It is hard to believe that I have already been in London a month. It has been a complete blur... two intense "block week" classes and a mini-vacation with Annette has meant that I have not had much time to slow down and smell the curry.
The two courses I have taken so far have been extremely worthwhile. My course in project management was probably the most practical course I have ever taken at any level.
The second course, negotiation and bargaining, will hopefully give me an advantage in negotiating at work and in other situations as well. I'll let you know how well my new tactics worked the next time I buy a car or house. One thing I observed during my course is that bargaining position is quite a bit more important that negotiation skills. It is easier to buy a house for less than asking price if you are the only one interested in it. With any luck I'll have multiple job offers this fall and will be in a good position to negotiate my new compensation package.
My upcoming courses are project finance, decision analysis, and world economy. Of these, the world economy course will be particularly interesting. Topics on the syllabus include the US account deficit, the European Monetary Union, globalisation, immigration and foreign aid. I'll post about anything I find exceptionally enlightening.
Saturday I made my second trip to the British Museum. After glancing at the Egyptian artifacts I headed to the SE Asia room. In this room the exhibits traced the origins of Hinduism and Buddhism, and most of the artifacts were from India, as you might expect. It was very interesting to see how these religions spread from India to other regions of Asia, and how local cultures adopted and modified the symbols, rituals, and beliefs. I am getting a bit better at figuring out who is who and what their role is (Buddha, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, etc.). I am going to have to make multiple trips back to the Brit to check out the other exhibitions. I could probably spend a month in there and not have enough time to check out all of the rooms in detail.
Today the rain came back to London, unfortunately. This is only the third or fourth day of rain since I arrived. Last Saturday Seth bought a BBQ grill and we have used it just about every day, cooking hamburgers (the call them beef burgers here - I guess that does make more sense), chicken, fajitas, and steaks. Mmmm mmmm...
This evening I'm headed to the London Eye for a school-sponsored "flight". Hopefully it will be clear out. I'll post some pics in the next day or two.
Ciao!
