This week on S&S, Sam gives Saba a BU-themed sports quiz. Sam Dykstra and Saba Hamedy. Photo Illustration Credit Sumner Lambert 1) Who was the coach of the BU men’s basketball team before Patrick
Chambers took over last season? 2) How many NCAA championships has BU won in men’s hockey? 3) Which men’s basketball player went down with an injury earlier
this season and is now out for the rest of his junior campaign? (Hint:
he was a tri-captain.) 4) Which BU netminder got his first shutout of the season Saturday
night in a 1-0 win over Providence College? 5) What is the highest the women’s ice hockey team been ranked this season? Answers: 1) Saba: Dennis Wolff because I asked the audience (a room full of editors)
and 50 percent (I’m guessing Editor-in-Chief Josh Cain and Sports
Editor Annie Maroon were those two people). Although, Farid Hamedy (my
dad) was a close choice for second pick (holla at Chelsea Feinstein). Sam: You are correct, madam! Wolff coached the team for 15 years and led the team to two NCAA tournament berths before being canned in the summer of 2009. Chambers has coached the team now for two seasons and has a chance to lead the Terriers to their second straight America East championship game in March. You’re 1-for-1, Saba. Have to say I’m impressed (even though it took some help from your friends).

It often escapes me that Boston encompasses more than just our strip of campus. But, whenever I seem to forget, I find myself in some unknown part of the city that makes me love it even more. This past week, I had to go on a Boston scavenger hunt with my organizational behavior team. We walked and walked until we got to the Public Garden. And then, turning left toward Beacon, we ended up at Beacon Hill. While this is a well-reputed neighborhood in the city, it was my first time ever being in the area. Though some of you might have visited the cute boutiques and bistros of Beacon Hill before, very few of you have probably made it up the hill to Louisburg Square, the most expensive neighborhood in our local area and one of the most expensive in the country. When you overcome the intimidation of its perfection and climb the winding hill, you are presented with intersecting rows of flawless townhouses. This time of year, the snow atop the red brick makes a charming contrast.

Yesterday was not set to be a terribly exciting day but it definitely turned out to be. My friend Erika and I headed out in the morning to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery to jump start our weekend (and to get away from studying for our finals early next week). We arrived in Trafalgar Square ready to take touristastic photos on top of the lions decorating Nelson’s Column. We were instead surprised by a huge demonstration by Amnesty International and other activists who were celebrating the resignation of Egyptian President Mubarak. Unless you’ve been completely shut off from the world as of late then you know that there have been major protess all around the Middle East – with the biggest one being in Egypt. The people of Egypt, using social media and word of mouth, organized huge protests in Cairo & Alexandria demanding the immediate resignation of President Mubarak. Mubarak ruled Egypt with an iron fist for 30 years but led the country into difficult economic times. On Jan. 25, the people decided that they had had enough.

Jose Julio walks toward me with a conspiratorial smile, places his hand on my shoulder and asks me if I’ve heard of a song called “Gringa Loca.” When I answer that I haven’t, he laughs and tells me I should look it up. Now I could be concerned that my political science professor has just instructed me to check out a song entitled “Crazy American Girl,” but frankly, I’m happy to oblige. The university I attend follows one of the most progressive models I have ever encountered. The vast majority of the professors insist that their students call them by their first names and use the familiar “tú” form instead of the formal “usted” to address them. So I am taught by Jose Julio, Jorje and Gabriella. On one of my first days in Ecuador, Jorje beseeched us with a smile, “Please call me “tú,” you’ll make me feel younger.” Let it be known that Jorje has advised multiple Ecuadorian political leaders and mediated an attempted (and unfortunately unsuccessful) negotiation process between the Colombian government under President Andrés Pastrana and Colombia’s largest guerilla group, the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), among other illustrious endeavors. And despite – or I should say because of – these credentials, these professors often begin class by individually greeting their students, kissing them on the cheek as is the custom here and kindly joking around with them.

With all the snow and rain we've gotten in the past week, I know most of us dread leaving our rooms to venture into the bitter cold and puddles of slush. Going through the same routine of class, dining hall and dorm everyday can be a little dull. So this week, get away from the routine and head to Cambridge! While Harvard Square does have particularly charming places to see, getting off one stop before at Central Sqaure will have you a couple of minutes away from The Great Eastern Trading Co., an extraordinary costume shop that has hundreds of treasures to amuse the curious.

While I write this post — and simultaneously Tweet about Egypt, check Facebook photos of everyone’s weekend adventures and catch up on my daily dose of news — I am actively procrastinating on writing three papers that are due this week. Yes, three whole papers that are due in the next three days and probably should have been done days ago. Of course it’s just hit me, and perhaps it has hit many of my classmates as well, that we’re actually here in London to — that’s right you guessed it — study. Studying in London has been a dramatic change from what I’m used to back in Boston. No, it’s not just because I’m living in a different country but it is because classes are structured and taught differently. Classes, or the first two classes I’m set to take this semester, last only five weeks. In fact, this is my last week of classes, the homestretch ending in two finals early next week.

SABA: This week we'll be discussing the most popular Sunday event of the year: The Oscars! Just kidding, that's not sports-related. And probably not as watched as The Super Bowl. Three reasons why I basically know nothing about football: 1) I am from Los Angeles - the city with two baseball and basketball teams but no football team (although they are making that Farmer's Field, so I hear. Bleh just means more LA traffic and more of CA's budget gone to waste) 2) I go to BU - we ditched our football team years ago. So I don't even have a school allegiance. 3) My parents are not from America - Super Bowl Sunday has always seemed like a very American family-oriented activity. I'm Persian. Football means soccer in Iran. Soccer > American football. Anyway . . .What year of the Super Bowl is it again, Sam?

Though I tend to mumble incomprehensibly much of the time, I’ve found my peers have no trouble voicing their opinions, quite loudly I might add. As I go throughout my day, mindlessly trekking through the snow, I often catch bits and pieces of conversations, many of which are sexual, profane, utterly confusing, or all of the above. Occasionally I’ll hear something mundane about the weather or an assignment, but mostly I’m struggling to contain my shock/outrage/laughter as I listen in on those around me. I hate to give myself away as a perpetual “creeper”, as it gives me great pleasure to eavesdrop on people, but some things I overhear around campus are just too good to be kept to myself. The following snippets have proved memorable in my eavesdropping experiences:

The world is toying with us. The same day Punxsutawney Phil told us Spring was coming early, the gods decided to spit on us all day leaving puddles the size of the groundhog’s beloved Pennsylvania at every turn. The day we hear the great news that Britney Spears released the title and artwork of her new album, The White Stripes break up. But never fear, because Boston is serving up a pretty ludicrous lineup of great acts in the month of February, and The MUSE is here to highlight a few of them for you.

Today, as I calmly and quietly held a conversation with a university acquaintance of mine on the Ecovia bus home, an old poncho-clad woman violently kicked me in the shins, yelled some incomprehensible Spanish babble at me, then kicked me again before I sidestepped away to safety. I exchanged a few puzzled looks with my fellow passengers, all of whom seemed equally as mystified by the incident as I did, as the woman unceremoniously took a seat. What could I have possibly done to warrant such a vicious attack? Though I hadn’t been talking loudly, I had been speaking English – could I have suddenly become an incarnation of American, imperial aggression in her eyes, thereby making her attack a way for her to stick it to the man? Was she offended by the fact that I was wearing a cotton shirt embroidered by an Otavalan artisan when I, myself, was clearly not indigenous?

In a city as big as Boston, amidst the big touristy locations that many of us curious students have explored, lie some lesser known treasures – the hidden gems of our college town. This week, we visit a spot close to home – a tiny café that brings the grand tastes of France here to Boston. Nestled on the corner of Park Drive in South Campus, Crispy Crepes Café boasts gourmet flavor at a pauper's price. Simply walking five to six minutes across the St. Mary's Bridge will bring you in front of this little diner-esque café.

Studying in London has meant a lot of new changes from the usual university life, including travel. For the first time, not including the plane ride over to London that was full of BU students, I was traveling to Europe on my own. This weekend, for my first trip of the semester, I traveled to the wonderful city of Frankfurt, Germany to visit my older cousin. I hadn’t seen my cousin in ages and we were celebrating my 21st birthday, so the weekend was set to be one of the best ever. Thanks to a bit of luck, one of my professors cancelled class on the last day of the week and I was able to leave a day early for an extended weekend away. Traveling in Europe is similar to travel back in the States, with the difference being that you can hop from one country to the next in the same time it takes you to travel from one state to another back home.