The doorway in this photo is called the "Rabbit Hole." This is where the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland got its name. It is located at one end of the Christ Church dining hall. The professors enter the hall through it and sit at the High Table on the right.

The dining hall at Christ Church. This is where Harry Potter was filmed and, more importantly, where my study group had dinner.

Week 2 of Hilary

A few weeks ago Chris was joking about how much I slept during the break, but Week 2 of Hilary reinforced why it was so necessary to catch up. The workload and group work were in full swing, and the general consensus among my classmates is that the real challenge is going to be juggling four different study groups that all need to meet on a regular basis.

On a lighter note, my study group from last term got together for a reunion at Christ Church. Tait invited us to dinner, and Pushpak's wife, Alka, and Cesar's brother-in-law, Daniel, joined us. After dinner, Francois and Tait went head-to-head in several games of pool, and Prakash and I joined them for a few games. The evening was the highlight of the week and I'm posting several pictures from it.

In addition to that dinner there were several high-profile speakers at school this week. One was the CEO of Cathay Pacific. He was a down-to-earth guy (and Brasenose grad) who really seemed to enjoy his job. He's spent 30 years with the company so I suppose he would have left long ago if there was something he strongly disliked. I got to go to a dinner at school with him and several other corporate guests, and it was interesting to hear insiders' takes on the airline industry. Last night the CEO of L'Oreal spoke at SBS. He had a funny take on industry trends, noting that the same things go in and out of style and by now L'Oreal has been involved with all of them. They simply have to figure out which one will come back next and stay ahead of the curve.

This weekend I'm heading into London. I didn't take advantage of being so close to it last term so I'm going to try and change that this time. It's nice to see Annie there and Chris is always up for a trip to the city. Perhaps I'll take my camera and post pictures after one of these visits.

Here is another view of Brasenose, the best college.

This is another Cheryl picture from St. Mary this Virgin. This one is of my college, Brasenose.

Cheryl took this picture of the Radcliffe Camera from St. Mary the Virgin, a church in Oxford.

Tonight is the last night prior to the start of Hilary term classes. The break was both productive and relaxing, and I'm looking forward to getting started again. This past week was fairly slow, with the EP induction and Trinity elective presentations. Christine and Paul also made a trip to Oxford, and we all got together in London with Annie the following day. They climbed the steps to the top of St. Mary the Virgin, a church in Oxford. Cheryl and I did the same when she visited in December, and I'm posting a few pictures she took.

As for the term, there are two core classes this time: Marketing and Operations Management. As electives I chose Finance II, Financial Management (which is a fancy term for Accounting II,) and Global Strategy. We're also required to complete an EP (or entrepreneurial project) in groups. Essentially each group is to pretend that financial constraints are not an issue and write a business plan for a company of their choosing/creation. My group has chosen to concentrate on renewable solar energy, and I'm really looking forward to it. At the end of the term we have to pitch the plan to a professor and several investors. They then provide us with feedback, which we are encouraged to incorporate into the final project that we submit during the first week of the next term. I think this will be one of the more fun and rewarding aspects of the MBA; in fact, it's part of the reason I chose Oxford. It was the only business school I found that required students to write and orally present a business plan. More on this as the term unfolds!

Pictures of Oxford

This picture shows Christ Church Meadow. Many Harry Potter scenes, including those in the dining hall, were shot in the building in the background.










I took this picture from the top of Oxford Castle. A building on the castle grounds was used as a prison until the late-90s. Now the prison is an upscale hotel.

Post-Michelmas, Pre- Hilary

As most of my classmates would probably tell you, the one-year Oxford MBA is intense. It packs a traditional 18-month MBA program into 12-months and brings together 221 students from 48 countries. Overall, I'm learning a lot, making friends from all over the world, and enjoying the larger Oxford experience. I return to New York to visit Chris from time to time, and in addition to those visits I hope that this blog will enable me to update my friends and family regularly on life in Oxford.

The first term, Michelmas, went well overall. There were six courses: Finance I, Financial Reporting, Decision Science, Developing Effective Managers, Strategy, and Managerial Economics. My study group consisted of two Indians, one South African, one Colombian, one Canadian, and me. We worked well together, and I'm sure this made our lives easier is some ways.

The exam week at the end of the term was by far the most hectic exam week I've experienced. As an undergrad, all final exams were self-scheduled. The exam period normally lasted for 5 days and students had the option of picking up their exams either for a morning exam session or an afternoon exam session. When I explain this set-up to people, they often ask how the administration kept students who took the exam early from providing students who planned to take the exam later with the exam questions. I'm not naive enough to think that this never happened, but in four years I never heard about it, and neither did anyone I talked to before I enrolled or since I graduated. I attended a women's college, and the students were quite competitive with themselves. Providing test questions (or suggested answers) was simply not part of the culture; students respected themselves and the professors in a way that was (and still is) perhaps unique.

In contrast, Oxford scheduled six exams during a four day period. My classmates and I dressed in traditional sub-fuscs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-fusc and took the exams together in one big room. Early in the term one (American) professor half-jokingly noted that some students looked better in sub-fuscs on exam day than they had all term. My section laughed at this comment, but I have say that I think it held some water. We really did clean up, and it was kind of neat to sit for exams in a different atmosphere. Following the last exam we headed for the Turf pub, one of the few pubs in Oxford with the space to accommodate most of our class. After a busy first-term and intense exam period, it was nice to spend time together in a relaxed atmosphere. The break was certainly welcome and has been both productive and enjoyable, but I'm looking forward to returning to Oxford to start the next term.