The Indiana trees bring the Indiana birds

Welcome to The Community

The Gundersen Estate

Some of our shady neighbors

These last three weeks have been busy, busy. We have moved into our new place. You can see a picture of it. It's in the beautiful upscale community of Shady Acres. We live right next to our friends the Reeds. Dan Reed is a friend from law school.

Business school is starting to own me. I have spent more time the last week studying than any other week in my life. I don't mind it, though. I really enjoy learning how to analyze companies. We look inside and find out what makes them tick. It's kind of an extension of the thoughts I was raised on.

People always ask me, "Why did you decide to study both law and business?", or "What do you want to do with that?", or "Why not just do law (or business)?" I have yet to come up with a concise, comprehensible answer to this question. I know why. I guess it's hard to articulate. I wonder if, "I want to rule the world, one day," would fly.

In the future I plan to do some more contrasting and comparing between the two programs. I find these differences interesting.

Well, I'm back in America. It's so good to be home. I missed my home and my family. I have been attending the Business School Orientation for the last few days.

It has been interesting already. We are organized into groups of four to five and we will be working together throughout the rest of the year. This is completely different from law school where each person is on their own. We have to be able to work together in order to succeed. It will be an education.

Stay tuned for more exciting B-school information.

A shot out our window

This place is called "Partymania." If you zoom in you will see that they offer an incredible variety of things, "Hats Banners Cards Balloons Lights Poppers - Table Bombs Make-Up Candles Fancy Dress Hire (new line) Boas Wigs Toys Gift Wrap Ribbons Pinatas Masks Disguises Etc. Etc. Helium Decorations"

Main Entryway

Lovely Bathroom

This room is not as nice as it looks

It's Sunday night. We are leaving England tomorrow morning and we can't wait. It's been too long away from home. We have been able to stay with some friends in the program, so we didn't have to get a hostel. The state of this place re-iterates what a great job Bryan did in finding us the place that we stayed in.

In fairness, it's much closer to school and it cost them a little less. However, I am very happy with the place that we lived in. I spoke with our landlord a little about this. He is an Indian-Brit and a physician (general practitioner). He is a very nice and intelligent man. I really have enjoyed talking with him the few times that I had the chance. I told him that of all the students in our program, we had the best accomodations. He said, "Our American cousins have come to expect high standards, and that is what we give them."

Finals went as expected. They were reasonable and since we are recieving pass/fail instead of a letter grade, we didn't have to strain ourselves studying. The professors and the students here have been very fun to get to know. It has been a great experience.

We watched the finale of big brother, Eugene did not win, however, he came in second and it was a close match. I was proud of Britain for that. He did, however, win just as much as did Anthony, demonstrating that, sometimes, nice guys don't finish last. They finish second.

It has been a great trip, but I miss my wife and I am happy to return home.

Well it's the last day of class, so in Products Liability we took some pictures. This is everyone but Geoff (the Canadian who is studying law in England). The kid on the top left is who we fondly refer to as Mormon Matt. He is the other LDS student here, Alberto, the Italiano, Maximillian, German, Nikita, Russian. I am kneeling down next to Genny. She's a USD student.

Today I got up late because Bryan, Chris, and I had a late leg workout. I always get worked up during a workout so it took me a while to calm down. We were up til 2:30 watching movies. As it was Saturday, I didn't really have much to do, so I took the bike down the dirt path. It was a nice ride.

My legs were pretty tired from the night before, so I took it real easy. I rode about 3 miles down the path. It follows the river for a while, then branches off and follows the rail tracks. I ended up at the "Stanford Lock." I'm not sure what the purpose of this place is, but I took some pictures and headed back.

The weather was perfect. It has been overcast for the last week and so the temperature is like 73 degrees. It is a little chilly if you are standing around, but it's perfect if you are on a bike. The Oxford folk were out in droves, punting, boating, and fishing.

This is one of the rooms that we take classes in. They seem to have put us in some of the ugliest rooms at Christ Church. In this picture you see a couple of Americans, a German, and a Russian. we take EU law from Professor Craig in here.


This morning I took my sweet time getting to school. I woke up early, so I had plenty of time to dilly dally. I took this picture of the river because the fog hadn't burned off yet. You may be able to see the rowers in the background.

When we first arrived in London, it was cold and rainy, completely fulfilling our expectations of English weather. However, once we got into Oxford and rented some bikes, it got sunny and hot. Because we only had our bikes to get us around, the heat was a nuisance. I was beginning to feel that I had been lied to. (The media always portrays England as rainy.) However, this last week, it has cooled off again and we have had some more rain. This was a welcome distraction from the sun and has made riding around on bikes ideal.

Today was legal London day. Most of the students went down to London on the schools dime to see the home base of all the legal centers. The 5 of us decided to opt out. This meant a free day for all of us. Dan decided to go see the tall ships Newcastle-upon-Tyne. About his time with the tall ships he remarked, "One of the coolest things I've ever seen. It was pretty stirring. I enjoyed it."

The rest of us stayed around the house, slept in, watched some movies, worked out, and enjoyed the free time. Here is a picture of us after a hard chest/tricepts workout. We're huge.

Typical day for the men at Oxford,

7:30ish - Awake and get ready for school.

8:30 - Head off to school, most days that means a bike ride for Bryan, Dan, and I. The ride is about 2 miles and takes us about twenty minutes.

9:00 - School starts at 9:00, although, school actually starts about five to ten minutes late each day, and most of us are greatful for it.

Our first class is EU law. We all participate in this one together. Professor Craig is excellent. He wrote the textbook we use. Each day he comes in and starts lecturing, without notes, starting right from the place he left off the day before. Bryan says, "He is a proper brit, with a sly sense of humor."

11:00 - Second class starts, that means Products Liability for me and International Public Law for everyone else.

1:00 - Class ends, some days we'll go to lunch with some of the other students, and some days we'll head home for lunch. There is a great place called Yates down by school. They have 2-for-1 fish and chips that are excellent.

3:00-5:00 - Most days we'll relax for a spell when we come home and then head over to the gym. Bryan, Dan, and I have been working out almost every day for about two weeks. Chris just recently joined us as well. We're all seeing results from our efforts, so it makes the effort well worth it.

5:00-10:00 - We come home from the gym, make dinner, watch big brother on the tube, and do some homework for the rest of the night. Sometimes we'll go get groceries or do other errands, but must days we just take it easy.

Trip to Stratford

This is one of the windows in the Church

This is a first edition King James Bible

Shakespeare's Resting Place

Birthplace of Shakespeare

The program took us on a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon today. This was the birthplace and the burial place of William Shakespear. We went to visit the grave and the house that Shakespeare was born in. It was pretty cool.

We also went to the local theatre and watched a production of 'Comedy of Errors.' About 18 of the students in the program attended the production. It was really fun. The actors really made the dialogue come to life. The English accent also added to the entire effect.

The story is of twin brothers who are separated when they are young children. 33 years later, one brother goes looking for the other. When the searching brother happens unknowingly upon the town that his brother lives in, the townspeople (including his brother's wife) confuse him with his brother and hilarity ensues.

This is a panorama and the regular photos of the river (I believe that it is the Thames) that we ride along on our way to school every day.

There are typically many kayakers, rowing buddies, and houseboaters along the river. There are also many picknikers, pedestrians, and other bikers that ride along the path. The river doesn't look like much (it's not that deep) but for some reason, they have life preservers set about every 50 yards. So perhaps it's more dangerous than it looks.

Either way it's quite pretty and it makes for a delightful ride into town each day. Personally, it gives me something to look forward to each morning.

Another photo of Christ Church

Bryan, Nikita, and I at Noodlebar

This man with Bryan and I is Nikita. He is a marketing executive from Russia. He's unique among us because he is not here in order to get any degree. He graduated from an Indian College with an MBA degree in 1998. He has since worked for an advertising agency in Russia. He decided that he would take some law courses through the University of San Diego, because he felt that too often, people from countries with a common law system (us and England among others) had a hard time understanding, and therefore trusting, businessmen who operate in a civil law system (Russia).

So last year he took two classes in Florence, Italy, and this year he is taking the same products liability class that I am taking. He's a really smart guy. He is very able when it comes to interpreting cases, and drawing the law out of the American judges opinions, which is difficult for law students from civil law countries.

Bryan and I had dinner with him this evening. We went to an oriental restaurant called the "Noodlebar." It was good. He told us all about Russia and how in many ways, the poor in Russia live very much the same way people lived hundreds of years ago. Many people are subsistance farmers. The economy in Russia is still mostly agricultural. He asked what the American public perception of Russia is, whether Americans trusted the Russians. It was very interesting.

He said that to govern the Russian people, the government must use an iron fist. That the people respond to strength and strong rulers. I got an impression that the people were tough. He said that many times, if you buy one car, you must buy a big car. The little cars that you see in Europe are, "laides cars." Many times, a man will buy a jeep, then he will buy a smaller car for his wife. However, he will end up driving the smaller car, because it's more practical to find a place to park and it's easier to maneuver in city traffic. His wife will end up with the Jeep.

A Typical Street in OxfordThis Guy is a Sentinel that Separates the Scholars from the Regular Folks (there are 13 more like him)

This is Where all the Students at Oxford Take their Exams (They have to wear special clothes)

This Cobblestone road is where we began our tour

A Building

McDonald's gets McCrowded at Lunch Time

We went on a walking tour of Oxford today. Kathryn Bevis, who has been a student here for like 10 years, is some kind of administrator for our group. She took us around and told us about all the different schools and monuments in town. There was a building that was a college founded in like 1200 or something. There is a place in the middle of one of the streets where some protestants were burned at the stake for heresy.

She showed us the building where all the Oxford students take their exams. They have to wear a special uniform. Then their grades are posted on boards in front of the schools. Most of us were glad that our grades weren't posted in public. It's a tradition to congratulate those in uniform who look happy. Those that don't look happy haven't taken their exams yet, I guess.

Apparently they found out who the bombers in London were. Dan said that a mother of one of the men had called the police because he had been missing for days. They put the pieces together and it turns out they were suicide bombings. They were all born and raised in the United Kingdom.

Some Pictures of the Main Courtyard at Christ's Church

The Main Courtyard in Panorama

The Front Spire in Courtyard

Today is the first day of classes. We met our professors and sat through our first class. EU law was quite engaging. I am excited to learn more about how the EU works.

Bryan and I hit the weights again today. It was a good work out. One of these days I'll be strong again.

A courtyard that we pass on our way to class

Picture of a tower from the "students garden"

Another tower from the "students garden"

The Hall in Harry Potter

Today was our first day of school. We had an orientation meeting at 3:00. Tomorrow will be our first day of actual classes. Bryan, Dan, and I went out this morning to get bikes so that we would have some form of transportation. We rode into town to Christ's Church (this is where we are attending school) for the orientation meeting. Our class consists 3 germans, 2 italians, 2 Russians, 2 Canadians, and a handful of Americans.

When the orientation meeting ended, we went on a tour of the grounds at Christ's Church. Some interesting things about Christ's Church are that, Lewis Carrol based his stories on the grounds and goings on at Christ's Church. Alice was the daughter of the Dean of Christ's Church, and the grounds and people there were the genesis of many of his ideas for his writings. Another interesting thing is the the dining hall is the basis for the Hall of Hogworth's in Harry Potter. The film crew came and looked at the hall, but because it was a little too small, they decided to make a replica of the dining hall that was a little bigger. 25 of Britain's prime ministers were educated in Oxford. Of those 25, 13 were educated at Christ's Church.

It's really quite amazing here.

The front of the townhouse where 'da boyz' live

A typical bedroom (this one is mine)

One of the bathrooms

My bathroom (not too shabby)

Our oven

Our kitchen table

The entertainment center in Jordan's room

The sunroom (and Dan)

The back yard from the back door

The backyard looking towards the flat

Here are some pictures of our apartment. It's pretty nice. The problem with pictures, is that you get hardly any sense of scale, but whattaya gonna do? I am really pleased that we got such a nice place. The bathrooms all have slate style linoleum on the floors and tile on the walls and showers/tub surrounds. Everything is brand new. We figure this place is only a couple of years old. The plants in the back are on an automatic sprinkler system. The oven is electric with a gas range. All the bedrooms have nice sofa style chairs in them. The beds all have comforters.

Yesterday, we came in at about three. We had to meet our new landlords at that time and we barely made it. Our train got stopped for about thirty minutes about a mile from Oxford. We showed up, got settled, and went out to get lunch and groceries.

They have a lot of ethnic resteraunts in Oxford. Some of them are pretty cheap, too. We found one place that has doner kebabs. That was my favorite food in France and when I took my first bite it was every bit as good as I remember. I'll be going back there often. (They also have cheeseburgers and fried chicken at a decent price.)

It looks like the three Mormons will be riding bikes. It costs about the same as a bus pass and it will be more mobile than the bus. Bryan and I walked to church today, it is about 2 miles away and a bus doesn't really go there. (We could take a bus into town, then back out to church, but that would be lame.)

Church was awesome. They had an old school missionary farewell. The Brethren have asked us not to do that kind of thing, but the comments that the father of the missionary made were awesome. He was a british guy (there are a lot of American students in the ward, potentially more than the members who live here) who served a mission 30 years ago. He told his kid to read the Book of Mormon and all of the basic advice, but he had a good spirit about him. I have always enjoyed the faith of the European Saints.

We have yet to encounter air conditioning in this country. Our apartment doesn't seem to have it. The church didn't have it. Our hotel room didn't have it. It's hot here. London was raining, so it wasn't so bad, but yesterday and today in Oxford were really hot. We're a little confused as to why these folks don't adopt the whole air conditioning way of life. It's really hot. They need it.
Tomorrow we will be heading out to buy some fans. (I'll be keen on the lookout for a Walmart.)