End of term!

It's been a while since I posted (about two two weeks I think) so lots to catch up on! Well, not too much going on for me except planning travel, but Kent has been super busy over the last few weeks.

The weather has just been fantastic lately. I've been out walking all over Oxford and just enjoying the warm weather and sunshine! I've been running, swimming and practicing yoga a lot also. I went to an all day yoga workshop last Saturday held in "a converted Edwardian barn." It was so relaxing and I felt great for a few days. We even practiced outside for an hour or so....unheard of in March in England! I walked to the British version of Home Depot called B&Q. I picked up some garden supplies - flowers, herbs, pots, dirt - and worked on clearing out the winter growth and planting a few primroses. We're excited to see what pops up in our back garden.

Kent, on the other hand, has been in the library from dusk til dawn. He sat outside in the SBS courtyard a few times to catch some rays. He's finally done with exams and papers as of Friday (yesterday, the 27th) and couldn't be more relieved. He had his two hardest exams in one day, but feels pretty good about all of them. Here's a pic of him in his "subfusc" (Oxford's academic dress code) before those two exams. The tradition is the wear a white carnation on the first exam, pink for the middle ones, and red for the last one. So, he decided to wear both the red and pink for last Weds.

All day Thursday Kent worked on his final assignment - a 3500 word take home exam-case analysis. Almost finished, but we had to leave for the end of term dinner celebration. Here are a few pics from that evening. It was at Brasenose College, one that we hadn't been in yet and is gorgeous. We had champagne in one of the common rooms before moving in to the main dining hall for dinner (both below). The food was actually really nice too - a seared tuna appetizer, main course of beef fillet (that wasn't overcooked!), and dessert of espresso creme brulee. Then back to the common room for port and cheese. Yum! It was a great celebration for the end of the second term for all of these students who had been studying so hard.

Now Kent and his classmates have a ncie break from classes - about three weeks. Some of the MBA students are headed on "treks" organzied by the school - some vacation and a few business meetings as well. I think there are treks to Silicon Valley, Africa, and China. Kent and I are creating a trek of our own - to India! We're going to one of Kent's classmate's wedding near Delhi in the north of India. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to experience the 500-1000 person, 6 day wedding celebration! It will be such an interesting cultural experience to go to the wedding at a nice resort and to explore a few days on our own, including the Taj Mahal. We'll be gone from March 31st - April 7th. We'll be sure to take tons of pictures!

We also have a few visitors here to Oxford over the break, and we're excited to show them around. First, the Millers (Tabatha and Chris) are here from Austin. They arrived yesterday and are here in Oxford this weekend, and we're all going in to London tomorrow to go to The Boat Race, which is the biggest deal in Oxford vs. Cambridge sports - rowing. Kent knows a few of the MBA student/Olympians on the team, so we're going to cheer them on and go to a fancy ball afterwards. (look out for a seperate blog on the Miller's visit!).

Then we're off to India, and just after we return from there Kent's parents are here for a visit over Easter weekend. We're looking forward to catching up, and possibly take a road trip to explore another part of England. They have already seen most of Oxford on their first visit, so we may go down to the coast in Cornwall and see something new. Should be a fun visit!

THEN.....April 15th Kent is headed to North Carolina for his VCIC world competition with his team from Oxford. It's going to be a busy "break" for Kent, but all very fun!!

I'm also excited that my mom and dad booked their tickets to visit in July! The weather should be really fantastic by then. Yay!

More soon....

Karen