Old and New Buildings

The hectic life of the British capital taught me to appreciate quiet moments.  Back home in South London, I live in the middle of a construction site and am usually woken with the start of the shift of the workers. But here, complete silence. And the night so dark I can see the Milky Way!

I spent the whole summer working with the economists at the Czech Government Office on various economic analyses. In September, I began a masters in Economics and Philosophy at the London School of Economics.

I live in the Afro-Caribbean neighbourhood of Brixton. Every morning, I take the fully packed number 59 bus to school. When we cross the Waterloo Bridge, I like to raise my eyes from my textbook and enjoy the view of majestic Westminster on the left and the modern skyscrapers of the City on the right. On account of their rather peculiar shapes, these tall buildings are nicknamed by locals as Gherkin, Cheese Grater and the most recent addition to London skyline, the Walkie-Talkie, proud winner of this year’s Carbuncle Cup title for the ugliest new building in Britain.

This daily scenery to an extent symbolizes my career choice, wavering between the private and the public sector. On the left, the parliament of one of the world’s oldest democracies, a symbol of public service, the rule of law and the unshakable power of the state. On the right, Europe’s largest financial centre, the symbol of progress, worldly pride, opportunity and wealth. On the left, an ancient world built on thousands of years of tradition, historical identity and strong values; on the right, the promise of growth, success, new possibilities and adventures.

My course is hard. Harder than expected. We spent the whole of September just on maths and statistics, not infrequently studying 12-16 hours a day. Only once this pre-sessional course crushed our egos could we begin to properly start learning graduate economics, as humble pupils. In retrospect, I realise that I am no longer learning any new major ideas in economic theory or econometrics. A postgraduate course in economics is rather built on a far higher level of abstraction, proving the already known theorems from first principles. The language of communication is almost solely mathematics.  But only a full breakup of modern economics and consequent gluing of the pieces together allows full understanding of the discipline and is an absolutely essential prerequisite for research. This is all well complemented by the other half of my degree. In Philosophy of Economics and Rationality and Choice, we further break down even the scientific method of economics and study its logical and ethical axioms.

Studying practically takes up all of my time, but somehow I’m also managing to have two extracurriculars. As an already experienced editor, I was welcomed to the team publishing Econ Society magazine Rationale. I also succeeded in the admission process to become a consultant in student pro bono management consultancy Cognoscere, offering its services to charities and non-profits which can’t afford to pay a big management consultancy firm.

A long and difficult year lies ahead of me. It is also plausibly the last academic year of my life. I will need not only to manage the mountains of work, but also figure out what happens after.