Belittling a girlfriend
We spent Christmas at Stuart’s aunt’s place. But the second half of the exams was at the beginning of January, so all I did for the rest of the holiday […]
Confronting romance
Without alcohol and in daylight at school, I was in no mood to discuss romance. I tried to avoid the topic when I sat next to Scott, keeping the conversation […]
Sensation
The school hosted a Christmas dinner at a restaurant after the exam, and we were allowed to bring a plus one. Stuart couldn’t come because he had to fly to […]
1st term
During the first semester, we studied the essentials – Finance, Accounting, Economics, Marketing, and Organizational Behavior. We spent all day in a windowless classroom. Some lecturers were contemptuous of the […]
Shackle of coupledom
Weeks passed, but I didn’t see Stuart taking action to change jobs. Every evening, I studied on the kitchen counter, and Stuart played video games on the sofa. I sometimes […]
Financial stress
I was able to fund half of my tuition from the severance money and borrowed the rest from my parents. The exchange rate between GBP and JPY was about 1 […]
Responsibility politics
Then, there was a “motivational speaker.” A 30-something-year-old British man, whose profession I can’t recall, but it could have easily been a “professional motivational speaker,” but I remember he rowed […]
The salt tablet
In one of the team-building exercises, we were given a scenario in which the airplane you were on crashed in the middle of the desert. There were about a dozen […]
New classmates
The MBA program started in September. The first week was spent on orientation and getting to know one another. There were about fifty of us, and as the program promised, […]
Waning passion
Stuart came to Japan for an annual business trip at the end of July, so I went to Tokyo to spend a week with him. I waited for his arrival […]