thoughts... dreams...

I met up with my future flatmate, Johannah yesterday (she is still lovely) and chatted over a delicious salad of prawns, avocado and mango *yum* in a trendy cafe type place on Marylebone High Street. We were talking about our expectations of our time in Oxford and thought that it may be interesting to write it all down beforehand and then at the end of the course look back and compare.

So what do I expect it to be?

Firstly, I expect there to be a lot of hard work. I expect to be intellectually stimulated and stretched - sometimes more than I think I can handle. I expect to have lots and lots of work to get through and very little time to do it in. I expect to read lots and write lots. I expect to work in teams, sometimes with people I wouldn't choose to work with, and sometimes on my own. I expect to be stumped by the numbers, bored by the IT courses and fascinated by the soft skills classes. But in the end, I expect to get through it, with a different attitude to some subjects and a new respect for some of the people I have worked with in the past.

What will make my time at Said a memorable one will be the people that I meet there. Perhaps the group that I do my new business development project with will have a genuinely good idea which is just begging to be realised. Or maybe the consultancy project undertaken in Hollywood will lead to an offer of employment by a company specialising in New Media which will change my life for ever. Or maybe a chance meeting at the dinner table at my college St. Hugh's will lead to an opportunity that I had never dreamed of.
Whatever happens, I expect my life to be changed irrevocably in the same way that travel stretches the mind and it isn't possible to go back to where you were before, education has the same effect. Bring it on!

And what of my home? I expect to get on well with my new flatmates. I expect Tim to lead us, Scott to be the party animal, Johannah to keep us healthy and me to maintain the peace. I expect to share punting trips and bottles of red wine, stories of our homes and help through the difficult times. I hope to make some friendships that last for the rest of my life, and to get invited to visit places that I've never been (New Zealand, Rochester (New York), San Francisco).

I expect to have a hard battle when it comes to maintaining a balance between a course of study which will want to take up all of my time and my faith which is the most important part of my life. It's the age old decision of which to do, what is important or what is urgent. I pray that God will help me with this dilemma and show me which choices to make. I expect a slightly different church experience at St. Ebbe's to St. Helen's as it is more of a local community church rather than a large networking church. I hope to make some new Christian friends who will encourage me during the tough times and who I will be there for when they need me. I want to be able to contribute to St. Ebbe's and be used by God however he wants during my time there.

There is so much more, I want to become better at my salsa dancing, get to know my friend Kat better, start up running again, figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life, career... decide where I'm going to live. Who knows? only God.

The street where we live

What a fantastic weekend! Not only have I met my fabulous soon-to-be flatmate and got along like a house on fire with her, but we also found a place for us to live. All of a sudden, everything feels so much more concrete, like it's really going to happen.

Below on the left is a picture of our new home, a 4-bedroom townhouse with a small garden in a fairly new development minutes away from the business school. And not far into town either. The picture on the right is a lovely little pub/cafe nearby which we hope will become our local watering hole.

Our new house	Our local?

So we've paid an application fee and now we're all in the process of filling out the endless forms needed by the Letting Agents. When I say we, I mean Johannah and I, plus two American guys who are going to be sharing with us. We haven't met them yet, only spoken on the phone and they are both really excited to be coming to Oxford and sharing with us. We are all going to be doing the MBA course together, and living together... Yikes! I hope they're nice.

Handed in my notice - again

Had a meeting with my manager today which was supposed to be an interim review meeting but when I handed in my notice, we went to the pub for lunch instead. She did comment that no one had ever gone to such lengths to avoid filling out the mountain of forms required for the review!

It was all very positive and she was getting quite excited about the prospect of me going back to University. It was nice, after holding it in for so long, it was a relief to be able to talk freely at work about the fact that I'm going to be embarking on a new stage of life soon.

Tonight I am going to indulge myself by goin to my current favourite restaurant Loch Fyne for a yummy fish feast then on to Fiesta Havana for salsa dancing to celebrate :)

Hey, if you can make it, why not come along to my leaving do on the 23rd September at Sugarreef.

Where to live?

Who would have thought that it would be this difficult to find a place to live in Oxford. Town of the grean leafy suburbs, old Victorian houses, established student communities... it should be a doddle to find a place. But, it seems that every student in Oxford is trying to find a place to live next year right now!

I've hooked up with a few fellow MBA-ers in the search, another girl (Kiwi) and a couple of guys (American) and the plan is to find a 4-bed property near to the business school. The current favourite is a property in Rewley Park which unfortunately comes unfurnished *frown*. Still, the rent is very good and the location is excellent, and the property has 3 bathrooms and a garden for barbeques...

How hard can it be to get some furniture? Should we consider unfurnished places? Should I find a different group of people to live with? Puzzled...

It's really going to happen!

I got the e-mail from the B-school today saying that they have received my (non-refundable) deposit which has secured my place at the school for October. Oh.. Be still my beating heart!

So, I guess that I've passed the point of no return - well, almost, I think that there will be no return after I hand in my letter of resignation. This is currently planned during a meeting with my manager next Tuesday. (This is the second this year and some kind of record for me) Frankly, I don't think that they will be surprised especially as I plan to refuse to fill out the review forms they have been hounding me to write for months.

Shame. I had such high hopes for this job, but I guess that it has been "a good thing" in that it gave me a real incentive to get up off my rear end and apply to University. Great.

There is so much to do now, look for a place to stay, find someone to rent my room for a year, budget, get stationary, clothes... So many decisions to make, where should I go to church (St. Ebbes)? which college should I choose? where is the nearest salsa club?

I've also recently heard of a scholarship that I can apply to and I need to get a personal statement of not more than 800 words in by the end of next week. Please pray for that right now as it would be so helpful if I didn't have to worry about money for the next year.

God is in control.