Well rested, for a change

Wednesday's are obviously going to be the toughest day of the week for me. Of course, it doesn't help when you stay up to all hours of the night and aren't properly rested, but fortunately, I don't have to be that silly again.

Yesterday, as you can imagine, was a very long day. From the early rise, to a relatively busy day of work, administrative tasks at school, and four hours of class, I was pretty damn exhausted when I got home last night. I did go to the pub for one pint after class, but that was more therapeutic than anything. Eurotrash and I basically need a pint after every class with Real World because she's a nightmare and we must vent.

Even though I was exhausted, the Argentine Tenor goaded me into playing cards. I just couldn't let that aggression stand. His ass needed a beating. I think the reason I must always try to beat him (and it's not just because I'm an Aries as some Italian girl said last night - although, hell - I mean, I get pretty warlike in competition, so go figure)...is that he's so incredibly patronizing throughout the whole game that it just pisses me off. Plus, he always tries to cheat which some would say is because he's Argentine, but I say has nothing to do with national origin and has everything to do with being a Tenor. I mean, every Tenor aspires to be the next Pavorotti and his ego is legendary.

At any rate, Real World, I'm sure the world will be glad to hear, has mastered the words "Israeli" and "Palestinian". Good on her, as they say. The Arab-Israeli Conflict class I'm taking looks to be a great one. The professor is a pretty big name in the field (Ahron Bregmann) who teaches at King's College, writes books on the subject, and is the script writer for every BBC documentary on the subject. Yes, he's a busy man. But, he's also quite a character. He's a short, little guy - not much taller than 5'5", skinny as can be, balding with glasses. But none of that matters. He's spry. He jumps around the class room getting fired up about the subject and he essentially forces participation by making us read the most relevant documents in class and then prying thought out of our half awake brains. The cool thing is that we're reading primary documents - in other words, official documents from 1917 onward from a variety of different perspectives (British, League of Nations, etc). This is good strategy because instead of reading someone's perspective on the issues, he's making us see how the state of Israel developed from a first hand perspective - not a retelling of history.

The class, as you would imagine, is highly controversial. And sides are already being staked out. Real World and the Macedonian are clearly on the Palestinian side, to the exclusion of reason. Eurotrash and the South African are clearly siding with the Israelis. I'm not sure where I stand so far, but early on at least, I'm leaning with the pro-Israeli contingent. In 1937, for example, the Jews agreed to divide "Palestine" into two areas with the Jews getting 20% and the Arabs getting 80% which was roughly proportionate to the population breakdown. The Arabs said no. They said no again in 1947 with a ratio that gave the Jews slightly more land and they've been saying no every since. Regardless of their motivations, the Arabs (or Palestinians as they later started calling themselves) have never engaged in pragmatic action and that offends my sense of reasonableness. Of course, I have no affiliation to the land or either side, so it's easy for me to say.

Anyway, one thing I really like about this professor is that he has the unique capacity to shut Real World up. I'm not sure if it's because she's intimidated by him or what, but it was absolutely beautiful the way he hushed her up yesterday. He did the same to the Macedonian, which I adored because as nice as that guy is, he's left to the point of arbitrarily disregarding reason and that offends me as well because I like to see the world as a series of complexities, not of black and white.

Today, or what's left of it, I'm working on my CV and covering letter. I've targeted about 18 political consultancies around town that do the type of work I'm interested in and I'm beginning the courtship stage. Even if I can't land an actual job with one of these firms, I would take an internship for the summer session. Of course, that raises the question in my mind: Isn't is nonsensical to pay 920 pounds for a course that requires me to go work at a firm and not get paid? Essentially, I have to pay to work at a firm. But I guess that's just the nature of the game.