The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) hosts a Summer school term with
three three-week sessions. During each session, you can take a class in any of the departments
offered during the school year with faculty who are experts and conducting research in their
fields. I decided to take two sessions this summer, studying the analysis of Foreign Policy in my
first session and International Migration Studies in my second.
LSE Summer School works very similar to a direct enrollment OCS like a University. I didn’t know anyone going into the program but quickly found myself surrounded by so many wonderful, interesting people. There are so many ways to meet new people other than just in classes and find new friends to explore the city with. LSE offers a social program full of theatre trips, pub quizzes, and special opportunities like a Thames River cruise party! In addition, the workload is not overwhelming, leaving plenty of time to explore on your own. One of my favorite memories was taking my friends to one of my favorite places in London, Borough Market, and trying a bunch of different foods.
We spent a couple of hours finding new shops and stalls to try then walked along the
Thames to see the tower bridge. LSE also offers accommodation which further allows you to
meet people who are in the Summer School too and you’ll never have to explore alone.
What most drew me to LSE was the international atmosphere that it offers and the
chance to study things I have had very little experience with before. LSE has students from all
over the world and their summer school is just the same. There were students from over 100
different countries in the program! Some of my closest friends were from India, Australia, and
Italy, all of us students from different universities wanting to take in the global city of London
while learning about the world that helped create it.
Every day we would have a lecture class and then a smaller breakout session with about a quarter of the class. The classes brought the readings and lectures to life and helped broaden my understanding of the focus of the day. One day we had a lecture about crisis diplomacy and then in class, we participated in a simulation on international diplomacy during a crisis situation. Our job was to negotiate how to handle the crisis with a variety of other delegations with vested interests and different information than us. It
was chaotic and goofy but it really helped all of us understand the difficulty of negotiation and
how to collaborate with allies. All in all, my six weeks in London were amazing and I would love
to go back again someday soon!