The first week in Cambridge is over, in a few hours my classes start. The week was very eventful, filled with introductory lectures, a diagnostic test and a start into the complicated library system at Cambridge.

Last night the students of International Relations and European Studies went to Madingley Hall which is a Victorian mansion outside of Cambridge. The idea was to gather informally and get to know each other better. The background and the research areas of the students are very impressive - some have worked in government offices, some in the private sector, some in academia. We have former rockstars among us as well as government consultants, heads of military bases, participants in the Saddam tribunal in Iraq. A great mixture.

Earlier in the week, “A Mandatory Diagnostic Test” was scheduled. The test was aimed to assess the strength and weaknesses of the students. It consisted of two parts, in the first part we had to choose three out of five given words and write about two pages for each of them. I chose Genocide, Globalisation and Deterrence. I don’t know how well I did, I know that I am clearly lacking a systematic knowledge in political science. My knowledge of political events is a blend of newspaper articles, books and history classes in High School, I wouldn’t be able to put into the context of certain theories.

The second part consisted of stating the Research Proposal again. My research interest had changed a little bit, I still want to write about the G8 and its Global Governance capability, but I want to narrow it down considerably. I was thinking of discussing the G8 and its aim to create Local Bond Markets, but in the last couple of days I have thought that it would be maybe more interesting to look at how the G8 goverments reacted in the Global Credit Crises. I will meet my supervisor tomorrow and ask him how he thinks about these topics.

Since Tuesday we had introductory lessons to all classes. I have to choose four classes, and the choice is very hard. After each intro I make my changes. I went to International Political Economy, Middle-East Politics, International Theory, US Foreign Policy, International Economics, History of Political Thought, War and Society and European Economics. Tomorrow I will have a visit to International Law and European Law.

The thing is that I have to reconcile three things: brushing up my gaps, finding classes related to my Thesis, and choosing courses that are interesting. The lecturers are all great and have fascinating backgrounds. Dr. Stefan Halper for example, who is doing US Foreign Policy, has been working in the Bush and Reagan government. Dr. Barkawis lecture (War and Society) was immensely fascinating: in just twenty minutes he deconstructed the notion of “national vs. international” and explored the thick international space that links various domestic policies across the globe. I still have some time to ponder over the decision.