Whew...  It has been quite a month and a half and a long, long year, but I am now officially done with the MBA!  I submitted my last two assignments around an hour ago and other than waiting for my grade on the dissertation; I am done!  While it has been a good experience, I have absolutely hated the last two months.  My laptop was stolen causing me to lose all of my data and required a restart.  Then there was the total agony of working alone for 60 days.  But never mind that....  IT'S OVER!

The ending is quite anti climatic.  I was expecting a big sigh of relief or the same feeling of a millstone being taken off my shoulders as I experienced with the end of exams, but there is very little of that.  Most of the MBA cohort has gone home or various other places and Sarah and I will do the same a week from today.  It is difficult to get absolute perspective on the past year at this moment, but I do know that is has been rewarding in so many ways.  However, I am thrilled to be in a position to work again....  for money!  Let me tell you if you don't already know.  Paying someone so you can do a lot of work is no fun.

So finding a job is the next step.  Nothing concrete right now, but I will keep you up to date as I have news.  I am also trying to decide what to do with this site.  Now that Sarah and I are headed back to the US the original purpose of this blog is gone.  I think I will keep it going, but more as random musings of the things I find important or interesting.  Scary.... 

The largest part of exams for term 2 are now finished and I am efforting to complete a project for Human Resource Management and Marketing Strategy, which is a group report.  I then have 1 exam remaining on the 12th of June, which will officially end the class work for the MBA.

Before that happens, I will be attending the Interstate program I spoke about earlier and of course we will attend Aaron's wedding.  All of Sarah's family are coming in on Wednesday June 6th and then we will drive down to Devon to aid in setting up for the big event.  We will attempt to see some sites on the way down such as Bath and Stonehenge, but it will depend on the time.  After the wedding, I must head back north for paper hand-in and my final exam, while the Galvin's will head over to the mother land (Ireland).  Isn't life grand!

We are also in the middle of a friend transition.  Sean and Teresa, the other American couple who came over with DePuy, are leaving the friendly confides of the UK to return to the States.  Sean accepted a position with Hand Innovations, one of DePuy's recent acquisitions, which is located in Miami.  The weather will certainly be an improvement.  Teresa has already gone back to the US, and Sean will be officially leaving on Monday the 28th.  Sean and Teresa have become very dear to us during our England adventure and will be sorely missed.

With Sean's departure, another American swam across the pond to join us in merry ole' England, Polly Cary.  She is Sarah's best mate, who also works for DePuy and has been house sitting for us, has officially moved to Leeds.  I assisted her in looking for an apartment on Monday and she found what she was looking for on the first viewing.  We are really jealous, since it is located in the same division as us, but is far better decorated.  The sofas are actually comfortable!  The couple who own this flat recently moved out and dressed it up in a first class manner.  I venture to say that we will be spending a lot more time over there than visa versa.  Polly is currently staying with us, but will move in tomorrow.

I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone.  It seems like just the other day we were arriving in Leeds and learning how to drive over here.  With my month long trip back to the US, I only have around eleven weeks of time left in the UK and Europe.  Well, better make the most of it.

Cheers!

Last weekend for Easter break Sarah and I traveled to Scotland with two of our Swedish friends.  They (Viktoria & Dag) flew into London and took the train up to Leeds on Thursday.  We spent the afternoon and evening showing them a bit of the city and the Yorkshire Dales.  Dinner was at our favorite pub called "The Fleece" in a small town north of Leeds called Addingham.

Friday morning we all set out in the car toward Edinburgh along with half of England.  A trip that should last no more than 4 hours turned into a 7+ hour tour; but the scenery was lovely.  In the afternoon, we arrived at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast just a few miles outside the city centre.  Sarah and I had a ground level room with double doors leading to a quaint little garden.  With the city so full we were extremely fortunate to have found such a great place.  In the evening we walked the old part of the city and had dinner at "The Tower" restaurant which is located at the top of the Museum of Scotland.  We booked this on recommendation from one of my classmates, who is Scottish, and it could not have been a better experience.  There were great views of the city and the best service we have experienced since arriving in the UK.

When you think of Scotland a few words come to mind; kilts, bagpipes, haggis, and of course whiskey.  With this in mind we hoped to visit a whiskey distillery.  They only problem being, most of the better whiskeys (in my opinion) are in the upper highlands and we did not have time to drive that far.  So we were going to settle for a lowland tour just south of Edinburgh.  Fortunately for us, the owner of the B&B had a much better suggestion to drive an hour or so north to Blair Athol in Pitlochry.

The town of Pitlochry was bustling with locals and tourists enjoying fantastic weather.  The entire weekend was sunny and warm, which I believe is actually illegal in Scotland.  The tour of the distillery was fascinating(I took a few pictures even though I wasn't supposed to) and we learned that the Blair Athol single malt is not sold outside of the UK; very rare.  After the tour and a taste of a very spicy 12 year old single malt, the four of us headed into town to find some lunch.  We ate fish and chips in the sun at crowded little pub and listened to some very poor live music.  From there we drove back to Edinburgh and dropped Viktoria and Dag off at the castle so they could tour inside before closing.  Sarah and I had already been there so we drove back to the B&B, dropped the car, and took the bus into the city so we could meet up after their site-seeing.

On Easter Sunday we said goodbye to the lovely B&B after eating a huge Scottish breakfast.  Our goal for the day was to make it into the southern part of the highlands to a pristine mountain area known as Glencoe.  Words can not do justice to the scenery so you must check out the pictures we will have up on the blog shortly.  Next we headed south along the west coast and down to the town of Oban.  Renown for its whiskey, Oban is a small port town just off the A85.  Only the visitor centre of the distillery was open so we had a quick look around and set off again. 

By now if was late afternoon and we needed to drive southeast toward Glasgow to stay the night in the Loch Lomond region.  Loch Lomond is a huge lake and holiday area just 20 miles north of Glasgow.  Unfortunately, darkness fell and the rain blew in as we were arriving, so we only saw a fraction of the beauty this area has to offer.  We spent the night at another Bed & Breakfast in a small town called Alexandria.  Sarah booked this room later than the Edinburgh B&B so we quite literally had the last spot in town.  The four of us had to share the room, but it worked out fine.

On Monday, with another large Scottish breakfast in our bellies, we set off back to England.  We thought about taking an hour or so to tour Loch Lomond, but we were concerned about the traffic and our friends had a train back to London at 4 pm.  Our concerns turned out to be correct as it took us an additional hour to arrive back in Leeds.  We had time for a quick lunch and then escourted Viktoria and Dag to the train station.

This was a fantastic trip!  There was way too much driving and traffic involved, but the raw beauty of Scotland was worth every minute.  The good news is that we just scratched the surface of all that Scotland has to offer.  The Scottish people are fun-loving and friendly, make the best whiskey and shortbread cookies known to man, and continue to impress me everytime I'm back.  If you are thinking of coming to the UK, you must go to Scotland.

Spring is in the air here in the UK as the temperature is trying to warm and the sun has actually shone a few days this week.  I am on Easter break for two weeks as the program finally takes a break.  After that I will have a few closing classes and then the exam revision period begins.  I only have four exams this time instead of 7, but I also have 4 projects to hand in 3 of which are around 3000 words.  I am trying to get some of the work out of the way now so it will be a bit easier later on, but the warm sun and agreeable weather are constantly calling me outside.

For the Easter weekend Sarah has Friday and Monday off so we are headed up to Scotland with friends from Sweden.  Victoria, one of the girls that Sarah met when she was studying in France, is coming to visit with her husband Dag.  They will arrive tomorrow (Thursday) and will sight-see around Leeds with us.  Friday morning we plan to drive to Edinburgh and stay there for a couple days using it as a hub for travel around the Southeast of Scotland.  I want to go see Stirling and Falkirk made famous by the Braveheart movie (even though the fight scenes were actually filmed in Ireland) and maybe a whiskey distillery if there is time.

Have a great Easter everyone!

This weekend Sarah & I drove down to visit Aaron, her brother, and his fiance, Laura, in Watford (a suburb) of London.  It was great to see both of them and it allowed us a hopping off point to visit London.  Sarah has already been there a couple of times, but I had not. 

Saturday we all went into the city and toured the sites.  We began at Notting Hill and the amazing bazaar held every Saturday on Portobello Road.  After lunch, we headed out to the main attractions, Big Ben, parliament, Downing Street, etc and took a tour of the War Cabinet Rooms.  This is a fascinating place that held the strategic UK headquarters during WWII.  It was closed directly after VJ day and was not opened again until 2003, when Gordon Brown made it into a visitor tour.  There is also an extensive Winston Churchill Museum on the grounds with an actually cigar that he had partially smoked and left there.  According to the tour, he smoked 8 cigars a day!

We ate a nice Italian restaurant after a pint of Guinness to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and Brian's(my brother) Birthday.  We also stumbled upon the ICE BAR.  This is a club/restaurant that is made completely of ice!  Only 62 people can be in at a time and you must wear a big parka.  We couldn't get in without a reservation.  Perhaps some day.

The next day Sarah and I said "goodbye" to Aaron and Laura and drove home.  On the way, we saw a turnoff for Oxford and decided to go.  Oxford is the epitome of "quaint."  We visited Christ's Church and the University, but did not stay long since it began to rain hard.  I will upload a few pictures from the town.

Continuing North, we drove through some back ice and hail that would come and go.  Then in a patch of dry weather Sarah saw a turnoff for Stratford and we said, "What the heck."  Stratford or Stratford-upon-Avon is the birthplace and burial place for William Shakespeare.  The town is lovely with a small centre and a wonderful river and canal running through the downtown.  We walked down to the Church of the Holy Trinity where Shakespeare was baptized and buried.  I have a few pictures of this to share as well.  The weather turned bad again so we left in a hurry back to Leeds. 

While Sarah is busy jet setting around the world I am preparing for the final push of the semester.  It is currently week 6 of 10 and our groups business plan is due next Wednesday.  A little background on the project...  Each MBA group of 5-6 students (we only have 4) had to come up with a plan for an new unique business idea.  Last semester we gave a presentation on the idea, how we arrived at the idea, and any environmental impacts.  This semester we needed to turn the idea into a plan.  This document is 40-50 pages of market strategy, company overview, financials, HR issues, and much much more.  Sounds like fun?  We are coming along fine, but I am beginning to feel the final crunch.

And now that the boring is out of the way... The BIG news.

On her return trip to Warsaw Sarah met with her boss and he gave her the outstanding news that she has been promoted to Product Director!  This is certainly not the first time she has been promoted, but this one is special.  Since Sarah began with DePuy in the marketing department, this is the position for which she has been striving.  She has worked extremely hard for this and I could not be prouder.  

I have finally made the time to update the blog for the Rome trip.  The semester has begun with a flurry and though I have worked harder than last term I still feel like I am behind.  All the marks are now in and I am firmly rooted in the "Merit" level with a good chance at "Distinction."  After eight years of not being in academic life, I'm just glad I passed!

The Rome trip was fantastic.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves beauty or history.  It seems that ancient Rome set a high standard for architecture that the Italians are still attempting to live up to.  There are so many fascinating places that it would take months to see it all.  

The pictures on the blog are just a sampling of all that we took there.  Maybe you can all come over for a really boring slide show when we return!  I believe I took around 300 pictures.  

Day 1 was a tour of the Coliseum and Empirial Rome.  Day Two:  The Vatican.  Day 3 Pantheon, Downtown Rome, and the Trevi Fountain.  The food was amazing and the weather gorgeous.  You all must go!

I mentioned in a previous entry that the price of traveling is cheap and that has remained true for the most part, however, every once in awhile you find a killer deal.  Low cost, no frills airlines are popular over here and we are looking to exploit them since our money does not go as far in the UK. 

Sarah has a upcoming trip to Rome next Wednesday and wanted me to come since we missed out over Christmas.  Those of you who know me well know that Rome is on the top of my list of places to visit in the world due the great amount of history that is there.  I first objected because of the 3 days of missed class and the likely expense of going on short notice.  However, I decided to look around and see if there was anything good.  I looked on Ryan Air flying out of Liverpool, which is about an hours drive from Leeds, and found an outstanding deal.  If we left Wednesday and flew back on Saturday the flight would cost only 2 pence, which is roughly 4 cents.  With taxes and everything it came out to 30 pounds; a steal!  Combine that with the fact that DePuy is paying for the hotel and transfers and there could not be a cheaper way to do Rome.  I am so excited!  I will be sure to take loads of pictures so you can all be there with me.  Until then Chao!  (I am working on my Italian).

Whew, the holiday's are over and now I can get some rest...  As most of you know by now, Sarah and I had quite an interesting Christmas experience.  After the challenges of last year, we hoped to retreat to Rome and ring in the festive time as the Romans do.  Unfortunately, there were other plans for us this year. 

Sarah's Uncle, William Samaha, died at the age of 55 leaving behind a wife (Judy) and two young girls.  Please take a moment and pray for their family as they deal with this extremely difficult time.  I did not know him well, but if the comments made at his funeral are any indication his life, this man of god will be sorely missed by all that knew him.  The evening session of the viewing was meant to last two hours; there was still a line out the door at the two hour mark with an hour more dedicated to this beloved man.  I spoke to the funeral home director and he said that it was one of the most attended viewings he had seen in his many years.

It was certainly great to see all the family, but it came with a high price.  Sarah and I are praying that no one dies next Christmas.  Anyone reading this site must promise us that they will be careful around the holidays in 2007!

We have had a quiet New Years as I try to catch up from all the time away from studying.  I have seven exams which commence tomorrow and run through the next fortnight (2 weeks).  Please pray that I make it through with a passing average.  Some of the subjects, like tomorrows Economics Exam, I am quite comfortable with and then there are others such as Corporate Finance this coming Wednesday which are a bit less clear in my mind.  I will thank you all in advance for the divine inspiration!

We wish you and yours all the best in 2007!

I recently added pictures to the photo area walking you through my typical day at LUBS.  However, the pictures are in reverse, so they will only make sense if you start at the end and work back.  Best of luck with that.  Cheers!