Thankful

This was my first Thanksgiving (or as my Spanish teacher Daniel tells me Dia de Gracias) not spent in Amarillo.  BUT, it was celebrated here in London nonetheless with a group of friends.  At home, we usually go around the table sharing what we're thankful for this year.  Here's my list...

Uggs: Best. Invention. Ever.  I have a pair of dark brown Uggs and LOVE them.  I waterproofed mine, and they keep my feet oh-so-warm.   I wear them everyday (even when they don't match my outfit...haha!).  Can't wait to pick up some additional pairs when I'm back in the States for Christmas.

Health: I am thankful that I can quickly fill out health questionaires. No allergies, no chronic illnesses, no broken bones. I registered with NHS in the UK last week.  Though it likely will not compare to the fantastic coverage I had with my employer's Aetna package in the States, it's better than nothing.  And I respect a country which makes sure that all people have basic primary care.


Airplanes: They take me to faraway places to visit people and have adventures.  I likely will regain my platinum status (whoop!) with Continental this year with my cross-Atlantic flights plus my trip to South America last summer.  They also bring people to visit me.  I'm SO happy I got to see my sweet dear college friend Bo and her fiance Tuan this week.  Just like old times we had our fair share of catching up, laughter, and shopping in Covent Garden.  Bo even inspired me to add to my Apple and Kate Spade clutch collection :).  Can't wait to see Levi next weekend when he's in London!

Sawed varsity's horns off:  Yep, Texas A&M beat t.u. in Austin in our annual showdown.  The Aggies are now going to a bowl game while the Longhorns have had their first losing season since Mack Brown has been coach.  Our team (full of sophomores and juniors) has had six straight victories.  WHOOP!  I didn't get a chance to watch this game because of a Strategy final the next day.  However, I'm definitely going to The Sports Cafe next year to watch this at midnight (London time)!

Newness: That was one of the main things I was looking for when I came to London.  New stamps in my passport.  New cuisines.  New shot glasses.  New friends.  New languages. New challenges.  Most importantly, new adventures.  And I'm thankful I've had all of those.  One new (and slightly geeky) adventure was last weekend when I entered this crazy quiz game with one of my classmates.  It was sponsored by Tata and definitely was over-the-top.  It was the first time I had ever heard of it, but it's a BIG deal in the UK and India.  The questions were surprisingly tough, and it was fun.  Afterwards, I used London's version of the floo network (aka Underground) to go watch the first part of Harry Potter 7 with some classmates.  SO GOOD!!

Friends: I spent Thanksgiving with my rugby teammates at a feast thrown by one of the EMBA-Globals.  (Mental note: they throw the BEST parties).  The host and hostesses had a wonderful meal with all the fixings prepared for us.  I had so much to eat!!  Including pecan pie (my absolute FAVORITE)!  As I sat on the couch surrounded by friends, drinking mulled wine, and watching live NFL football (!!) on the host's giant TV, I thought "this is as good as it gets".  Thankful for fabulous rugby and study group friends!

The Patel clan:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Dad!  Countdown...25 days!
 

Remembrance

Study, study...it's your buddy
Not.  I am writing this blog post as a procrastinate studying for my Corporate Finance midterm.   With our location in a financial capital and our solid Finance Department faculty, LBS certainly has a "finance"  reputation.  The core Corporate Finance midterm and final are notoriously difficult.  Second years have warned us.  Since I have a finance degree and have been able to generally keep up with the course content, I am not too worried about this midterm.  I certainly haven't studied enough because of competing priorities, so the next 36 hours are going to be dedicated to this beast of a test.

This Corporate Finance course is a two-quarter class.  Last Wednesday was our last lecture with Dr. Anna Pavlova.  She easily wins my vote for favorite professor so far.  Someone jokingly mentioned it was going to be interesting learning about capitalism from a Russian on the first day of class.  I chuckled and prepared for class to begin.  And then Anna stepped up, and she didn't match any of my expectations.  The best way to describe her is that she is quirky in an endearing way.  For example, she penned a poem about NPVs, and read it aloud in our first class.  It was hilarious.  She also throws in funny comments in class about "finance interviews" and tongue-in-cheek advice in her slides.  Anna is BRILLIANT.  She studied at a school in Moscow before going to Yale and earning her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton).  She then taught at MIT before coming to LBS.  So, she has legit credentials and is a research rock star.  But, she is brilliant in another way.  She has a disarming personality that is much needed in teaching a corporate finance course to a room of 80 MBA students, many who have worked as investment bankers or in private equity.  Every student respects her but not because she is arrogant.  If anything, she is the antithesis of arrogant.  She makes the subject matter entertaining and easily digestable for those without a finance background while still challenging for those that do.  And we generally have very interesting class discussions because she solicits input from everyone's work experience.  When I first came to business school, I was skeptical that some of the technical courses could be taught using HBS cases.  I have now been proven wrong...very wrong.  In addition to our lectures and class discussions, we had group cases that were difficult. 

I was sad to hear that we would not have Anna as a professor next quarter. Our stream generally claps for professors at the end of a course.  On this day, we had a loud and long round of applause for Anna.   She genuinely cares for her students, and I think the world of her.

Bonfire
Today is the 11th anniversary of the day Bonfire (aka Stack) fell, killing twelve Texas A&M students and injuring many others.  For those that don't know what Bonfire is, think of it as one of the most rich and deep of traditions at Texas A&M (a school known for our history and traditions).  I never saw Bonfire in person, but I was a student at the school when the Bonfire memorial was built and dedicated. 

With all the controversy over the tragedy and moratorium, let us never forget Bonfire.  Aggies may no longer spend months building a 12-story wedding cake pile of logs before our annual football game versus the University of Texas Longhorns (aka t.u., t-sips), but the Aggie Spirit will never be broken.  Let us never forget.



BarTHElona
Last weekend was spent in Barcelona with my rugby teammates.  We had some good games and a plenty good time going out and exploring the city.  I consider myself pretty lucky to have these women, beautiful inside and out, as some of my closest friends here in London.

Since I came to Barcelona in fall 2007 with Binita and Andrea, I wasn't in any rush to go sight seeing.  However, I did make it to Sagrada Familia on Sunday.  It is Gaudi's masterpiece and was recently deemed a basilica by the Pope. I can think of certain times in my life when I've seen things that have taken my breath away.  The Taj Mahal in Agra, the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Michaelangelo's David in Florence, Machu Picchu in Peru, Victoria falls in Zambia, and the Eiffel Towner in Paris.  Sagrada Familia also makes this list.  It's one of my favorite churches of all time.  I partly like it because Gaudi had the audacity to design such an interesting structure.  It's not beautiful by conventional standards but more so in eternal standards.  Many masons, artisans, and craftsman spend the last few years of their career volunteering their time to complete Sagrada Familia. They're building something that is going to outlive them.  There is much symbolism in the finer details of the design, and those can only be appreciated if you have the audio guide or a professional tour guide when going through it. 

My favorite parts of Sagrada Familia are the stained glass windows, flying buttresses, and doors.  They are unique in their own way and are works of art in their own right.  My painting supplies and finished works never made it on the Continental flight to London in August.  Once things settle down for me with school, I hope to find an art supply shop in London so that I can pick up where I left off. 

Burritos as big as your face
London is a city with many great restaurants.  Because it is an international hub, it has every cuisine imaginable. Indian, Thai, Italian, French, Nigerian, you name it.  It even has some Mexican places. And man, I miss good Mexican food from Texas.  When I land in Houston next month, I am driving straight to Chuy's or El Tiempo. 

This week, I went to a Freebirds / Chipotle imitator called Tortilla with classmate Brian.   It was good, though not as good as in the States. 

And then on Thursday, I went to Wahaca.  My aunt Diana told me about Wahaca when she was visiting London in August.  It was started by a chef who won the UK version of Top Chef.  Wahaca is SUPER busy, so I recommend going at 8 or so on  random night.  That is a meal that I would have again.  And the best part was the company I had.  My friend David introduced me to his former colleague Ying who is now studying at LSE.  Ying is a fellow foodie, and I feel blessed to have a good friend like her to hang out with when our schedules matchup.  It's kind of funny how things work when you move to a new country.  Last spring and over the summer, I had so many people contact me to tell me they had a friend or colleague in London.  Sometimes, friends wanted to introduce me to their in-laws', grandparents, friends of friends, etc. Some of the potential introductions were completely absurd. 

The best part of having dinner with Ying was remembering that I have / once had a life outside of work / school.

Random thoughts

Wordles = WOW
Check out the Wordle I created using the posts on my blog.  A small thumbnail is shown beneath my picture.  You can click on it, and it will take you to a large-screen view.  I'm going to update it periodically to see trends in what I write about.  You too can create your own Wordle using any block of text or website you choose.  It's super easy (even I did it).  Go to http://www.wordle.net/ and select "Create your own".  30 seconds later, you'll have your own masterpiece.

Payal 4, Spiders 0
Clowns, fireworks, and insects. Y'all probably know that these are at the top of my list of things I HATE.  Yesterday we had an all day (12 hours) midterm for our Strategy class.  I had a drink with classmates afterwards at the Windsor then made it home to chill for the evening.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something scurry across my floor.  And then I found it...a GIANT spider that was about 2 inches.  I spent the next 10 minutes mustering up the courage to attack it and eventually did.  I don't know what it is about this country, but there are alot of spiders (and foxes), and they freak me out.   Thank goodness Binita and I worked on my bug killing ability before I moved out...haha!

Déjà vu
In London, I have a good group of friends.  And in Texas, I have another great group of friends.  And neither of those groups know each other.  Several of my classmates remind me of people back home.  For example, my study group classmate Pete is a combination of two of my best guy friends Clark and Cory.  Pete and I get along great, and it's nice to have a good buddy like him. 

In my Managerial Economics class last week, I made another connection.  We were discussing game theory, and my friend Louise got called up to the board to work out a problem as "punishment" for being late to class.  Louise is an amazingly accomplished Singaporean girl who has quite the personality and brings up good points in class discussions.  Louise (a girl who is about my size) got up to the board and was about to write when the majority of the class started yelling "No No No!" at her because she was about to write on the projector screen that is situated behind giant rolling white boards.  She then said, "Well then, I can't do this example" because she thought she wasn't tall enough to reach.  Our professor Joao then moved the board, and she realized what had happened.  It's a hard story to tell, so the humor of the situation is probably lost in this telling.  But, trust me, it was hilarious when it happened.

The situation reminded me a lot of another hilarious situation in college involving my sweet dear friend Preeti (who I dedicate this blog post to).  Preeti and I were at a party at Cat's house in College Station.  Cat had a coffee table with glass inserts, and one of them was missing.  Preeti was about to place her glass of soda on it when the entire room started yelling "No No No!" at her because it would have fallen and created a huge mess.  Preeti didn't realize the glass insert was missing and said, "Oops, OK.  I'll use a coaster".  As she picked a coaster up and dropped it through the table on to the carpet, she realized the mistake.  Again, this is a story in which you had to be there to truly appreciate how funny it was. 

Back to Managerial Economics...Louise's story reminded me of Preeti's story.  And then I realized how similar Louise and Preeti are.  I truly am blessed to have such wonderful friends on both sides of the pond!  I only hope that one day, somehow my two networks will become one network.

Blast from the past photo with Preeti, Cat, and Nathan