000 words essay or unseen exams

after successfully passing that then you have the dissertation which is 15,000- 20,000 words ( a how much page that?)

anyway so far i realise that i will enjoy the courses because of previous knowledge as well as eagerness to learn those evolving areas I have been reading about day to day in the papers.

Additionally there is a course not compulsory called legal writing for masters students. It is really geared towards persons whose mother language is not english but i am still going to brush up on my well needed grammar. It lasts only for four days first class was today. It was like law and legal systems with a little bit of legal methods and research....LLB foundation courses that is.

Well i am now in my room, going to take a nap and then wake and do some housekeeping and start the ball a rolling by reviewing handouts and choosing my courses.

oh by the way as the class was about to begin we had a fire alarm so imagine that for a dramatic beginning. in terms of the weather the sky was nice and blue, but laud the cold a bite me

Registration at Essex

As I suspected i missed my registration yesterday, all because I am too bright. As i stated the previous blog my registration pack states that School of Law registration is Tuesday Sept 30, Human Rights Wed, Oct one. Now i assumed that since my concentration is Human Rights then my registration is Wednesday, but as another bright friend of mine said to me, 'Luciana you are a lawyer not a human rights advocate, so your registration must be Tuesday'. Although at the time it seemed dumb when he said it, it kinda made sense only after my Admin told me i fall under the School of Law.

Anyway, after bussing some Jermaine Edwards in my room, i got ready and decided to go to the bank first then registration. Then i said since i am in so much do do for missing it yesterday let me go there first. Oh my word the line was longgggggggggggggggg, but the processes was straight forward, all through it i am like please nuh mek mi have no problems or i gonna go patois on somebody as i was too smart and they are too ambiguous so it is not my fault i missed it yesterday.

It was the opposite, it went smoothly i got my card and realised i hate the picture i sent in to go on my card, ohh welll.

Next stop the bank, that went well as well. Then i decided being miss previous to try and find all the lecture rooms that have been assigned as per timetable for this week, I did that and thought good idea ms previous.

At 1pm i went to multifaith room and had free lunch. This was nice as i met new people who are believers, i signed for christian union and jesus alive fellowship which is like an afro-cari christian group. After that i went back to my room for a cat nap and then to the library tour (pic of the outside added)....yes people i am trying to find my way around in the first week so that i am not lost to the business in crunch time. I also went to my faculty and introduced myself to the admin staff.

Well i am now in my room and i am going to sleep early as all that running up and down all over in nuff clothes get me tired and i have a long day tomorrow, induction to LLM, and my first seminar.

rain in colchester

Woke up this morning to some drizzling outside. It was cloudy and by now i am getting use to this as i was told by several people, as one friends puts it, london's weather is bipolar i would say the UK's weather is bipolar.

Well, after getting ready and mapping out in my mind what i need to do, i woke my other flat mate up as she wanted to 'par' wid me for the day. Let me say that so far it is 4 females on my flat and i am the only afro-caribbean. The others are caucasians from varying backgrounds.

So we hopped on a bus and i had googled for a place and we ended up on two buses to find the pc world and all those electronic stores in colchester. I am convinced now that there must be one closer. but it was good for all of us. Oh we ropped in another girl from another block to 'par' wid we.

We reached the tollgate retail park, which is like an outlet and we got to shopping for our essentials. While there i observed that the people love to smoke, everywhere you go there they are and worse they have the new law in place prohibiting smoking inside of public places. So is like young and old alike a smoke. I see old woman who can hardly walk good a smoke. Then what was funny or shameful is a saw a man with a shirt 'blow job is better than no job' i was what the dickons..................

All in all we had a good day, came back to register at the health centre and then for the compulsory talk about living on hall............as if, been there done that already so mi kinda dose off midway...............wid mi mouth open.

After that i saw one of the guys that helped me with my luggage i hailed him and another guy saw me waving and thought i waving to him and came up to me and asked me my name. i said Luciana and then stepped.

While i was outside waiting to see my flatmate who i lost in the crowd, two black girls came to me and asked me of i was ok as i looked distressed, i was tired though from the mornings adventures. I told them i was ok and then we started to chat. One is doing LLB other is doing BS I hope to see them again. After i gave up finding my flatmate i went home and cooked me own food.

My school thrives on email and internet to communicate to staff and students and thus i am trying to get into the frame of checking my email daily. eh eh when mi check me email after that long day, some mix up gwaan and i am thinkin i missed registration for tuesday although i hve two documents which say wednesday and when i went to pic it up i had clarified and they said wednesday , but is my fault, i should have gone tuesday and if them seh wed, a so rather than wait on wed. But i am not fretting at all, because i am goign with my documents to show them that i am not wrong they should have clarified the ambiguity as i am both in law and human rights how can u have them on two seperate dates and then say ohhhh is tuesday.

anyway getting ready to go and sort that out if not i can go and register on friday at 11am at the registry.

see pics of today's journey in town.