Black tie dinners - first one at Brian's new job - Keble College

Last week kept us busy with a couple of black tie dinners.

The first one was a bit of a debut for Brian as the new physics Tutor at Keble college. It was an annual formal dinner put on by the undergraduate physics students at Keble. They invite their tutors and the tutors' partners to join them for a three-course dinner in the college dining hall. If you've been to visit us in Oxford and have seen the Harry Potter-like college dining hall at Christ Church College, Keble's is just as impressive. It's not quite as old or ornate (well we are still talking 1860s), but the Keble dining hall was purposefully built to be 6 inches longer than Christ Church's. Obviously so Keble could claim to have the longest dining hall of all of the Oxford colleges!

About 50 of sat on one very long dining table, 25 on each side. Very Oxford. I sat next to Brian and one of the graduate students and also across from a couple of the undergraduates. Mind you, this is an all physics crowd (my life as I'm getting used to), but they were extremely friendly and welcoming - and so young! The food was very good, I had breast of duck with cabbage and roast potatoes (so British) and Brian had a veggie pasta. Brian was welcomed after we ate and gave a few words to everyone saying how he looks forward to getting to know them all and explore the what, why and how of the world.

I wasn't allowed (by Dr Smith) to take any photos of the evening, as he didn't want us to look like tourists at his new job! Which I understand (I guess). . .  I'm sure there will be more college photos of us dressed up over the years to come!

Brian announcement in the MC Globe Gazette

Well what a guy - an announcement today in the Mason City Globe Gazette business section!

Brian announcement on Oregon University Physics webpage

Fun for Brian's grad school alma mater - University of Oregon - to post his news on their online Physics newsletter!

They've got a few details a little wrong, but nothing serious. (He actually graduated from Oregon in 2007 and is actually going to be a Fellow at Keble College.) Close enough!

Celebrating with Gusties!

This past Saturday we celebrated Brian's good news with fellow Gusties! Tim and Traci Wilson (both from 2001 class) moved to Oxford this past May. It was the great 'ol alumni hook up story, where they planned to move to Oxford, rang up the GAC alumni office to find out if any Gusties lived in the area, and low and behold here we were! Pretty fun actually that we were only one year apart at GAC and the guys new one another from bio classes.

So here we are at our flat toasting to Brian's new Oxford professorship! It's great to have some Minnesota friends where we can be ourselves, reminisce about GAC and just talk Minnesotan!

We all definitely look the part that is for sure!

Big News (and not so big news) from Oxford!

Well the big news is that Brian has been offered an amazing professorship position! And the not so big news is that we will not have to move – his new job is right here in Oxford!

Brian has accepted a tenured-track assistant professorship (at Oxford it’s actually called an University Lecturer) in the University of Oxford’s physics department. He also undertakes a concurrent role called College Tutor, in which he tutors and mentors a handful of Oxford undergraduate physics students at one of Oxford’s 39 colleges – Keble College. So Brian officially now becomes a real faculty member of the University and a Fellow of Keble College. (Whereas before, he was not an official employee of the University. He was a postdoctoral researcher and visiting scientist being funded by external sources; the Royal Society the first 2 years, and now the National University of Singapore.)

This obviously means that we will be making a more permanent home in Oxford for the foreseeable future. We love our cozy flat close to the city centre, but are now interested in finding a house (although it will be small in this country!) with hopefully a garden (yard) in back and space for a car. One of my new goals this year is to learn to drive a stick shift and on the left side of the road! And yep, this means we plan to start a family over here – and I wonder how much of the British accent our future kids will pick up!

We’ll continue to update everyone as we learn more about what this new role for Brian means, and how we’ll be settling (again, but in the same place!). Continue to keep an eye on our blog, via email and Facebook.

I know Brian would love to hear from you as he embarks on this next stage of his career. I’m a very proud wife and continue to be amazed at what a smarty-pants I married!

Please continue to stay in touch; we love hearing from you while living across the pond – we miss you!

Love, Kelly and Brian

Snow in the UK!

Well I spoke too soon in my last post - it's been snowing for more than 24 hours here and probably 8 inches at least of accumulation. They are saying it's the most snow Oxford has seen in more than 30 years. And snow is to continue for the rest of the week!

The most entertaining part for me is that the country doesn't know how to deal with this amount. Typically the UK doesn't get any snow. So they do not resource their city councils with ways to remove the snow. There are no big road snow plows, there are no snow blowers, and no one even owns their own snow shovel or ice scraper for the car! The roads and sidewalks just pile up with snow, and people and cars just try to walk/drive right through it all. It makes for a lot of mess! And it's pretty scary with Brits driving in the snow, since they are not used to it.

Here are some pics from outside my flat - notice how the road and sidewalks are pretty snowy. People just walk down the center of the roads instead for better traction!

Happy New Year 2010!

Well I have safely returned from visiting home for the holidays. Brian is still in the US on his way to a conference in Utah. He returns next Saturday 10 Jan.

It's always tough to come back to the UK after being home, seeing everyone and having fun. But I think going back to "reality" is hard for everyone after the holiday season. Being home however, reminds me how blessed we are to have such large, wonderful and supportive families and great friends in our lives. When we visit, while many things have changed, many things are the same and that is what gives me great comfort. We have so much to be thankful for!!

I don't have photos to post, as Brian still has our camera. I look forward to showing our UK friends all of the snow we left behind! The weather here is sunny and upper 30s/lower 40s. So pretty typical for the UK.

Thanks to everyone for spending time with us this holiday season and for your kind gifts, cards and photos. For those of you whom we missed seeing this year, you are always in our thoughts and we can't wait to see you soon when the opportunity arises!

Here's to a great start of the new decade and to all of the new opportunities and challenges approaching us! Please continue to keep in touch - it's so helpful to hear from friends/family while we love afar!

Love and cheers!
Kelly & Brian