Beginning of School

So I have just completed my first week of Orientation/ School

The first few days were at The Brewery where we got to do a lot of meet and greets (and there was quite a bit given there is 400 of us) and lectures about what to expect over the next few years.

After Tuesday we basically split up into our Streams A-E and went from there. A real highlight was we had an Away Day where we basically went with our Streams and did High Ropes and Team Building exercises. Despite our day having rain and wind it was a ton of fun and I got to get to really know 12 folks from my stream and conquered my fear of heights. You would be so proud I climbed up to the top of quite a tall Rock Climbing wall ... where my small feet actually helped me out since my side had a lot of itty bitty outposts. And I climbed up a pole that was 14 m high (think telephone pole) with a small square stand at the top and three girls waiting for me so we could hold on to each other and lean back and create a flower. I was freaked out on the way up ... the wind and rain were not helpful.. but it was so much fun!

Our group was pretty cool and reinforce why I am excited about LBS. We had Travis from DC who was in the Peace Corps, Alicia from Madrid who was a freelance consultant, Marianna from Maldova who worked in leveraged finance, Eijie from Tokyo who was a psychiatrist, Gorbin from India who was product manager for Amazon, Fiona our stream manager from the UK and my awesome study group Sharan from Delhi who is a two times successful entrepreneur, Samrin from Delhi who does Sugar Cane commodities trading for her family corporation, Yunie from Seoul who started off as a Fashion Desinger then CPA then Real Estate, Davide who is from Milan and worked for McKinsey and Ran who is from Israel and worked for the Israeli Scouts and Investment Management. Definitely no shy folks here but it was nice too because everyone was willing to listen and work together.

We were like the picture group, always stopping to take pictures together. Hehe

Away day turned out to be a great icebreaker for my study group because the next day we proceeded to the Windsor for drinks and then Strade for dinner. Samrin and Sharan set up dates for their St Bernards back home. Davide is uncomfortable with talk of children. Yunie can't drink but has an insane tolerance for spicy stuff and is probably the most adventurous eater I've ever met. And Ran and I were at the same Full Moon party in Koh Panang.

Now back to studying.

Our Home Away from Home

Gorgeous pictures of our gorgeous home. It's not much, but for London this was pretty good (besides the bright orange carpet). We are no longer homeless




Our study/dining area... really liking the glass table

Our kitchen... tiny but well stocked... look at all those shelves.. we hope to fill it with little nick knacks from our travels to come
Our "family room" previous positioned like a cave but we opened it up to feel more roomy and usefull

Your bedroom... kind of a tight fit with the big bed but wall to wall mirrors
Our entrance way... girls would be proud I now take up 2/3 of the shoe rack

Addendum: Rugby cont.

As some may be able to tell I have been writing most .. nay 100% of the posts.. but Eugene will appear from time to time so look out for it =) hehe.

I was so excited about writing about my experience playing rugby I forgot to mention the really cool thing about LBS is that partners are allowed to join any of the clubs, including sports, at LBS. So while I was playing with the girls, Eugene duked it out with the boys. Now while I was pleasantly surprised to find that size wise I was pretty on par with the other girls. Eugene found himself with 6ft or approaching 6ft tall guys with broad shoulders... well let's just say they were big and in that linebacker not O line big way. To his further surprise the guys who showed up kept saying that all their really big guys didn't even show up. Therefore Eugene is debating whether to join or not, afterall guys rugby is tackle...

However I think Eugene would be quite good because one of my classmates came up and told me "your husband is really fast" and Eugene told me he was able to intercept the ball (impressive given you're only allowed to lateral in rugby) and ran it for an almost try (basically a rugby touchdown)... almost only because he mistook the cones and stopped before the line (think endzone) ... which in rugby if you touch the ball to the ground without being touched by the other team it is an automatic turnover.

Our coordinates are...

SUCCESS!! Yesterday we dropped down our deposit (did you know UK deals in cash.. made me super nervous even though it was the middle of the day to be carrying around so much cash... did not help there was a very RUDE british gentleman behind us who was looking over our shoulders as the teller was counting our money... RUDE!), signed our contracts and received our keys to our NEW FLAT!!

::: I hope this to be the last pictureless entry... will be trying to get internet functioning tomorrow:::

And today we said goodbye to the Holiday Inn - Regent's Park (£186 per night if booked directly $70USD per night if negotiated on Priceline... FYI) stepped into one of their insanely roomy cabs (the trick is they don't have a trunk so its just a very deep back seat.. fit all 4 of our big suitcases, 2 duffles, 2 backpacks and us 2) and made our way to our new home... at least for the next 9 months.

We are staying in a 1 bedroom flat about a block from the school, thus 5 min from Bakers Street Tube. It has this ugly burnt orange carpenting and a kitchen that reminds me of Apt 36 in Berkeley but otherwise is great because it's bigger than most we've seen for that price (we are now paying NY prices so I'm still recovering from the sticker shock) and pretty nice. The bathroom is one of the best I've seen so I'm a fairly happy camper. I'm especially happy that it is soooo close because London sort of shuts down around 11PM and becomes all deserted and quiet which is creepy when walking as two people... downright CSI scary when it's just me.

The only catch to our flat is that the previous tenant hasn't fully moved out, so we basically moved any remaining items from the bedroom and bathroom out to a corner of the living room and her friend is coming by Friday to pick up all of her stuff. Which leaves us Saturday to go to IKEA and pick up anything that we need. It is sort of weird because we feel like we're living in a flat where half of it is ours and the other half is someone elses. Hopefully we'll be able to get all settled down before the craziness of orientation (me) and work (Eugene) starts on Monday.

Other than this flat craziness.. on Tuesday we visited Eugene's office, only has 4 people but is super nice and situated in this really nice old house.. no mansion... by Green Park tube. The people are super nice and it looks like it will be a comfy environment for him (he basically gets what was original two desks all to himself, with 3 monitors hooked up to one computer and 2 monitors to another... he's gonna be like those hackers you see on TV with a mass of screens).

As for meeting folks I made it out to the Windsor Castle (the pub attached to the school and now across the street from my flat) for one of the Flat Hunter's Pub Crawls. I met up with Marissa, who I met in LA, and met Venu, who is half Finnish and half Indian but has lived in London for the last 7 yrs and totally cracks me up. I also met a bunch of other classmates that my throat was starting to hurt towards the end of the night. On Tuesday I went to a Meet and Greet and bumped into Ashkay, Sachin and Ximena again and met a few new folk too. I was going to take a break but there is a Sundowner at Windsor Castle tomorrow and I'm not so lazy I won't walk a block for a drink and some socializing. =)

Oh I forgot to mention... our flat comes with a sofa bed... so visitors welcome!

A little fun in the sun

Sunday was our break day having spent the last 4 days flat hunting.

We started our day by meeting the LBS Men and Women's Rugby Team in Regents Park for a game of touch rugby. We split up into guys and girls, where I noticed the boys kind of just started playing and the girls we got a good grounding on the rules and did drills first. It's the first time we'd met up with LBS and Partners and it was a lot of fun. Everyone is very cool and laid back and as I got used to the rules of rugby it's actually quite fun and a very good workout. It was also a great chance to meet some of my other 2011 classmates.

Another aspect of rugby I think I'm going to like is that when we finished we all had a beer and when that was depleted everyone headed to the pubs. I stayed behind because I briefly lost my husband (who'd been detained from returning from the bathroom because he was trying to figure out how the game of cricket works). We decided to head to Pret (a corner bakery type chain) for lunch since we had skipped breakfast and therefore running on nothing. Sandwiches were yummy and not too expensive (I tend to disagree with folks who say food here is not good and too expensive... sandwiches were approx £3 which is roughly $5... pretty standard for LA or SF... cheaper even).

After we cleaned up and rested we decided to do our first bit of site seeing and headed down to the tube to check out South Bank and Westminster. Quickly we discovered the tube is expensive! One way is £4 and day pass is £5.60 (in our already student mentality we decided all tube outings should be reserved for a full day of exploring and not just an hour or two here or there). While very easy to use it's not terribly comfortable, ventilation wasn't great in the trains and it felt stuffy and slighty smelly. I think we'll be doing a lot of walking and bus riding.

We got off at Embankment which dropped us across the river from the London Eye. As we crossed the Golden Jubilee Bridge we realized... isn't this the bridge the death eaters took down in the beginning of Harry Potter. But luckily it was all clear and sunny skies (we've been very lucky) and we saw no speeding black clouds of death eaters hehe.

The London Eye is a magnificent ferris wheel which takes 40 min to loop around and costs about £17. As the queue was quite long we decided to wait until another sunny day to check out the London Eye. I had noticed earlier that the streets are really clean for a big city... at most you'll find some cigarette butts but not a lot of litter. That does not hold true for near the London Eye, there is trash everywhere. I don't know if its because its a tourist attractions and tourists just don't care or that it's actually kind of hard to spot a trash can.

Along the boardwalk there's a lot of performances, statue people, break dancers (one who did a rather good rendition of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean) and random performers. There was also a lot of ice cream stands and belgian waffle stands. We paid the price and got a belgian waffle with chocolate syrup, it was quite good but probably looked better than it tasted. £3.50 for one... I can see if you stay in tourist areas how money could disappear quite quickly.

As we walked along the river we had a great view of Big Ben and the Parliament. It is a quite impressive structure with very fine detail. Right next to it is Westminster Abbey which is just as detailed but is a nice contrast with its white walls. As it was late we didn't get to go in but we're sure to make another trip to view both of these in more detail.

For dinner we decided to try La Piazza near the Embankment station (using the whole.. there's a lot of people in here it must be good). I was pleasantly surprised to realize that Italian restaurants here serve Italian food like they do in Italy ... i.e., the Lasagna doesn't have all that extra ricotta cheese Americans love adding ... and I dislike. We got Gnocchi with tomato, garlic and basil sauce with Parmesaon cheese on top. Very good but not the best gnocchi .. a bit starchy. And Eugene got the Lasagna with Bechamel sauce... sooo delicious... I probably ate half of his meal.

We were surprised to realize when we got the bill that we were charged for water (we asked for tap but apparently that wasn't an option) £2.90 and a cover charge for the both us. Cover charge? Apparently some European restaurants charge you a cover charge PER PERSON for things we've taken for granted in American retaurants i.e., bread etc. Still the meal wasn't too expensive and they had the green olives I absolutely love (of which I ate almost all of them)

All in all a lovely time in London.

Walking the streets at night

We put in an offer/initial deposit on Saturday for a place across from the school... and we have our fingers crossed that everything will work out.

To celebrate on Saturday night we decided to treat ourselves to Indian food at a restaurant on Devonshire that was always full when we walked by. And for good reason too. We got the Spinach and Lamb (I will learn the names eventually) and Mixed Vegetable Curry with some rice and naan and it was scrumptious.

Afterwards we went to FINALLY go watch Harry Potter and the Half Blooded Prince. We went to Odeon Tottanham Ct Rd cinemas, which we were under the impression is equivalent to our AMCs back hom. If this is movie watching in London I will wait until I get back to the states to watch my movies. First of all, it's £10.70 or roughly $17 per person. Second it's assigned seating. Third the theater is tiny! The screen is not that big (it's like being in someone's private home entertainment room), definitely wasn't feeling the surround sound, and their stadium seating still enables your view to be blocked if there's a person sitting in front of you. While I enjoyed the movie (which took some liberties or I have a poor memory of the book) I wasn't impressed with the movie watching experience.

On our walk back home at 11:30PM... which we didn't think was that late, we realized everything shuts down a bit earlier out here. The streets were pretty empty, except for the main roads, and most of the shops, restaurants and pubs were already closed. With Eugene's comments about Jack the Ripper and my natural sense of paranoia ... I kept one hand on the mace in my pocket in ready position.

One fun tidbit that made us feel like locals is someone asked us directions to a tube station, which we only happen to know because we had just walked past it a block ago.

Finding a flat in London...

It is officially day 3 in London and we've started our intensive flat finding mission.

Day 1 we landed early at 10:30AM but didn't make it to the hotel until 1PM. Despite ambitious plans, the jet lag (and unlimited new movies on the plane...thus little to no sleep)got the better of us and we proceeded to take a 4 hr nap. After waking we decided to see exactly how far the school is... approximately a 25-30min walk from the hotel.

Day 2 we visted most every letting (or renting) agents...and scheduled Friday full of flat visits. The few we saw this day reminded us of Berkeley, small, old and expensive. We also discovered today that we do not have the same tolerance we once had as students to live in dismal places... upping how much we are willing to spend.

Day 3 (Today) We've gone through 1/4 of our flat appts and so far found one that is in a so so neighborhood, is small but newly done and super cheap not to mention within walking distance. We found another one that we hope to get for £60 cheaper than asking that is in a great building with a front desk, elevator, and inside is brand new, more space and great but I need to take a bus to get to it. Wish us luck on the rest of our day.

First impressions of London is that it is very very cute... the houses are mostly brick and if you look down some alleys in Devonshire it has the cobblestone streets and looks literally out of our Colonial times (minus the very modern looking cars). Also despite the warnings of horrendous food at horrendous prices...I think the food is quite good... or at least not terrible..and Eugene and I have spent about £10 per meal (for the both of us). We've tried our hand at Indian, Lebanese wraps and a tasty sandwich from La Pain Qoutidien (sp?... same chain as the one in Old Town Pasadena... it's a Belgium chain). Also London, for a big city, is pretty clean... we see almost no garbage on the streets and definitely missing the smell of pee that defined my memories of New York.

More to come...and pictures too