Catching up - a new year, new name and new blog design!

Hello my faithful readers:

I've been quiet of late - my last post was nearly 5 and a half months ago now!  Wow what a difference a few months makes.  It's really hard for me to believe that I spent the last year living abroad and seeing the world. The year away changed me indelibly.

The reason for the silence has mainly been as a result of me processing this sudden change in my life.  I'm living at home for the first time in about 10 years.  The first month and a half were torturous for me - although I was happy to be home, surrounded by my family, I wasn't quite sure of how to  deal with living with my parents.  Especially after having lived alone for almost six years.

I also feel slightly guilty because I haven't done much to explore my hometown.  Nor have I tried to re-connect with childhood friends.   It's as if I'm in a weird holding pattern, waiting for my life to start.   I have to say that my parents have been very supportive of me through this phase - they are indeed a blessing to me.

Although they have been supportive, I must admit that initially there were a quite few squirmishes with my parents.  Sometimes they still happen, but I believe it's a normal part of life and growth, etc. My mom has accused me on more than one occasion of being arrogant.  I think it's simply the fact that she doesn't get my snarky sense of humor or that I am not afraid to voice my opinions on issues and I refuse to let her make judgments (or statements) in my presence that I don't agree with (as I would have a few years ago).  I challenge her a lot more now mainly because my view of the world and of people is a lot more open-minded than it was even a year ago.  

My dad and I used to have regular stand-offs about who would do the dishes.  I hate doing them, but since I'm living here pretty much rent free of course I pitch in to do them.  I prefer an alternating schedule, at first I got the impression he thought I was the hired help.  We had a discussion about it and came to an understanding, now things have improved a great deal.  

I've also started to cook more than I probably ever have in my life...it's a creative release and gives me something to think about other than the fact that I do not have a job. The initial adjustment period was rough, but after the first couple of months I finally managed to settle into a groove.  

My day typically starts with me waking up, catching the morning news shows, then I work out for about an hour at least five times per week (mostly weekdays).  The working out has become necessary because here in my hometown no one walks anywhere;  here everyone drives for even the shortest of trips.  I was starting to gain weight at an alarming rate and I decided that I needed to get working out or turn into Miss Piggy.  I also realized that I have absolutely no will power when it comes to all of the cakes, cookies, candies and unhealthy foods that my mom keeps buying. 

In order to make myself slightly more competitive in the job market - I'm working on learning Spanish, since I have a lot of time on my hands.  I'm watch Spanish TV (normally a 2 hour block of what has become my latest obsession La Fea Mas Bella the mexican version of Ugly Betty) and use Rosetta Stone about one hour each day to learn.  I also recently ordered a few grammar books from Amazon.com that I hope will help me with some of the finer points of conjugations and word order.  

I have to say that when I first started with just using Rosetta Stone alone I didn't feel like my comprehension was all that great, but now that I watch the show daily throughout the week - my comprehension is a lot better. My next goal is to start speaking the language with a few more of my native Spanish speakers friends.  

The major focus of my life is job searching.  I tend to spend a lot of time researching the companies that interest me, industry trends and people that I should network with. My search started as this really narrow project and now I'm starting to broaden out and try to think a little bit differently about the way that I'm looking.  The one thing I noticed was that there are lots of jobs that seek people who can speak Spanish, my biggest motivator for learning the language.  

A few weeks ago I took a two and a half week trip out to San Francisco to have a few informational meetings with some of the companies on my target list.  I also met with a few who weren't on my list.  Ironically most of the meetings were made because of my friends helping to connect me with some of their friends and colleagues.  I found most people in the SF Bay area were quite generous with their time and offered me wide ranging advice from info about the job market, which companies were hiring, recruitment cycles and what to expect lifestyle wise if I were to move to San Francisco.    

The trip out west and returning home made me realize that I need to live in a major city.   My hometown isn't small by any means, in fact I'm quite impressed by how far it's developed since I was growing up here.  I felt at home in San Francisco.  I felt like I was waking up from a long nap.  There's something, a special energy about living in a metropolitan city.  Being in San Francisco also made me think about returning to NYC.  I'm open to the possibility now that I've been in San Francisco for a visit, because although I loved San Francisco, I realized that it's no NYC.  And I miss NYC. A lot more than I'd care to admit.

That's the update for now.  I'll try to blog more often...although most of my thoughts happen on Twitter where I have lots of little 140 character blogs daily.  :)   Thank you as always for reading.  I didn't mention it before, but the blog has a new name and design.  What do you think?

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach

Where are you from?

Hello my faithful readers:

I'm back in Istanbul again and I have to say that Turkey has been a blast. It's a lot different than Greece, but overall the people I've met (in Turkey) have been just as nice (as the Greeks). Since I've been on vacation the first question that I always get asked is "Where are you from?"

It became a running joke for Oksana and myself because it almost invariably is the first question out people's mouths when they saw us. I'm exotic looking (read: I'm black) when compared to the other folks you saw walking around in Greece & Turkey. When they realize that Oksana and I were traveling together they express surprise and immediately try to figure out why an American is traveling with a Russian!

I especially love it when the pushy vendors trying to get us into their restaurants, rugs or souvenir stands try to start up conversations by speaking to me in French or Portuguese to get a reaction. I have observed that here in Turkey they are likely to start with French instead of English when addressing me. I'm sure they think that I'm either French or African (from a french-speaking country) although one guy in Greece started speaking to me in Portuguese at first.

I've even started to ask this question too because let's be honest, it's the easiest ice-breaker there is when you're meeting someone new. I've met some of the nicest people from around the world on this trip including: Australia, Canada, Greece, Germany, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey and yes even the US. Hopefully we'll keep in touch - I exchanged information with a lot of the people I've met.

I'm here in Istanbul solo for the next two days. This morning my travel buddy Oksana headed back to Belgium to attend our graduation ceremony. I won't be attending the ceremony because the scheduling didn't work out for me, but as of Monday I'll officially have my MBA. :) It's also the day I head back to NYC for an overnight layover until my morning flight home to Georgia.

This trip has been magical for me - I really have loved every single moment both here in Turkey and Greece! When I get back to the US, I will have to hit the ground looking for work. But for now, for the next two days, I'll focus on savoring the last few moments of my vacation! Enjoy the pics of some of the people I've met while along the way!

It's time to lose some weight...

Hello my faithful readers:

This morning I'm sitting here on the patio of my bungalow and realizing that my life is pretty freaking amazing. I wake up pinching myself everyday that I've the opportunity to travel and see the world when so many are suffering right now. I'm currently in Paros and I think this will be a laid-back place for us after the frenetic sightseeing in Athens and the festive party atmosphere of Mykonos.

So far Greece has treated me well - all of our accommodations have been solid. Our room in Athens wasn't as spectacular as I'd hoped, but if that's the worst thing we'll experience then it was still fine –I loved the hospitality I was given there.

I'm also starting to feel much better now that I'm kicking the cold or bug I started getting in Athens. Yesterday I got a little over heated (too much time in the sun) and I started to break out in hives again, but today I'm clinging to the shade, avoiding direct sunlight and covering up my skin so that I don't melt like the vampires in "True Blood."

I’m also learning a lot about not getting so attached to my material things on this trip – at every location I’m leaving something behind simply because I have way too much luggage for all of the moving around we’re doing. We have been lucky with our transfers from the ferries in Mykonos and Paros, because our hotels picked us up and dropped us off for free. If I had to carry all of my luggage on public transportation - it would be absolutely horrendous.

The motivation behind the shedding of my seemingly unnecessary belongings is my superstitious hope is that if I leave something behind, eventually I’ll return. I’m mostly happy that all of the things I’ve left behind have been on purpose (I’m known to leave very important things unintentionally).

Now the only thing I have to do now is make sure I don’t weigh a million pounds by the time I leave Greece. So far the food has been good and I’m making my way through all the Greek desserts as well. I'll have fun trying them all though. It's worth every pound I'll gain. :)

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach

On the road again...

Hello my faithful readers:

The past few weeks where a whirlwind of activity for me. I barely had time to think, much less update in any detail what was going on for me. My twitter feed gets a lot more updates on my life because it's only 140 characters and I don't have to spend a half hour thinking about what I want to say there. Now I before I head out for another day of adventures I figured it would be good time to share some of my current thoughts.

I've finally completed all of the requirements for my MBA program at Vlerick. This year has been one of the best years of my life and as I spent the past few days in Leuven saying goodbye to all of my new found friends from the program - it was a bittersweet moment for me. I was happy that the hard work was over, but I realized that as a result of the work ending I won't be seeing and talking my friends everyday like I did when we were in class.

I've mentioned it before, but most of my learning this past year has been through random conversations with my new friends from the program. We've shared our thoughts on topics as diverse as business (we were MBA students), politics, healthcare, travel, love and life. I'll miss these moments full of laughter, great stories and fellowship most of all.

Now that I've packed up my little life in Leuven, I'm on a whirlwind adventure through Greece. Yesterday was my first full day here and I have to thank one of my classmates Orestis for all of the great advice he's given me for my trip. The hospitality of the Greek people has been amazing. From the moment I arrived at my little hotel everyone has been more than helpful. I've NEVER had so many people on a trip offer their phone number for me to just give a call if I needed help with anything or even just wanted to meet up for a trip. I LOVE IT HERE!

Yesterday on the walk up to Acropolis I also met a few Americans who were living in Europe. One young lady is studying here in Greece until December (she's from Utah). I also met a cool young woman who used to live around the corner from me in Bedstuy and is currently living in Paris. I'll try to post a few more blogs during my 20 day odyssey as I head to Mykonos, Paros and Santorini (in Greece) and Istanbul and Cappodocia (in Turkey).

Now I'll try to figure out how I'm going to survive moving all of the luggage I brought with me. I have the feeling that a few pieces of clothing will be sacrificed for the sake of lightening my load by the end of this trip. I'll be moving around a lot with my classmate Oksana, who is joining me later tonight!

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach

Trust yourself

Hello my faithful readers:

I’ve been here in Roatan for exactly two weeks now and it feels like so much longer. The word to describe how I’ve felt in the last day has been languorous…it’s impossible not to relax when you’re semi-disconnected from the real world. Even the sun poisoning and the resulting hives I’ve been dealing with have decided to chill out (but only a little bit, since I still have them).

It’s not as if I’m not working while I’m here in Roatan, as we’ve actually done quite a bit of working on our respective plans for our project. I’m responsible for the marketing plan and we’ll deliver the full plan for review to our project advisor on Tuesday. But even with all of the work we’re putting in – Roatan has such a relaxed vibe that I’m enjoying sort of just going with the flow of things.

One of the things that I’ve had the time to think about a little bit more is the whole – “I’m- graduating-from-my-MBA-program-soon-and-I-haven’t-really-scratched-the-surface-of- job-hunting-at-all-issue.” Alas, the beaches of Roatan make me want to become a beach bum and travel the world in search of endless paradise. Would that be such a terrible thing?

Coming into the MBA program was my opportunity to learn more about the world. I’ve done that, and I’ll continue to do it as much I can, but I realize that in some ways one year was not remotely enough time. Learning is, in my opinion, a continuous process and I’ll cycle through being the student or the teacher (as determined by the situation).

The one major lesson for me this past year was that as an outside observer –it’s easy to think the grass is greener on the other side. Sometimes that other side of the fence has weeds or infestations of bugs that you couldn’t see from your side of the fence though. Yes – it’s an old lesson, but I’m hard-headed and I needed to learn this particular one on a much grander scale.

But I’m happy to have learned this lesson again, because looking at things from my neighbor’s side of the fence gave me much needed perspective on my life. I’ve discovered some things about myself that I have to improve in order to become a better me, as well as some things that are working well for me.

The one thing I’m working out for myself now is what balance means to me. I’ve always heard that life should be balanced, but what exactly does that mean? It’s something that I’ve thought a lot about lately and I’m still thinking about it now. In the past I’ve focused almost solely on my career. I recognize now that yes, my career is important to me, but there are other things in life. I’d like to spend a little more time focusing on those ‘other things’ in life now.

It’s time to write some new goals for myself, because the year has led me to a place that I didn’t expect initially. I had a plan before I arrived in Belgium, but I’m not quite the same woman I was a year ago. I'm a little more mature, a lot softer and I recognize now that the old plan won’t work for me anymore.

Here’s a quote I read today that resonates with me:

Trust yourself. Create the kind of life you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into the flames of achievement. -- Foster C. McClellan

I’ll start with this – trusting myself to do what’s right for me. Then I’ll work on creating the kind of life I’ll be happy with (for the rest of my life). That’s most important for me now – a happy life.

As always thanks for stopping by to read my blog. I appreciate all the comments and support you give me.

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach

In transit

Hello my faithful readers:

Wow – I can’t believe that I’m sitting here typing this blog from my apartment in Roatan, Honduras. Life has changed a great deal for me over the past year – in fact at this time last year I was preparing to give notice to my job to embark on what has turned out to be the experience of a lifetime for me – pursuing my MBA at Vlerick in Belgium.

I’m here in the Honduras for one of my last projects as a Vlerick MBA student with my team of four other students (Chris, Javiera, Jess and Julio). We’re here to help School of Life (SOL) Foundation to put together a fundraising plan. SOL is a foundation, based here on Roatan to help children in the Sandy Bay community who are at risk youth – risk of drugs, gangs and dropping out of school.

I arrived in the Honduras on Thursday afternoon following a long travel, which involved me taking the train from Belgium on Tuesday afternoon to London. From London I flew to NYC where I had a few hours to try to get into the city from JFK, do a little shopping and take care of my much needed manicure-pedicure at my spot on 7^th Ave and near 34^th Street.

I also caught up with one of my best friends Olin when I was in NYC but only for about an hour and a half at his Spanish Harlem apartment. I wish we’d had the time to catch up a little longer, but I had a flight to catch, so I headed back downtown to wait for the train to Newark, NJ where I had a hotel room for the night. The New Jersey Transit trains to the Newark Airport where I was catching my hotel shuttle were delayed; after a 2+ hour wait at Penn Station, it was almost 3 AM by the time I made it to my hotel.

The next morning I was up bright and early to prep for my flight to Houston, TX where I had a short stay with one of my other best friends Gigi. I also got to meet my godsons (her twin boys) for the very first time since their birth a little over a year ago. It was great to see Gigi in mommy mode and to see the boys in action. They were adorable and although I couldn’t imagine myself raising twins, Gigi was in her element and you could see that she’d spent a lot of time creating an environment focused on their comfort and enjoyment.

I didn’t get to see much of Houston because of some of the most torrential rains I’ve ever seen. I made a mental note that I should NEVER visit that city during Hurricane season. That’s why I consider it a miracle that all of my flights in and out of Houston were on time.

Our apartments are located right off of a lovely beach and the views are amazing. Our apartment complex is lush with vegetation with lots of beautiful trees and bushes. I’ve also seen lots of hummingbirds, crabs and fishes since I’ve arrived. I don’t mind that we don’t have hot running water because to be quite honest the cold showers I take are a relief from the heat. I love it here, despite all of the creepy crawly bugs and flying bugs, an unavoidable part of life here in the Honduras, which have taken a liking to biting me (and the rest of the team).

My favorite thing to do so far is to sit at the beach or at the top of our pier and stare out at the ocean. My access to internet is limited and I don’t have a mobile phone here with me so far Roatan has been a great place to get a little thinking and reflecting done. Before I arrived I thought I would be freaked out by not having constant connection to the internet, but when you’re disconnected from the rest of the world it’s s relaxing and it gives me time to think about the future without the distractions I would normally have. I’m also getting a lot of reading for pleasure in, something I haven’t done much this past year because things were just too busy.

We’ll get started working on our project full throttle tomorrow. But for now we have the rest of this weekend to enjoy getting acquainted to Roatan and all of the pleasures it has to offer. It’s very laid-back and the team is a lot of fun. Let the good times roll!

Paris, oui oui!

Hello my faithful readers:

It has been a while since I've written here on my personal blog. Things are quite busy for me and my workload truly seems to be multiplying. It's as if someone poured water on all my assignments and like Gremlins more and more seem to pop up each and everyday! Despite all the work I'm doing I am trying to balance it all with a little travel every now and then.

Almost two weeks ago I had the chance to travel with some of my classmates to beautiful Paris, France. Paris is one of my favorite cities in the world and believe I would love to live after graduation. I feel truly alive in Paris and it reminds me of how I first felt when I moved to New York comfortable and in my element.

People always complain that the French are rude, but even when faced with it I'm never truly bothered because they treat everyone who butchers their language that way. During my recent trip to Paris I had an experience in a bookstore with a rude clerk. I wanted to ask her if they had an English language book section. Our exchange was quite brief.

Me (in the most perfect French I could muster up): "Parlez vous Anglais?"

Rude female clerk (with the most huffy, brusque response I've heard in a while): "Non!"

She then abruptly turned away from me. I was in shock for about two seconds, then he situation ended with me and my friend laughing hysterically and exiting the bookstore. The hot chocolate and people watching I shared with my friend at a cafe made it all worthwhile.

My love affair with Paris continues and I hope before I leave Europe to get to spend more time; there maybe as a resident. My favorite moments in Paris are the simple ones -- like me sitting in a cafe, sipping on my beverage of choice and people watching for hours.

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach

PS - I'm blogging two times per week for the FT.com MBA Blog- here's a link to my profile there.

Living out of a suitcase

Hello my faithful readers:

As promised here is my blog about finding new temporary housing. I have been here in Leuven since August 13th. Counting today I have been here for exactly 12 days which is more than enough time to be living out of my suitcase. My suitcase living will end on September 1st when I move into my new studio. In the meantime here's a little bit about the adventure I had when I moved out of the guesthouse I was staying in during my first week here last Friday (August 21st).

Initially I wanted to travel during the weeks between moving into my studio, but a visit to the City Hall here in Leuven quickly dampened my plans to see any countries other than Belgium. Our Visa only allows a single entry into Belgium and until we get our residence card we're not allowed to travel outside of the country (technically). This bit of news was a huge bummer for me because I really wanted to get to see some of my neighboring countries before getting bogged down with classwork. Last night some of my fellow classmates informed me that they were able to travel to Morocco with no problems for their honeymoon this past week. It should be noted that the lucky groom has an Italian passport which might have worked in their favor.

As a substitute for my (imaginary) trip to Amsterdam, Germany and maybe France, I'd planned on doing a nice leisurely tour of Belgium (yes I know it's a small country)!! Quickly I realized that:

1) I'm not working full-time anymore which means I have no more regular income
2) I'm not fully comprehending the fact that I'm spending euros right now and not US dollars
3) I wasn't going to find an inexpensive hotel that was up to my lofty standards in such a short amount of time.

Back to the drawing board and I'm scrambling last Friday to find temporary accommodations here in Leuven. I needed something that I could move into that very night because if you read my blog yesterday, the folks at the guesthouse were eager to have me move out so the next guest could move in.

I had a few options to choose from. One of my classmates (a fellow American) generously offered to let me crash on her couch. There is a property in town called Condo Gardens which is basically temporary studios and apartments where I knew some of my classmates are staying. K.U. Leuven (college that our MBA program is a part of) Housing Service has a listing of temporary housing that is called summer rentals which is a list of landlords and students that are subletting their rooms, studios and apartments during the summer vacation months. I decided the best option was to try to find a room since I needed a place to stay until September 1st (essentially 11 nights). I called and e-mailed a few places (Condo Gardens and places from the summer rentals list and finally got a call back from one of the summer rental landlord's after about an hour. I took the place over the phone (BIG MISTAKE) without going to see it because at this point I just wanted to move into something immediately - the clock was ticking for me.

I have some of the best classmates in the world because a couple volunteered to help me drag my bags to the new place. We arrived and the address listed on the summer rental sheet was wrong because the number they had listed was the address to a "social services office." Not exactly the best first impression, but thankfully the landlord happened to be standing outside and asked if I was the person coming to take the kamer (dutch word for room). We hustle my 4 bags up the 3 flights of stairs and my first thought was wow this building has lots of stairs and it sure seems a little rundown. The room itself wasn't horrible it was at the top of the building, but the shared kitchen, bathroom (toilet) and shower areas she showed me made me nervous. I didn't think much of it and to be honest took it because I couldn't stomach the thought of dragging my bags all the way downstairs again.

I tried to get the woman to agree to the price of 100 euros for the week as listed on the summer rentals sheet, but she hedged and said that the price was normally 30 euros per night. She said we'd be able to work something out, but she couldn't come down as low as the 100 euros. I said ok and because we had dinner plans that night with the rest of the group we headed over to Oude Markt right after I grabbed the keys.

Later that night, I arrived at the new building and it was super dark. I didn't see any light switches so I just walked up the 3 flights of stairs in the dark. I got to my floor and fumbled around until I found a few switches that worked in my hallway. I unlocked the door to my room and flicked the light switch. It didn't work! I flicked again just in case there was some error on my part and it definitely did not work. Because it was so late (almost midnight here), I decided to just wait until the morning to let the landlord know about the problem. I used the bathroom, brushed my teeth and washed my face in the sink in my room by the light of the hallway.

I turned in after my nightly rituals and tried to go to sleep. I couldn't do it. I tossed and turned for about 30 minutes. Then I felt my neck and back start to hurt. Sleeping on that bed was like sleeping on a hardwood floor. I also kept hearing some sort of bee/fly/mosquito buzzing my ear every few minutes. By 3 AM I was wide awake and (angrily) texting my best friend in NYC about the situation.

That whole experience was enough to make me realize that I was going to have to find another room. I remembered during one of my text rants that another man had called me in response to one of my e-mails shortly after this woman so I woke up and matched the number from my call log to his number on the summer rentals sheet. I took a shower (at 7:15 AM) and the shower confirmed to me that I needed to move! The shower didn't drain properly and for me that is a big no-no. I hate it when the water just sits there around your feet - the last time this happened to me was at a horrible hotel in Detroit and I didn't pay for that room.

I waited until 10:03 AM to make the call to the other guy. We agreed to meet so that I could take a look at his place for 11 AM, luckily it was less than a block away from my current room. I walked over and arrived about 8 minutes early I was so eager and he showed me my potential room and I took it. It was very clean, modern and not too small. The landlord seemed like a nice guy and I took it without even asking what the price was...the big bonus is that he only charged me 85 euros for the rest of the month (roughly 8,5 euros per day). This room has a shared kitchen, bathroom (toilet) and shower which I have to walk two flights of stairs to use, but I have slept like a baby in this room since Saturday night. I like this space and I don't mind making the compromise of walking up a few flights of VERY narrow stairs to use one of the most magnificent showers I have ever experienced. I'll miss it when I have to leave and end my few weeks of living out of my suitcase.

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach

Flight & Day 1 in Belgium

Hello my faithful readers:

I write this from my lovely guesthouse room in Leuven, Belgium. I made it here without too much trouble. I departed JFK airport. My flight was delayed for a couple of hours, but it actually made things easier for me on the back end. I watched Star Trek on the tv screen in the seatback in front of me while waiting so it was a pleasant delay although I was hungry (starving). I didn't sleep nearly as much as I would have liked, but by the time we landed in Brussels it didn't matter so much.

The airport in Brussels was a very easy experience - I breezed through the passport control area (no issues here) and then headed to baggage claim. All of my luggage arrived intact and I was quite relieved (our flight was delayed was because of a HUGE baggage system outtage at JFK). I also was relieved because during check-in the nice woman behind the counter didn't charge me the normal fee of $150 to check my 3rd bag. Instead she checked the bag as a carry-on, but told me if it got lost then the airline wasn't responsible. After loading my luggage onto the FREE baggage cart (take that JFK), I rolled through customs (they didn't stop me at all) and down to the train station. I bought my ticket and was thankful to see that a train was leaving for Leuven in 4 minutes. Thankfully I made the train and the trip to Leuven was very quick. I made it there in roughly 20 minutes.

At the Leuven train station I pulled all of my luggage together as best I could. This was probably the roughest part of the luggage experience because they had no baggage carts on the platform at Leuven and no one offered to help. There weren't all that many people on the platform at Leuven. Once I finally got the luggage straight - I wheeled everything over to the front of the station where there was a row of taxi's waiting. I got in the 1st taxi waiting and he was willing to make two stops which I needed so that I could pick up my keys from the Resident Office at Student Housing. I'm staying in one of the guesthouses offered by the University here and it's a good value for the money. I have my own bathroom and a private room for 25 euros per night. The room is clean and the building is relatively modern looking.

I decided to take a bit of a nap and then shower before getting out and walking around a little bit. Around 14:00 I walked out of my building and headed over to the school because I felt I needed to see the location before searching for places to live. Leuven is a small city, but if I lived too far away I'd need to rent a bike to get around. I still might need to in order to get around anyway, but I'd prefer to live within easy walking distance to our building. The school is in a relatively central part of town so my hope is that I'll find a nice studio not too far away. After seeing the school I was quite surprised to realize that it's really only one building and not too large. Our other building in Gent seemed much larger and more like a college campus.

After viewing the Vlerick Leuven Building, I walked over to the housing office and checked in with them. The Housing Services counseler gave me some advice. One thing I didn't quite fully realize before my arrival here is that most rental contracts don't start until September 1st or September 15th. School begins for me on September 1st so ideally I would like to get situated before then. She mentioned that they have some listings called Summer rentals that I should check out. After speaking to her I went to the computer room that the Housing Office has available. I was able to set up a few viewings yesterday and one guy had 3 spaces that I saw. I liked one of them and I'm considering taking it although it wouldn't be available until September 1st. The price was right and it was located right off Grote Markt which is one of the busier areas in the central part of town. Grote Markt has lots of restaurants and shops.

The one thing that remains on my to-do list is to find a place that sells converter plugs. I finally found a place that sold a Mac travel kit with lots of adapters in it so that I could power up my macbook, but I still need a converter for my blackberry and camera chargers. The one thing that I have to get used to is the lack of convenience that I've become accustomed to by living in NYC. The big stores that sell everything aren't easily found here in Leuven. Most of the little shops and stores here close by 17:00 or 18:00 (even the large grocery stores).

Tonight I am headed out for drinks with some of my new classmates. I have to say that Facebook has been great in making this huge world a lot smaller for me. We connected via our group on Facebook and it's been a huge resource in keeping me sane throughout my move. I can't wait to get back to you with more updates about my adventures here in Leuven.

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach

Today is the first day of the rest of my life

Hello my faithful readers:

I know that the title sounds a little cheesy, but that's exactly how I feel today! Yesterday was my last day at work (YEAH) and now I can focus fully on my preparations to move to Leuven for my impending MBA studies. I am super excited about this move because it's something I have dreamt of, but never really expected to actually act upon.

So the main things I need to do are
1) Submit my visa application (I have been working on this for nearly 2 months now)
2) Buy my plane ticket once my visa is approved
3) Sell off/give away everything in my apartment except my clothing
4) Shut down all the utilities and unnecessary bills from this side of the pond
5) Start & complete all my pre-course work as assigned by the school
6) Pack up and fly away

This list needs to be accomplished by August 12, 2009 because that's the day that I have in my head that I want to head over to Belgium. Now this doesn't seem all that bad in writing, but each of those tasks has a bunch of different sub-tasks. Plus the list doesn't take into account all of the saying goodbye to all of my friends I need to do in between. I have a few more doctor appointments to squeeze in as well. SIGH...

This is indeed the first day of the rest of my life. I'll keep you posted on how things are progressing and once I'm in Belgium I'll try to blog as much as I can.

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach

PS - I think I should acknowledge that some of you read my other blog (that dating one) Unrequired Love...maybe I'll have some stories for that one once I land in Belgium. Who knows...?