The Plan

Grace and I have a plan for the future. It's tentative, but I'll lay out best I can.

My internship with the Peace Corps ends August 31st and we fly back to Iowa City that day. We'll be in town until September 12th, when we're flying out to the UK. While we're in IC, we're planning on making at least one trip to Ames to visit y'all that are up there. It'll be during the class week, cause we're pretty wrapped up during the weekends.

September 12th we leave the USA and on September 13th we arrive up in Inga-land. We're staying in the dorms with the University for two weeks while we get our act together (we still have to find a permanent home). Classes start October 1st.

I'm enrolled to study for the diploma in economics. It's a one year course that brings me up to speed on economics - it's supposed to be the equivalent of a bachelor's degree. Like I said, it's only a one year thing, so after we get the diploma things are a little more up in the air.
A lot of people ask what Grace is going to during this time. The short answer is she's going to try and find a job. She should be eligible to work as long as I get an appropriate student Visa. Ideally, she wants a job that she is proud of, that pays well, and that will help her do what she wants in the future (go to law school). I would add to that a desire that she finds employment in Cambridge (she can commute to London, but it's at least an hour each way and some say the train is expensive) and that she somehow can get work off when I have long breaks (6 weeks!) between terms. That's not very reasonable though, and unless she works at the school I don't really think it'll happen.

So, after that year, we'll have to make some choices. To continue for the Masters in Economics at Cambridge I'll need to get the diploma and score well on the tests. If Grace finds a job she likes, and I get scholarships to pay tuition, and we like England, we'll stick around for two more years. If not, we might be coming back to the USA. With a diploma I'll give the Grad schools in the USA another shot. Back in the US, Grace will go to Law School.

If we stay in England we could come back to the US after the Masters, or stay even longer if I go for the PhD. After I get a master's, hopefully I can get a job in economics back in the US. I'll plan on getting a PhD eventually, from somewhere, but it doesn't have to be all at once.
Sometime Grace will go to Law School in the USA. And then - who knows? She wants to work for Women's rights and against human trafficking. I want to work in international economic development. Hopefully we'll find a corner of the globe we can do that together.

And that's the plan.