London Fog Strikes!

Posted on 21 December 2006 by k
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We’ve been grounded by the London fog (photo at right taken from train as we were leaving the airport). We arrived at London City Airport this morning to find it swimming in thick pea soup… ick! The airport was a zoo and all flights in and out of the airport had been canceled for the day — we chatted with the nice folks at Lufthansa by phone as we stood in line for the ticket counter. We’re now booked on a flight out of Birmingham tomorrow (Northwest of London — about 1:15 train ride away).

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Flying from Birmingham was much more attractive than taking the next available flight from London as most of the flights leaving the city have been affected by fog delays and cancellations over the last day leaving hordes of stranded travelers vying for the seats available — the next available flight from London would have been on December 24th! We’re able to salvage a couple days of our trip (and still make it to the Nuremberg Christmas Market). Fingers crossed that all goes well… we hope for clear skies over Birmingham.

Couple lessons from the experience:

  • ALWAYS take your cell phone with you — even if you don’t plan to use it at your destination (that allowed us to get ahead of the city’s other travelers who were also waiting in line)
  • Check, double-check and triple-check to ensure you’re flight’s on-time before leaving home… check the minute before you leave home, in fact. In bad weather, the status changes frequently.
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Other happier notes from our day… we ambled along Finchley Road this afternoon in search of a new cosmetics bag and stumbled upon a HUGE snowman. Then, we visited the grocery to pick up a few snacks for tomorrow’s travels and came upon another interesting find… Kinder Hippos. Kind-of like Kinder Bueno bars (my favorite), but in the shape of a hippo. Ahhh… Christmas!

Posted in Adventure Travel, Life in London | 3 Comments

Off we go!

Posted on 20 December 2006 by k

I took my last three exams today. Whew! Am I glad they’re over…no more studying until Jan 8. All went well on the exams aside from the curve ball our marketing professor threw our way (had us do a marketing plan and analysis of JP Morgan USA for exam preparation and THEN asked only about the firm’s UK operations, which are completely different, on the exam …argh!).

Unless I made careless or silly mistakes I should have made it out okay. For those interested, here’s an excerpt of the questions posed on today’s exam:

  • How would you characterize the structure of the banking industry in the US? Explain your answer and discuss how economic theory may be used to understand the operation of JP Morgan in this type of market structure. Distinguish between the firm’s operations as a retail and as a wholesale bank.
  • Would a tighter fiscal policy reduce the US trade deficit bearing in mind its effects on the supply of the US government bonds? Justify your answer.
  • JP Morgan has increased its credit card and home loan business. Most of these involve receipts at a floating interest rate. However, the funding for this obtained by JP Morgan issuing bonds on which it pays fixed rates. What are the risks in this for JP Morgan and how might it get rid of (or mitigate) such risks?
  • With reference to the six operating segments which JP Morgan Chase target, discuss: 1) the criteria for judging a good market segmentation approach 2) whether this segmentation is a good one 3) other ways the market could be segmented giving examples
  • Conduct a SWOT analysis on JP Morgan Chase as of 2006 within the UK market. What market opportunities does your analysis suggest for JP Morgan Chase to exploint in the coming year.

We are now free to think about our holiday trip–we fly out of Heathrow for Germany tomorrow at 1PM (our time). It will be nice to be out for a bit since G and I have both been frantic this Fall with work and school.

As luck would have it, though, school will never be too far from my thoughts as our Organizational Behavior (Organisatonal Behaviour for any Brits out there…I am learning!) professor has asked that we read a 400 page book during our holiday along with multiple case studies and other materials. Fun, fun!

We’ll do our best to post from the road as we make our way through Bavaria and beyond…

Happy Holidays to All!

Posted in MBA in London | 4 Comments

Three Down, Three To Go!

Posted on 18 December 2006 by k

I took the first three exams (Accounting, Quanititative Methods & Information Management) from 10AM-1PM today. All went well (I think, I hope!), and now I’m free to focus on my last three before break: Marketing, Corporate Finance & Micro/Macroeconomics. I have tonight and tomorrow to finish up my studying and will report for the last three exams on Wednesday at 10AM. Fingers crossed I’ll do well, Finance and Econ are (for me) the most difficult of all…

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Holiday Stroll About London

Posted on 17 December 2006 by k
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We’ve taken a couple breaks from studies and work this weekend (G’s working to make up a bit of time…they have a big launch the day we return from Austria) to enjoy a bit of the holiday spirit. During the previous weeks we’ve been too distracted to realize that Christmas is around the corner, and the wonderful weather has allowed us to believe it’s fall. Regardless, we did venture out for a holiday concert at the beautiful Royal Albert Hall (across from Kensington Gardens) last night and to a couple holiday bazaars today. But most exciting is that we were able to get great seats for Madam Butterfly in March at Royal Albert Hall. We’re very excited because the Hall is a true circle (for those from Raleigh, the RAH is like a royal, cushy, antique, ornate version of the ESA/RBC Center..but the same shape and same general seating arrangement). For Madam Butterfly, they flood the floor and make it into a Japanese water garden…and we’ll be front and center. We can’t wait!

For now, here are a few photos from today’s holiday stroll about London (bazaar was from TATE Modern to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre). The photos were taken as we walked from the Globe to the London Bridge tube station.

Posted in Life in London | 1 Comment

The Shortcut

Posted on 17 December 2006 by k

Some may be surprised to learn that I’ve become quite punctual in the UK. I’ve, in fact, put a lot of effort into ensuring that I am on time for things. One could argue that, perhaps, this is because I have so little control of those things which determine if I will, or can be on time. Will my train be stuck in the tunnel? Will there be a signal failure? Will the train car be too full for me to fit with my bag? I must always leave 15-20 minutes extra in order to accomodate the occasional problems.
So during our first month here, I set my watch ahead (not paying too much attention to how far ahead)–with this, I am uncertain of the time and more likely to honor the time that’s on my watch than not. It’s worked.

But in addition to setting my watch ahead, I’ve also discovered a couple other tricks along the way. First, I wear comfy shoes to the train (I can save 2-3 minutes on both ends of my trip by wearing comfy shoes–that’s 4-6 minutes total each way, 8-12 minutes total on my daily commute). And second, I keep my oyster card (the tube pass enabled with an RFID) securely in my wristlet purse (thank you, Toni!) so that I can buzz through the tube turnsyltes without fumbling to find my card. And, finally, I guiltally cut through a graveyard/park to save a few minutes as I near campus.

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For at least a month after school began I felt that cutting through the Bunhill Fields Cemetary was a bit rude (a cemetary for non-conformists from the 1600’s…many died of the plague), I resisted the shortcut through the cemetary. Not only was the cemetary a bit creepy, but I felt that, despite the broad walk running through, I would be disturbing those laid to rest here (and the grave stones were a bit scary with moss and skulls engraved on the tombs). But now, I actually look forward to walking through the graveyard on my way–there are lots of trees, it’s restful and peaceful and it’s a bit of an oasis in the midst of all the city hustle and bustle. And, I discovered, the CITY intends for folks to cut through, limiting my guilt.

Posted in Life in London | 2 Comments

Fiancé vs. Fiancée

Posted on 15 December 2006 by g

I was looking up the correct spelling for the word that means a person engaged to be married and discovered that there are two different words depending on if you are male or female. A bride-to-be is a fiancée while a groom-to-be is a fiancé. Though originating from French with the accents, it seems that in English it is acceptablet to omit the accents. Though spelled differently, the pronounciation is the same.

Ah, the power of Google.

Posted in Life in London | 1 Comment

Peppermint Mocha…Yum!

Posted on 13 December 2006 by k

There’s a Starbucks on every corner here, in London. In fact, we have 2 in Belsize and another 2 within 1 mile. So, naturally, I met a friend at Starbucks for a bit of study break today.

Having previously tried the Gingerbread and toffe nut drinks, I went for the Peppermint Mocha. YUM! Tastes just like a thin mint. And, since they don’t have thin mints or the Keebler version of them here, I was thrilled!

And while Starbucks doesn’t have the character of “my cafe”, the absence of smoke was refreshing. Though, as usual, I did feel a bit guilty going to an American chain when I’m in London…

Posted in Life in London | 1 Comment