I realized I haven't yet 'announced' our big news - we decided to move back the the USA. It wasn't really official until we booked our trip back, and that part is a funny story. I did a search on the internet for flight prices for a one way ticket to Boston, and it was coming up at $1000 EACH! In the past, it's been about $400-600 round trip! So that made me think, what about a cruise? It sounds expensive, but so does $1000 for a one-way flight to Boston. So it turned out the cruise was LESS EXPENSIVE! Ok, so it ends up being about a total of $200 more after taxes, but since we would have had to pay for the flight anyway, it's effectively like getting an 11-day cruise for $200. We'll take it!
I really can't wait to have all that uninterrupted time together!
But deciding to take the boat back also made me think about what it must have been like for my family a couple generations going back. I talked to my Grandmother about it a little, and she said it took about 3 weeks to get across the ocean (and not on a luxury cruise ship like we're doing!), and many of the men lived in boarding houses when they arrived. If they were lucky, they had a nice one and were able to save some money, but apparently my great-grandfather wound up in a pretty bad one, where the men weren't fed enough and had a lot of their wages taken. Eventually he moved out to a better one, but it must have been quite a shock for all these young men to come over from Sweden and other places looking for great jobs and prosperity only to wind up poor and hungry. But good things came out of it too, and my family has done well in America. It's so important to remember the sacrifices your family has made to give you a good life, and I think this is something Paul and I think about a lot. We both think it will be good for us to try to be near family if we can - and there's no reason why we can't.
And on that note, I realized time was running out for our year in Oxford, and we still haven't visited Sweden. Paul's never been, and my cousin has a new baby so it's really a fun time to go. There was one of those super cheap airfares to Gothenberg, so we booked it. Of course, it requires a 3.5 hour bus trip to get to the airport for a 2 hour flight, but it's still cheap. I am so excited to see the family and for them to meet Paul!
So, the next step is to look for jobs and a place to live near these jobs, and FINALLY get to enjoy our wedding presents! If you know anyone who's looking to hire an MBA or a researcher with an MA in Social Science, send them our way!
Some day, I hope, we won't have so much stress and uncertainty in our lives. But at least we figured out the most important part - to get married!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Business in Munich
Probably if you're reading this, you know already that Paul has been working on his summer internship in Munich since the beginning of July, while i'm still living and working in Oxford. It's not what either of us expected, but Paul's opportunity in Munich was one we couldn't pass up. He's working on a consulting project at a big technology company with three other classmates from Oxford. The company didn't help them find accommodation, so they wound up finding two furnished one-bedroom apartments (with fold-out couch), and two guys are staying in each. Paul's staying with Richard, who's from Australia. They split it so Paul got the bedroom the first month, then the couch for the second month. With my job, it may have been possible to work remotely for a month or so, but when I learned about their accommodation, I decided against it. So, Paul's been there for about 6 weeks now, with 2 more to go.
You also may recall that our first anniversary fell on 28 July, halfway through Paul's Munich project. He can't take any vacation time since it's a student internship, but I did visit for a week. That meant a married couple and a guy sharing a one bedroom apartment for a week. I know, you are jealous. Between our student flat with Brillo pads for carpet and separate stubby hot and cold water taps, and the shared bachelor pad in Munich, it's not quite the glamourous life you may picture when you think of Oxford and Germany. Anyway, this post is about my visit to Germany.
I arrived on a Friday and met Paul at the main Munich train station. We booked a weekend at a B&B in Mittenwald, a small tourist town on the Austrian border in the Alps. Paul had booked us some sort of special weekend group train ticket, so for about $75 we covered all our travel expenses on the train. Mittenwald is about 2 hours by train from Munich, so we were able to have dinner there once we arrived and checked into our B&B.
Here's Paul in downtown Mittenwald:
The town is somewhat overshadowed by it's neighbor, Garmisch Partenkirchen, but that was fine with us. There weren't crowds anywhere, but the town is set up for tourists, with tons of B&Bs and apartments to rent, as well as many restaurants and shops. Not to mention some excellent hiking and skiing in the winter (they have the longest ski trail in Germany - 7km!). Our room at the B&B had a balcony that overlooked the mountains and it was just the kind of peaceful place we needed after living in busy tourist areas for so long. The only strange thing about the B&B was that the bathroom had a frosted clear door that you could kind of see through. I can only imagine how uncomfortable that would be if you were sharing the room with a bunch of brothers and sisters!
So back to the town. On Saturday we decided to take a gondola up to the top of the Karwendel. I get scared of heights, and dangling from a wire in a metal box doesn't comfort me. You get let off at a height of about 2300m. But we made it up and the view was fantastic! Here we are at the platform on top of the mountain where the lift lets you off. The area behind us is a sort of sunken in basin at the mountain top. Kind of strange, but you could hike all around it:
To give you an idea of the elevation, here's Paul at the edge of a trail. It pretty much drops right off the edge there, no rails or anything. You can see into Austria in the background.
Here I am getting ready to hike around.
And here's Paul trying to climb some rocks
And now me trying to not to fall off the side of the mountain. They actually had a metal wire to grab onto at that bend in case you lost your footing, which I swear, I almost did several times. Note the pebbly paths - you can roll right along if you're not careful! The building behind me is where we came up on the lift.
Here's me pointing out where we went. You can't see it because of the clouds.
It rained that night, so we had a romantic night in with some wine & cheese and watched the thunderstorm shoot lightning around the mountains. It was really cool, though I didn't get any pictures of it.
The next day, we had to go back to Munich, but we took our time and the B&B let us leave our bags while we explored the gorge.
Here's Paul showing me that it's no big deal walking on slippery, mushy wooden planks held up by rusty rails suspended over icy cold water moving at a very fast speed.
Here's me with my explorer's hat running back to go feed the fish instead (I did make it to the end of the path, but not for long enough to get a picture!):
And here's the really scary part - we hiked up this mountain, and they have this suspended walkway that crosses over the gorge. Paul had to get a picture of me from the back because I refused to stop until i reached ground that I couldn't see through. The bridge actually sways a little as you cross it, probably to make it safer in the end, but shaky bridges don't make me feel safe!
Here you can see the height of the suspended walkway and the mountain gorge below
Another hiker took our picture after crossing the bridge. I'm not sure I could have done it without the explorer hat!
And because it's cool, here's a picture of me at the border of Germany and Austria. The gorge we crossed used to be a huge barrier back in the day for armies trying to invade, so that walkway had some political significance to it as well.
Of course, because it's Germany, you have to have a place to stop for a beer while on a hike. A little nicer view than the local pub in Oxford!
I don't have many pictures from the rest of the week back in Munich, because i mostly just walked around town all day. For our actual anniversary, which was on a Monday, we went to an amazing Italian restaurant in Munich. It was recommended by one of Paul's colleagues and was tucked away in a residential neighborhood. We did their set menu, which was about 6 courses with things like veal tartare, monkfish, and a trio of desserts. It was a big change from Oxford where Italian food means Pizza Express. Definitely a great way to celebrate our first year of marriage!
So...my pictures from Munich. I'd been there before, so I'd already seen most of the tourist sights. Really all I took pictures of was the Residenz, which was the royal palace until WWII. They had all these descriptions of things like 'the room had x,y and z until 1943...' without actually mentioning the war. Kind of strange. Anyway, here's a picture I took to prove I was there (can you see me in the picture? I'm so sneaky.):
And for some reason, Munich has this - the oldest known English crown. It got re-gifted around different royals until it ended up in Bavaria.
Ok, and just a couple more pics... here's to show how clean the river is in Munich - people actually go swimming in it! And it's not just the random drunk guy jumping in!
And finally, Viktualienmarkt, a fantastic outdoor market in downtown Munich where you can get fresh produce and all kinds of tasty treats. I wanted to buy some pretty lavender heart things they had there, but I wasn't sure if that'd get through customs...maybe next time.
You also may recall that our first anniversary fell on 28 July, halfway through Paul's Munich project. He can't take any vacation time since it's a student internship, but I did visit for a week. That meant a married couple and a guy sharing a one bedroom apartment for a week. I know, you are jealous. Between our student flat with Brillo pads for carpet and separate stubby hot and cold water taps, and the shared bachelor pad in Munich, it's not quite the glamourous life you may picture when you think of Oxford and Germany. Anyway, this post is about my visit to Germany.
I arrived on a Friday and met Paul at the main Munich train station. We booked a weekend at a B&B in Mittenwald, a small tourist town on the Austrian border in the Alps. Paul had booked us some sort of special weekend group train ticket, so for about $75 we covered all our travel expenses on the train. Mittenwald is about 2 hours by train from Munich, so we were able to have dinner there once we arrived and checked into our B&B.
Here's Paul in downtown Mittenwald:
The town is somewhat overshadowed by it's neighbor, Garmisch Partenkirchen, but that was fine with us. There weren't crowds anywhere, but the town is set up for tourists, with tons of B&Bs and apartments to rent, as well as many restaurants and shops. Not to mention some excellent hiking and skiing in the winter (they have the longest ski trail in Germany - 7km!). Our room at the B&B had a balcony that overlooked the mountains and it was just the kind of peaceful place we needed after living in busy tourist areas for so long. The only strange thing about the B&B was that the bathroom had a frosted clear door that you could kind of see through. I can only imagine how uncomfortable that would be if you were sharing the room with a bunch of brothers and sisters!
So back to the town. On Saturday we decided to take a gondola up to the top of the Karwendel. I get scared of heights, and dangling from a wire in a metal box doesn't comfort me. You get let off at a height of about 2300m. But we made it up and the view was fantastic! Here we are at the platform on top of the mountain where the lift lets you off. The area behind us is a sort of sunken in basin at the mountain top. Kind of strange, but you could hike all around it:
To give you an idea of the elevation, here's Paul at the edge of a trail. It pretty much drops right off the edge there, no rails or anything. You can see into Austria in the background.
Here I am getting ready to hike around.
And here's Paul trying to climb some rocks
And now me trying to not to fall off the side of the mountain. They actually had a metal wire to grab onto at that bend in case you lost your footing, which I swear, I almost did several times. Note the pebbly paths - you can roll right along if you're not careful! The building behind me is where we came up on the lift.
Here's me pointing out where we went. You can't see it because of the clouds.
It rained that night, so we had a romantic night in with some wine & cheese and watched the thunderstorm shoot lightning around the mountains. It was really cool, though I didn't get any pictures of it.
The next day, we had to go back to Munich, but we took our time and the B&B let us leave our bags while we explored the gorge.
Here's Paul showing me that it's no big deal walking on slippery, mushy wooden planks held up by rusty rails suspended over icy cold water moving at a very fast speed.
Here's me with my explorer's hat running back to go feed the fish instead (I did make it to the end of the path, but not for long enough to get a picture!):
And here's the really scary part - we hiked up this mountain, and they have this suspended walkway that crosses over the gorge. Paul had to get a picture of me from the back because I refused to stop until i reached ground that I couldn't see through. The bridge actually sways a little as you cross it, probably to make it safer in the end, but shaky bridges don't make me feel safe!
Here you can see the height of the suspended walkway and the mountain gorge below
Another hiker took our picture after crossing the bridge. I'm not sure I could have done it without the explorer hat!
And because it's cool, here's a picture of me at the border of Germany and Austria. The gorge we crossed used to be a huge barrier back in the day for armies trying to invade, so that walkway had some political significance to it as well.
Of course, because it's Germany, you have to have a place to stop for a beer while on a hike. A little nicer view than the local pub in Oxford!
I don't have many pictures from the rest of the week back in Munich, because i mostly just walked around town all day. For our actual anniversary, which was on a Monday, we went to an amazing Italian restaurant in Munich. It was recommended by one of Paul's colleagues and was tucked away in a residential neighborhood. We did their set menu, which was about 6 courses with things like veal tartare, monkfish, and a trio of desserts. It was a big change from Oxford where Italian food means Pizza Express. Definitely a great way to celebrate our first year of marriage!
So...my pictures from Munich. I'd been there before, so I'd already seen most of the tourist sights. Really all I took pictures of was the Residenz, which was the royal palace until WWII. They had all these descriptions of things like 'the room had x,y and z until 1943...' without actually mentioning the war. Kind of strange. Anyway, here's a picture I took to prove I was there (can you see me in the picture? I'm so sneaky.):
And for some reason, Munich has this - the oldest known English crown. It got re-gifted around different royals until it ended up in Bavaria.
Ok, and just a couple more pics... here's to show how clean the river is in Munich - people actually go swimming in it! And it's not just the random drunk guy jumping in!
And finally, Viktualienmarkt, a fantastic outdoor market in downtown Munich where you can get fresh produce and all kinds of tasty treats. I wanted to buy some pretty lavender heart things they had there, but I wasn't sure if that'd get through customs...maybe next time.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Girls Trip in Devon
It has been all too long since I've blogged. There are a lot of updates, and I think I'll break it into a couple of separate posts.
A few weeks ago, I went on a girls trip in Devon, in south west England. Alka drove most of the time, with Vinita, Karen and I as the passengers. I was so glad there were three other people in the car who not only can drive stick shift, but also are used to driving on the left! We'd been trying to plan another girls trip to follow up our trip to Bath, and we finally made it happen.
Here we are on the way there, at a random pub we stopped at called "the Hungry Horse", where you can "Fill up for 5 pounds." You can't get that kind of bargain in Oxford, that's for sure! It was quite the local place, and really made me feel like I was experiencing English culture. The age range there was anywhere from 3 months to 85 years, and unlike in Oxford, they actually had teenagers working as waitstaff rather than grown-up immigrants.
We stayed in a beach town called Torquey (pronounced 'tore-key'). This town must have been quite the place back in the day, and still had a special seaside feel to it. Since it's England, and it's not all that warm in the summer (80 degrees for 2 days is a major heat wave), there's not so much swimming in the water, but people walk around the beach and hang out.
We spent two nights in a B&B, touring around Dartmoor National Park the first day. I had found a brochure for Miniature Pony World, and we all decided this was the perfect place to go. Problem is, to get there, even with a GPS device is nearly impossible. You have to drive on all these two-way roads that only fit one car - literally, there are tall stone walls on either side of the car, so if another vehicle comes, you have to back up the windy road until you reach an intersection or driveway. Fortunately, the area is beautiful, and we happened upon this really cute town called Widecombe in the Moor. Here's their church, where they were having a craft fair.
And here's "The Old Inn" next door, built in the 14th century according to the park website. Yeah, I'd say that's old!
Here's what the park looks like, for the most part, when you've managed to get away from the crazy roads:
So finally we made it to Miniature Pony World! Here's some pony pictures:
Here I am petting a pony! I knew Paul was going to be so jealous, because he secretly wants to get his own miniature pony! He saw one on TV once that rings a bell when it needs to be let out and he thought it was so cool.
I guess the place is mostly for kids, but we still had fun. This kid was really into it.
I tried to get an eye-level shot with this pony, but as soon as I squatted down, she came over and tried to nuzzle me - so cute
And of course, they also have some chickens...
Next we had afternoon tea with real Devonshire cream at the Primrose Cottage in Lustleigh
So remember those crazy roads I was talking about? Well, usually you come up against cars, but occasionally, you have a stand-off with a rogue cow! This one didn't want to back off for a couple of minutes, but eventually she relented and walked over to a gate.
We then toured around Cockington (that's really the name, I did not make it up, I swear). We were too late to see the little market village there, but they had some real cute buildings. Doesn't this look like something out of a fairy tale?
And this is more what I had in mind for accommodation when I found out we were moving to England
Just slightly more glamourous than our student flat!
Here's downtown Torquey, where we stayed:
Cute English cabanas at Paignton Beach
My pasty white feet in the English channel
Donkey rides on the beach at Weston-Super-Mare (north Devon)
And finally, we decided we needed to fly a kite before we went home (thanks Vinita for bringing the kite!)
A few weeks ago, I went on a girls trip in Devon, in south west England. Alka drove most of the time, with Vinita, Karen and I as the passengers. I was so glad there were three other people in the car who not only can drive stick shift, but also are used to driving on the left! We'd been trying to plan another girls trip to follow up our trip to Bath, and we finally made it happen.
Here we are on the way there, at a random pub we stopped at called "the Hungry Horse", where you can "Fill up for 5 pounds." You can't get that kind of bargain in Oxford, that's for sure! It was quite the local place, and really made me feel like I was experiencing English culture. The age range there was anywhere from 3 months to 85 years, and unlike in Oxford, they actually had teenagers working as waitstaff rather than grown-up immigrants.
We stayed in a beach town called Torquey (pronounced 'tore-key'). This town must have been quite the place back in the day, and still had a special seaside feel to it. Since it's England, and it's not all that warm in the summer (80 degrees for 2 days is a major heat wave), there's not so much swimming in the water, but people walk around the beach and hang out.
We spent two nights in a B&B, touring around Dartmoor National Park the first day. I had found a brochure for Miniature Pony World, and we all decided this was the perfect place to go. Problem is, to get there, even with a GPS device is nearly impossible. You have to drive on all these two-way roads that only fit one car - literally, there are tall stone walls on either side of the car, so if another vehicle comes, you have to back up the windy road until you reach an intersection or driveway. Fortunately, the area is beautiful, and we happened upon this really cute town called Widecombe in the Moor. Here's their church, where they were having a craft fair.
And here's "The Old Inn" next door, built in the 14th century according to the park website. Yeah, I'd say that's old!
Here's what the park looks like, for the most part, when you've managed to get away from the crazy roads:
So finally we made it to Miniature Pony World! Here's some pony pictures:
Here I am petting a pony! I knew Paul was going to be so jealous, because he secretly wants to get his own miniature pony! He saw one on TV once that rings a bell when it needs to be let out and he thought it was so cool.
I guess the place is mostly for kids, but we still had fun. This kid was really into it.
I tried to get an eye-level shot with this pony, but as soon as I squatted down, she came over and tried to nuzzle me - so cute
And of course, they also have some chickens...
Next we had afternoon tea with real Devonshire cream at the Primrose Cottage in Lustleigh
So remember those crazy roads I was talking about? Well, usually you come up against cars, but occasionally, you have a stand-off with a rogue cow! This one didn't want to back off for a couple of minutes, but eventually she relented and walked over to a gate.
We then toured around Cockington (that's really the name, I did not make it up, I swear). We were too late to see the little market village there, but they had some real cute buildings. Doesn't this look like something out of a fairy tale?
And this is more what I had in mind for accommodation when I found out we were moving to England
Just slightly more glamourous than our student flat!
Here's downtown Torquey, where we stayed:
Cute English cabanas at Paignton Beach
My pasty white feet in the English channel
Donkey rides on the beach at Weston-Super-Mare (north Devon)
And finally, we decided we needed to fly a kite before we went home (thanks Vinita for bringing the kite!)