Reba got into town last Monday, mom went home last Wednesday. We’ve spent the last week and a half buying stuff for the apartment, locating books for school, getting things set up, meeting other outgoing and incoming MBAs, and etc. And by etc., I mean drinking. 
If there is one thing that the city of Oxford and it’s inhabitants are well primed for, it is the partying. There are a ton of pubs, bars, clubs and discos here, all kinds of different beer to sample, and a seemingly endless supply of people who want to be out whooping it up any night of the week. I should point out that I still have not really met anybody who takes their drinking and partying quite as seriously as the old WSU/Ballard crowd back home, but then it alway has been somewhat unfair to lump amateurs in with professionals.
I have met quite a few of the new MBAs, all of whom are predictably accomplished, interesting, and diverse. Some of the more colourful cast members…
- Sasha – Russian Jew whose parents left Minsk for Israel when he was 15. Sasha ended up in some sort of elite paratrooper corps, I think that he’s seen some very scary shit. Sasha’s an industrial engineer in his professional life.
- Gabe – Indie rocker from Austin Texas, ran his own resume writing business. Also a fellow Mbox and guitar enthusiast, he’s probably 10 years younger than me, but is way into old Sonic Youth! We will probably make some weirdrock this year if we get the time.
- Daniel and Jurgen – collectively known as “The Germans” these two are the lady killers in the group… good hair, skinny, good looking, stylish clothes, etc. They’re also totally hilarious and posses a semi-serious partying ethic. Jurgen is into fencing, which is apparently pretty big in Germany, where they still do this weird type of duel called student fencing. He’s done it, and from what I hear, it’s a very bloody experience.
- Shelby – Shelby is the first person I met here, and we’ve become quite chummy. She’s from the bay area and comes from a techie project management background. She has the ability to walk up and unflinchingly say anything to anyone, as evidenced by the following tapa/topless incident: she and I were trying to find something to do, and on a whim, Shelby walked up to the menacing door guys at the local tapas restaurant and deadpan asked them where she could find “either a tapas bar or a topless bar”, watching them squirm was priceless.
- Barry – Management consultant from Detroit. Foodie, beer connoisseur, and disco dancing king. In possession of a patented dance “move” that will be revealed to me at some future date.
- Takashi – 44 year old Japanese dude from Yokohama, left his wife and daughter back home while he jams out the 1 year MBA at Oxford. Another IT management guy like me, he comes from a DB2 background and is really into taking photos.
- Major – I’ve only met this guy once, but he’s apparently a Major in the US Marines, doesn’t drink, grew up in the UK and was stationed in San Diego. This dude is very big and very tough looking. Our main conversation was about how he was trying to find a good gym in town.
I have yet to meet a single Briton in the MBA program, whatever that indicates.
Today I have to go to the IT clinic at the business school, which apparently is where they install a bunch of useless crap on your computer. This will be mostly pointless, because I don’t have my login and password yet, due to some bureaucratic nonesense between SBS, Merton, and the Examination School. After that, it’s back to reading chapters for classes next week and working on the accounting review assignment. By the way, I am SO TOTALLY FRIGGING HAPPY that I took that accounting class last winter. The rampup would have murdered me, because while it’s not hard, Accounting is weird and takes a while to get used to. I now wish that I had not taken that way-too-easy stats course, but instead taken the Economics intro, because I know dick about Econ and am going to get slaughtered there.
No comments:
Post a Comment