The Beginning - Nought Week and Week 1

It it is Saturday evening 15 October 2005 and I have been in Oxford almost three weeks. The first week was spent in a state of confusion trying to establish my sleeping, eating and student administration arrangements along with various communication needs, principally email. Since I last wrote I have achieved quite alot and I am justifiably proud of my efforts. For a start I am very close to having an operational British bank account. It may not seem like much but it is a miracle of biblical proportions for a full time international student in the UK.

Secondly, some of you will be pleased to hear that I have finally bought myself a set of wheels and for the style conscious out there, you will be please to learn it is a Peugot. It is not a car but a very old and rusty bicycle which was sold to me for £30 by a 6'5 miner from Townsville called Jim. He is in Oxford with his English girlfriend who he dated for only two weeks before she continued her travels down the coast of Queensland. He told me all this over a cup of tea in his (her) flat when I went to buy the bike.

Last week is called 'Nought' week and it sees an influx of returning students, graduation ceremonies, etc. For Freshers (new undergraduates and postgraduates) such as me, it means heaps of induction activities convened by both my College and in my case, the Said Business School. Of course the most important thing that I needed to arrange during nought week was the purchase of two tickets to the Australia v England Rugby Test at Twickenham on 12 November. Special thanks to the staff of the PGA for providing my kit for that event in the form of a Wallaby jersey and beanie.

The photos at the very bottom of this latest episode are from the Graduate Dinner last Friday 6 October 2005. It was an enjoyable start to College life. Sadly, I will be so busy with my MBA studies that I will not get to socialise too much with my fellow students from College. I have become good mates with a Greek bloke called George (What a surprise, another Greek bloke called George?). He is studying astrophysics but is very laid back and would rather watch football, so I invited him along to join some MBA friends to watch the England V Austria World Cup Qualifier last Saturday afternoon. Incidentally, the group watching that game also comprised a Canadian, a Dutchman, a Russian and a Kenyan. How is that for a diverse mix? I have made so many new friends in the MBA course that it is hard to remember their names, but so far most of them come from North America as they tend to be more laid back.

The entire class of 227 is broken into three streams for the purpose of lectures. This week (Week 1) I attended all 6 lectures and to be honest it has been a bit of a blur. 6 three hour lectures per week polus a host of other seminars means that I will need to be on my game from the word go. I am already at my desk till midnight everynight as already I have two pieces of assessment due this Monday and Tuesday. Much of the assessment is done in project groups and I am fortunate to have what appears to be quite a bright and well balanced bunch of individuals in my assigned group. Rolf is an engineer turned management consultant from Namibia, Hester is a PR consultant from UK, Nikhil is an entrepreneur from US of Indian extraction and Aman is an Indian who has worked in energy production in the US for Enron and then UBS. I was completely exhausted at the end of my first week and knowing that I had Matriculation today I declined to socialise last night with my fellow MBA students for end of Week 1 drinks.

The photos with me dressed in a funny gown, 'sub fusc', are from Matriculation. This is a formal ceremony by which the new students are admitted to membership of the University. The alternative explanation for Matriculation, told to me by a fellow Aussie lawyer at St Peter's is that its comes from the Latin 'to vommit after excessive consumption of cheese'. Hence, one might say, "I ate so much vintage Peccorino at lunch I just matriculated all over the Master's shoes." I did not have too long to contemplate this definition as the ceremony was over in 10 minutes after a build up of four hourse and I needed to race off on my bike to the Oxford University Rugby Club for my first training session.

Turning up to a new rugby club is always a bit nerve wracking as you always assume everyone will be bigger, faster and better than you and you are paranoid you will cough up your first high ball. As you can see I am naturally a confident fellow, borderline cocky perhaps? While most of the players are younger than me, the forward pack was certainly smaller than I had expected. So provided I can stay fit and find some of the mongrel that I used to possess quite a deal of, I should hopefully be able to make a useful contribution to the squad. The international team that the Blues (First XV) play in Oxford this year is Tonga, so it would be quite nice to have a run against my old home land, perhaps exchanging my jersey and shorts for a traditional Tongan grass skirt.

That brings me to the present and I will have to sign off for a couple more weeks. Sadly, I already have a great deal to do and less and less time to do it in. I hope this finds you well.

All the best,
Doug.