The last 4 months...

Four months. That's how long it has been since I left my home of 27 years to come and live in London. I still cannot believe how quickly everything happened. After a half an hour Skype interview, two week wait for our Tier 5 Visa, one month notice period with my then employer, and voila, I'm in London.

People say settling in a new country can be quite stressful. I agree. But fortunately for me, I came with my wife, Irene, and so had someone to share the burden with. In these last four months, we've been through both heaven and hell. Here's a really quick summary of all the joys and tribulations.

Settling down...

Settling down wasn't easy. Having to deal with dodgy real estates who inflates the number of properties that have doesn't help with the difficult and stressful process of finding an immediate permanent accommodation. Having searched extensively in the area that we originally wanted to no avail, we were happy to have finally found something in a different area. In hindsight, I think the location of our home now is actually better than where we originally wanted to settle.

Our new home was literally brand new when we moved in. So new that the construction fence outside the place wasn't taken away until about a month after we moved in. The water was also not connected until a week after we moved in despite having been assured by the real estate that all will be ready by the time we moved in. Again, we were let down by dodgy real estate agents!

Work - Economic Capital at Aviva

Having secured my job after a short half an hour Skype interview, I didn't have much of a clue as to what I was going to be doing, apart from the fact that it's in the Economic Capital team, an area that I'm keen to get in to. As it turns out, even my team didn't know where I was going to work and I ended being put in the Technical Development team with a focus on the economic scenario generator (ESG), a decision that was made just before I was due to begin work there.

Life is ironic. My undergrad was in Actuarial Studies and Information Systems and I vowed never to work in info sys but in my first job as a risk analyst for a major bank, I was seconded to a systems development project on my second day. Now, wanting to move away from heavy quantitative modelling work, I ended up being put in an area that couldn't be further from what I want. Fortunately though, my boss is nice and after I discussed with him my career goals, he is making an obvious effort to satisfy my needs and so now I'm doing less of the hands on modelling work and more managing and leading the team who will be doing the hands on work.

As things are, my job is not my dream job but there are elements there that makes it very good - like learning about market risk modelling and analytics, and getting exposure to all aspects of economic capital modelling and decision through serving as the secretary to an economic capital committee. Also, working hours are not too demanding and my boss is nice, which helps, so I'll see how things go in a few months time.

Exploring South West England (May)


About 2-3 weeks after arriving in London, we decided to go on a road trip over the bank holiday. Being our first trip, we were naturally very excited. We had booked a relatively cheap car for the three days, got a great deal on our accommodation, had everything planned out, and were all ready to go until we arrived at the car rental place to be turned down with our car rental!

Apparently, the rental place required all sorts of proof of ID and address for the person taking out the rental which we weren't aware of (a consequence of the high level of identity fraud in London). And even if we were, we did not have enough proof given we have just settled down and just moved into our new place. Having tried all our options to secure another rental car to no avail, we ended up booking a streetcar, which we had just signed up to a week ago (and so fortunately that we did), for the three days. Given we booked in the very last minute, only one car within our reach (by taxi) was available and it was a BMW 3 series so the cost turned out to be many more times expensive than our cheap rental car (luckily the company we booked the cheap car through was willing to refund us the payment we made for the booking).


In the end, we had a fantastic time and despite the slightly more expensive car, we at least managed to travel in style and comfort, as well as having at last tried out those fancy London taxis (to get to the streetcar). And that being our first taste of England beyond London, we weren't disappointed one bit! England is truly an amazing place, full of history and beauty; things that you don't normally see in Sydney. We visited Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Bath, Coventry (where we stayed), Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon where Shakespeare lived, Cotswold Villiages, Uffington White Horse, and Oxford.

Amsterdam (June)


Our first overseas trip after arriving in London was to Amsterdam. We did that over a two day weekend, flying out on Friday night and returning on Sunday night. Although we only had two days, it was more than enough. We visited all the major attractions on the Saturday (we got an I Amsterdam card that gave us access to many museums and tram rides), and spent Sunday relaxing, including having a nice Alfresco pub lunch. Although the Saturday was packed, it was very rewarding. We also managed to find some time to include a bit at a "coffee shop", where I got a brownie. The brownie wasn't too bad but shortly afterwards, we had dinner at a pub where I had a beer and I think the beer + brownie was a fatal combination as I ended up kind of stoned, which sort of ruined my visit to Anne Frank's House as I wasn't able to appreciate it as much as if I was sober! On the whole, the trip was a great introduction to Europe!

My IWC Portugese watch

I've always wanted to buy a nice watch but my intention was to get one when I reached certain milestones, like being Senior Manager. But for some reason, my urge to buy one grew after coming to London and I spent countless hours researching about watches. In the end, at the urging of Irene, I ended up getting a nice IWC Portugese. Irene actually chipped in a large part and it was her who found the AD where we bought it and her who made the initial enquiries with the AD. The AD was a store called David Robinson at Canary Wharf and they were pretty nice. Apart from offering a discount, which most ADs I spoke to weren't willing to do, they also ordered a brand new watch straight from IWC in Switzerland and didn't open the package until we were there.

My 30th birthday in Paris (July)


My 30th birthday present from Irene was a trip to Paris. She conceived this idea when we were still in Sydney planning our move over and, not surprisingly, she managed to pull it off. We spent a total of 4 days in Paris, taking two days of leave and two days over the weekend. We went by Eurostar on the Wednesday night after work and stayed in a nice hotel with a close view of the Eiffel Tower.

The trip was nothing short of spectacular! Amongst the many memorable moments were being one of the first to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre on the day (we bought tickets in advance so we skipped the long queue and went straight for the Mona Lisa after getting in) and getting unobstructed photos with the famous painting, a nice birthday lunch at La Tour d'Argent (famous for their ducks cooked in their own blood and liver), dinner and show at the Moulin Rouge, and lunch at the World's 16th best restaurant Pierre Gagnier where even a main course each and a desert to share looked like a full blown degustation.

By the end of the trip, I was sort of sick of eating and felt like I had lost my appetite. Irene probably felt the same way too as by the end of the trip, she lost a bit of that desire of hers to eat foie gras (we had foie gras every day on the trip). But the very next week in London, we again had fine dining at the three Michelin star restaurant Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester for Irene's birthday. Within the one week, we had a total of 10 Michelin stars worth of fine dining (Paris: 3 at Pierre Gagnier, 2 at L'Espadon and 1 at La Tour d'Argent; London: 3 at Alain Ducasse, 1 at Arbutus - dinner with Irene's friend Nika and Jun); a truly gastronomical week!

Brussels (August)


Our next trip was to Brussels. This was another long weekend trip thanks to the Summer bank holiday. We flew out on the Saturday morning and returned on Monday night. Brussels is relatively small and so didn't take long to cover all the main attractions. We were also by then sick of museums and so spent more of our time exploring the city and its old European architecture (especially in the Grand Place and the lanes connecting it). We also had plenty of mussels and chips, two food items that are famous in Brussels and which certainly lived up to our expectations! Even the worse mussels we had were probably better than the ones in Sydney. We also tried a few beers and bought some beer glasses back as souvenirs. And of course, how can we get away without buying some chocolates, though, most of the chocolates we bought were for souvenir as opposed to being for ourselves. Instead, we bought and ate plenty of nougats! On the whole, Brussels was really relaxing and enjoyable, thanks to the mussels and chips, if nothing else.

One other thing worth mentioning about in Brussels is the €1 breakfast - the greatest find of all!!! It includes a coffee and biscuit, a bacon and scrambled egg roll, and a nice croissant.

The Warwick MBA

I have long wanted to do an MBA and if it wasn't for my plans to come and live and work in London, I would have started the EMBA course at AGSM. However, now that I'm in the UK, home to many of the world's best universities, I might as well make the most of my time here and add a UK qualification to my name.

Prior to coming, I have considered many options, the most attractive of which is an MBA with the London Business School. Unfortunately, most programs require at least two years to finish and fees are exorbitant, making them a bit out of my league, especially given my two year visa here. Nevertheless, doing some further study here has always been on my mind and one day, while exploring my options, I stumbled across a report from the Economist discussing distance learning MBAs. After reading that report and doing extensive research, I concluded that an MBA with the Warwick Business School, which provides the flexibility of having a range of delivery options to choose from, including distance learning and face to face options, would work well for me so I ended up applying.

The application process for the Warwick MBA was quite lengthy. Given I was only applying to the part time program, I didn't have to take the GMAT, which was one thing less to worry about. But I still had to do all the other stuff, like submit three essays, getting two references, and satisfy the 4 year management experience and the prior academic requirements. Writing essays was no issue, I did that in half a day on the weekend, but it was the references that worried me most. Fortunately, three out of four of my previous managers submitted references for me almost immediately and they must have said some good stuff about me as just over two weeks after submitting my application, I received an email from WBS saying I was made an offer, pending submission of my original transcripts (I had got my wonderful sibblings to scan my transcripts for me back in Sydney so that I can submit my application and now needed to send in the originals, which I brought back with me during my short trip back to Sydney for a friend's wedding in September).

After I brought back my transcripts and sent them off to WBS for verification, I got a confirmation from WBS that my offer is now unconditional and so I am now due to begin my MBA studies in January next year!

Short trip back to Sydney for Jiong's wedding (September)

Friends are important to me, not least the one who went out of his way to introduce my now lovely wife to me. As such, I made every effort to attend his wedding, even if it meant flying out of London after work on Wednesday to arrive in Sydney on Friday morning, attend the wedding on Saturday (as best man), do a speech at the reception, and fly out of Sydney on Monday morning to arrive back in London on Tuesday morning to go straight to work.

Although the trip was rushed, it was definitely well worth it. I managed to catch up with my family and bring back many of the souvenirs that I had bought for them, attend Joing's wedding, and catch up with some good friends, including Chewy, who will be getting married next year and who I will be making another gallant effort for to attend.

One year wedding anniversary in Prague (September)


Everyone agrees that Prague is beautiful but some also say that it's scary and dangerous. My experience is that Prague is one of the most beautiful cities that I've seen, with a picturesque scene from the east side of the river where you can see the west side of the city that is slightly inclined on a hill and is connected from the east by the magnificent Charles bridge that leads the eye to the splendid Prague Castle. In terms of safety, I also feel that it's much safer than other European cities, such as Paris, though one thing I didn't like about Prague were the hordes of tourist groups taking over the most beautiful parts of the city!

Prague is definitely one of the most "European" cities that I've seen, where the main city is mainly laid with stone roads and old European architecture. We also enjoyed sampling the variety of Bohemian cuisines, including a beef stew in a bread pot - both novel and practical!

This being our one year anniversary trip, we booked a fine dining dinner on our anniversary night and had a Bohemian degustation. The restaurant was lovely and we got a nice table. Perhaps it was the occasion but I found the food to be splendid, something I did not expect in a place like Prague! And to decorate the table, we put a Bohemian crystal that we bought for our one year anniversary that day; that added a lovely touch to the evening.

This wonderful trip was a bit tainted by the weather though! Of the three days that we were there (we took a day off work and had three days including the weekend), only the first day was not raining. In anticipation of the poor weather, we took photos of all the beautiful sites in Prague on the first day and so in terms of photos, we did not miss out on much.

Another experience from this trip was flying easyJet, which did not allocate seats and so it was left to the Darwinism instincts of everyone to scramble and fight for their seats. Luckily for us, we managed to clamber to some pretty good seats on both the to and from flights.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. Our last 4 months in London is as laid out above. But it goes without saying, our experiences over these last 4 months is nowhere near fully captured by what is written above, as to do so will require many more months and pages of writing. And as much as I would like to write it all down as a safeguard from the totally unreliable memory that I've got, I guess for now, this will have to do...