Before I forget, here is the link to my pictures of Stockholm, Sweden. Can’t believe that trip was already two weeks ago!
Things got ~serious~ this week.
Time is flying by. They say “time flies when you are having fun” and it appears my year will be proof of that. With all the fun I was having, however, it didn’t fully click that I was in school until this week. I already mentioned that I had an insanely long summer break (about four months), and coming back from that has not been a smooth ride. It’s not that I am not doing well in classes. After all, with classes here being so independent, I haven’t had to do much more than show up for lectures and tutorials so far. It is now week four, however, and deadlines are coming up. Essays. A lot of essays.
Having had such a long break from school, I feel like I wiped my slate somewhat clean. Certain of my habits seem to have improved, my note-taking being front and centre in this argument. To fight off procrastination and distractions (which, to be fair, have been recurring problems in my life), I have grown even more attached to my to-do lists. They really keep me on top of my assignments and important errands. This is particularly important for me this year because I have been travelling so much. I am gone from campus often enough that I really need to properly squeeze schoolwork and socialising into the rest of the time.
In case I neglected to mention it on my last post, I am going to London this weekend! I leave tomorrow night and will not get back to Belfast until Monday morning, a few hours before my first class. It will probably be quite exhausting, but I could not be more exciting. There is so much to do in London, and it is such a dream destination, that I am currently having trouble believing I will be there by tomorrow night. Crazy. I will be visiting a Wellesley friend whom is currently studying abroad in London. I am so excited to see her! It will be a little piece of Wellesley I can hold onto when I am feeling homesick. I will be touring the city on Friday and Sunday, and we have an excursion planned out for Saturday: we are going to Stonehenge! Stonehenge! I have been ~dying~ to go to Stonehenge. I can’t wait to show you all the pictures from my trip.
Also going on in my life is, apparently, a batch of bad luck. I believe I mentioned my horrible cough last week that resulted in four days of no voice and I still have the occasional coughing fit. In addition, I twisted my ankle a couple days ago. I was walking back home in the dark. It was fairly rainy and I am fairly clumsy; I could barely walk the next morning. It was a lot better today. It gets worse if I overexert myself, I think, but it is difficult not to because I have no other (free) way of getting around the city. I think the twist was, thankfully, not too serious, though, so I am hoping I will be back to normal by the time I leave for London.
Besides school and travels, I have been very busy getting to know the city, the locals, and my fellow international students. I hadn’t thought much about how most international students I have met will leave Belfast at the end of the semester. I have already gotten so used to how things are going… I imagine their departure will probably be a big shock. As you can probably tell from how sad this makes me, however, I am loving my study abroad programme. If you are not sure you want to study abroad, I will tell you right now: I cannot imagine life without this experience. It has been nothing short of amazing.