The customaries...

Everyone I know when going overseas will take the customary pics i.e. of their rooms, toilets, etc.
Here is mine complete with laundry room and all

Room 158 bedroom

Robin Smith Hall

View of my corridor

Amy at the laundry room

My kitchen (for rooms 158-162)

Thoughts while Plodding

Feeling sleepy now....Why do we do the things we do? Are we the things that we do? Went for a jog and did some laundry in between. We took the new route in the forest next circling the campus - lots of leaves on the ground as autumn approaches. (goodness its autumn!) The weather was lovely , slightly chilly with promise of clear blue skies in the day time. Feet squishing on black mud (eek!), I run on, plod, plod, plod, see a rabbit run along the path, plod, plod,plod, see a squirrel scampering in the corner of my eye. I'm lost in thought while running. What is -30 degrees like? I can't imagine running like this in Umea - first of all, what is 0 degrees like? Green shadows of the trees, run past trying to see the path.(will I see a scottish ghost in the mist) Run on, no sweat, annoyed...Finally I see the path, like one would see when you're just going on with life trying to get by day by day.

MSPME

The Masters of Science in Strategic Project Management is a 16 months course which focuses on the interconnected themes in project management: strategy, control, integration. The best thing about it is that the award will be done by all 3 institutions of learning:


Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh (United Kingdom): Master of Science in Strategic Project Management (European).

Politecnico di Milano, Milano (Italy): Master Universitario di I livello in Strategic Project Management. Umeå University,

Umeå (Sweden): Magister in Management (Master of Science in Management).

In study period one, Heriot-Watt University provides level strategic underpinning to project planning, strategy formulation and implementation in organisations.

In study period two at MIP School of Management - Politecnico di Milano, the focus is on the function, purpose, creation and management of appropriate control mechanisms in strategic projects.

In study period three at USBE, Umeå School of Business, students embed their learning using an integrated and research-based approach to strategic thinking and project management, through two integrated modules and a Master level Thesis.

As it seems, the best things comes in 3's.

The key-people in my reflections of this experience is as follows:


Dr.Paul Gardiner, Course Director







The 27 MSPME students (not all here)

Lothian No.25

OK here's my blog entry for this week. Got a reminder from Ghaz and Jas today that I had a blog (thanks ladies)

Edinburgh has a bus company called 'Lothian'. I've always wondered what that meant. Here's the wikipedia definition:

Lothian (Lodainn in Gaelic) forms a traditional region of Scotland, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills. It takes its name from the semi-legendary Brythonic King Loth or Lot. Subsequent Scottish administrative history saw it subdivided into the shires of West Lothian, Midlothian and East Lothian.

Anyway, for a Lothian bus, it's 2.30pounds for a day-ticket which you can have unlimited rides the whole day. Philip (my Chinese neighbour next door, who occasionally can be heard singing Boulevard of Broken Dreams through the walls) had the brilliant idea of buying one ticket, run your errands, come back,pass it on to someone else and divide the cost. Smart eh?

Berries bErries BerRies

I'm fascinated by the berries here. I see them everywhere - on campus, outside my halls, on the fields and even on the roadsides. They're getting redder and juicier as the days go by. I wonder if they can be eaten. Cathy (from Athletics Club) says some of them could but I'd better not try.

Morning Runs

After settling down for about 2 weeks now in Heriot-Watt Uni in Edinburgh, my typical days now begin with my 7am morning runs. Warned my course mates that I'm a freak - 2 or 3 of them now join me occasionally for a jog around the campus grounds.

Every training has its unique moments. Sometimes its a reflectful jog in the woods, or seeing some swans and mandarin ducks on the canal. At times it's fighting the blustering freeze or pouring rain.

Sometimes there are glorious sunrises with pink and purple blazing the sky or it could be grand dark clouds overhead with mists rising over below.

And so I wonder : Isn't life like a jog in the mornings? It has its moments and it has its mundanity - but if I'd stopped jogging and stayed in bed, life would be so much less.