We are moving to California!

We found out at the beginning of February that Mike had been accepted into the 2-year MBA program at the Anderson School of Business at UCLA, then two months went by in the blink of an eye and it's not really sunken in until now: We are moving to California!!

More specifically, we are moving to L.A., baby! The UCLA campus is just west of Los Angeles, closer to Beverly Hills and about 6 miles to Santa Monica beach. The temperature averages between 15-25°C with roughly 330 days of sunshine a year (what?!).

Classes start in September and over the course of the next two years, Mike will be taking up a concentration in Real Estate and be one of the 260 or so students in Anderson's MBA Class of 2014. 

Technically it's been in the works for a few years now. The idea of getting an MBA was always on Mike's mind, even while we were living in England. He started seriously thinking about applying when we'd come back to Canada and then began studying for the GMAT last summer. Most of September and October was spent writing and re-writing applications followed by months and months of waiting to hear back. When we finally did, it didn't feel real for a while and then there was all this paperwork, getting our finances in order, etc. But now everything's pretty much finalized and we are feeling super psyched!!

And what is Sunny going to do in L.A., you ask? Well, as it turns out I won't be allowed to work on my spouse visa. So I guess I'll be sitting around in the sun, sleeping and eating and doing nothing all day, every day! Hahaha, only [kind of] kidding. I haven't thought about it much but I'm very good at finding things to do so I'm not too worried. I'm hoping to maybe audit some courses, get to know the city, make some friends, look into becoming a certified translator, do some volunteering, get in shape, do everything I always put off until "later", have some fun, and maybe learn how to cook?? Hahaha, we'll see about that one.

We actually don't know a whole lot about California really. We have a pile of guidebooks from the library that we're working through and from what we can see, it looks pretty amazing! And the glorious weather!

Now I know you're going to hate us, but on top of moving to California, we're also going to take a 4-month vacation... To be fair, it's not exactly a full-out "vacation" per se, more like a nice, long, overdue family visit. I've not seen my dad, sister, or brother since we got married in 2007 and the rest of my aunts/uncles/cousins a couple of years before that.

We've been saving for the past couple of years and we figured once Mike starts school, we are going to be quite busy and also very, very poor so this is kind of our chance to go back to Taiwan for a while to see my family. And while we're over on that side of the world, we figured we might as well go see China for the first time too! 

Yes, I know, we suck. But here's our agenda in case you decide to join us for any part of the fun:
April 18th-26th: Los Angeles for orientation, scope out the area, etc.
April 27th-June 10th: Taiwan for 7 weeks to hang out with all the fam
June 10th-July 26th: China for 6 weeks to see all the sights
August: Cottage time in Canada with family/friends
End of August: Move to L.A.!

So yep, that's the latest news. I'm done work now and Mike's finishing up with BMO by Easter. We are scrambling to get everything organized for our trip and for the move (can't believe we're leaving in three weeks' time!). You'll be hearing from me as I work through my Inbox and plan moving sales and going-away dinners and BBQs and such, but in the meantime, don't be shy, get in touch and say hello!