Off to school!

September 24, 2007 by 1 Comment

I shuffled off to school today. I had no idea what to expect. I was told to report to room 4C04 at 9 o’clock for the beginning of my induction week. I could not figure why I needed a week but I was anxious to see what was in store for me.

I found the room and introduced myself to Dr. Cecmil and Dr. Braddon, the directors of the MBA program.  I then turned to the others who came about 30 minutes early.  I sat next to a young lady who introduced herself as British born but raised in Iran.  I looked at her eyes and said, “Hayaren khosum es?” (Translation: Do you speak Armenian?)  She almost fell over.  Sure enough, she is Armenian-iranian (aka parskahay).  I was so happy as I had someone who would understand all my little quips which come to me quicker in Armenian than in English.

The day went on and I met my the other 14 people in the group.  They are from all over the world and I am one three native English speakers.  It should prove to be a very interesting debate once you throw culture on top of management theory.

Filed under University

Arriving in Bristol

September 18, 2007 by Leave a Comment

We have arrived!  After a few screw ups we made it to Bristol.  When we got to Shannon, Ireland, they made us go down and get our passports stamped.  We did not understand why but we did as asked.  Shannon amazed me because there was almost no security in the whole airport at 5am in the morning.  After a couple hour wait, we jumped over to England on our shortest ever international flight of a full 55 minutes.

What really threw us was that we never went through customs again.  We exited Terminal 1 at Heathrow and found that we were “free” to go as we wished.  This put us on edge a bit because we had to register with customs and get our visa stamped but apparently it is not a big deal.

Our next trouble came trying to find the meeting point in Terminal 2.  Sadly, I have learned that England is a bit like Armenia in that you cannot take the first answer you get and you must check that answer every time.  We spent 45 minutes waiting at the wrong place but thankfully we realized this in enough time.  We were to meet representatives from The University of the West of England because it offers a free pick up service.  Why pay £65 ($130) if you can get it for free with no hassle?  So we took the offer.  After a 2 hour bus ride, we made it to Bristol.

Filed under Life

Welcome

September 17, 2007 by 2 Comments

Welcome to Books n’ Baby in Bristol! This is the website for the next chapter of our lives in Bristol. It will be full of changes and challenges. Thankfully, we will have a bit more amenities than our life in Armenia but we certainly will make up for it in stress and busyness.

The highlight of the website will be watching my dear wife’s belly grow. I contemplated calling the website “Books n’ Belly in Bristol” but April 2008 will be here before you know it and baby seemed more appropriate. However, we will have a weekly “belly watch” posting we keep up to date with the latest happenings with Terra’s belly.

As our language changed while in Armenia, so will our language change as we learn to write “proper English”. You probably will begin to see us write things that include lots of extra U’s and our I’s may become Y’s. It will be a challenge to adapt our American English to British English. I hope you will keep up with the ever changing process.

Thanks for keeping up with us. We are excited and looking forward to an eventful year in Bristol!

Filed under Life, Pregnancy