Online University & Distance Learning MBA Courses from RDI USA

September. In Tokyo. In front of the PC. Just before lunch.

So how is it all going?

The question really is, “where is the time going???!” I feel like I have been at this for months now, and yet strangely I have only actually completed one assignment (for module 1) and even that one is not getting assessed until the end of the course. I did send it off to the tutor to get her opinion on it as it stands at the moment. Her opinion was basically one of “Yes, I did say there was no strict word count for this assignment, but really, did you have to send me something that took me the best part of two weeks to read?” so I have added “Cut down assignment 1 to more reasonable levels” to my To-Do list, which is number 5 on my Personal Development Plan. According to my Personal Diary. Which I am recording as part of my Learning Diary. But I digress....

But all this is about to change now, because this week I will be applying for my module 2 assignment, due at the end of October! Trying very hard not to think about the fact that I will be a) about a thousand weeks pregnant the day of the deadline (there I go exaggerating again, try 36 weeks) and b) despite studying this topic in depth over the last 2 years through my HND course, and again in even more depth for the last 2 months on this course, I still feel very much like I have absolutely no idea what it is all about! I can`t get hold of any “past papers” as such as it is not an exam, but I am assured by the programme coordinator that I can 'bail' up to a week before the deadline if I feel that I am not going to be able to do it – VERY much like this get out of jail free card, although of course I hope I won`t need to use it. To actually complete this degree course, I do actually have to....well....complete it at some point. Applying seems so simple – just a case of sending off a form to my programme coordinator – so why is something so monumental as signing my life away for 5 weeks of hard assignment-production not met with more fanfare and deliberation? It is just too simple!

When studying and real life clash horribly...

It hasn`t actually helped my confidence levels that in the last couple of months I have had to deal with the Return To Japan (which is a bit like Return to Colditz after coming back from the UK), the school summer holidays when I had to consider not only the study course, but how to entertain two fractious 5 and 3 year olds in 35 degree heat with no car on a daily basis, and for added excitement, we all came down simultaneously with the dreaded swine flu two weeks ago!

Nicky

Now, there are many pregnant women who eat only healthy and nutritious food, take regular moderate exercise, perform yoga, go to their ante-natal classes, and generally behave exactly how a responsible mother to be should behave. I would love to claim to be in this group, but unfortunately I have all the willpower of a Mexican fruit fly, all the patience of a, well, 3 year old if I am honest, I got swiftly ejected from my one and only ever ante-natal class (don`t ask but some midwives have no sense of humour) and above all a major peanut butter fetish combined with a pathological inability to resist the smell of an ice-cold beer on a hot summers day. Add the pressures of completing a study course into the mix, and in a nutshell I hightailed it straight to the doctor the minute I started coughing for all the drugs he could give me to get me through the swine flu.

As it turned out, although that week was a write-off study wise, I did manage to recover extremely quickly, and without all the prophesies of doom coming true for pregnant women who catch the dreaded bug. So thankfully, despite a miserable few days, and you wouldn`t believe how much you crave Beechams Cold and Flu remedy when you are not actually allowed to have it, I have lived to study another module, and even more importantly write another study blog!

And so, back to school and back to work...

Things have since settled down a lot with the Back To School period which has now taken over from Christmas as my favourite time of year! An added bonus is that, in Japan, pregnant women are treated very much like fragile dolls. They can`t possibly be expected to work, must see a doctor every few weeks, and need as much help, understanding and support as they can possibly be afforded. For a Japanese woman, this is her culture and way of life. For a western chick living in Japan, this is (again if I may be honest here) an opportunity to milk both her husband and the system for everything she can get!

So my working hours have cut right down, the kids are both back in school, husband is a brand “new man” (especially so by Japanese standards) and is helping out in the kitchen (though I suspect this is at least partially because he actually can`t stand my cooking) and this is leaving me with lots of free time to study right now!

To that end I have made a decent start on the module 3 coursework as well. This is a fascinating topic that I am really enjoying – Emerging Business Themes. We are covering such areas as globalisation, climate change, and sustainable business practices. This is not something I knew a lot about before, but the more I delve into it the more I am enjoying it. Something like Business Strategy has always been a little bit removed and theoretical from my real life, but climate change really does affect us all and it is very easy to relate to from a business perspective.

Next steps...

I won`t be applying for the module 3 assignment until January, and this is of course assuming that the baby turns out to be a sleeping angel (as per #2 child) and not a demonic party-all-night creature sent to torment me (as per #1 child who by the way IS now sleeping all night to give anyone out there hope that it DOES eventually get better!)

But I am starting to feel like I am “on my way” now – target completion date for the whole course is July or October next year – depending on said child # 3 who will absolutely be the last, so I must add to my To Do list “enjoy last 10 weeks of ever being pregnant again”, swiftly followed in my Learning Diary by the entry “Never say Never”!

And for anyone waiting with baited breath to find out if RDI`s blog baby is going to be pink or blue.....well, it`s a BLUE one!

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