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.